John Beckett

There has been a rash of activity on the Pagan side of the internet this week about Christmas and what – if anything – those of us who aren’t Christians should be doing with it. It began with this Wild Hunt post by Jason Pitlz-Waters, which summarized his entry on The Washington Post’s “On Faith” [Read More...]

The shortest day, the longest night, the return of the light, the rebirth of the Sun, the birth of the Sun God, the birth of countless gods and heroes… Whatever or whoever you’re celebrating, remember that Winter is the season of rest. In the midst of all the preparations and parties, relatives and rituals, feasting [Read More...]

Chad Clifton has two blog posts titled “Why We Do Pagan Studies” – Part 1 is here and Part 2 is here. They’re brief looks at Pagan scholarship from the perspective of a professional scholar and they make for interesting reading. Jason Pitzl-Waters at The Wild Hunt links to the first post here, where he [Read More...]

Here’s a video from the BBC that’s worth four minutes of your time. The introduction is a bit slow – bear with it through about 45 seconds and you’ll be hooked. It’s a presentation on income levels and life expectancy by Hans Rosling, Professor of Global Health at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. The presentation [Read More...]

If you’re in the DFW area, come out and join us next Saturday evening for our Yule Circle.   [Read more...]

This is the third time I’ve started composing a blog entry on Julian Assange and WikiLeaks – to say that I am ambivalent would be a serious understatement. The far left is ready to canonize him and the far right is ready to hang him (and may ultimately succeed, figuratively If not literally). I have [Read More...]

Here’s a link to an essay on Huffington Post by Rev. James Martin, S.J., a Catholic priest and a Jesuit. I’ve read Rev. Martin’s work before and I find myself agreeing with him more than with any other Catholic writer I’ve come across. This piece is titled Desire and the Spiritual Life. The central theme [Read More...]