#atheistpagan

[tatteredobsidian]

Can anyone point me in the direction of pagan/hedgwitch resources that focus more on rituals and spells as meditations and intention setting rather than harnessing the powers of the universe and affecting them to an individuals will?  Mindfulness, meditative, intentional, etc?

[themindfulatheisthedgewitch-blog]

Book Recommendations

Looking for books that would fit with my ethos of being an atheist pagan, who practices mindfulness and hedge witchery. Suggestions welcome <3 

[huntingthelioness]

Secular Wheel of the Year: Litha

Summer solstice is finally here, and wow did it ever feel like it today! It was on the edge of blazing hot when I left work. The wildflowers on our balcony are burned and wilted under the sun's heat. Everything is green and stifling. Summer is here! I waited until dark to observe the day because darkness just feels more special, you know? The fire looks brighter and feels warmer, and everything is heightened just a little. I used this ritual today: http://spellbookofwitches.tumblr.com/post/25538094745/solitary-litha-ritual. It is completely secular all on its own, which is lovely, and I loved feeling the warmth from the candles and remembering how just hours before the sun was giving me its heat in exactly the same way. I also loved the chance to pause and reflect. I can't believe we're halfway through already; I've been changing so quickly this year that it feels like years instead of months, and also like mere weeks. In some ways I'm not ready to keep moving forward. I want to pause and catch my breath, but the wheel always and inevitably keeps turning...

[huntingthelioness]

Secular Wheel of the Year: Beltane

So technically Beltane was yesterday... but I didn't have time or privacy so I moved my observance to today. That was actually a good thing, because today was definitely the height of Spring! It started off foggy, then turned warm and sunny, and by the end it was pouring and thundering. It was the quintessential spring day, perfect for observing the midpoint between Spring and summer. I used the second ritual listed here: http://ravenmoonlight.com/?p=299. Of course it needed to be heavily modified to even begin to approach being deity-free, but I really like that it's not candle-based. Don't get me wrong, I love candles, but it's nice to have something different once in a while. My favourite portion that I rewrote goes like this: "The sun has brought the world through the darkness to the light. It was a long journey that was not easy on those who long for warmth, Yet time moved on as always, and with time comes strength, And through this strength all has grown and prospered." It's such a metaphor for my life right now, and I sometimes feel as though I am changing as rapidly as the earth. The ritual itself was super low-key. I sat on my bed and used crafting cords from my stash to create the simple braid while listening to the wet sounds of the rainy world outside.

[huntingthelioness]

Secular Wheel of the Year: Ostara

Today, it is Spring! Okay, so technically I hate the heat and am not looking forward to summer for many reasons, but it has been lovely to go without a jacket some days lately. The trees are blooming and the wildflowers we’re growing on the balcony are pushing up tiny leaves already. I love seeing the world turn green again, and watching the darkness be overtaken by light.

This year, my observance was extremely simple, using the same ritual I did last year with my best friend. It’s so easy to secularise by changing a single word, and can be found here: http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/ostarathespringequinox/ht/OstaraSolRite.htm. I only own white candles at the moment, so I distinguished them with coloured stones placed nearby.

Last year, my best friend and I went to a public park searching for a place that was both green enough to be beautiful and hidden enough so that we wouldn’t get odd looks from passersby. We were both fresh out of fundamentalist Christianity and the ritual felt both so meaningful and so transgressive. This year, I stepped out into my balcony where the wildflowers are growing and whispered the ritual alone. Both ways were profound and both were meaningful in their own way.

Last year on Easter Sunday I also performed a ritual symbolising Ishtar’s ascent (inspired by the story halfway down this post: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/allergicpagan/2012/03/21/spring-equinox/), in which I symbolically shed the baggage of my old hyper-religious life and took up my strength and agency. It was intensely powerful, but I don’t think I’ll revisit it this year. I needed it so much then, but now I already *am* free.

Welcome light! Welcome life! Welcome Spring!

[huntingthelioness]

Secular Wheel of the Year: Imbolc

In my hemisphere, today is Imbolc, also known as Candlemass, the midpoint between the winter solstice and spring equinox. Spring hasn’t quite shown up yet, but Winter is easing its grip slowly. Never was that more clear to me than at lunch today, when I stepped around the still knee-high piles of snow from last week’s blizzard while wearing no coat because the temperature was 55 degrees and the sun was smiling weakly through the clouds. (It was cold and rainy again by the time I left work, but I’m still so glad I got to experience the embodiment of the slowly returning warmth.)

This evening, I decided to observe the day with an easily secularized ritual, found here: http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/imbolcfebruary2/ht/CandleRite_Sol.htm . The words here are particularly meaningful to me right now because this very week I’m going to see a therapist for the first time for what I suspect are anxiety and depression. “I come seeking light… I come seeking life…” Yes, I do.

So I got all my things together and got in the appropriate mindset… and the candle lighter wouldn’t work right. It was also very loud, and I wanted to keep my ritual private and away from my curious spouse in the next room. At one point, I tried to light some paper to spread the flames from one candle to another, but that of course backfired and I ended up pouring water from my camelbak into a dish and dousing the flaming paper strip in it. I ended up with only four candles lit, but since I’m secular and this is about symbolism and metaphor rather than actually affecting forces around me, I decided that was close enough and proceeded. It was a nice way to stay aware of the changing seasons and the cycle of the world, and to get in touch with myself and my hope for the future. It was certainly an interesting first foray into observing the wheel, and I know now that next time I need a quieter candle lighter and maybe a spare wick to help me safely transfer flames.

[casualeternity-blog]

To revere the truth, and to seek it all the days of your life...that too can be an act of grace." If traditional paganism is characterized by a love for nature, then atheopaganism could be similarly thought of as a love for the truth of nature; from the smallest quarks and smaller yet, all the way up to the movements and transformations of the entire cosmos. 

[casualeternity-blog]

Ideas I wish to explore further:

-Common themes of paganism and its subgroups that I cannot reconcile with my values of truth and discovery without some reason to do so. (astrology, tarot, fairies, gods, spirits, magic, reincarnation, ect)

-Common backgrounds for modern pagans and what drove them to their practice.

-Traditional elements of paganism that can still hold very real and useful value to me when applied properly. (Book of Memory, rituals of intent and appreciation, meditation, a focus/altar, earth-conscious decision making)

-Further contemplation of the thirteen principles of atheopaganism and how they positively and negatively affect a person’s life. (One should note I say negatively only to stay unbiased, I as of yet see only benefits to those thirteen tenets, but I am fully aware there may be facets I am overlooking in my enthusiasm)