Naturalistic Paganism
“Humanistic Pagans at Pantheacon” by John Halstead
[left to right: John Halstead (in the Wheel of the Year shirt Jon gave me), Jon Cleland Host, and Mark Green]
My wife and I just returned from Pantheacon in San Jose, California. This was my third Pantheacon and my wife’s second, and they just keep getting better.
The highlight of the Con for me was the three Atheopagan events organized by HP columnist Mark Green, which included an open house on Saturday and a talk and ritual led by Mark Green on Sunday. When I started as managing editor for HP, one of my goals for 2014 was to see more open participation by Humanistic an Naturalistic Pagans in Pan-Pagan events like Pantheacon, and I want to thank Mark Green and everyone else that made that happen.
You can read Mark’s review of the events here. Mark described the events as “the Atheopagan ‘coming out party’ to the broader Pagan community” and that is what it felt like. It was great talking to and circling with other Humanistic and Naturalistic Pagans and really feeling a sense of community in a way that is difficult online. But it also was really great that people with different beliefs showed up to the panel and ritual. In spite of our differences of belief, the ecumenical (from the Greek oikos: “house, habitation”) spirit of Pantheacon permeated the whole weekend, including the Atheopagan events.
left to right: John Halstead, Jon Cleland Host, Brandon Sanders
In addition to meeting Mark, I had the pleasure of spending time with Jon Cleland Host who, by the way, has a new site up, NaturalPagan.org. It”s hard to believe, but Jon is even cooler in person than in his writing. Jon wore his Cosmala throughout the Con, but you’ll have to go to his site to hear the story about that. It was also great to spend time talking about building religious communities (among other things) with HP contributor Brandon Sanders and his wife, Shelley, who are also the co-founders of Solseed, a tradition which overlaps significantly with HP. I also had the pleasure of meeting HP contributor Lupa Greenwolf and HP supporter William Blumberg (of “A Pagan Humanist”) and I hope I have more time to talk to them both next Con.
I also participated on the Patheos Pagan bloggers panel, which I wrote about here. I talked briefly about attitudes toward non-theistic Pagans in the larger Pagan community.
We handed out a lot of materials, including brochures and business cards. I handed out three different brochures for HP, which you can view or download in .pdf format below:
Paganism Without Gods? brochure
Naturalistic Transcendence brochure
Feel free to print them out and share them.
You can also find the Naturalistic Paganism and Atheopaganism brochures below.
Naturalistic Paganism brochure
I am really looking forward to next year for more Atheopagan events and meeting even Humanistic and Naturalistic Pagans in person!
The Author
John Halstead is a former Mormon, now eclectic Neo-Pagan with an interest in ritual as an art form, ecopsychology, theopoetics, Jungian theory, and the idea of death as an act of creation. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HP, he is the author of the blogs, The Allergic Pagan at Patheos and Dreaming the Myth Onward at Pagan Square. He is also the administrator of the website Neo-Paganism.org.
Mid-Month Meditation: “In the Darkness of Winter” by Jennifer S. Getsinger
We encourage our readers to use these Mid-Month Meditations as an opportunity to take a short break from everything else. Rather than treating these posts the way you would any other post, set aside 10 minutes someplace quiet and semi-private to have an experience. Take a minute to relax first. After reading the quote below, take a few minutes to let the experience sink in. If it feels right, leave a comment.
In the darkness of winter the rains come.
Earth draws her mantle of darkness and moisture nearer,
pulls her grey blanket of clouds closer around her mountain
shoulders.
On icy heights the mountains become the storehouses of the snow.
On forested slopes and in lowland rainforests, evergreens soak in the
nurturing water,
and draw it into the soil.
Groundwater seeps into networks of cracks in Coast Range granite,
as rocks become the storehouses of the rain.
In darkness, and under[the]ground[of Vancouver],
the Earth draws in rainwater down along beds of porous sandstone
to wash the fossil leaves of ancient rainforests,
to cleanse the black layers of underlying coal,
waiting in the sleep of millions of years
while holding potential warmth and light for a future age.
In the darkness of winter as sunfire wanes and life forms sleep,
the cycles of earth, air, and water blur and mingle:
our drinking water may be muddy with mineral silt;
the solid ground seems to melt into rivers beneath our feet;
and the air we breathe is an ocean of dampness.
In the darkness of winter, we too need to rest and sleep,
and draw in the groundwater now
that will later nourish the springs of our souls.
This poem was published earlier on the website for the Canadian Unitarian Council.
The Author
Jennifer Getsinger has been a member of UCV since 1984, and was married there in 1985. She was raised as a Unitarian, attending various US UU churches, including 7 years at the First Parish in Concord, Massachusetts. Living about a kilometre from Walden Pond, Jennifer was influenced from an early age by the Transcendentalists, including Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, thus beginning an interest in earth-based spirituality and panentheism. Her professional/educational background includes anthropology and earth sciences, and nature writing is one of her passions (essays and poetry). Jennifer has 2 children, Wolf and Chilko, who also attend the Unitarian Church of Vancouver.
[Rotting Silver] “Parable of the Earth’s Lover” by B. T. Newberg
From the Earth’s embrace, her lover pulled away.
She asked, “What is wrong?”
He replied, “You kissed me once and it was warm. But when you kissed again, it was cold, like the lips of a corpse. What does this mean?”
She said, “It means I will be the one to kill you.”
“No, ” he said. “Surely it is not so.”
She replied, “Do you think you know me? Am I only love and life and pleasure? The milk of my left breast is medicine but my right suckles poison. When you press your body to me my lips shall become rose petals but my nipples thorns. When you enter my vulva you shall find a cloth of silk but also a razor. Or do you keep another mistress who dispenses your woes?”
He said, “You are all things to me.”
She said, “My body is this earth. From my womb flows all things seen and unseen, and all this is my creation. If you do not embrace my creation, you do not embrace me. Or would you rather have never lived than die in my arms?”
He said, “You know it is not so, but still I am afraid.”
She replied, “Your fear is a little bird. Keep it and care for it as you would your own child. In time it will fly you to me. With a kiss I give life and with another I take it away. Between these two kisses is my embrace.”
He said, “O Goddess, you are my lover!”
She said, “Mine are powers greater than you can imagine, but yours is the power to fulfill me. Come. Let us give body to our communion.”
And they embraced.
Rotting Silver is a column devoted to this Earth in all its tarnished radiance: poetry, prose, and parables of ugliness alloyed with joy.
A version of 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 is creating an online course in naturalistic spirituality. 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. After living in Minnesota, England, Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea, he currently resides in St Paul, 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.
“Are Humanistic Pagans building a temple in Iceland?” by John Halstead
If you haven’t heard, the heathen group, Ásatrúarfélagið, has announced that it is building the first pagan temple in that country in 1000 years*. Ásatrúarfélagið is the the Icelandic Asatru Association and you can find their page translated by Google here. You can read The Wild Hunt’s complete coverage of the temple building here. This is newsworthy for a couple of reasons. First, Scandinavia was late to convert to Christianity, centuries after the rest of Europe, and is still predominately Christian. Second, contemporary Pagans have had a very difficult time building temples and community centers. (See Cara Shulz’s 2-part series at The Wild Hunt on “Building Pagan Temples and Infrastructures”.)
We’re off to Pantheacon!
If you’re in the Bay Area this weekend, then don’t miss out on Pantheacon, the largest indoor Pagan conference in the U.S., which runs From Friday through Monday (Feb 13 – 16) at the San Jose Doubletree Hotel. And if you’re not in the area, then hop on a plane with some of HP’s staff and come anyway, because this year, there will be events specifically for Humanistic and Naturalistic Pagans!
Mark Green of the Atheopaganism group has organized a panel on Atheism in Paganism entitled “Godless Bless”, featuring Mark, John Halstead, Jon Cleland Host, Aine Xenon, and Esther Bamberg, and moderated by Lupa Greenwolf. The panel will take place in the Pagan Scholars Suite (Suite 967) on Sunday at 1:30-3:00. There will also be an Atheopagan mixer/open house on Saturday 12-3 and a workshop and ritual on Sunday 3:30-5.
This is a step toward getting on Pantheacon’s official scheduling, which is our goal for next year. To that end, we need a good turnout for these event. So please come by and support Atheopaganism and HP.
HP’s Managing Editor, John Halstead (aka “Johnny Humanist”), will also be on the Patheos Pagan Bloggers panel entitled “The Good, The Bad, & The Blogging”. It’s first thing on Friday, at 1:30 p.m., right after the opening ritual.
We look forward to seeing you there!
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