Aidan Kelly: Including Paganism
Why don’t human beings just have sex whenever they feel like it—which is usually—just for the pleasure of it? (It is Sunday morning. I did not listen to a sermon. As you can see, I instead wrote one—or, at least, a Pagan equivalent.) Read more
Why don’t human beings just have sex whenever they feel like it—which is usually—just for the pleasure of it? (It is Sunday morning. I did not listen to a sermon. As you can see, I instead wrote one—or, at least, a Pagan equivalent.) Read more
Understanding what the actual theology of the classical Gnostics was about depends on understanding what they meant by the Greek term “Paston,” usually translated as “bridal chamber.” In context the term meant a type of experience, not to a physical location, so it is better translated as “sacred marriage,” a term whose connotations are much clearer to us. I have made great use in writing (and, at least once, in a blessed moment in real life) of the fact that,... Read more
In various previous blogs I have been pursuing the myth of Jesus and Sophia. I think of that myth as a palimpsest over the historical Joshua and Miriam, one that encoded the theology of the Marianite Christians, the name I am giving to the community in Alexandria that I think was founded by Mary Magdalene after she fled from Judea to escape from assassination by the Romans and their quislings. We have only fragments of that story. Suppose we had... Read more
XL. The Holy Apostle Mary Sings of Her Husband [An excerpt from the Gaulish Chronicles as translated by S. Dugan and A. Verrazano] When I was young, I waited for him, not knowing when he would come, or even if he would come. I did not know what he would look like; I had forgotten his appearance after I left our Father’s house. I dreamed of him, knowing that I loved him. On my bed by night I sought him... Read more
In Part One I presented an argument that the USA began as a socialist nation. There are already a few people screaming that we are NOT a Socialist nation. No, that’s not what I said. I am using “socialist” in the classic Enlightenment sense, meaning a society that is governed for the benefit of all its people, not for the benefit of any minority. Of course, at the moment we have drifted far from that ideal. Read more
Abstinence sows sand all over / The ruddy limbs and flaming hair,/ But Desire Gratified / Plants fruits of life and beauty there. --William Blake Read more
A viable balance between politics and religion is as difficult to achieve and maintain as is such a balance between the partners in a marriage. Neither too close nor too distant will work in the long run. Read more
XXXVIII. The Second Revelation Discourse [An excerpt from The Gospel of Diana as translated by A. Verrazano and A. Peregrino. The committee thinks that this speech has been added to by the final auther, whom Professor Verrazano has labelled the “Ultimate Diana.”] “The goal of humans is perpetual experience of divine joy. Humans are divine, but also deluded. Your divine nature is hidden from you by your ignorance. Your first task is to realize your divinity. The black priests tell... Read more
XXXVI. From the Letter to Theophilus We believe in the sacredness and sanctity of our sexuality, and we initiate those who are worthy into our mysteries. With our initiates, we form a sacred and secret society, keeping each other company in our pursuit of knowledge, for the Hebrew daath signifies both knowledge and sexual union. The full initiates of our tradition practice sacred sexuality and equality between men and women as Joshua taught. We are all husbands and wives of... Read more
XXXIV. The First Revelation Discourse When Aradia, my mother, began to be a woman, her mother Diana called her and said, “I must tell you the story of Aradia, whom you are named after. She had come to teach us Witchcraft, but the Christians arrested her and murdered her. “I had thought she was dead, but on the following day, as I was walking in the woods where we were hiding, I heard a voice behind me, and turning, I... Read more
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