Naturalistic Paganism
[Rotting Silver] “By the Dark Moon Her Sight” by B. T. Newberg
The night is without moon, and hardly missed,
For lamps obscure the way with shady shapes
Like puppetries; but lampless nights assist
A stranger drama, parting thus the drapes
Of other-vision’s show: the dreamy scapes
Unveil their scenes on deprivation’s stage,
And by this mum the audience escapes
The strings, to dance a scene from their own page,
To know their own creation, and scripted fears assuage.
Image Credit: SplitShire
Rotting Silver is a column devoted to this Earth in all its tarnished radiance: poetry, prose, and parables of ugliness alloyed with joy.
This piece was first published at The Witch’s Voice.
The Author
B. T. Newberg: Since the year 2000, B. T. has been practicing meditation and ritual from a naturalistic perspective. He currently volunteers as Education Director for the Spiritual Naturalist Society, where he created and now teaches an online course in naturalistic spirituality (including Naturalistic Paganism!). His writings can also be found at Patheos and Pagan Square, as well as right here at HP.
He also hosts a new podcast called Dead Ideas: The Podcast of Extinct Thoughts and Practices. It explores ideas once believed to be true, but no longer.
Professionally, he was an ESL teacher for 12 years and now works in customer service. After living in Minnesota, England, Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea, he currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with his wife and cat.
After founding HumanisticPaganism.com in 2011 and serving as managing editor till 2013, he now serves as advising editor, and feels blessed to be a part of this community.
Cosmic Calendar Countdown, 2016
Carl Sagan’s Cosmic Calendar maps the entire history of our cosmos onto a single year. You can follow the entire calendar here at HP. As you imagine, things speed up considerably as the year advances. After the Big Bang on January 1, we have to wait until May for the Milky Way to form and September for our own Sun to form. But things get really busy in December: Read More
Naturalistic Paganism’s Spectral Challenge – Part One: A Haunted Landscape, by Emile Wayne
“You don’t believe in me,” observed the Ghost.
“I don’t,” said Scrooge.
“What evidence would you have of my reality beyond that of your senses?”
“I don’t know,” said Scrooge.
“Why do you doubt your senses?”
“Because,” said Scrooge,” a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There’s more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!” Read More
Happy Winter Solstice!
Happy Winter Solstice, or Yule! Of course, our spherical planet also gives us the beautiful symmetry of the Summer Solstice (Litha) being celebrated now by our Southern Hemisphere friends.
Celebrations
Some of the ways many of us are celebrating were published a few weeks ago. For me, between wrapping presents and other final preparations, it’s hard to find time to prepare this short post! In addition to those, Here is a video poetry reading for the Winter Solstice. Happy Solstice!
Yule: The Light in the Darkness, by Mark Green [an Atheopagan Life]
It’s a very dark one this year. And, as for our ancestors, it promises to become darker and colder still in January, after the celebrating is long over.
Our Sabbaths are rich with meaning. And sometimes that meaning persists beyond a season. Read More
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Pagan Coming Out Day – May 2nd
Naturalistic Paganism 