Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Allergic Pagan

Home
Pagan

2015-06-19T15:37:55-05:00

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.

Justice, Karma, and the Savage Garden

Last updated on: June 19, 2015 at 3:37 pm By John Halstead

Last Sunday in our “Spirit Circle” discussion at the UU Church, we had one of our typical discussions that was all over the place and is difficult to summarize. It started with the question, “How do your beliefs play out in your daily life.” We rapidly got off that track and at some point one of the Christians in the group said something to the effect that “If you don’t believe in God then you can just do anything.” While... Read more

2011-10-14T18:37:52-05:00

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.

I am down with rainy days

Last updated on: October 14, 2011 at 6:37 pm By John Halstead

The sun is back out after a couple days of rain. Grey and rainy days get me down. An area of low atmospheric pressure characterized by rain and unstable weather is called a “depression”. Like the sky is depressed. For some reason, probably not coincidentally, I decided to pick up the book, The Hours, by Michael Cunningham. It’s a depressing book to say the least. It’s about life, death, suicide, illness, love (hetero- and homo-sexual). I loved the movie. It’s... Read more

2011-10-09T18:23:29-05:00

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.

Memorial for a 500 year old being

Last updated on: October 9, 2011 at 6:23 pm By John Halstead

Today on the way to a friend’s house for dinner, we drove by a giant tree. It appeared to be, and is in fact, dead. My wife, the real tree lover, spotted it first. It turns out that the tree, a Bur Oak located in Merrillville, Indiana, is between 500 and 800 years old and is one of the three oldest trees in Indiana. The photo below was taken 3 1/2 years ago, when officials were still trying to save... Read more

2011-10-06T13:52:14-05:00

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.

Movies that are religious experiences: Part 1 (The Fountain)

Last updated on: October 6, 2011 at 1:52 pm By John Halstead

Last Sunday, at the Spirit Circle at my Unitarian church discuss movies that inspire us. There are a lot of movies I find inspiring. One I recently watched was Fly Away Home with a young Anna Paquin, about a girl that rescues a flock of geese and then guides them to a mating ground in an ultralight. It’s sentimental, but I’m a sucker for that kind of stuff. I admit I cried. Another is one that someone in the Spirit... Read more

2011-10-05T18:38:45-05:00

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.

Pagans in the Pews: Why I go to the Mormon church

Last updated on: October 5, 2011 at 6:38 pm By John Halstead

I go to the Mormon church about once a month. Honestly, it is a painful experience for me. First, it’s boring (to me … just attached that qualifier to everything I say here). There is no real discussion. The questions and the answers are prefabricated, as they must be in any religion which claims to have the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Second, I have bad history with the Mormon church. Frankly, I feel I was... Read more

Unitarian Universalism

Unitarianism

2015-06-19T15:38:04-05:00

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.

Right Livelihood

Last updated on: June 19, 2015 at 3:38 pm By John Halstead

I just finished Chapter 22, “Marriage and Loneliness”, in John Trevor’s autobiography, My Quest for God. In this chapter, Trevor struggles with balancing the security of marriage and work with the desire for spiritual growth. On the one hand, he explains that marriage grounded him in a way he had never been before: “It was only when I was married that I knew what ease and repose meant. All through my life the genial sunshine of existence had been denied... Read more

Unitarian Universalism

2011-10-04T19:12:46-05:00

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.

Fall is here!

Last updated on: October 4, 2011 at 7:12 pm By John Halstead

Fall is here! Well, it’s been here for about two weeks now. It is gorgeous. It’s what we call “jacket weather”, the air is crisp, although when you stand in the sunshine (which has been bountiful that last few days) it is almost hot. Some of the trees are just starting to turn. One thing I love about our street is that the changing of the leaves is drawn out, due to the variety of trees in the front yards. ... Read more

Uncategorized

autumn

2011-10-03T22:04:06-05:00

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.

Getting the Story Straight

Last updated on: October 3, 2011 at 10:04 pm By John Halstead

Last night during our (belated) family Autumn Equinox ritual, my wife got frustrated. Specifically, she got frustrated because of the “fuzzy” nature of Neopagan myth. Here’s some background: My wife’s LDS (Mormon), but very supportive of my Pagan faith. In case you’re just joining my blog, I used to be LDS. I left the Mormon church formally about 3 years after we were married. I spent about the next couple years in limbo, until I started identifying as Neopagan. And... Read more

2011-10-03T10:11:12-05:00

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.

Family Fall Equinox Ritual (revised)

Last updated on: October 3, 2011 at 10:11 am By John Halstead

Introduction The last family ritual we did was at Midsummer. What is Midsummer? It’s also called First Fruits. Do you remember what we did? Why did we do that? Today is the Fall Equinox. What is the Equinox? Today is about sacrifice. And it is about the connection between death and life. Today is also called “Harvest Home” by some Pagans. Why do you think that is? What is the most common grain around here? We’re going to be learning... Read more

2011-09-28T22:51:50-05:00

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.

People Who Inspire Me — Part One (Deceased)

Last updated on: September 28, 2011 at 10:51 pm By John Halstead

Each of the individuals below is someone whose writings have has a profound influence on me, but who also are people who I admire because of their biography as well. 1. John Trevor (1855-1930) The founder of the British Labour Church. I’ve posted about Trevor before and will post about him again. I half suspect I am Trevor reincarnated (if I believed in reincarnation), our spiritual lives are so similar. I was led to Trevor’s autobiography by a quote in... Read more

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does the name "Elijah" mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

God is judge God saves God heals My God is Yahweh

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Ritual Scripts Theology Uncategorized

Select a Month January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011

TRENDING AT PATHEOS Pagan