Paganism

Culture and Community: The Impact of Diversity Within Modern Paganism

By |

Diversity is one of those funny things. There never seems to be enough diversity in any community to reflect all the many different intersections within society. Ideas of diversity are often limited to race, ethnicity and gender in larger conversations, and yet there are so many more variations and flavors to the many different types of people, ideas, experiences and circumstances. It has become more of a buzz word in many spaces, such as the workplace, academic institutions and even spiritual spaces – an expectation instead of a reality in some circumstances. 

We know that diversity means variety and the representation of a range of differences. Do we have diversity within modern Paganism?

Paganism

Around the World: Is Australia a Secular Country?

By |

In 2009, the Parliament of the World’s Religions was held in Melbourne, Australia. Over 6,000 people, including American and Australian Pagans, attended. The theme was “Make a World of Difference: Hearing each other, Healing the earth.” That same weekend, in Sydney, the National Conference for all Concerned Christians was held. Its theme was “Australia’s Future and Global Jihad”. Australia is a secular country.

Paganism

Column: God as a Small Thing

By |

The figure stands, unsteady and misshapen, only a few centimeters tall. It lacks its left arm, and its bronze form has become so weathered that I cannot easily read its face; the head rises to a point like an arrowhead, and two curving lines beneath the nose suggest a mustache. Its right eye is just a slit in the metal; a protruding oval marks the wide left eye. A nearby sign lists the figure’s provenance: Lindby, Skåne, Sweden, created sometime during the Iron Age – there’s no more definite date given than that. Because the figure is missing an eye, it is usually interpreted as the god Odin.

Paganism

Column: Social Justice IS my Spiritual Practice

By |

[Today we welcome guest writer Darcy Totten an activist and solitary practitioner living in Sacramento, CA. Totten holds an MA in Journalism and has worked in media and communications for over fifteen years. Her consulting group, Activism Articulated, serves the communications and strategy needs of non-profit organizations, activists and student groups across California. She is currently working in partnership with the Spirituality and Social Justice collective, led by her and her wife Jasper James, to codify and articulate ideas around social justice as a lived spiritual practice in the Pagan community. To learn more about Totten’s work and the Spirituality and Social Justice workshops, contact her through ActivismArticulated or join Totten and James online at “Black Lives Matter: Allies Unite”]

A few weeks ago, my fiancé Jasper and I gathered with our usual small but dedicated group at The Enchanted Tree in Sacramento, CA for a workshop on “Spirituality and Social Justice.” We run the workshop monthly, punctuated with frequent online discussions, phone calls and social gatherings. Based initially off of Tim Titus’ ‘Pentacle of Activism’ and expanded upon reworked into the following (click here for PDF) the workshops are organized around the elements, with the idea that the group will examine issues of social justice in the context of Pagan spiritual space and will share ideas about integrating our spiritual lives with our daily realities.

Paganism

Column: Our Terpsichorean Powers

By |

In the African Traditional Religions, such as Lukumí, the social community and religious community are one in the same. There was and is no instance where the social space fails to overlap the religious space. Through Lukumí, I inherited that world-view. The sacred is immanent in the world and not in some distant place separated by complex spiritual mechanisms such as the concept of salvation. In a world that is whole, where spirit, matter and time are equally present, there is nothing to traverse, nor bargain to make, in order to access the divine.