30 04 2012
For those in the Northern Hemisphere, spring is well and truly come and summer is around the corner. Flora is bursting to life even in the most northern climes, and fauna frolicks in the verdure.
Those in the Southern Hemisphere experience the opposite, as autumn passes into winter.
In the Northern Hemisphere, this time is traditionally celebrated in the Neopagan Wheel of the Year as Beltane. The name derives from the Irish Gaelic Bealtaine or the Scottish Gaelic Bealtuinn, for “Bel-fire”, the fire of the god of light, Bel, Beli, or Belinnus. Nichols (2009) asserts that on this day, Druids kindled the “need-fires” on beacon hills, and these had healing properties for those who leaped through them. Cattle would also be driven between two such fires before being taken to their summer pastures.
Beltane is also reputed as a day of unabashed sexuality, visible in the phallic symbolism of dancing round the maypole and riding the hobby horse. Other customs include “beating the bounds” of one’s property by walking its circuit (Nichols, 2009).
Glenys Livingstone of PaGaian, a naturalistic tradition revering the Goddess as a metaphor for the Cosmos, recommends the ritual celebration of beauty, as in the following call and response:
Celebrant: “Name yourself as the Beauty, whom She desires – the Beloved. Speak if you wish, of the Beauty that you are, or simply show us. Let us welcome your Beauty.”
Each one: (wording as you wish … this is a suggestive, and presenting object or photo of Beauty,or describing, as you speak: “I am this Beauty”. AND/OR “I am the Beauty of … . I am the Beauty whom She (the Cosmos/Universe) desires.“ (Put your object or photo on the altar)
Response: Welcome, we saw you coming from afar, and you were beautiful. We saw you coming from afar, and you are beautiful. (Livingstone, 2008)
She also finds this a particularly appropriate time to use the well-known Charge of the Goddess as an invocation: “all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals.”
Jon Cleland Host of the Naturalistic Paganism yahoo group suggests making Maybaskets of flowers, running barefoot in the grass, washing one’s face in the morning dew, and writing romantic poetry.
Beltane can be timed to the Cross-quarter, or more traditionally to May 1st (May Day).
Are we helping society come together?
– by B. T. Newberg
What good do we do? Last time, we tackled the question of harm. Now let’s consider the potential good.
We should be careful not to let this become a self-congratulatory fest. We must be even more critical here, as it will be so easy to let personal bias slip in.
Before you read, please voice your opinion in this poll:
What are the potential social benefits of what we do?
Is Naturalistic Paganism beneficial to society? by B. T. Newberg
Appearing Sunday, May 5th, 2013
A Secular Pagan’s journey toward reverence.
Participatory reverence, by Hypatia’s Girl
Appearing Sunday, May 12th, 2013
Life on Earth as a religion? by Brock Haussamen
Is Naturalistic Paganism harmful to society? by B. T. Newberg
Your help is needed! Please critique this entry from the HPedia: An encyclopedia of key concepts in Naturalistic Paganism. Please leave your constructive criticism in the comments below.
Spirituality is fast becoming a common and accepted term for the pursuit of inspiration, meaning, and purpose, even among the non-religious.
Where many seem to get tripped up is in the root of the word, “spirit”, which seems to indicate some kind of supernatural entity. However, the etymology of the word can be taken in quite naturalistic directions:
spirit (n.)mid-13c., “animating or vital principle in man and animals,” from Old French espirit, from Latin spiritus “soul, courage, vigor, breath,” related to spirare “to breathe,” from PIE *(s)peis- “to blow” (cf. Old Church Slavonic pisto “to play on the flute”). (Online Etymology Dictionary)
The root meanings of courage, vigor, breath, to breathe, and to blow all have naturalistic overtones. Moreover, concepts ancestral to the English notion also have naturalistic roots: Greek pneuma or “breath”, and Hebrew ruach or “breath, wind.” Finally, the usage of the word to refer to a supernatural being is relatively late:
Meaning “supernatural being” is attested from c.1300 (see ghost); that of “essential principle of something” (in a non-theological sense, e.g. Spirit of St. Louis) is attested from 1690, common after 1800. Plural form spirits “volatile substance” is an alchemical idea, first attested 1610; sense narrowed to “strong alcoholic liquor” by 1670s. This also is the sense in spirit level (1768). (Online Etymology Dictionary)
In addition to these ancient naturalistic meanings referring to air-based phenomena, a new meaning has developed in the modern era:
In modern times “spirituality” has acquired a new meaning. It still denotes a process of transformation, but is often seen as separate from religious institutions, as “spiritual-but-not-religious.” Spirituality has come to mean the inner experience, the individual aspect. Religion represents the organized aspect, the institutions which press people into a mold. This modern spirituality blends (humanistic) psychology with mystical and esoteric traditions and eastern religions.
Social scientists have defined spirituality as the search for “the sacred,” where “the sacred” is broadly defined as that which is set apart from the ordinary and worthy of veneration. Spirituality can be sought not only through traditional organized religions, but also through movements such as the feminist theology and ecological spirituality. Spirituality is associated with mental health, managing substance abuse, marital functioning, parenting, and coping. It has been suggested that spirituality also leads to finding purpose and meaning in life. (Wikipedia)
To illustrate the shift in meaning in modern times, it may be helpful to display a number of uses of the word by notable figures today.
Lawrence Krauss, physicist and strident atheist, exclaims:
I get upset when people say that science isn’t spiritual. I get spiritual wonder looking at every Hubble space telescope picture. And science, in fact, is a better kind of spirituality because it’s real.
In a Huffington Post article, evolutionary evangelist Michael Dowd explains:
New Theists practice what might be called a “practical spirituality.” Spirituality for us means the mindset, heart-space and tools that assist one in growing in integrity (i.e., in right relationship to reality) and supporting others and our species in doing the same. It also means an interpretive stance that can be counted on to deliver hope in times of confusion, solace in times of sorrow and support for handling life’s inevitable challenges.
Pantheist Annika Garratt adds:
Some people regard the word ‘spirituality’ as pertaining strictly to the ‘supernatural’. In my opinion, spirituality can be wholly naturalistic. Is ‘spirit’ something supernatural? This word is Latin in origin and means “breath”. To breathe is not a feat of the supernatural. Breathing is a characteristic of something that is alive, and to be ‘spirited’ or ‘in high spirits’ is to be lively. So then, spirituality is something to do with breathing and feeling lively, understanding what life is, and valuing this experience of being alive. Your personal spirituality is your understanding of what life is and how to make the most of this life. A spiritual experience is something that inspires you to go on living. Sometimes, gazing up at the sky is my only reason for living.
Philosopher Brendan Myers comments in The Other Side of Virtue:
Spirituality is very simple. The values that configure a meaningful life need only transcend the individual self to be spiritual. They need not transcend the whole world.
Further, Spiritual Naturalist DT Strain writes on The Humanist Contemplative:
But most people think of ‘spirituality’ as inherently about the supernatural – God, the afterlife, souls, and so on. How can there be spirituality without spirits? The group’s literature points out that the root Latin word, spiritus, meant wind or breath – the essence of life. “When we say ‘the spirit of the law’ we mean the essence of the law. In the same way, a true spirituality would be a practice that focuses on the essence or the ‘essential in life’. To those with supernatural views,” says Rev. Strain, “…that might be salvation in the afterlife. To us naturalists, the ‘spirit of life’ is about living a good, meaningful, and flourishing life in the here and now. This is an older and broader understanding of spirituality.”
Politician Al Gore is quoted in Bron Taylor’s Dark Green Religion:
Gore contended that Western civilization had become dysfunctional and destructive and that the roots of the environmental crisis were “spiritual.” When making such statements, Gore knew he was going out on a limb: “As a politician, I know full well the special hazards of using ‘spiritual’ to describe a problem like this one. . . . But what other word describes the collection of values and assumptions that determine our basic understanding of how we fit into the universe?”
Finally, neuroscientist and atheist Sam Harris defends the use of the word, and mentions that so did the late Christopher Hitchens. Harris is, in fact, in the process of writing a book on the subject.
These comments vividly demonstrate the shift in meaning described in the Wikipedia article.
See also “Deity.”
Check out other entries in our HPedia.
“The natural world that formed me… is my ‘sacred canopy.'”
In The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion, published in 1967, Peter Berger analyses religion as socially constructed knowledge. His description suggests to me that our body of knowledge about the history and evolution of life could serve as the basis for a religion.
Berger sees three steps in the process by which humans construct their society and are in turn constructed by it. Read More
Naturalistic Paganism
Naturalistic Paganism 