Snowdrops in the snow, courtesy Wikipedia

We are dividing the year here at HP into 8 semi-seasonal themes, following the Neo-Pagan Wheel of the Year.  The themes for 2014 are inspired in part by the Earth Story Calendar created by Peter Adair.  For early winter, our theme was “Beginnings”, which corresponded with the Big Bang and the birth of the universe.  This month we begin our new semi-seasonal theme for late winter, “Order and Structure”, which corresponds with the emergence of galaxies.  Questions we will be exploring include: How do we structure our world as Naturalistic Pagans? How do we make a cosmos out of chaos with our beliefs and the stories we tell? How do our naturalistic beliefs merge with our other beliefs? Is Naturalistic Paganism compatible with other belief systems?  Send your submissions to humanisticpaganism [at] gmail.com.

New Column: De Natura Deorum

The 1st century BCE Roman philosopher, Cicero, wrote:

“There is in fact no subject upon which so much difference of opinion exists, not only among the unlearned but also among educated men; and the views entertained are so various and so discrepant, that, while it is no doubt a possible alternative that none of them is true, it is certainly impossible that more than one should be so.”

One might think that Naturalistic Pagans would have little use for gods, and that is certainly true in many cases.  However, we receive a surprising number of submissions on the nature of the gods here at HP, with some truly radical conceptions of what “gods” are.  In lieu of dedicating an entire month to the topic, I am introducing a new semi-seasonal column, De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods), named after Cicero’s essay by the same name.  The column will feature a different contributor each time.  Send your submissions to humanisticpaganism [at] gmail.com.

This Month at HP

Each week we will have a different mini-theme:

Week 1: Naturalistic Paganism and Eastern Religions

Feb 2  “Secular Buddhism”: An interview with Stephen Batchelor

Feb 5  “Shinto Intertwined” by Ken Apple

Week 2: Naturalistic Paganism and Philosophy

Feb 9  “Axiarchism and Paganism, Part 1” by Eric Steinhart

Feb 10  “Axiarchism and Paganism, Part 2” by Eric Steinhart

Feb 12  “The Gadfly: A Socratic Interrogation of Naturalism” by B.T. Newberg

Feb 14  A Review of Brendan Myer’s The Earth, The Gods and The Soul – A History of Pagan Philosophy: From the Iron Age to the 21st Century

Week 3: Naturalistic Paganism and Wicca

Feb 16  “My Heretical Wiccan Beliefs” by Merlyn

Feb 19  DE NATURA DEORUM: “Lord and Lady for the Non-Theist” by Rhys Chisnall

Week 4: Naturalistic Paganism and Atheism

Feb 23  “What atheists believe too” by Trent Fowler

Feb 26  “The Pagan Atheist” by Nick Ace Westward

Humanistic Paganism Calendar for February

Feb 2 Neo-Pagan winter cross-quarter day (Imbolc)

Feb 2  Groundhog’s Day

Feb 3  Winter thermistice/cross-quarter

Feb 12  Darwin Day

Feb 17  Giordano Bruno burned at the stake

Feb 20  World Day of Social Justice

Feb 24  Black Nonbelievers Solidarity Day