Naturalistic Paganism

Category: John Halstead


Pagan ritual as an encounter with depth, part 1, by John Halstead

We are not one Jungian-based Paganism begins with the proposition that the human psyche is not unitary. We are not one; we are many striving to become one.   As James Hillman writes, “every sophisticated theory of personality has to admit…

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My daily practice: Morning ritual, by John Halstead

I want to share what my daily practice is.  Basically, it involves four short prayers in the morning to the air, Sun, water, and earth.  Then I have a prayer over meals.  And finally I have a ritual at night…

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The archetypes are gods: Re-godding the archetypes, by John Halstead

As Neopagan discourse moves increasingly in the direction of radical polytheism, those Humanistic or Naturalistic Neopagans who find this position rationally untenable may find themselves (more) marginalized in the Neopagan community. The pendulum which previously swung to the humanistic extreme by reducing the gods to symbols is now swinging to the other extreme of transcendental theism, denying that the gods are part of the human psyche. Jung’s theory of archetypes offers us an opportunity to create a golden mean between these two extremes, one which may simultaneously satisfy the humanist or naturalist who sees the gods as products of the human psyche, while also satisfying the mystical longing for contact with a numimous Other which is greater than any creation of our conscious mind.

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