Naturalistic Paganism
Happy Samhain! As the darkness falls this Samhain night, our trillions of Ancestors visit us. Who are they? What can they offer you for your struggles today? They can help you anytime during the year – not just now – if you ask.
Last year, we had both a solar and lunar eclipse framing Samhain. Astronomy cycles can complex, but in any case, this year it’s shifted a little earlier, with an annular solar eclipse this past October 14, and a lunar eclipse on October 28 (both past now). We Naturalistic Pagans can find wonder in coincidences, while still knowing that they are coincidences – and now another one presents itself. This Samhain is near an eclipse pair (October 14 & 28), and the next eclipse pair includes the awesome total eclipse of April 8th, and is near Beltane! Our Wheel of the Year gives us not just 8 Sabbats, but these Sabbats are in connected pairs, linked opposites. Samhain and Beltane are a linked pair of opposites – Life and Death – both in meaning and in the fact that each is celebrated along with the other, on opposite sides of our Earth. Now, we have eclipses highlighting this pair!
For many of our Ancestors, eclipses were times of terror and dread. Now we can forecast them with precision down to a fraction of a second, and understand well what is going on. Because eclipses never happen singly (a solar or lunar eclipse always has one of the other type ~14 days away), that “block” of two weeks is an “eclipse season”. To me, this is an especially moving concurrence, because eclipses of both types captured the attention of our Ancestors, and both eclipses and my Ancestors are such a big part of my spirituality. Is this true for you?
As we celebrate another sacred Samhain we have many opportunities for online Samhain celebrations and rituals, many of them today. The links were given in this post, along with the many ways some of us are celebrating. Also, from The Wonder Naturalistic Pagan Podcast, we have a podcast celebrating Samhain, one on the many connections with our Ancestors. Happy Samhain everyone!!
The Author: Jon Cleland Host
Starstuff, Contemplating: We are assemblages of ancient atoms forged in stars – atoms organized by history to the point of consciousness, now able to contemplate this sacred Universe of which we are a tiny, but wondrous, part.
Dr. Jon Cleland Host is a scientist who earned his PhD in materials science at Northwestern University & has conducted research at Hemlock Semiconductor and Dow Corning since 1997. He holds eight patents and has authored over three dozen internal scientific papers and eleven papers for peer-reviewed scientific journals, including the journal Nature. He has taught classes on biology, math, chemistry, physics and general science at Delta College and Saginaw Valley State University. Jon grew up near Pontiac, and has been building a reality-based spirituality for over 30 years, first as a Catholic and now as a Unitarian Universalist, including collaborating with Michael Dowd and Connie Barlow to spread the awe and wonder of the Great Story of our Universe (see www.thegreatstory.org, and the blog at evolutionarytimes.org). Jon and his wife have four sons, whom they embrace within a Universe-centered, Pagan, family spirituality. He currently moderates the yahoo group Naturalistic Paganism.
Naturalistic Paganism 