Archive for the 'Zeus' Category

The Future of Neopaganism in the West, Part II: Going Organic

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

In the previous post, I outlined a model of prestige and stigma which predicts whether a language or religion will grow or wither in a society. Now let’s take the prestige/stigma model and look at Neopaganism today. By these measures, Neopaganism is in trouble.

Stigmatized Neopaganism

Imagine trying to revive the Latin language. Imagine speaking it at home, teaching it to your children, seeking out Latin translations of modern works, and using it instead of English whenever you could. What would your friends and neighbors think? Do you think lots of people would jump on the bandwagon with you? Do you think that the revived Latin movement — “Neolatinism” — would have much of a future in your society? There are no celebrities speaking Latin on TV. There are no government officials speaking Latin in press conferences. Latin is stigmatized as a dead language with no future; why would anyone want to learn it?

If the analogy between religion and language holds, Neopaganism is in exactly the same situation as Neolatinism would be. (more…)

Posted in Bible, Christianity, Europe, Latin, Massachusetts, Odin, Zeus, atheism, children as natural pagans, holidays, linguistics, monotheism, paganism, polytheism, religion, shamanism | 13 Comments »

The Truth of Religion (or: Yes, Virginia…)

Thursday, January 3rd, 2008

I’ve been thinking a lot about the nature of truth this holiday season. My oldest daughter is nine, and she still believes in Santa, bless her heart. The question is, do I?

I mean, think about it. I’m a pagan. I believe in, and have personal experience with, Apollo, Athena, Belanus, Cernunnos, Bridget, and various lesser spirit guides. Why not Santa?

Well, one reason is that I know quite well who puts those presents under the Solstice tree; our credit cards have the scars to prove it. On the other hand, where does the magic of the season come from — the magic in the children’s hearts and in our own — if not from Spirit? And why not call that Spirit Santa Claus? (Have any mediums out there tried to contact him? I’m asking this seriously!)

Take another example: my second daughter, who is 7, believes quite firmly that Thor causes lightning. (I’m not sure what my 9-year-old thinks — she may be agnostic on the point.) I personally believe in Thor. But as for whether he’s out there with his hammer when lightning strikes — well, I’ve never seen him, and there seems to be quite a bit of meteorological evidence that it has something to do with charged particles in the ground and the atmosphere.

Nastier questions arise when you start mixing up pantheons like I have (e.g., do I believe in Zeus? If so, who’s really in charge of lightning here?). Then there’s the issue of angelic visitations, “aspects” of the God and Goddess of Wicca, Christians with powerful religious experiences, and all that. I mean, it can’t all be true, can it?? How do you decide? (more…)

Posted in Apollo, Christianity, Christmas, Heathenism, Law of Attraction, Norse theology, Santa Claus, Thor, Zeus, atheism, belief community, child raising, children as natural pagans, metaphor, monotheism, my children, paganism, polytheism, religion, subjective reality | 44 Comments »

The Structure of Consciousness, Part One: Archetypes and Circuits

Saturday, July 29th, 2006

This is the first of a series of posts on how human consciousness is structured. There are dozens of hypotheses from all over the world about how consciousness can be raised, lowered, changed, and so forth. In this series, I’d like to present some of my favorites: mythological archetypes, the Leary eight-circuit model, western astrology, the chakra system, Rudolf Steiner’s ideas, David Hawkins’s 12 levels of consciousness, and the Tarot. I’m going to describe them briefly and try to integrate them into a single model. (Then I’m going to try to run a 1.5-minute mile, fly to the moon, and cure cancer. Then I’ll have breakfast.) This is going to be challenging, but fun.

In this first post, I’ll describe Jungian archetypes and the Wilson/Leary eight-circuit model, and show how they may be describing (at least partly) the same thing.

(more…)

Posted in Anal-Territorial Circuit, Arthur, King, Buddha (Gautama), Eight-Circuit Model, Frey(r), Jung, Carl, King, Warrior, Magician, Lover by Robert Moore and Doug, King/Queen Archetype, Lakoff, George, Leary, Timothy, Lincoln, Abraham, Loki, Lover archetype, Magician archetype, Meta-Programming Circuit, Moore, Robert, Neurogenetic Circuit, Neurosomatic Circuit, Norse theology, Odin, Oral-Biosurvival Circuit, Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson, Quantum Non-Local Circuit, Semantic Time-Binding Circuit, Sexual-Social Circuit, Steiner, Rudolf, Sturluson, Snorri, Tarot, Thor, Warrior archetype, Washington, George, Wilson, Robert Anton, Zeus, archetypes, astrology, chakras, extroversion, introversion, melancholic personality, metaphor, phlegmatic personality, sanguine personality, sidhe | 6 Comments »