Naturalistic Paganism
“A Naturalistic Credo” by Jon Cleland Host
We are assemblages of ancient atoms forged in stars – atoms organized by history to the point of consciousness, now able to contemplate this sacred Universe of which we are a tiny, but wondrous, part.
I’m Jon, and my Credo is just six and a half words long: “I’m conscious, and the universe exists”. That’s it. That’s all I believe without evidence. Everything else is my best guess. In every topic I’ve examined, I’ve come to general agreement with the tentative positions of mainstream science – so if you care about my factual guesses, just look it up. If you care about what spiritual meaning I’ve built on that foundation of facts – then keep listening. I think that beliefs based on revealed scripture are inherently divisive, because a private revelation can’t be tested or repeated, so the only way to resolve the inevitable questions is through fighting, which starts the cycle of revenge. If there is ever to be religious peace on earth, spirituality must be based on, not just tolerant of, openly testable evidence – and therefore cannot be absolutely certain.
Science deepens my reverence for our universe. The evidence shows that we are made of atoms forged in the awesome furnaces of ancient stars, and that we’ve evolved from simple molecules to cells to threadlike cell colonies to aquatic worms to eels to fish clambering onto land, and so on, to us. Evolution also explains much of daily life, showing why dieting is hard, why teenagers are rebellious, why the minds of men and women are different, why human nature contains both good and evil, and even why my dog likes getting petted. Evolutionary psychology is the owner’s manual to our brains, exposing the hotbuttons which are manipulated every day to sell cars based on sex, to elect politicians, to support fundamentalism, and to inflame hatred. Understanding evolution transformed my world from a pointless, bewildering struggle into an invigorating challenge. I fulfill my evolved need for ritual and spirituality using the Pagan/Native American Wheel of the Year — the celebration of the Solstices, Equinoxes, and their thermal equivalents as an expression of the sacred cycles of life around and within us. Others may use other metaphors to provide structure to their spirituality — as a Unitarian Universalist, I welcome any spirituality that isn’t harmful in the long run. I affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person – but not of every idea.
Evolution gives my life incredible meaning and purpose. I marvel at my family tree, which goes back though innumerable life forms, through amazing stories of survival, hope, courage, and parental love. It includes the tiny mammal, surviving through the freezing, yearlong darkness after the asteroid impact by eating, and likely hiding in, a frozen dinosaur carcass. It includes the first mother to produce milk, and the first blurry view through a newly evolved eye. If a depressed child suddenly discovered that she was descended from a long line of Nobel prizewinners, think of how her outlook and actions would instantly change! In the same way, I’ve grown from a long line of survivors — noble creatures of every sort, who conquered deadly challenges billions of times over. What other origin could possibly give my life more meaning?
Evolution has shown me that all life on earth is my family, bonded to me through billions of parental links of love. Realizing this gives the deep forest the same warmth and comfort as the family reunion which it is. I could go on and on about the awe and wonder I feel through being part of nature, and my tiny place within the vast stretches of space and time.
Through fits and starts, evolution has crafted the universe in ever more wonderful ways and it will probably lead to a just and sustainable world. It could happen after centuries of environmental disasters, bloody wars, and untold suffering, or it could happen sooner, through our efforts to build a loving, rational culture focused on this world. It’s up to us to choose when we’ll get there. We stand at the dawn of a new age, the first time we know of when the universe became able to reason and plan. My family, your family, including all life on earth, will live with the consequences tomorrow of the decisions we make today. Seeing my kids, or any kids, reminds me of that. What could be a greater purpose, and a greater reason to take control of one’s life? What could possibly be a stronger moral basis for ethical behavior, a clearer reason to love my neighbor as myself?
Understanding deep time and evolution makes my ancestors and our future world sources of meaning and purpose. This view has grown in me over the past 20 years, and has also sprung up elsewhere. I’ve been honored to be involved (in small ways) with the creation of a book about it -– Thank God for Evolution, by Michael Dowd. Though I don’t share the Christian reframing used throughout the book, I enthusiastically support both that form of Christianity as well as the book’s core message. My life is a precious, limited, improbable, priceless gift from our Universe. I’m overjoyed with each minute of it, overjoyed to savor the love of family, overjoyed to celebrate the seasons of our earth and of life as my Pagan and my Native American ancestors have done for thousands of years, and overjoyed to join all of you in creating the world of tomorrow for our children. That’s heaven – right here, right now. Thank you.
This essay was originally published on the Naturalistic Paganism Yahoo discussion group.
The Author
In addition to writing the Starstuff, Contemplating column here at HumanisticPaganism, 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 (seewww.thegreatstory.org, and the blog at evolutionarytimes.org). 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.
Postpagan Ceremony & Ecology, by Glen Gordon: “Why I Am Not Pagan”
Glen Gordon lets go of the Pagan umbrella
When John asked me to revise my old blog post from PostPagan about why I do not identify as being Neopagan, I was intimidated by the idea. Fifteen years ago, I identified as a Neopagan and began to share a naturalist critique of it. (This is when there was no discourse about naturalism and Neopaganism.) I will admit this hostility is one reason I disassociated with the term, but not the single reason. Over the years, I’ve shared these evolving views. The last incarnation was my personal blog, PostPagan, and is the reason I began writing for HP. Because I am a bit of a hermit, both in person and online, I rarely post comments, but do regularly read the articles of my fellow writes both here and at No Unsacred Places. I also read the Neopagan columns and blogs at Patheos. I enjoy finding what naturalist-inclined Neopagans are discussing. Being a religious naturalist and religious humanist, I find I share some common ground with this exciting emerging form of Neopaganism; however, for a long time, I’ve no longer self-identified as “Pagan”.
Instead of sharing my critique of Neopaganism, which I have done extensively on a blog that only search bots seemed to read, I felt it more helpful to share the specific differences I find between myself and Neopaganism. Self-identification as Pagan is a recent phenomen beginning in the mid 1960’s1. Before I begin, I would like to state that I consider any modern religious or spiritual practice that identifies with paganism to be Neopagan. This is because the prefix neo- is specific to meaning modern or contemporary. I insist that Neopaganism is the most descriptive and succinct way to distinguish the modern phenomenon from ancient paganism.
From my observations, Neopagnism is a broad categorical term covering many specific religions nested within another grouping of religions which share common sources but are diverse in practice and thought, akin to terms like Abrahamic religion or Oriental religion. I find three distinct religious movements underneath the large umbrella of Neopaganism which are diverging further apart and deserve academic and cultural attention on their own. They are as follows:
Wiccinate spirituality: this is the most prevalent form of Neopaganism influenced by Gerald Gardner’s tradition, but includes adaptations by Alex Sanders, and variations of Robert Cochrane and Joseph Wilson’s visions of modern witchcraft2. This category also includes Neo-Wicca, an individualistic (often solitary) synchronism of Wiccan themes with the New-Age, Goddess worship, and Feminism, beginning with the once controversial writings of Scott Cunningham3.
Neo-Druidry: While Wiccinate spirituality became formalized in the 1950’s and 1960’s, Neo-Druidry’s originates with the 18th century writers exploring themes of the druids found within classical literature4. As an attempt to reclaim a Welsh national identity, Iolo Morganwg’s founded the Gorsedd of Bards in 1792, along with the writing the Barddas which he claimed he translated from older texts, but were in fact his own inventions5. Both events are pivotal in the emergence of Neo-Druidry. During the 1960’s, the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids (OBOD) was founded and influenced by Morganwg’s Gorsedd and Barddas6. Meanwile, independent of OBOD, the Reform Druids of North America was formed by students at Carleton College in protest to the school’s requirement of church participation on Sundays7. In 1983, Isaac Bonewits founded Ár nDraíocht Féin (ADF), translated from Gaelic as “Our Own Druidry”8. Over time, these organizations have been influenced by each other, yet maintain strong distinctions between each other. And even though they have had some influence on Wiccinate spirituality, Neo-Druidry maintains its own philosophy and liturgy apart from other forms of Neopaganism.
Reconstructional polytheism: One some level, this movement owes a lot to Isaac Bonewits and ADF, as early examples of attempts in recreating pre-Christian religions from historic and archaeological evidence9. Where ADF casts a wide net around Indo-European religion, Reconstructional polytheism focuses upon specific historical cultures such as pre-Christian Celts, Romans, Hellenic, and Germanic tribes. Reconstructional Polytheism is experiencing substantial growth during the current decade with its emphasis on research and cultural context, and includes Celtic reconstructionism, the many traditions of Germanic Heathenism, Baltic Romuva, Greek Hellenism, and Latin Religio Romana to name a few.
This is not to say there isn’t overlap between the three. I mention the above distinctions because it is important to understand the variety and diversity within Neopaganism. In the 21st century, both naturalism and animism have become emerging forces within all three movements. In particular, Neo-Druidy has been quick to incorporate these views into its faith. If there where to be a minimal definition which ties these movements together it is that they each incorporate themes of pre-Christian religions of Europe and Mediterranean cultures, but diverge in religious philosophy and liturgy.
However, regardless of my education and training in all three movements, and despite their verity and diversity, I hold fundamental positions which have me feeling out of place during Neopagan ceremonies, and gatherings like PantheaCon. For many years, I no longer incorporate themes from ancient paganism. Furthermore, there are key points of my religious philosophy, spirituality, and practice which, to my knowledge, fall outside of expressions of Neopaganism:
- My polytheism does not engage with deities from ancient cultural narratives from Europe and the Mediterranean. My deities are not engendered nor anthropmorphized. Instead, I blend process theology, transpersonal psychology, and deism into what I have called naturalistic polytheism, and now label process polydeism. This perspective doesn’t conform to the devotional, metaphorical, and pantheist forms of polytheism debated within Neopaganism10 11.
- I have strict ethics about cultural appropriation that would make Reconstructional polytheists uncomfortable. These ethics extend beyond cultural context to ecological, geographic and temporal context.
- I do not practice any form of the occult, including tarot, astrology, and magick. I acknowledge the occult is not prominent in every form of Neopaganism, but its influence is so widespread and noticeable that I felt it important to include in this list.
- The structure of my practice is land-centered and directly influenced by the local ecology of the place I live. This results in ceremonies and costumes which are foreign to any Neopagan I have shared them with.
If there is a term which I feel can include these differences it is Bioregional Animism, which I have written about in length on my previous blog. However, Bioregional Animism is not as much a religious term as a broad world-view which can be applied equally to Neopaganism as it can to Christianity, Buddhism, Atheism, et cetera. The other term I have used in the past is PostPagan, which was the title of my blog, a term that was intended to be more humorous then anything else. Through many years, my personal practice and reflection evolved into something meaningful to me, regardless what name I or anyone else give it.
- Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America by Margot Adler (1979)
- The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft by Ronald Hutton (1999)
- Listening People, Speaking Earth: Contemporary Paganism by Graham Harvey (1997)
- Blood and Mistletoe: The History of the Druids in Britain by Ronald Hutton (2009)
- The Druids by Peter Berresford Ellis (1995)
- The Book of Druidry by Ross Nichols (1975)
- Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca and Paganism in America by Chas S. Clifton (2006)
- The Origins of Ár nDraíocht Féin by Issac Bonewits (1983)
- Bonewits’s Essential Guide to Druidism by Issac Bonewits (2006)
- I See Gods Everywhere by Glen Gordon (2013)
- Naturalism and the Gods by Glen Gordon (2012)
Explain your answer in the comments below.
The Author
Glen Gordon was introduced to Paganism by friends while living overseas in Europe during the late 90′s. He underwent both Wiccan and Neodruidic training during his formative years, but had not self-identified as a Pagan when his path diverged into land-centered spiritual naturalism ten years ago. His focus has been on cultivating beneficial relationships with the natural living world surrounding him wherever he lives. During this time, he discovered Unitarian Universalism and has been active in his local congregations for many years. Since 2007, he has worked on varied projects regarding BioRegional Animism, including this 5 minute video, the words of which came from a short UU sermon he gave. He has spoken on the topic of ecology and the land on a few occasions for his local congregation and facilitated a now-disbanded group of UU Pagans and spiritual naturalists. In the past, he maintained the blog, Postpagan, and is excited to share some of that material at HumanisticPaganism. Currently, you can find Glen writing occasionally for No Unsacred Places and helping achieve Green sanctuary status for his beloved UU community, where he helps create and lead ecological aware earth- and land- focused ceremonies for the solstices and equinoxes.
“My beliefs” by MortalCrow
Today we continue our late-winter theme of “Order and Structure” with MortalCrow’s story of the influence of an archetypal dream spirit on her life.
Coyote and Crow, a Diptych by Elise Mesnard. Inspired by Native American shamans embodying Coyote and Crow, trickster spirits who brought misfortune to the humans through their play, but also acted as a balancing act in relation to the other gods.
I have never believed in “God” in the traditional sense. This is because the traditional definition was wrong for me. God, all powerful, all knowing, external male entity that dictated what you can and can’t do.
I grew up with an atheist dad and a non-traditional Catholic mom. My parents agreed not to have me baptised so that I could make my own decisions regarding religion. That said, as soon as my parent’s left me in the care of my grandmother, she had me baptised Catholic. She meant well, saving my mortal soul and all.
Once I was old enough to understand religion, sometime in middle school I would assume, I started asking too many questions. It may have started in history class, who knows now? But at that point, I knew that I was not a Christan. I managed to get through Genesis in the Bible once. I felt like everything in it was wrong. Being a girl, I was just as good as any boy. Flesh and blood. A mind. Why would my different parts make me less than a boy? Why wouldn’t my dad teach me to fix a car? Why are animals treated as less than humans? Why would we want to rule the natural world instead of protect it?
I didn’t know. So I became an atheist. I figured I had to be either on the Judeo-Christian bandwagon or an atheist’s. But while I identified with atheism, I also kept my mom’s words to heart: She always said that one did not have to go inside a church to find God. God was in everything, all around us.
At the time I had some interesting dreams. I’ve always had interesting dreams. So did my mom. We didn’t really talk about the meanings of these dreams. It was like an unspoken secret. Mom always just knew things. I didn’t think too much about it until much later in life.
I remember one dream in particular. It helped me get through a difficult time in my life. I had no friends in middle school because I was a little different. I was made fun of and threatened with getting beaten up on a daily basis. I had one punk punch me in the face because I glanced at him as I walked down the hall. I had a group of girls pretend to send me notes from a boy who supposedly liked me just to laugh at me. I felt very alone. Like I was the only one in the world like me. That I was flawed somehow. An outcast. A lot of kids are faced with this and there are really two paths to choose from. Path 1: Give in and change oneself to fit in. Path 2: Stay true to who you are. I’ve never been one to conform. It was just not my way. So I decided that I had to embrace being different. Even if that meant being alone. Thankfully it did not last forever. I did find friends who didn’t quite fit in either. It also helped enrolling in martial arts. I was pretty great at it and the boost to my self-esteem sure didn’t hurt.
Anyway, around this time I had a dream one night that was so vivid I wasn’t quite sure I was dreaming. Have you ever had one of those? A dream spirit called my name, not my birth name, but a new name. I remember getting up in the middle of the night to go outside to check to make sure there wasn’t anyone calling my name from the driveway. I’m sure I laughed at myself for being crazy but I could never shake the feeling that there was really someone there. Later on in high school when I learned about the Native American spirit Crow, I identified my dream spirit as Crow. Why? It felt right. And somehow the archetype of the trickster helped me get my footing in life and set my moral compass. (You can read more about the trickster archetype at my blog here.)
Typing this out for the world to see is a little daunting. I promise I am quite sane. I have always both believed and disbelieved in spiritual matters. 99.9% of the time I do not believe spirits or gods exist, except as parts of our own souls. Archetypes or divinities are what we call specific bits of our souls that we want to focus on. A simplistic example would be if I want to approach a problem with peace and serenity, I could focus on the Goddess Quan Yin, Chinese goddess of peace and kindness and unconditional love. For me, Crow symbolized a creator spirit, one who helped me to laugh at myself and all those stupid human things that we are so serious about, when, in the grand scheme of things, they really aren’t that serious. I need this reminder more often than I care to admit. For those that know me, I think I pretty much always have a smile on my face despite all the crazy and hectic things going on in my life. I do not see the harm in honoring a spirit that helps me cope and keeps me laughing.
Some might wonder why I call myself a Pagan since I sound so much like an atheist. Well, that’s a good question. I approach things with a scientific mind, but I understand that our soul/spirit has not (yet) been measured by science. I think I’m what you would call a Naturalistic Pagan. I believe in divinity, and therefore I am not an atheist. Just because my gods/goddesses live inside me is no reason to kick me out from the Pagan umbrella. (For any Christian readers, don’t worry, I found Jesus in here too. He’s shaking hands with Osirus and Baldur.)
So this brings me to the present day. I write and assist with rituals for the MoonPath Chapter of CUUPS (Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans) and the Sisterhood of the Temple of Ahel Adom. I celebrate the quarters of the year, especially my two favorites: Samhain and Beltain. I keep three altars: a Goddess altar for Ishtar and Lillith, a ‘working’ altar currently dedicated to Hades and Persephone, and a third altar dedicated to a few Viking gods (Hail Odin!). I honor the spirits of my family and my ancestors that have gone before me.
And most importantly, I help support my community and take care of my family. All my family, literal and spiritual. I have a wonderful full house I share with my hubby, 2.5 kids, 3 dogs, 4 cats, a gerbil, a boa and 26 chickens. (Not all in the house, I swear!) I also work full time putting my math skills and people skills into use daily. I sew things and write stories. And did I mention my vegetable garden? I do keep busy. In my “spare” time, I also research Hun history, and I am currently reading the Elder Eddas and the The Looking Glass Wars.
The author
MortalCrow: I am a mom of 2 small kiddos, 1 step-kiddo, 1 big kiddo (also known as husband), 3 dogs, 4 cats, 24 chickens, including 3 roosters (George the Bastard, Bill and Ted) and 4 goats (Pan, Mu, Loka and Flora). I am an archer, a writer, a crafter, a blackbelt, and a knitter. I am a spiritual equalitarian, a feminist, a heathen and a Pagan. For me divinity comes from within and it is both and neither, male and female, God and Goddess. I also like to think I’m funny. I am a member of the Moonpath Circle and local chapter of CUUPS and a Priestess of the Sisterhood of Ahel Adom. MortalCrow blogs at As The Crow Flies.
What to look forward to in March at HP
This month we conclude our semi-seasonal theme of “Order & Structure” and begin a new theme for early spring: “Inspiration”. Send your submissions to humanisticpaganism [at] gmail [dot] com.
Special Announcement: Neil deGrasse Tyson revives Carl Sagan’s Cosmos
One of America’s best known scientists, Neil deGrasse Tyson, is reviving the late Carl Sagan’s popular television series Cosmos, which aired on PBS in 1980. Tyson will host Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, premiering Sunday, March 9, on Fox and airing the following night, March 10, on the National Geographic Channel. Find out more here.
This Month at HP
Mar 2 “My Beliefs” by MortalCrow
Mar 9 Postpagan Ceremony & Ecology: “Why I’m Not Pagan” by Glen Gordon
Mar 12 Starstuff, Contemplating: “Naturalistic Credo” by Jon Cleland Host
Mar 15 Mid-Month Meditation
Mar 16 Musings of a Pagan Mythicist: “Circle around: individuality, community and creating religion” by Maggie Jay Lee
Mar 19 A Pedagogy of Gaia: “Spring in the Subtropics — Spring in the Self” by Bart Everson
Mar 20 Vernal Equinox / New Theme Begins at HP: “Inspiration”
Mar 21 De Natura Deorum: “The Revelation of an Uncaring God” by Scott Oden
Mar 23 “Song of the Self” by Jennifer Adele
Mar 26 “One Cell” by Cathy Podd
Mar 30 “The Ordeal” by Wayne Martin Mellinger, Ph.D.
Humanistic Paganism Calendar for March
Mar 4 Church of All Worlds chartered as first Neo-Pagan church in U.S.
Mar 8 International Women’s Day
Mar 9 Daylight Savings Time begins in the U.S.
Mar 14 Einstein’s birthday / Pi Day
Mar 15 Hypatia Day
Mar 17 St. Patrick’s Day
Mar 20 Spring equinox (spring begins in U.S.) / Neo-Pagan spring quarter day (Ostara)
Mar 21 International Day of Nowruz
Mar 21 International Day of the Forests
Mar 22 World Water Day
The Pagan Atheist, by Nick Ace Westward
Today we continue our late-winter theme of “Order and Structure” with Nick Ace Westward. This originally appeared at skeptophile.com.
A Slavic Rodnover ritual in modern Russia. Slavic Rodnovery is an ethnic religion that attempts to recreate forms of Slavic polytheism. Image from Wikipedia.
It’s only after reading a post at skepchick.org that I really felt like I’ve got my own personal beliefs straight in my own head; in it, Judaism is discussed as being both a religion and a culture. It seems clear that people are able to be part of the latter without accepting even the most core tenets of the former, thus making it possible to have a secular Jew, or Jewish atheist, without contradiction. It’s all about heritage.
So it is with me. I define myself as pagan (or sometimes as heathen because I like the word), but don’t believe there are supreme supernatural entities interfering with life on earth. I don’t believe in an afterlife, or reincarnation, or precognition. I don’t attend any sort of temple, and don’t recognise the authority of any high priests or priestesses. I don’t indulge in arcane rites, dance around a fire skyclad, or trust a deity to cure my ills.
So what is paganism to me? Well, as I alluded to above, I immerse myself in the culture of paganism – the history of the pagan people, the mythology, the values. In particular, those of the Scandinavian cultures; something that goes sadly unnoticed by most of my fellow Britons is just how much of a role the “North-men” have played in our island’s history. Most will not, for instance, know that the Norman invasion of 1066 (as in the Battle of Hastings) was carried out not by the French but by Scandinavian people who had settled in what is now northern France.
I wear a Mjollnir (Thor’s Hammer) pendant at all times, I read the ancient Icelandic sagas (e.g. Njalssaga, Volsungasaga), and I’m educating myself wherever possible about all aspects of the culture. I find their values to be the closest to my own, and one of the most important things in the world to me is a sense of honour – something largely seen as an anachronism in today’s society. It’s one of those subjects on which I’m liable to talk for hours.
I became pagan as an anti-conformist teenager thing, I’ll admit. I was educated to the age of 11 in what was (though not explicitly advertised as such) a Church of England primary school, with hymns in assemblies and subtle indoctrination. I never believed a word of it, probably because the questioning and sceptical mindset of my parents informed my own; it’s hardly surprising that I went looking for alternatives as soon as I was able. I ate up every scrap of information I could on Britain’s and Europe’s pre-Christian culture, and even today I never miss an opportunity to remind people what our Christian holidays are based on and why. It probably annoys those closest to me, but they put up with it bless them.
So this is me. The pagan atheist, the atheistic pagan, the secular pagan, the pagan humanist – whatever you want to call it. It’s a cultural thing.
The Author
Nick Ace Westward
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Pagan Coming Out Day – May 2nd
Naturalistic Paganism 