November 19, 2014

1. Gerald Gardner did not worship the Triple Goddess. Gerald Gardner, the father of Wicca, did not mention a Triple Goddess in his “Book of Shadows”.  Nor does Gardner mention a Triple Goddess in Witchcraft Today, which was published in 1954.  He does mention a Triple Goddess in his book, The Meaning of Witchcraft, published in 1959, but only briefly.  Similarly, Raymond Buckland, who is credited with bringing Gardnerian witchcraft to America does not mention the Triple Goddess in Witchcraft from... Read more

November 15, 2014

No symbol is more ubiquitous in Neo-Pagan and Wiccan culture than that of the Triple Moon Goddess: Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Many Pagans will already be aware the Triple Goddess was the creation of Robert Graves. However, our knowledge of the ancient origins upon which Graves drew was incomplete, until now. Read more

November 14, 2014

I trace the evolution of the Greco-Roman triple goddess par excellence: Hekate-Diana. Many Pagans will be familiar with the Hekate and Diana as triple goddesses, but they did not start out that way. The Greek goddess Hekate begins as a singular Great Goddess. She then becomes a tri-formed goddess of witchcraft, the moon, and crossroads, and is syncretized with the Roman goddess Diana. Finally, in Apulieus’ Golden Ass, Hekate-Diana is syncretized with the Great Goddess again. Along the way, she takes the form of “triplicities” and “triads”, but only hints at a true "triunity". Read more

November 13, 2014

The origin of the Robert Graves’ Triple Goddess has been hidden from us, because the text on which Graves most likely relied upon was never translated into English … until now. Read more

November 12, 2014

Last night, Jason Mankey and his co-host Kim Martin Bannerman were gracious enough to invite me to chat with them on the Raise the Horns Radio show, hosted by the Pagans Tonight radio Network. We talked about raising children in a multi-faith household, Mormonism, Humanistic Paganism, Neo-Paganism (just what's up with the Neo- prefix anyway?), Robert Graves (for the history buffs out there), and why I hate the name Mabon for the fall equinox! Read more

November 10, 2014

More than any other religious group in the West, perhaps, Pagans can remember a time when Christianity was not the dominant mode of religious discourse. We can imagine a future which is not only post-Christian, but post-monotheistic. And to the extent that our relationship with the environment is bound up with a monotheistic paradigm, we are uniquely situated to help imagine a society which has a radically different relationship with the environment. Read more

November 1, 2014

We hide from ourselves our immersion in nature. We do this by surrounding ourselves with artifice -- things which are nature, but appear to be otherwise. So much so that I can forget that I am already living in a structure made of trees, that something died so I could have shelter. Read more

October 21, 2014

This post concludes my month-long series on Deep Ecology, exploring its “roots”, “branches”, and “fruits”. A map is provided below. (And if anyone would like to design an interactive tree graphic for me, I would kiss your feet.) Roots of the Deep Ecology Tree The Transcendentalists, “An Original Relation to the Universe” John Muir, “Prophet of the Wilderness” Aldo Leopold, “Thinking Like a Mountain” Rachel Carson, “A cry in the wilderness that changed the world” The Neo-Pagans: “The Dirt Worshippers” What... Read more

October 19, 2014

Neo-Paganism is a nature religion which, like other nature religions, perceives nature as both sacred and interconnected. From this perspective, humans in the developed world have become tragically disconnected from nature, which has been desacralized in both thought and deed. Healing this rift is possible only through a profound shift in our collective consciousness. This constellation of ideas can be called “Deep Ecology”. This is the fifth in a 5-part series about some of “fruits” of Deep Ecology. This essay was originally published at Neo-Paganism.com. In his essay,... Read more

October 17, 2014

Neo-Paganism is a nature religion which, like other nature religions, perceives nature as both sacred and interconnected. From this perspective, humans in the developed world have become tragically disconnected from nature, which has been desacralized in both thought and deed. Healing this rift is possible only through a profound shift in our collective consciousness. This constellation of ideas can be called “Deep Ecology”. This is the fourth in a 5-part series about some of “fruits” of Deep Ecology. This essay was originally published at Neo-Paganism.com. “Be aware of what... Read more


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