{"id":189,"date":"2012-01-31T20:47:29","date_gmt":"2012-01-31T20:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/?p=189"},"modified":"2015-01-19T22:24:15","modified_gmt":"2015-01-19T22:24:15","slug":"naturalistic-traditions-all-things-february","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2012\/01\/naturalistic-traditions-all-things-february\/","title":{"rendered":"Naturalistic Traditions: All Things February"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Snow<\/a><\/p>\n

Welcome to the first post of Naturalistic Traditions<\/em>, a new column exploring naturalism in Pagan ways.\u00a0 This column will cover seasonal celebrations, historical and contemporary movements, and ritual practices.<\/p>\n

Natural cycles<\/h2>\n

February 4th is a Cross-quarter.\u00a0 That is, it is the midpoint between the previous solstice and the upcoming equinox.\u00a0 As such, it is one of eight stations in our planet\u2019s annual journey around the sun.<\/p>\n

For those in the Northern Hemisphere, the claws of winter are harsh at this time, even though sunlight has already started returning.\u00a0 It takes a while for the climate to warm in response to the longer day, so the earth remains cold.\u00a0 While the Winter Solstice is the time of longest darkness, the February Cross-quarter is the time of greatest cold.\u00a0 Yet, like a secret promise, the sun is returning.<\/p>\n

Those in the Southern Hemisphere experience the opposite, looking forward to autumn.<\/p>\n

Neopagan and Pantheist traditions<\/h2>\n
\"image:<\/a>
image: (c) Mickie Mueller<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the Northern Hemisphere, this time is traditionally celebrated in the Neopagan Wheel of the Year as Imbolc.\u00a0 Other names include Oimelc, Brigit, Brigid\u2019s Day, Bride\u2019s Day, Brigantia, G\u0175yl y Canhwyllau<\/em>, and Candlemas.\u00a0 Those in the Southern Hemisphere celebrate Lammas instead at this time.<\/p>\n

Imbolc derives from Celtic traditions surrounding the goddess Brigid, whose sacred fire at Kildare was tended by virgin priestesses.\u00a0 It marks the season when ewes birth and give milk.\u00a0 It is a time of emergence, as the herd brings new life into the world, and we look forward to the coming spring.\u00a0 One custom to observe this is placing a well-protected candle in each window of the house, to shine the light of life out into the snowy cold (Nichols, 2009).<\/p>\n

Glenys Livingstone of PaGaian<\/a>, a naturalistic tradition revering the Goddess as a metaphor for the Cosmos, recommends meditating upon emerging Creativity through the ever-new flame of the candle, the beginning of the in-breath, and the word om<\/em>.\u00a0 It is a time for individuation, a time to renew dedication of one\u2019s small self to the big self:<\/p>\n

\u201cA dedication to Brigid means a dedication to the Being and Beauty of particular small self, and knowing deeply its Source \u2013 as an infant knows deeply its dependence on the Mother, as the new shoot on the tree knows intimately its dependence on the branch and the whole tree, as the new star\u2019s being is connected to the supernova.\u00a0 It is a dedication to the being of your particular beautiful Self, rooted seamlessly in the whole of Gaia.\u201d\u00a0 (Livingstone, 2008)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jon Cleland Host of the Naturalistic Paganism<\/a> yahoo group suggests making snow candles \u2013 an activity especially fun for kids (see files section of group).<\/p>\n

On February 17th, Paul Harrison of the World Pantheist Movement<\/a> remembers the day that Giordiano Bruno was burned at the stake for his Pantheist beliefs and insistence that the earth revolves around the sun, that there are infinite worlds inhabited by intelligent beings, and that the sun is essentially a star.\u00a0 Harrison recommends taking the day to remember the importance of religious freedom and tolerance (Harrison, 2004).<\/p>\n

Civic and scientific traditions<\/h2>\n

\"Charles<\/a>Around this time, on February 12th, is Darwin Day<\/a>.\u00a0 This commemorates the birthday of the one who contributed the theory of natural selection to our understanding of evolution, Charles Darwin.\u00a0 Many Humanists and others celebrate this day with workshops, art contests, protests, or dinner parties serving \u201cprimordial soup.\u201d\u00a0 Darwin Day is featured by the Secular Seasons<\/a> project.<\/p>\n

On Carl Sagan\u2019s Cosmic Calendar<\/a>, which maps the entire history of our cosmos onto a single year, February represents a primordial period of matter coalescing and stars forming after the the Big Bang.\u00a0 Much like the returning sun, the birthing of the herds, and the growing Creativity of PaGaian, the Cosmic Calendar reminds us of emergence.<\/p>\n

About the author<\/h2>\n
\"B.<\/a><\/h6>\n

B. T. Newberg has been practicing meditation and ritual from a naturalistic perspective for eleven years and counting.\u00a0 After experimenting with Agnosticism, Buddhism<\/a>, Contemporary Paganism, and Spiritual Humanism, he currently combines the latter two into a dynamic path embracing both science and myth<\/a>.\u00a0 He is the editor of a community blog for naturalistic spirituality called Humanistic Paganism<\/a>, which just published an anthology called Year One<\/a> with over a dozen contributing authors.\u00a0 After growing up in Minnesota, and living in England, Malaysia, and Japan, B. T. Newberg currently resides in South Korea with his wife and cat.<\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n

Harrison, P.\u00a0 (2004).\u00a0 The Elements of Pantheism<\/em>.\u00a0 Coral Springs, FL: Llumina Press.<\/p>\n

Livingstone, G.\u00a0 (2008).\u00a0 PaGaian Cosmology<\/em>.\u00a0 New York: iUniverse.<\/p>\n

Nichols, M.\u00a0 (2009).\u00a0 Candlemas: The light returns.\u00a0 The Witches\u2019 Sabbats<\/em>.\u00a0 www.thewitchessabbats.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the first post of Naturalistic Traditions, a new column exploring naturalism in Pagan ways.\u00a0 This column will cover seasonal celebrations, historical and contemporary movements, and ritual practices. Natural cycles February 4th is a Cross-quarter.\u00a0 That is, it is the midpoint between the previous solstice and the upcoming equinox.\u00a0 As such, it is one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":501,"featured_media":212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[330,618,60,142,622],"tags":[58,40,59,25,26,57,56],"class_list":["post-189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-pagan-holidays","category-naturalistic-traditions","category-nature","category-science2","tag-humanism","tag-imbolc","tag-naturalism","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-science-and-myth","tag-seasonal"],"yoast_head":"\nNaturalistic Traditions: All Things February<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Welcome to the first post of Naturalistic Traditions, a new column exploring naturalism in Pagan ways.\u00a0 This column will cover seasonal celebrations,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2012\/01\/naturalistic-traditions-all-things-february\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Naturalistic Traditions: All Things February\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Welcome to the first post of Naturalistic Traditions, a new column exploring naturalism in Pagan ways.\u00a0 This column will cover seasonal celebrations,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2012\/01\/naturalistic-traditions-all-things-february\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Agora\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-01-31T20:47:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-01-19T22:24:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/124\/2012\/01\/snowcandles.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"428\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"B. T. Newberg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"B. T. Newberg\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2012\/01\/naturalistic-traditions-all-things-february\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2012\/01\/naturalistic-traditions-all-things-february\/\",\"name\":\"Naturalistic Traditions: All Things February\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-31T20:47:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-01-19T22:24:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/#\/schema\/person\/a95857c988715882806a23101a18190d\"},\"description\":\"Welcome to the first post of Naturalistic Traditions, a new column exploring naturalism in Pagan ways.\u00a0 This column will cover seasonal celebrations,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2012\/01\/naturalistic-traditions-all-things-february\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2012\/01\/naturalistic-traditions-all-things-february\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2012\/01\/naturalistic-traditions-all-things-february\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Naturalistic Traditions: All Things February\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/\",\"name\":\"Agora\",\"description\":\"The Central Hub of the Patheos Pagan Portal\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/#\/schema\/person\/a95857c988715882806a23101a18190d\",\"name\":\"B. T. Newberg\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/65a2ab12a18b0a6e56b31133106ffa15?s=96&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/65a2ab12a18b0a6e56b31133106ffa15?s=96&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"B. T. Newberg\"},\"description\":\"B. T. Newberg has been practicing meditation and ritual from a naturalistic perspective since 2000. After experimenting with Agnosticism, Buddhism, Contemporary Paganism, and Spiritual Humanism, he currently combines the latter two into a dynamic path embracing both science and myth. He is the founder and advising editor of the community blog for naturalistic spirituality called Humanistic Paganism. After growing up in Minnesota, and living in England, Malaysia, Japan, and Korea, B. T. Newberg currently resides in St Paul, Minnesota with his wife and cat.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/humanisticpaganism.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/author\/btnewberg\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Naturalistic Traditions: All Things February","description":"Welcome to the first post of Naturalistic Traditions, a new column exploring naturalism in Pagan ways.\u00a0 This column will cover seasonal celebrations,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2012\/01\/naturalistic-traditions-all-things-february\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Naturalistic Traditions: All Things February","og_description":"Welcome to the first post of Naturalistic Traditions, a new column exploring naturalism in Pagan ways.\u00a0 This column will cover seasonal celebrations,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2012\/01\/naturalistic-traditions-all-things-february\/","og_site_name":"Agora","article_published_time":"2012-01-31T20:47:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-01-19T22:24:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"640","height":"428","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/124\/2012\/01\/snowcandles.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"B. T. Newberg","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"B. T. Newberg","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2012\/01\/naturalistic-traditions-all-things-february\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2012\/01\/naturalistic-traditions-all-things-february\/","name":"Naturalistic Traditions: All Things February","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-01-31T20:47:29+00:00","dateModified":"2015-01-19T22:24:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/#\/schema\/person\/a95857c988715882806a23101a18190d"},"description":"Welcome to the first post of Naturalistic Traditions, a new column exploring naturalism in Pagan ways.\u00a0 This column will cover seasonal celebrations,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2012\/01\/naturalistic-traditions-all-things-february\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2012\/01\/naturalistic-traditions-all-things-february\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2012\/01\/naturalistic-traditions-all-things-february\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Naturalistic Traditions: All Things February"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/","name":"Agora","description":"The Central Hub of the Patheos Pagan Portal","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/#\/schema\/person\/a95857c988715882806a23101a18190d","name":"B. T. Newberg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/65a2ab12a18b0a6e56b31133106ffa15?s=96&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/65a2ab12a18b0a6e56b31133106ffa15?s=96&r=pg","caption":"B. T. Newberg"},"description":"B. T. Newberg has been practicing meditation and ritual from a naturalistic perspective since 2000. After experimenting with Agnosticism, Buddhism, Contemporary Paganism, and Spiritual Humanism, he currently combines the latter two into a dynamic path embracing both science and myth. He is the founder and advising editor of the community blog for naturalistic spirituality called Humanistic Paganism. After growing up in Minnesota, and living in England, Malaysia, Japan, and Korea, B. T. Newberg currently resides in St Paul, Minnesota with his wife and cat.","sameAs":["http:\/\/humanisticpaganism.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/author\/btnewberg\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/501"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}