Living

Column: Ásatrú Ritual and Climate Change Ethics, Part One

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The Ásatrú religion can offer new perspectives on climate change ethics via examination of the modern practice of historically grounded ritual known as blót – a rite that foregrounds reciprocity with the earth, inherent value in the natural world, transtemporal human relationships, global connectedness, and the consequences of human action. In addition to discussing Ásatrú textual sources and examples of ritual, this column offers a new ethical model for responding to issues of climate change. Ásatrú is a religion with a life that already relates to reality in a way that addresses major issues raised by climate change ethicists. Practitioners are both certain and competent in a life-practice that directly engages relationships within the transtemporal human community and with the wider world. Through study of lore and celebration of ritual, the practice of Ásatrú reinforces understanding of reciprocal relationships with the natural world, inherent value of living things, connections to past and future peoples, interrelatedness of all human actors, and consequences of human actions.

Paganism

The prison work of ADF

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For the last eight years, members of Ár nDraíocht Féin : A Druid Fellowship have worked with prisoners in the Pacific Northwest. They have working groups of male prisoners in Coyote Ridge and Stafford Creek correction centers in the state of Washington. When someone from the Coyote Ridge ADF group was transferred to Stafford Creek, he began to organize the second group indicating organic growth of the program. There is also an ADF group in one female prison in Oregon. The number at the three prisons is small, less than 50 prisoners in all.

Australia

Druids Down Under organize a national gathering for 2018

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SYDNEY — Australian eclectic Druid group Druids Down Under is set to host its first national event in the Pennant Hills this weekend. The gathering will include workshops, musical performances, meditation, creative spaces and nature walks, with organisers expecting around 60 participants from a range of established traditions such as Ár nDraíocht Féin, the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, and the British Druid Order, as well as eclectic and solitary practitioners. Organiser and eclectic Druid Julie Brett hopes the gathering will be significant and uniquely Australian. “It focuses on what it means to follow the path of Druidry in the Australian landscape specifically,” Brett says. “This is the first time that we have met in large numbers from around the country in person.

News

Pagan artist trading cards mix magic and devotion

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TWH –Artist trading cards appear to be a good fit for many Pagan and polytheist communities, because they are intended to celebrate art for its own sake, free of critiques and commercial motivations. There have been a number of efforts to popularize what initiator M. Vänçi Stirnemann calls “a collaborative cultural performance” among Pagans and polytheists, but the idea does not yet appear to have caught fire in the collective imagination of these communities. Sometimes abbreviated ATCs, artist trading cards are miniature works created in the dimension of other trading or collectible cards, because they’re intended to be swapped rather than sold. Since Stirnemann launched the project with an exhibition in April 1997, regular trading sessions have occurred monthly in Zurich and Calgary. In addition to those and other trading sessions, artists swap them when they meet, and also through the mail.