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

Home
Pagan
The Candle of Earth Day

The Candle of Earth Day

Last updated on: April 21, 2015 at 7:00 am by John Beckett

The Candle of Earth Day 2015-04-20T18:18:48-06:00 John Beckett

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 is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness” – origin uncertain

Tomorrow, April 22, is Earth Day, the annual world-wide celebration of Nature and call to environmental awareness and action. Thoughts on Earth Day vary widely: from “every day is Earth Day for Pagans” to “Earth Day is like bringing flowers to the spouse you beat up last night” to what is perhaps the most accurate “it’s just not enough.”

This blog post is pretty much all of my observances – Earth Day isn’t part of my cycle of holidays. I’m getting ready for Beltane in a week and a half. I’m co-leading Denton CUUPS’ Beltane Circle which will include a working to protect the land from those who would exploit it. Last November Denton passed a referendum banning fracking inside city limits. Now the Texas State Legislature is about to overrule it. Many of us are working through legal and political means to preserve the ordinance, but we’re going to use all the tools in our toolbox, including our spiritual and magical ones.

California is in the middle of a drought of historic proportions and the state recently issued new water-use restrictions. There’s a meme going around Facebook that says “I knew the polar bears were going to die, but nobody told me my lawn would turn to crap!” We humans can do great things and show great compassion, but we can also be incredibly selfish. If something doesn’t affect me, it’s not a problem. And if it’s not going to affect me for a long time, I can pretend it will never happen.

The folks in Denton banned fracking because it was affecting them: fracking rigs in residential areas, heavy truck traffic carrying fracking waste, and the on-going danger of leaks and explosions. They could see what others could not… or will not.

The legislators working to overturn the ban don’t care – it’s not in their neighborhoods. If we ban fracking, a few people will lose their jobs and we might have to pay more for energy.

How do you rearrange people’s priorities? How do you change their values? Mostly you don’t. That’s why I think the collapse of the West is inevitable. Not enough people are willing to do the things that are necessary to smoothly transition to a sustainable lifestyle. It’s a depressing realization.

I see a lot of people in the Pagan community cursing the darkness.

I share their concern. I understand their anger. I’m a Nature-centered Pagan who believes with all his heart that the Earth isn’t a “resource” to benefit humans, the Earth is a sacred being with her own inherent value, worth, and sovereignty.

Our materialist friends and neighbors – most of whom consider themselves Christians – have lived in utter darkness for so long they no longer know what light is. Earth Day may be the only candle in their lives, or at least the only candle they notice.

Peter Grey, author of Apocalyptic Witchcraft, has a guest post on Patheos’ feature on Global Care. He accurately describes the limits of Earth Day when he says

When Earth Day talks about ‘a conversation’ and ‘changing values’ it pretends that our imminent extinction is some terrible mistake that we can rectify by patiently explaining the truth to those in power. Unless it identifies the cause of the crisis, and the severity of it, Earth Day will achieve nothing.

I find Peter Grey’s work inspiring, but I think he’s wrong here. Yes, we need drastic action. Yes, those of us who are awake have an obligation to do much more than praise the Earth once a year. Yes, we need a witchcraft that gets its hands dirty – both figuratively and literally.

But it’s still better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.

This Earth Day let’s light a candle for the children of those Texas State Legislators who will have to live in the world their parents create. Let’s light a candle for the suburbanites who are so invested in their lifestyle they literally can’t imagine another way. Let’s light a candle for all those who are so accustomed to darkness they’ve forgotten how to see.

Because some of them will notice the candle, and they’ll wake up and see what’s going on around us.

And we will be greater than we were before.

Previous Post

April 19, 2015

Prophetic Leadership

Next Post

April 22, 2015 Beltane – A Solitary Ritual

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Books Community CUUPS Druidry Foundations and Context Gods and Goddesses Magic Myth Nature Ritual Spiritual Practice Theology Travel Uncategorized Videos

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 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 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

John the Baptist Peter Paul Jesus