Two years ago a crazed Alabama football fan poisoned two 130-year-old oak trees on the campus of rival Auburn University. I blogged about it at the time, trying to explain the unbelievable passion college football inspires in the Southeast, and expressing my disgust at anyone who would kill something older than any living human for such a ridiculous reason. This saga is coming to a close. Last month Harvey Updyke pled guilty to “criminal damage to an agricultural facility,” which is a … [Read more...]
A Modern Pagan View of Sacrifice
April 22, 2013 By 2 Comments
Last week Sam Webster had an excellent column on restoring Pagan sacrifice which drew largely from the ancient Greeks. I’d like to continue that conversation and offer my own thoughts on sacrifice: what it is and why we should do it. Sacrifice has two separate but related meanings. If we are to understand sacrifice, much less practice it effectively, we need to understand both. The common meaning of sacrifice is “to give up.” We pour a libation, giving up the opportunity to drink the … [Read more...]
My Defining Moment
April 19, 2013 By 4 Comments
The Patheos Spirituality Channel is running a series on Defining Moments: “moments in your life that led you to the place you are now and the life you now lead.” When I heard about it I immediately knew what I had to write. In 1993 I had a small moment – I met a Wiccan for the first time. We talked and the little boy who had grown up struggling with the fundamentalist religion he had been taught learned there were other ways of looking at things. The ideas that God was female as well as … [Read more...]
Ronald Hutton and the Paradox of Witchcraft
April 16, 2013 By 14 Comments
At the risk of sounding like a fanboy (or perhaps, at the risk of exposing myself for the fanboy I am) the primary reason I went to Sacred Lands and Spiritual Landscapes was Ronald Hutton. I’ve respected his work ever since I read The Triumph of the Moon in 2002 and I’ve enjoyed listening to some of his lectures on Druidcast. He doesn’t come across the ocean very often and when I saw he would be in South Carolina I knew I wanted to go. He did not disappoint. His two talks were both … [Read more...]
Sacred Lands and Spiritual Landscapes
April 14, 2013 By 10 Comments
I spent this weekend in Columbia, South Carolina at the Sacred Lands and Spiritual Landscapes Symposium, which was presented by Cherry Hill Seminary in conjunction with the University of South Carolina. There were paper presentations, responses, conversations, dinners, drumming, and two wonderful talks by Ronald Hutton, Professor of History at Bristol University in the U.K. and author of fourteen books, including the highly influential The Triumph of the Moon. I got enough ideas and quotes … [Read more...]
Magic: Don’t Believe, Do
April 10, 2013 By 5 Comments
When asked “what is magic?” I generally respond with a three-part answer: part psychological programming, part manipulation of unseen forces, and part intercessory prayer. Last week Yvonne Aburrow had a very good post on this on the Sermons on the Mound blog. She touched on the psychological and energy manipulation aspects of magic, and she also raised an important point: “the more people try to use science to justify their belief in faeries and energies and the like, the more ridiculous … [Read more...]
A Weekend in the Woods
April 8, 2013 By 1 Comment
I spent the weekend in the woods with a dozen members and friends of Denton CUUPS. We shared food, drink, and cooking utensils. We saw birds and heard coyotes. We struggled to get a fire started on Friday night – we had rain through Thursday and the wood was still still damp. We saw the moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn – thanks for bringing the awesome telescope, Russell and Debbie! It was a wonderful weekend that left me spiritually recharged and physically exhausted. There is … [Read more...]
Football, Crossroads and Druids
April 4, 2013 By 4 Comments
If you’re someone who hates American football, keep reading. This post isn’t about football. On the other hand, if you’re someone who thinks the only purpose of religion and spirituality is to make you feel good about the way things are right now, you may want to go read something else. Like many little boys and at least a few little girls, I wanted to be a football player. There is no other game that combines athleticism, strategy and action in such an attractive package – which is … [Read more...]
Pagan Groups: Why Not?
April 1, 2013 By 24 Comments
A couple weeks ago I blogged about the need for Pagans to work in groups. While it generated minimal comments here, there were many more on Facebook, Google+, and in private communication. A few were positive, but most were skeptical if not outright negative. The complaints generally fell into five categories and I’d like to address them. There’s nothing near me. I live in the Dallas – Fort Worth region, which is the fourth largest metro area in the United States with a population of … [Read more...]
Follow Patheos
Pagan: