Naturalistic Paganism
[Rotting Silver] “To the Vale Inanna Says” by B. T. Newberg
What whispers as I stalk the midnight hills?
Thickly fell the darkness roundabout;
Like pitch it filled the cataracts and rills,
And took my vision, so that I may doubt
My step, but then as from the earth my shout
Came rumbling, shaking leaves upon their poles,
And driving winged armies off in route
Through flapping night, like hobble-hopping souls–
The cry “I am Inanna!” echoed through the knolls.
I quaked, and yet the vale, in acquiescence
To the rumble, like a minor fit
That hardly turns the sleeper from her nescience,
Turned to silence, shook for but a whit;
Erelong the birds again began to flit
From branch to branch, and insects whine their keen,
While high above the sky remained unlit,
Its hermit stars alone complete, serene,
Indifferent and content, as if I’d never been.
Image Credit: DasWortgevand
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.
Professionally, he teaches English as a Second Language, and hopes to begin a PhD program in the psychology of religion soon. 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.
Visions, Part 3: The Power of Spiritual Experiences, by Jon Cleland Host (Starstuff, Contemplating)
Spiritual experiences are a powerful and wonderful part of being human – but what do they mean? Do they prove one religious path is right over all the others? What does the evidence show? What happened during my spiritual experience? Here is some discussion of these points, in this video of a service at a Unitarian Universalist church:
(Because I give talks extemporaneously, I don’t have a text version of this.)
Jon Cleland-Host
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’s youtube channel, with videos about DNA, spirituality, and more, is here. 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 and maintains a hub page for Naturalistic Paganism.
Jon is also a regular columnist here at HP. His column is called Starstuff, Contemplating.
See all of Dr. Jon Cleland Host’s Posts
Interrupted Visions: Your chance to join with the Foundation Beyond Belief to help victims of the flooding
Yes, I know we are in the middle of our 3 part series on visions, but we well know that weather systems don’t care what we humans are doing. This week, extreme rainfall caused historic flooding in Louisiana, with people killed and the property damage mounting by the day. We have a chance to help, both indirectly (because climate change makes rare events like this more likely, so helping slow climate change helps future victims), and directly. The Foundation Beyond Belief has set up an easy way for us Atheists to make a difference in the lives of those hurt by the flooding – regardless of who they are or what they believe. Here’s the link. While we’ll each return to our daily lives in mere minutes, it’ll be a lot longer than that for those affected by the flooding can return to anything like a regular daily life.
Visions Part 2: Visions and Delusions, by Megan Manson
Depiction of ghostly apparitions by Utagawa Kuniyoshi. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
For many years I suffered from POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), a condition that causes the heart to race on standing up. This in turn results in dizziness, shortness of breath, chest pain, and fainting – most common for me was “pre-syncope” (near-faints). Fortunately I am pretty much recovered now and I haven’t experienced any serious symptoms for a very long time. But when my POTS was full-blown, it did give me an interesting perspective on certain spiritual experiences.
Pre-syncope, where you’re on the knife-edge of consciousness, causes the mind to do very strange things. During pre-syncope episodes, I have seen things or heard things that aren’t really there (often other people), seen flashing lights and colours, Read More
Visions, Part 1: Integrating Critical Lenses into Spirituality as a Naturalistic Pagan Goal, by Emile Wayne
Let’s face it. I am a very young pagan, both in terms of my own age (27) and the number of years I have self-consciously identified as such (one, very eventful, year).
Needless to say, I’ve spent this last year soaking up any and all things pagan. I’ve gone to Pagan Pride, participated in and let rituals throughout the Wheel of the Year with my ADF Grove, read dozens of articles and books, set up altars, made offerings, meditated, carved and burned my own set of runes, collected knick-knacks and paraphernalia, and let my normally skeptical mind entertain some truly unfamiliar ideas.
But as a full year rounds and I return to the season wherein I began, I find that my path forward looks very different than I expected it to. Read More
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Pagan Coming Out Day – May 2nd
Naturalistic Paganism 
