The Zen Pagan -

Why The Moment Calls For Magic

February 10, 2019 By Tom Swiss

In O’Keefe’s view, throughout human history magic has served as a form of resistance the conformity-inducing sort of religion. And thus, it seems to me, magic is also suited to a time when we need a political resistance. Read more

Patton Oswalt’s Twitter Act Of Kindness

January 26, 2019 By Tom Swiss

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There is a Buddhist practice of viewing each person as having been your mother or father in a past life. One does not have to believe in a literal transmigration of souls to see the wisdom that the strangers we scream at are not so different from the people we love. Read more

Masculinity On The Razor’s Edge

January 21, 2019 By Tom Swiss

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But it seems to me that if we’re going to talk about the problems of “traditional masculinity ideology”, we need to see how that ideology is sometimes an attempt (however flawed) to deal with real problems in men’s lives. And if we want men to “do better”, we have to propose alternative solutions to those problems. Read more

MAGA Teens, The Native Elder, And Our Projections

January 20, 2019 By Tom Swiss

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Did a teen being dumb about sharing space become, in our national insanity, the screen on which we project our fears about each other? It would be ironic, but somehow fitting of the moment — not to mention a lovely bit of Erisian Chaos — if this entire news-cycle dominating incident was precipitated by a teenage boy not realizing that he was in the way of someone who wanted to use the stairs behind him. Read more

Heathen Sailors, LGBT Shintōists, And Sexy Biceps

January 9, 2019 By Tom Swiss

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Welcome to the first Random Wednesday of 2019, a randomly appearing feature of short bits here on The Zen Pagan. Heathen Sailors A small group of Heathen sailors on the USS John C. Stennis, a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier, are now holding lay services in the ship’s chapel. Aviation Electrician’s Mate 2nd Class Joshua Wood has been appointed Heathen “lay leader” for the carrier and authorized to facilitate sumbels. It’s unclear how many Heathen sailors are joining him, but it’s a… Read more

A Sigil For Political-Artistic Liberation In 2019

January 5, 2019 By Tom Swiss

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We sometimes think of creativity as a light, playful thing, an airy-fairy luxury for the good times. But this is not so. Creativity is essential for liberation. More and more we hear the slogan "A better world is possible"; to envision that world takes an act of creative imagination. Read more

Mastering Time And Space With The Bullet Journal

January 1, 2019 By Tom Swiss

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Just as it is a genuine act of witchcraft to give a friend with an upset stomach a cup of ginger tea, and just as prosperity magick can bump up against matters as mundane as balancing your checkbook, there is a magickal attitude with which to approach your calendar and to-do list. Read more

Not Much Light But It Beats The Darkness

December 21, 2018 By Tom Swiss

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Are we on the watch for the light, or for the darkness? The whole phenomenon of the seasons and the solstices is, in effect, a question of which direction we look. Read more

George H.W. Bush And The Banality Of Evil

December 2, 2018 By Tom Swiss

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I woke up yesterday morning to the news that President Bush — the first President Bush — had died. The NPR reporter told a story about how Bush the First had told her that the happiest time of his life was not his Presidency or his campaign, but when he returned from World War II and was going back to school, with his wife and son at home waiting for him. I’m sure the hearts of the ghosts of the estimated 13,000 Iraqi civilians who died in Gulf War I and the 70,000 who died in its aftermath were suitably warmed by this tale of domestic bliss. Read more

Sandman At 30: The Birth Of A Pantheon

November 29, 2018 By Tom Swiss

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Deities are either invented, created, or discovered. And that is a process of story-telling. We invent them in our stories, or create them via our stories, or we spread the discovery of them through our stories. Stories make gods. Read more