Naturalistic Paganism
Pagaian Cosmology Course On-Line, by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.
A Celebration of Goddess and Cosmogenesis in the Wheel of the Year
a journey through eight Seasonal Moments (Sabbats), joining with Earth’s everyday sacred journey around Sun – the Solstices, Equinoxes and cross-quarter days … for the novice or the experienced.
Humanism 2.0: humanity’s last monotheistic religion? – Part II, by Alex Shenderov, Ph.D.
“Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilisation.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
“All generalizations are false, including this one.”
― Mark Twain
The first part of this mini-series discussed the rational and irrational sides of human nature. It suggested that our irrationality is not an alternative to being rational, but the way we humans – lacking a time machine or an oracle – choose what to be rational about. Irrational hope for a better tomorrow is what it takes to strive for it. Read More
An Interview with Mandisa Thomas, from Black Nonbelievers! Recent Episodes of THE WONDER podcast, by Mark Green
We are very fortunate to have a great interview with Mandisa Thomas, the founder and leader of Black Nonbelievers on The Wonder podcast! Check it out! It’s especially brave for people of color to be openly Atheist in our culture today – both in America and the wider world. In addition to all the additional obstacles those of us in minority communities already face, willingly deciding to add membership in one of the most hated groups in America is a big decision (so consider helping them out – link here). For that reason and more, I fully support anyone’s decision whether that’s to stay in the Atheist closet or not – everyone’s situation is different, and others know their situation better than I. The Wonder also has a podcast about summertime in this set! – All that more, on the page here.
Playlist for the Wheel of the Year: Mid-Summer
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 fifth list. Enjoy! And share your suggestions in the comments below.
Read MoreHappy Summer Thermstice/Lammas!
Celebrations
Heat! Productivity! Success! Growing Darkness! These and many other themes join with the baking of bread and early harvest celebrations of Lunasa. I strive this year to balance both the recognition of the heat of global climate change with the celebration of heat with Lunasa. It can be a delicate balance, and with it, we sometimes need to remind ourselves that spiritual celebration is part of empowering ourselves, and that we still deserve it, even when there is bad news.
This year we have just had a heat wave in Europe (with thousands dead), and are seeing the continued climate changes in the American West, with drought and fire. Lake Mead, for instance, is dropping to historically low levels, and this change can even be seen over one short month.
Nonetheless – we still have hundreds of millions of people the world over pushing for climate change action. We still have human resilience, and the many wonders of our Universe around us (as the Webb Telescope has just reminded us of). We can still celebrate our Earth with joy!
Some of the ways many of us are celebrating were recently published (along with many online rituals you can join, some of which are still ahead of us). For my family, celebrations with our annual Lunasa blueberry harvest, baking bread, and evening ritual are coming up! As a special Lunasa treat, check out this Lammas music from Bart Everson, and the additional music from John Halstead which will soon be published on this blog. It could be part of a ritual, solitary observation, or just having around now.
For some of us, the celebrations will be later this week – the actual midpoint between the Solstice and the Equinox is August 7th. However you are celebrating (including Imbolc celebrations in the Southern Hemisphere), may your be celebration be blessed.
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Pagan Coming Out Day – May 2nd
Naturalistic Paganism 