Naturalistic Paganism
No-Nonsense Paganism: Daily Spiritual Practice (part 2)
We’re coming up on the New Year, the time when people traditionally recommit to healthy, life-enhancing practices. In the last part, I talked about the concept of spiritual discipline. In this part, I want to talk about how to actually create a daily practice.
Read MoreNo-Nonsense Paganism: Daily Spiritual Practice (part 1)
In this series, I want to strip away everything non-essential from pagan ritual and build it from the ground up–literally, starting with our interaction with the earth and the other-than-human beings who we share it with. I previously wrote about the process of creating a ritual, starting with listening–to nature, to our own bodies, and to our unconscious. I have described ritual as a conscious structure applied to an unconscious response to the more-than-human world. And I focused on using simple gestures and poetic language, inspired by the practice of deep listening.
In this part, I want to talk about daily practice. We’re coming up on the New Year, which is the time when people traditionally recommit to healthy, life-enhancing practices that they have let fall off over the course of the year. Many years, my resolution has been to recommit to my daily spiritual practice. And many times, I have quickly fallen out of practice soon after recommitting.
Before we get into the what of a daily practice in the next post, I want to talk about talk a little bit about spiritual discipline.
Read MoreHappy Winter Solstice!
Happy Winter Solstice, or Yule! Of course, our spherical planet also gives us the beautiful symmetry of the Summer Solstice (Litha) being celebrated now by our Southern Hemisphere friends. With the exact Solstice moment at 5 pm (EST) on December 21st, the longest night for most of those in America is the night of the 21st, but for some in Eastern Eurasia, the longest night is the night of the 20th. This is different for every time zone, and is easy to figure out. If the instant of the Solstice is in the morning (before noon) in your local time zone, then the longest night is the night before. If it’s in the afternoon or evening, the the longest night is the night after the Winter Solstice for you.
Playlist for the Wheel of the Year: Winter Solstice
Over the years, I have created rituals to celebrate the Wheel of the Year with my wife and children. Music has been an essential part of the experience. Without it, it would be much more difficult to create the sense of sacred time and space and to evoke the experience I desire for each ritual. So I want to share with you my playlist for each station on the Wheel of Year. Here’s the last list. Enjoy! And share your suggestions in the comments below.
Read MoreYule (the Winter Solstice) is coming up fast, + a bunch of Online Rituals!
For many of us, this is a big Sabbat, which takes a more preparation (and if you are buying gifts, the Naturalistic Pagan Gift List here might help). Whether it’s due to cultural inertia, or kid’s expectations, the importance of Stars and this Sabbat, or whatever, it’s a big deal in our family. We are already well along with the the Solstice doors Advent practice and with decorating. If you have been doing your Winter Solstice traditions for years, if you are just starting your family and are currently building the traditions which will bring the Universe to your kids, or anything in between, I hope that the traditions and practices on this post are found to be useful, inspiring, or just comforting.
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Pagan Coming Out Day – May 2nd
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