Naturalistic Paganism
Happy Summer Thermstice/Lammas!
Celebrations
Heat! Summer! Productivity! These and many other themes join with the baking of bread and early harvest celebrations.
Some of the ways many of us are celebrating were published a few weeks ago, and at least for my family, celebrations have already started with our annual blueberry harvest yesterday. Plus, a recent post on the Atheopaganism site describes celebrating Summers End. Also, For some of us, the celebrations will be later this week – the actual midpoint between the Solstice and the Equinox is August 7th. However you are celebrating (including Imbolc celebrations in the Southern Hemisphere), may your be celebration be blessed.
Image by Druidstone.
This Saturday Evening, Join John Halstead and Steven Provost on the Green Egg Podcast
This Saturday, July 30, listen to the Green Egg podcast at 8pm ET/ 7pm CT/ 6pm MT/ 5pm PT, as John Halstead and Stephen Provost talk about atheist and non-theistic Paganism with the show’s hosts: Tish Owen, Aradia Lecraw, and Sylveey Selu — aka Dawn Sevier, also known as the Maiden, Mother and Crone. Two of the hosts of the show, Aradia and Dawn, also identify with Godless Paganism. You can call in with questions at (347) 857-3605.
Click here for more information.
[Rotting Silver] “Russ-saa-shee” by B. T. Newberg
I asked a Druid: Speak to trees–
Can this you really do?
She queerly led me to a tree…
I found it true indeed!
And then a person asked of me:
‘What do they say to you?’
The rustling trees that speak to me
Say ‘russss-saaaa-sheee.’
‘Russ-saa-shee’–what does it mean
This word they trust to you?
But likewise I could find no clue
To ‘russss-saaaa-sheee.’
Image Credit: Michael Gaida
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.
Post Christian Sacred Spaces, by Renee Lehnen
Perched on an oaken pew, I listen to jazz, riff after gloriously improvised riff. Early evening sunshine streams through stained glass casting kaleidoscope colours on the piano. Outside, sparrows rest on weathered granite gravestones. Inside, people fan themselves with the Order of Service and tap their feet to secular standards. This time and place is… sacred. I want to make a joyful noise! Read More
Naturalistic Pagan Toolbox: Eco-Shrines
This column was conceived by Rua Lupa, who proposed gathering practical resources for Naturalistic Pagans in one place. It is dedicated to sharing ideas for religious technologies which we might use or adapt to deepen our Naturalistic Pagan practices. It includes the ideas and experiences of others, as well as some of my own, and I welcome you to send me your ideas for sharing in future posts. If you have discovered a ritual technique which works for you that you would like to add to the Naturalistic Pagan Toolbox, click here to send me an email.
Where are all the Pagans?
I have a theory that what the religious “Nones” may be looking for is not the “religionless church” offered by the Sunday Assembly and Unitarian Universalism, but “churchless religion” — symbol, myth, and ritual, without the moralism, dogmatism, and hierarchy — a kind of “Hinduism for the West”. And it so happens, that is how Paganism is sometimes described. Read More
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Pagan Coming Out Day – May 2nd
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