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Pagan

2015-02-17T23:54:32-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

It’s 5 a.m. at Pantheacon

Last updated on: February 17, 2015 at 11:54 pm By John Halstead

"Of course, it had to die," I think, "How else to fit it into the palm of my hand?" And I have this knife, after all. What else am I to do with it? Am I not born to cut and slide and peel? Am I not my father's son? Read more

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2015-02-17T15:53:56-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Mistakes I’ve made (on both sides): Atheists and Theists under the Big Tent of Paganism

Last updated on: February 17, 2015 at 3:53 pm By John Halstead

Theists and atheists have always disagreed and they always will. And that goes for theistic Pagans and atheistic Pagans too. I've been on both sides of the argument -- which means I've made mistakes on both sides. Read more

2015-02-08T07:50:13-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

See you at Pantheacon!

Last updated on: February 8, 2015 at 7:50 am By John Halstead

I am honored to be on two panels at Pantheacon this year, one official and one “off the books”. The first is the Patheos Pagan Bloggers panel entitled “The Good, The Bad, & The Blogging”. It’s first thing on Friday, at 1:30 p.m., right after the opening ritual. I will be sharing the panel with much more interesting people, including Jason Mankey, Crystal Blanton, Rhyd Wildermuth, Niki Whiting, and Jenya Turner Beachy, with Angus McMahan moderating. It’s bound to be... Read more

2015-02-04T19:47:23-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What Pagans can teach the Mormon church about repentance

Last updated on: February 4, 2015 at 7:47 pm By John Halstead

In the Mormon church and in the Covenant of the Goddess, I see similar evidence of what might be called "apostasy", in the form of institutional blindness to privilege (whether it be white privilege or hetero privilege) -- but there is a critical difference in the respective responses of these two organizations. Ironically, it was the Pagan organization that was more willing to "repent" and move toward real "restoration". It was the Pagan organization that at least tried to embody the nominally "Christian" principles which the Mormon church has hypocritically eschewed. Read more

2015-10-10T13:57:45-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

My god may be blind, but I’m not: Why theists don’t have a corner on religious experience

Last updated on: October 10, 2015 at 1:57 pm By John Halstead

Some atheists have had experiences which are very similar, if not identical, to those of theists -- they have just come to different conclusions about those experiences. Don't believe me? Read on. Read more

2015-01-31T09:46:39-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Neo-Pagan Mysteries, Part 8: Exoteric and Esoteric Ritual

Last updated on: January 31, 2015 at 9:46 am By John Halstead

Neo-Pagan ritual may function as a celebration of and an experience of connection with nature; as a celebration of and acceptance of change in our own lives; as an honoring and welcoming of parts of ourselves that have been neglected or rejected; and an experience of the loss of the sense of self and of union with the transcendent. Neo-Pagan ritual can focus on any one of these functions, or it can do more than one. All of them are important. Different people may experience the same ritual differently. Read more

2015-01-21T17:13:17-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Neo-Pagan Mysteries, Part 7: The Mother and the Son

Last updated on: January 21, 2015 at 5:13 pm By John Halstead

The Neo-Pagan Goddess may be called Mother, because she is the eternal Source, the continuous principle of Life which gives rise to life in its myriad forms. The Goddess does not die; she is death ... and life. The Goddess gives birth to the God, who is manifest life, and then receives him back into the tomb that is her womb. The God is born lives, dies and is born again. He must accept death, falling back into the Source, like a seed returning to the earth, while the Goddess endures to bring forth new forms of life from the inexhaustible store that is her Being. Read more

2015-01-21T17:12:42-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Neo-Pagan Mysteries, Part 6: Descent to the Underworld

Last updated on: January 21, 2015 at 5:12 pm By John Halstead

The psychological process which is symbolized by Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey is not a one time event, for while each "death" and subsequent rebirth results in an expansion of consciousness, this expansion is always necessarily partial, for the creativity of the unconscious source is inexhaustible. Therefore, the Hero's Journey is never complete. Read more

Hero with a Thousand Faces. katabasis

2015-01-21T17:10:15-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Neo-Pagan Mysteries, Part 5: The Dying God

Last updated on: January 21, 2015 at 5:10 pm By John Halstead

Scholars have criticized Jame Frazer's Golden Bough, arguing that he glossed over significant differences in order to find his archetypal Dying God. But regardless of whether ancient pagan gods fit the archetype, Frazer's theory has had a profound influence on contemporary Neo-Paganism. Frazer was a significant influence on Jane Ellen Harrison, Robert Graves, Dion Fortune, D.H. Lawrence, and other writers, who were themselves influential on Neo-Paganism. Read more

death and rebirth deity

dying and reviving god

2015-01-21T17:05:06-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Neo-Pagan Mysteries, Part 4: Sacrifice

Last updated on: January 21, 2015 at 5:05 pm By John Halstead

It is natural to resist change and to "rage against the dying of the light." We want to live forever, but this is not our fate as human beings. We must surrender to that finitude which is represented by the dark aspect of the Goddess. Through surrender to our fate, we are transformed, not to endless life, but to a meaningful life in the context of the cosmic cycle of change. Read more

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