Time out for a Big Thank You!

The is my 250th post and I am celebrating!  As I approach the second year anniversary of this blog in August, this blog had its busiest days ever in response to my posts “Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.” and “Hearing voices or talking to ourselves” with over 650 *views* and over 350 unique visitors in one day on May 31 and June 2.   (That’s a lot for me.)

I also recently received 500 likes!  So I want to take a moment to thank my readers.  Thank you everyone who took the time to click that little *like* button or shared me on Facebook.  I know that when I visit other blogs I often forget to do this, and it does mean a lot to us writers to know someone appreciates us. I also want to thank all of you who have sent more personal expressions, either in the comments or by email.  Your responses, like the one below which I received recently, have really kept me going.

Dear John, I discovered your blog a few days ago via Humanistic Paganism and have since read dozens of your entries (quite rare for me as I usually succumb to the temptation of half-heartedly skimming almost everything I encounter on the Internet). Your essays have given me huge inspiration: I love the depth and breadth of your writing, the intellectual grit and subjects you uncover (theopoetics, for instance), and the way you link to and quote other blogs and commenters.

Paganism has been an interest of mine for perhaps 10 years now, but I have rarely felt at home in the pagan community (I have an allergy to crystals as well as to people who use the word “energy” in every other sentence).

Your blog is extremely invigorating and I am looking forward to what you have in store for the future.

Many thanks,
[name omitted]

I especially appreciate those of you who told me that my posts have helped you feel a little less alone in your particular form of Paganism, because your responses do the same thing for me.

Also deserving a special shout out are many of my fellow bloggers whose writing continues to be an inspiration to me.  B.T. Newberg @ Humanistic Paganism, Teo Bishop @ Bishop in the Grove, Molly Remer @ Theapoetics, and Alison Leigh Lilly at Peace, Poesis, and Wild Holy Earth are an exceptional few.  The quality of their work and the depth of their insight is astounding.  If you haven’t visited their respective blogs yet, you must.

It’s been an exciting year for me.  As you may already know, I started another blog, Dreaming the Myth Forward at PaganSquare, on January 1st this year.  That blog is dedicated to Jungian Paganism and is aimed at educating Pagans about what Jungianism is really about — not the watered down version that so many are familiar with.  In more recent news, this blog, The Allergic Pagan, will be moving to Patheos within about a month or so.  The move promises exciting opportunities to interact to a greater extent with other great Patheos writers, many of whom I blog about here frequently, including but not limited to those on Pagan channel.  I will let you know the new link when the move happens.  I am looking forward to it and I hope you will all follow this blog when it is relocated.

Unfortunately I need to apologize as well.  As you know, I frequently link to other bloggers.  Recently, I made several errors with gender pronouns, using male pronouns for one female blogger, female pronouns for a male blogger, and then failing to use the preferred pronouns for a couple of trans-/meta- gendered bloggers.  (Ever have one of those days when you just can’t seem to get it right?)  It can be quite confusing as a blogger to keep it all straight.  Often bloggers, out of personal preference or genuine concerns for privacy, use online names that are not clearly indicative of their gender.  But it is my responsibility to read the online biographies of those I blog about and to get their gender pronouns correct, especially for those for whom their gender is an issue that they blog about.  My apologies to all concerned and thank you for your patience.