Naturalistic Paganism
“A 50-Year Vision for Naturalistic Pagans” by B. T. Newberg
Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
As the sun returns and the new year of 2016 begins, I want to look ahead, far ahead. But first, let’s review just how far we’ve come.
Before 2005, when Jon Cleland Host coined the term “Naturalistic Pagan” and moderated a Yahoo group for us, we were semi-mythical creatures: every Pagan seemed to know a friend of a friend who claimed to be nontheistic, but no one really knew what that meant or how many of us were out there. Read More
[The Dionysian Naturalist] “Enchanting Naturalism, Part 2” by Wayne Martin Mellinger, Ph.D.
Enchanted Naturalism
As a form of naturalism, “enchanted naturalism” continues to be grounded in scientific discovery and empirical observation of the real world. Yet, it is committed to contributing to a meaningful dialogue between religion and science and to their potential rapprochement. Enchanted naturalism is open to spiritual interpretation. It infuses a mythopoetic language of reference into the scientific evidence it employs, and it seeks to transcend the objective and materialist answers with subjective, archetypal, and metaphysical concerns. Regarding this world as holy and alive (as “vibrant matter”), it highlights our spiritual connections to the cosmos. Anima mundi — the soul of the world — becomes revived. Read More
[The Dionysian Naturalist] “Enchanting Naturalism, Part 1” by Wayne Martin Mellinger, Ph.D.
I went looking for the soul of modernity and surprisingly found it to be alive, although severely injured and in vital need of resuscitation.
Let me first comment on the “alive” characteristic of the soul of modernity. Read More
[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?
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Pagan Coming Out Day – May 2nd
Naturalistic Paganism 
