Naturalistic Paganism

Category: Columns


No-Nonsense Paganism: Daily Spiritual Practice (part 2)

For me, the goal of daily spiritual practice is the “re-enchantment” of my everyday life, restoring a sense of sacredness to our experience, which has been stripped away by reductionist positivism, consumer capitalism, and transcendental religion.

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No-Nonsense Paganism: Daily Spiritual Practice (part 1)

Let’s talk a little about spiritual discipline.

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No-Nonsense Paganism: My Winter Ritual

It’s really not a complicated ritual. There’s a a simple but powerful gesture–passing the flame–and a recitation of poem that resonates deeply with me and gestures to something bigger than I can easily explain. And there’s a little deliberate structuring to give it shape. And that’s it.

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No-Nonsense Paganism: Creating a Ritual (part 2)

Ritual is the product of a conscious form applied to unconscious content. The most evocative rituals I have created came from somewhere other than my rational mind. They combined intuitive bodily movements with what W.H. Auden called “privately numinous words”, words that I had read or heard which had a talismanic-like effect on me.

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No-Nonsense Paganism: Creating a Ritual (part 1)

Ritual is the product of a conscious form applied to unconscious content. The most evocative rituals I have created came from somewhere other than my rational mind. They combined intuitive bodily movements with what W.H. Auden called “privately numinous words”, words that I had read or heard which had a talismanic-like effect on me.

Read More