{"id":5938,"date":"2016-12-29T06:13:01","date_gmt":"2016-12-29T12:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?p=5938"},"modified":"2016-12-21T19:34:27","modified_gmt":"2016-12-22T01:34:27","slug":"top-10-posts-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2016\/12\/top-10-posts-2016.html","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 Posts of 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

On Monday I gave you the four best posts you didn\u2019t read. Now here are the top ten you did read.<\/p>\n

These are the top ten posts of this year, as measured by page views. Only 2016 posts are listed. The Purpose of Religion<\/a> from 2011 was the #5 post overall (it was the #3 post last year) but it wasn\u2019t eligible. These are the top ten that I posted this year and that you read this year.<\/p>\n

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

10.\u00a0Racism Cannot Be Tolerated<\/a> (January 2016)<\/strong>. The drive for ideological purity \u2013 from the left as well as from the right \u2013 has wounded political debate and made good, pragmatic governance almost impossible. There are very few issues where hard lines must be drawn and no compromise is possible. Racism is one of those issues.<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0Our Gods Are Not Jealous Gods<\/a> (June 2016)<\/strong>. I\u2019m a Druid who mostly worships and works with Celtic deities. But every year at Summer Solstice I take off my Druid robe, put on a plain white tunic, and serve as a priest of the Neteru \u2013 the Gods of Egypt.<\/p>\n

Jealousy is not a virtue. Its roots are not in love and power, but in possessiveness and insecurity. It seeks a relationship of control and often abuse, not one of respect and reciprocity. As long as the Celtic Gods get what They want, they don\u2019t mind me working with Gods from other lands.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0Beginning a Devotional Practice<\/a> (January 2016)<\/strong>. When someone asks for suggestions on getting started in Paganism or polytheism, one of the first things I recommend is to begin a devotional practice. Choose a deity, create an altar, pray, meditate, make offerings, study, and do devotional reading. Listen. Start with one or two practices, then add more as you progress.<\/p>\n

There is no substitute for a consistent, reverent, devotional practice.<\/p>\n

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

7.\u00a0The Veil Is Shredded<\/a> (November 2016)<\/strong>. The Veil is the boundary and the barrier between the ordinary world and the Otherworld, the world of the Gods and ancestors. Modern Pagan tradition says it is thinnest at Samhain and Beltane, at the liminal times when Summer changes to Winter and vice versa. But many of us are seeing this kind of crossover year-round. Otherworldly beings and influences are bleeding over into the ordinary world at an ever-increasing rate and many of them aren\u2019t particularly pleasant or benign.<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0I Do Believe In Mercury Retrograde! I Do, I Do, I Do!<\/a> (September 2016)<\/strong>. I never put much stock in astrology and for most of my life I\u2019ve been able to safely ignore Mercury retrograde. If I\u2019m at 80% of my normal writing effectiveness, I can still get my message across. So most times when Mercury goes retrograde, I may have a slight drop-off, but not enough to cause problems. If I write when I\u2019m sick, it\u2019s not as good as normal, but it\u2019s still good enough.<\/p>\n

But put the two together and all of a sudden I\u2019m writing at 60% effectiveness. Now the message isn\u2019t getting across. In September, Mercury retrograde slapped me upside the head \u2013 now I have no choice but to believe in it.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0An Imbolc Meditation<\/a> (January 2016)<\/strong>. The season from January 2 to Imbolc is the perfect time for review, introspection, planning, and new beginnings. We\u2019re past the Solstice and the commotion of all the December holidays. The cold weather slows us down and keeps us inside. As we celebrate Imbolc, let us use this cold, slow time of the year to prepare ourselves for a warm, vibrant Spring.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a04 Steps to a Deeper Pagan Practice<\/a> (January 2016)<\/strong>. If we\u2019re looking for something to make our lives better in a new year, there are few things more helpful than deepening our religious and spiritual practices. There is no such thing as certainty in religion \u2013 make a choice. Challenge the assumptions of the mainstream society and build a strong foundation. Begin a devotional practice. And keep it up \u2013 persistence is an important virtue.<\/p>\n

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

3.\u00a0Something Bad Isn\u2019t Coming, It\u2019s Here<\/a> (March 2016)<\/strong>. 2016 got off to an ominous start with multiple prominent deaths, unusually deadly weather, and the rise of Trump. By March, it was clear to many of us that the warnings of \u201ca storm is coming\u201d were over \u2013 the storm was here. The rest of the year showed that was true.<\/p>\n

The situation is extremely complicated and it\u2019s bigger than any of us. Attempts to boil it down to one or two factors are not helpful. I don\u2019t like it, but we\u2019re going to have to deal with it. And if we\u2019re going to deal with it, we\u2019re going to have to take care of ourselves and build our tribes.<\/p>\n

There was a big jump from #4 to #3 \u2013 this post had over three times as many views as the one above it. Clearly, it resonated with a lot of people.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0The Otherworld is Bleeding Through<\/a> (June 2016)<\/strong>. On an early morning walk in June, I saw a green glowing bird. It should not exist, but there it was. I worked through every possible \u201crational explanation\u201d I could think of: an escaped parrot, a bird that had been covered in paint, a toy out of place, unusual light interactions, and more. I was left with the conclusion that either this was an Otherworldly bird, or it was an ordinary bird sitting in a place where the Veil Between the Worlds (see Top Post #7 above) was wide open \u2013 the Otherworld is bleeding through into this world.<\/p>\n

The stories of our ancestors tell us that the Otherworld used to be much closer to the ordinary world. That changed with the beginning of civilization and technology. Now the Otherworld is bleeding over into the ordinary world once again, and it\u2019s bringing things a lot more troublesome than green glowing birds. How long until our GPS apps start to warn us \u201chere be dragons\u201d?<\/p>\n

1. \u201cAdulting\u201d is an Indictment of Society, Not of Millennials<\/a> (January 2016)<\/strong>. This post went viral into a mainstream audience. Within a week it became my most popular post ever \u2013 Jason Mankey tells me it\u2019s now the most widely read post in the history of the entire Pagan channel.<\/p>\n

The idea that the younger generation is always screwing things up has been going on since the ancient Greeks complained of \u201cluxury, bad manners, contempt for authority, disrespect to elders, and a love for chatter in place of exercise.\u201d We\u2019re seeing that now with the near-incessant bashing of Millennials \u2013 bashing that is unfair and misplaced. Millennials and others who don\u2019t want to adult aren\u2019t being immature. They just don\u2019t like the mainstream society\u2019s definition of \u201cadult.\u201d And sooner or later, they\u2019re going to change it.<\/p>\n

\"02<\/a><\/p>\n

2016 has been a difficult year. Too many people who were important to us died, both famous people and people who were our close friends. The Pagan and polytheist communities spent too much time fighting among ourselves, and too much of that fighting was personal and mean-spirited. Xenophobia isn\u2019t just being expressed by some in this country, it\u2019s being celebrated. And Trump.<\/p>\n

I hope 2017 will be better, but I have little confidence that it will. I do have confidence that we will persevere in honoring Nature and the Gods, in building strong and resilient tribes and communities, and in caring for ourselves and each other.<\/p>\n

Thank you for your friendship and your support. It is needed, it is helpful, and it is appreciated.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thank you for all your support this year. Here are the top ten post of 2016 on Under the Ancient Oaks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":5939,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1161,1204,4,5,8,837],"class_list":["post-5938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-1161","tag-best-of-2016","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-polytheism","tag-top-10"],"yoast_head":"\nTop 10 Posts of 2016<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thank you for all your support this year. Here are the top ten post of 2016 on Under the Ancient Oaks.\" \/>\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\/johnbeckett\/2016\/12\/top-10-posts-2016.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Top 10 Posts of 2016\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thank you for all your support this year. Here are the top ten post of 2016 on Under the Ancient Oaks.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2016\/12\/top-10-posts-2016.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-29T12:13:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-12-22T01:34:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2016\/12\/Top-10-of-2016-600x300.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2016\/12\/top-10-posts-2016.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2016\/12\/top-10-posts-2016.html\",\"name\":\"Top 10 Posts of 2016\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-29T12:13:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-22T01:34:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\"},\"description\":\"Thank you for all your support this year. Here are the top ten post of 2016 on Under the Ancient Oaks.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2016\/12\/top-10-posts-2016.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2016\/12\/top-10-posts-2016.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2016\/12\/top-10-posts-2016.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Top 10 Posts of 2016\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"description\":\"Musings of a Druid, Pagan, and Unitarian Universalist.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John Beckett\"},\"description\":\"I grew up in Tennessee with the woods right outside my back door. Wandering through them gave me a sense of connection to Nature and to a certain Forest God. I\u2019m a Druid graduate of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, the Coordinating Officer of the Denton Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans and a former Vice President of CUUPS Continental. I\u2019ve been writing, speaking, teaching, and leading public rituals for the past eleven years. I live in the Dallas \u2013 Fort Worth area and I earn my keep as an engineer.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/author\/johnbeckett\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Top 10 Posts of 2016","description":"Thank you for all your support this year. Here are the top ten post of 2016 on Under the Ancient Oaks.","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\/johnbeckett\/2016\/12\/top-10-posts-2016.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Top 10 Posts of 2016","og_description":"Thank you for all your support this year. Here are the top ten post of 2016 on Under the Ancient Oaks.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2016\/12\/top-10-posts-2016.html","og_site_name":"John Beckett","article_published_time":"2016-12-29T12:13:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-12-22T01:34:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":300,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2016\/12\/Top-10-of-2016-600x300.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"John Beckett","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Beckett","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2016\/12\/top-10-posts-2016.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2016\/12\/top-10-posts-2016.html","name":"Top 10 Posts of 2016","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-12-29T12:13:01+00:00","dateModified":"2016-12-22T01:34:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad"},"description":"Thank you for all your support this year. Here are the top ten post of 2016 on Under the Ancient Oaks.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2016\/12\/top-10-posts-2016.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2016\/12\/top-10-posts-2016.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2016\/12\/top-10-posts-2016.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Top 10 Posts of 2016"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/","name":"John Beckett","description":"Musings of a Druid, Pagan, and Unitarian Universalist.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad","name":"John Beckett","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"John Beckett"},"description":"I grew up in Tennessee with the woods right outside my back door. Wandering through them gave me a sense of connection to Nature and to a certain Forest God. I\u2019m a Druid graduate of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, the Coordinating Officer of the Denton Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans and a former Vice President of CUUPS Continental. I\u2019ve been writing, speaking, teaching, and leading public rituals for the past eleven years. I live in the Dallas \u2013 Fort Worth area and I earn my keep as an engineer.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/author\/johnbeckett"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}