I’m out of the country on a 12-day trip that’s part vacation and part pilgrimage. Yes, you’ll hear all about it when I get back. Until then, take a look at the top 11 keywords people use to find Under the Ancient Oaks on search engines.
The vast majority of you come to Under the Ancient Oaks in one of two ways. Either you’ve got me bookmarked and you come here directly, or you come here from a link on Facebook.
But some people find me through Google or Yahoo or one of the other search engines. How they find me is rather interesting and I thought I’d share the keywords that bring them here.
11) the morrigan – Considering all I’ve written about and for Morrigan, this comes as no surprise. Hopefully people who search for Her will end up here or on the Coru Cathubodua site and not on the site of some TV show or video game.
10) parthenon – I have pictures of the original Parthenon in Athens and of the replica in Nashville. Athena Parthenos is another common search term, but it doesn’t make the top 11.
9) fate vs free will – One of my most popular posts turns up fairly high on a Google search of this term. I hope people click on my link and not on the link of a Calvinist or a biological determinist. I believe we should act as though we have free will, even though at times we appear to be controlled by fate.
Make enough choices – including choosing not to choose and including choices you don’t recognize as choices at the time – and eventually you find yourself on a path that bears a strong resemblance to fate, even though it is simply the cumulative consequences of your free will.
8) how to become a druid – A lot of people find this post Becoming A Druid, which is my response to those who say we shouldn’t claim the title since we know so little about the original Druids. I hope some of them also find my Druid Reading Recommendations, which is a good place to start on a Druid path.
7) bloom where you’re planted – I heard that phrase a lot growing up, and I used it as the title of a Spring Equinox homily for a UU Sunday Service. I used the homily as a vacation post last year.
6) so mote it be – This was one of my most popular posts on Blogger. I would write that post rather differently if I rewrote it today.
5) john beckett – It’s nice to know a few people are searching for me.
4) pagan, paganism – One of Managing Editor Christine Kraemer’s blogging suggestions was to tag every post with “Pagan” and “Paganism”. It works.
3) temple of hephaestus – It’s not that the write-up of my visit to the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens is so popular, it’s that there aren’t very many pages on it period. So if you’re searching for the Temple of Hephaestus – one of the best preserved of all the ancient Greek temples – you’ll likely find my post.
2) patheos, patheos pagan – I’m not sure how Google is sending people here from the more generic terms, but apparently it is.
1) the purpose of religion – If you read my Top 10 Posts last week, you know this is the title of my #1 all time post. The purpose of bad religion is to blame your problems on other people. The purpose of lukewarm religion is to make you feel good about yourself. The purpose of dangerous religion is challenge you to examine your beliefs and then live up to them.
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