Naturalistic Paganism
[A Pedagogy of Gaia] “Consecrating Our Compost Bin” by Bart Everson
We finally got our compost bin a few weeks ago. The implication is shocking, I know. We weren’t composting before that. True, we did make a halfhearted pile in the corner of the yard, but that never amounted to much. Nor do I count the heap my parents maintained when I was growing up. The fact is that after decades of neglect, I only started composting in earnest earlier this month. Read More
What potentials do you see for Humanistic Paganism?
Many people have realized how natural it is to map our history onto the year, with the Big Bang at January 1 and today at December 31. The first time I saw this done was when Carl Sagan gave us his Cosmic Calendar in 1980. The beauty, elegance, and clarity of the Cosmic Calendar show in both the events brought to mind, as well a way it makes understanding Deep Time easy. We used the same approach here at HP in 2014, following Peter Adair’s Earth Story calendar. So for 2016, we’ll be looking to our Deep Time history for our themes.
Early Winter (Dec 21-Feb 2)
Cosmic event: The birth of the Universe to earth life on Earth
Theme: Possibilities & Potentials
Questions: With a very simple early Universe of energy, hydrogen, and helium, who could have guessed the wonders that surround us today? What amazing potential it had! In the same way, what potentials could our simple beginnings have? Or, what other possibilities have you seen in your life, either as part of Naturalistic Paganism or in other areas?
[Pagan in Place] “A Personal Pagan Philosophy” by Anna Walther
I find the vitriolic blogosphere debates between atheistic Pagans and hard polytheists exhausting and uninteresting. Like many of you, I think about the nature of deity, but I think the question itself is more interesting than the answers. Furthermore, relationship with deity is deeply personal and intimate. No surprise then, that in the very public discussion of the nature of deity among people who don’t know each other well, without the goodness of face-to-face communication cues like eye contact, facial expression, and tone of voice, many people’s personal boundaries are crossed and a lot of conflict results.
Cosmic Calendar Countdown
Carl Sagan’s Cosmic Calendar maps the entire history of our cosmos onto a single year. You can follow the entire calendar here at Humanistic Paganism. 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
[Rotting Silver] “Universal Intelligence” by B. T. Newberg
Everything has universal intelligence:
A rock knows how to hold together, and when a wind blows upon it, it knows how to wear away slowly. A corpse knows how to let itself go, to give up its consistency so that other things may be nourished and formed from it. Water knows how to evaporate, rise, and then fall as rain. And it knows how to find its way back to the ocean. Read More
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Pagan Coming Out Day – May 2nd
Naturalistic Paganism 