September 13 – Daily Feast

It is good to keep the promises we make to ourselves to enjoy a peaceful hour. How long has it been? How long has it been since we walked on a grassy hillside and watched the shadows hover and move? Walking is good for the legs – but it does wonders for the soul. The autumn season is one of the best times to walk and think. There is a rhythm in the earth that rises into our feet when we walk. In it is the healing and it centers the soul so that the cares of the world cannot get in to destroy peace. And peace has so many side effects. It restores youth and gives perspective to a world-weary mind.

~ The Great Spirit made these mountains and rivers for us, and all this land. ~

BLACKFOOT – CROW, 1850’s

‘A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II’ by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Source:
The Daily Motivator

Healing Emotional Pain
The Hidden Pain That Binds Us

by Madisyn Taylor

Healing our emotional pain will bring strong feelings of peace and happiness.

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the month of September, a transition month for many of us as summer moves closer to autumn and children head back to school. September has always been a month of great transition. It’s almost as though it gives us permission to face our workload and get back into a routine.

This month I want to focus on the topic of emotional healing. Most of my work with DailyOM is about this topic as it is so very needed within humanity. It also scares many people away because nobody really finds enjoyment in diving through their own layers of emotional pain. I think by now most of you know that I never ask anything from you that I don’t go through personally myself. This core tenet is the basis of my work, which is to share my experience and thoughts so that others know they are not alone on their path.

Healing your emotional pain can bring the greatest rewards in your life, bringing you a sense of lightness and freedom. Some pain can be dropped quickly and some can take years to fully release. There really is no right or wrong, and there certainly is no timetable involved. Some of you know that just last year I was able to fully release the pain my father caused me growing up. It took me 20 years after his death to get to that place of peace, and it feels really good to know that it is authentic healing that came from hard work and a bit of grace.

If you are interested in healing your emotional pain, here are some online courses we offer that can assist you greatly.

Overcoming Self-Sabotage by Debbie Ford. This amazing eight-week online course is consistently one of our best-selling courses for a good reason—it works! Receive powerful lessons every four days, including an audio guided meditation with each lesson. more info

Letting Go with Forgiveness by Ana Holub. This eight-week online course is based on information from A Course in Miracles, Radical Forgiveness, scientific research, and life lessons from Ana from her years of counseling. more info

How to Create Happiness by Deepak Chopra & Sonja Lyubomirsky. This 14-week online course is divided into two parts. Part one is composed of seven lessons by Deepak Chopra, and part two is composed of lessons by Sonja Lyubomirsky. Deepak teaches seven keys to joy and enlightenment, and Sonja teaches how to be happy! more info

Overcoming Fear by Debbie Ford. This eight-week online course includes a new lesson every four days, and an audio guided meditation with each lesson to help you directly access your inner wisdom. Learn to overcome fear, tune into the voice of fear, and choose faith and courage rather than fear. more info

I hope you have been enjoying these more personal monthly newsletters with our course offerings. It is so heartwarming to hear your feedback and learn of the ways that DailyOM has transformed your life. Thank you for reading and thank you for having the courage to be you.

Be well,

Madisyn Taylor

Source:
Daily OM

The Importance of Daily Magical Practice

Author: Taylor Ellwood 

One attitude that I find to be odd in some magical practitioners is the attitude that you don’t need to do a daily practice of magic. It seems that instead you just cast your spell and sigil whenever you really need it and the rest of the time magic is put to the wayside until needed again. This approach has always puzzled me, mainly because it treats magic as a tool, much like a shovel. I’ll grant that you don’t need to use a shovel everyday of your life (unless you work at a job where it’s an essential tool). Also a shovel is used for a specific set of jobs and won’t fit every circumstance in your life.

Perhaps that’s the case with magic as well. Perhaps for some people it really is just a tool and only applies to when they need it. The rest of the time magic goes into the shed, until it’s needed again. But I think such an approach ignores some realities of magic that sometimes are glossed over in favor of obtaining results first and asking questions later. Some of these realities are practical, while others fit into the spiritual aspect of magic, but all of these realities are important and shouldn’t be taken for granted.

The first reality involves the practical application of magic, not just to a situation, but also to life. Magic is a process, not a result. Even the results that are obtained in magic end up feeding into the process of magic. You get a result for situation and that situation is resolved, but what about the impact of that magic on your life, on the relationships you have with other people, events, your environment, or your job?

These factors and many others are impacted every time magic is done, even if that impact isn’t overt. And the result of that impact is that inevitably magic draws you back into the process because some other situation needs to be addressed or explained or mediated or dealt with and magic can provide an answer.

The second reality is a spiritual reality. For many people magic is a form of spirituality, a way of meaningfully connecting with each other and also with forces large and small, seen and unseen. Such an interaction isn’t one that can just be discarded when you don’t need it.

I was recently reminded of this when I did a ritual to help me locate work in Portland. The spirits informed me they’d be happy to help me out, but that they also felt really neglected, because I hadn’t done any of the usual rituals I’d usually do with them. I prayed each day, but there hadn’t been a major ritual done just for them, with nothing being received on my end, other than the satisfaction of having connected with these beings that I identify as meaningful in my life.

I could easily provide excuses, including my current living arrangements, but the truth is that I had to acknowledge that spiritually I felt a bit devoid lately with my magical practice. Actually doing the ritual to get their help to find a job helped a lot in connecting with them, but it was easy to perceive why they felt used, because that ritual was about a purpose and goal, but it wasn’t a celebration of the bond between us. The spiritual component of my magical workings had been ignored and magic, at least for a short while, had been more of a tool and result and less of a process and spirituality for me. I’d taken the connections I had for granted, even with daily prayer. Fortunately for me this could be rectified with rituals and a willingness to recognize the importance of those spirits in my life.

We all stumble from time to time on the path of our individual spiritualities. In stumbling we are forced to look at where we are going and actually cultivate an awareness of what’s important right now, as opposed to what’s far ahead. That cultivation can take many forms, but one of the most notable ways to manage it is to actually hold yourself to a daily practice of magic.

Now I know some people will say, “But I don’t have the discipline to do that” or “You don’t really need to do a daily practice to make magic work.” Sadly, I must disagree with these statements, for these are the kind of statements that most often engender an approach to magic that is primarily results based and only sees magic as a tool to be put aside when it isn’t needed.

I also believe that just as muscles atrophy without use or exercise, so can a person’s ability and talent to work magic fade if s/he doesn’t maintain a consistent practice. Without regular practice you can’t build your relationship with magic or test the limits of what you can do. And while there’s always the possibility that daily practice leads to a plateau, where nothing new seems to happen, varying your routine, or more importantly just sticking it out and doing the work will inevitably attract change in your life (sometimes much more than you want).

On the other hand, if you do incorporate a daily practice into your life it will allow you to flex those magical muscles. In turn this will increase your ability to handle magic and even allow you to build reserves of energy that you can draw on when you really need them. My daily practice mentally and spiritually refreshes me. I always feel more energized after meditation and other exercises I do.

Make no mistake though, daily practice is work. It involves making time each day to do that work, not just when it’s convenient for you. There are days where I don’t want to wake up at five thirty in the morning to do my daily exercises, but I know when I don’t do those exercises I always feel less centered and focused. The result is found in the work, in my choice to renew my spiritual commitment to magic, myself, and the spirits I work with everyday. The result is the process, and so I’m not obsessed with getting to the end of the journey. There is no end, but the journey itself is a multitude of beginnings and endings, which my daily practice connects me to.

To really appreciate the impact of magic in your life, make the time to incorporate it into your life. Walk with magic everyday in your heat and mind and be open to all of its manifestations. But don’t treat it like a tool to be cast aside when the need is no longer apparent. While you might get the results you want now, you may find at a later time that just when you need something to happen it won’t, because you don’t understand what you’re working with. And that brings me to my final point.

A daily practice allows you to experience magic, and through that experience come to understand the dynamics that inform how magic works. When you understand the dynamics, then you know that what you’re working with isn’t a tool. The dynamic involves living magic and your daily practice is just a tiny fraction what it means to live magic. But living magic will bring you experiences that you might otherwise miss out on.

So open yourself to cultivating a daily practice and from there let that show you how to manifest magic into your life

The Impact of Paganism on the American Culture, Past, Present, and Future

Author: Under A Pagan Moon

Paganism has played, and will continue to play, a positive, and growing role in the American culture.

There are many misconceptions about Paganism, and it’s role in the American culture. In this essay I will present a fair amount of factual information supporting the afore-mentioned statement. Among the facts of this essay you will find that the men who put America and the American government together were more Pagan in thinking than they were Christian. You will see that major American monuments are modeled largely after temples built to Pagan gods, and you will learn that Paganism is more common than one might anticipate.

America, land of the free, and home of the brave. The greatest country in the world. A place where people can be whatever they choose to be, a place where a person can be successful no matter what their background or current status in life is. A country based at its very roots in the Judeo-Christian religion.

Or is it?

Most Americans believe that the people who founded America were strong Christians, and that America would not be the country it is today without a Christian based history.

This belief is based on many things, including the words imprinted on money, and the word God in patriotic songs and pledges. Why does this word God have to refer to the Christian god?

There is proof almost on every corner of America that leads one to believe that this country was actually founded more on a Pagan belief system rather than a Christian one.

Before we discuss the effects of Paganism on America, let’s learn about the Pagan belief system, and the history of Paganism.

Paganism is a peaceful, nature based religion, with many of the same ethics and morals as Christianity. Paganism is the oldest belief system in the world. From the times of cave men, to the inception of Christianity, to the persecutions, all the way up to present day.

All religions and all groups of people have been mainly a “Pagan people” at some time in their history. This includes Greeks, Romans, Native Americans, and basically all ethnic groups and nationalities.

According to the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry, the first and oldest book of the Bible, (the basis of Christianity), Genesis, was written around 1445 B.C. (Slick, 1996) Paganism, is so old, no one can actually put any kind of date on it.

There is proof of Pagans everywhere. One can see depictions of various gods etched into cave walls, as well as, statues and monuments in great, old cities like Rome and Egypt.

If paganism were older than Christianity, logically, one would see evidence of this in Christianity. Pagans and Christians share many of the same methods for communicating with their respective Deities.

For example, it is widely known that Pagans would gather in groups to worship. They would dance, sing, light candles, burn incense, perform ancient rituals, and speak to the gods through chanting or playing instruments.

Many Christians can be found to do many of these same acts when worshipping their god. The main difference in these practices is the fact that most Pagans prefer to worship outside, as Paganism is a nature based religion, whereas Christians generally have a church to enter for worship.

Now that we understand the practices of Pagans and Christians, which are almost identical, let’s look at the beliefs and morals of the two religions.

There are very large differences in the beliefs of Pagans and Christians. The main differences are rooted in the belief of what happens after we die and the consequences of our actions in this life.

Most Pagans believe in the theories of reincarnation and karma. The reincarnation theory basically states that after our bodies die, our souls continue on to born again into a physical body again and again.

The karma theory is the belief that whatever actions of thoughts we have, be they negative or positive, have a direct effect on our current physical world. Put simply, if we project a positive energy, or strive to create a positive environment, then positive things will happen in our lives and in our souls. The same thinking would also apply to negative thoughts or actions.

Most Pagans also celebrate the changing of the seasons and hold nature to be instrumental in worship and communicating with the gods. Christians, in turn, believe in a concept of one lifetime wherein a person must believe in the “Son of God” and live by a strict moral code.

If a person does those things, they will be allowed into Heaven, the home of God, to live in everlasting happiness with Him. If a person, any person, not just a Christian, does not adhere strictly to the Christian belief system, that person will be denied eternal bliss and will spend all eternity in Hell with Satan, the creator of all things evil and sworn enemy of God.

Most Christians are also taught that all other religions are false and that Paganism is a form of Satanism, which is the worship of the enemy of God, Satan.

In researching Paganism, one will find that the morals and ethics of Pagans are actually much like that of Christians, and nothing like Satanists.

Pagans and Christians believe that humans in general should be treated with respect and love, to harm no one, and to treat others the same way you would want to be treated. Both religions hold certain days as holy and perform ceremonies and rituals on those days to celebrate their god/gods. Both believe in moderation and respect of nature.

Now that we understand the beliefs and history of Christianity and Paganism, let’s discuss how Paganism is deeply rooted in the American culture.

Let’s start at the beginning of America. The first inhabitants of America were the Native Americans. These people were absolutely a pagan people. The worshipped many gods, and the changing of the seasons and nature.

The next inhabitants of America were European colonists. They came to America to be free of religious persecution. In most cases this persecution was coming from Christians.
“…These early European-Americans eventually succumbed to the government of Great Britain. The religious-right propagandists like to put emphasis on this period of American history because, indeed, these first European-Americans did live under Christian rule and it makes it seem as if these first colonists established the government of the United States. They did not.” (Jim, 2005)

Although these early colonists would eventually bow to Christianity, Paganism would not stay hidden for long.

The government system that the colonists, now calling themselves Americans, set-up is what set America apart from the Monarchy system which most of the colonists came from, and which they desperately wanted to avoid. The Monarchy system is one of kings and queens where religion, now mostly Christian, also plays a large part in government due to the fact that most believers in Monarchy believe the king or queen to be direct descendants of the divinity.

“The most influential American colonists rebelled against Great Britain and their taxes, institutional churches, and desired to form an independent government free from religion and Monarchies.

On July 4, 1776, The Declaration of Independence (written by a deist) announced their independence to the world.” Thomas Jefferson, a scientist, clearly believed that nature was God. He once wrote, “”Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science, by rendering them my supreme delight.”

Even in the Declaration of Independence he wrote, “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

Thomas Paine also helped lead the way in separating church from state and questioning the Christian and Monarchist beliefs.

The Constitution itself barely mentions religion, quite on purpose. (Jim, 2005) With all this being true, how can it be truthfully said that America is a Christian based country?

Even the monuments in Washington D.C. replicate buildings or monuments to pagan gods. The Washington Monument being an Egyptian obelisk, as well as many of the buildings is designed after the Greek Parthenon and the Roman Pantheon, buildings specifically built for the worship of Pagan gods.

There are statues of Pagan gods littered across courthouses and monuments all over the United States. Even the graves of many of the founding fathers of America are decorated with Pagan symbols and bare no crucifixes, crosses, or any mention of Christianity. (Jim, 2005)

Even some of the holidays that Americans celebrate today are derived from Pagan holidays or seasonal celebrations. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and New Years, were all Pagan, seasonal, traditions long before the advent of Christianity; the holidays were just known by different names.

There are over one billion reported Christians living in the world today. Most Americans are professed Christians. One of the main duties of a good Christian is to spread the word. This is not so in Paganism.

Christians have persecuted the Pagans for decades. They have “gone into hiding” let’s say. So Christianity continues to spread throughout the world and throughout America. It continues to be the most prevalent religion in the world.

Paganism is, as we have learned, a very old religion. It also happens to be a quite private one now, due to the harsh treatment of Pagans during the advent of Christianity. There are many Pagans across the world, though, many more than will ever be known due to the fact that most the people that are yet undiscovered must be Pagan in their beliefs.

Pagans are also becoming more open with their beliefs in America. When Gerald Gardener came to America and publicly published his beliefs and started teaching Paganism again, the floodgates were opened.

The future looks very good for Pagans in America. In America, people are free to belief whatever they want. We can worship whom we choose and worship how we choose as long as we are not infringing on any one else’s rights. It is not this way in all countries. Even Pagans in Africa were forced to accept the colonial view of Christianity. (Levernier, 2002)

Because of this freedom Americans enjoy, Pagans in America continue to become a rising force in the American culture. There are even laws in place to protect the rights of pagans specifically. Even the U.S. Military chaplain’s manual gives instruction to the military chaplain as to how they would assist a soldier in worship. (A Handbook for Chaplains, pgs 231-236)

In the future, one can expect to see more and more Pagans expressing their opinions, and even moving into American government. There are hundreds, even thousands of Pagan churches across America, and even some Pagan schools. There are Pagan organizations for kids and adults, much like the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts.

In conclusion, you can see now, how America was founded more on Pagan beliefs than Christian ones. From the Native Americans, to the founding fathers, to the documents and monuments that are part of America’s creation and history, to the children being taught by Pagan parents today, America has always been a Pagan country, and always will be. This can be seen in history, and in the tombs of our forefathers, also in the up rising of Paganism in America today.

As more and more Pagans are revealing themselves and teaching others the Old Ways, there will be an a growing opportunity for Pagans to reclaim the American government and promote a real change in American thinking.

___________________________________

Footnotes:
Working Reference List:

The United States: A Country founded on Paganism By Pagan Jim, March 2005

United States Army, US Army Chaplain’s Manual, Excerpt from the U.S. Army’s Religious Requirements and Practices of Certain Selected Groups: A Handbook for Chaplains (pgs 231-236)

Wheatley’s ON BEING BROUGHT FROM AFRICA TO AMERICA,
By: Levernier, James A. Explicator, Fall81, Vol. 40 Issue 1, p25, 2p

The First Step to Anywhere!

Author: Nicky Woodsprite LeBlanc

Recently I achieved the heady experience of seeing my very first book manifest in printed form. Having been a writer for almost my entire life, though not yet a published one, I did not feel the great rush that some fellow authors told me I’d feel the first time I held my actual book in my hands and thumbed through its pages. I felt very matter-of-fact about it, actually…and why wouldn’t I? I’d been working on it day and night for six months! However, a few things that happened not long after I received my books and began selling them clued me in to the significance of what I’d just done.

One was that I heard a few people who had far bigger credentials than mine, speaking about how they hoped to one day have a book published but, for one reason or another, had not done so yet. This really struck me, because it was something I hadn’t thought about before. Sometimes, when we do something, we lose sight of how big it really is. This amounts to us under-valuing our achievement, in a way.

We need to stop thinking of our accomplishments in terms of “it’s about darn time I did this! ” and instead take a big step forward into the place of “I Did This and It Is a Really Big Thing!” Is this being proud of ourselves? Sure it is, and that’s all right, because in order to be self-confident in our ability to do things, we have to be a bit proud. Apart from that, though, it helps us to realize that there’s nothing wrong with the people who have not yet done what we just did. They haven’t done it yet, not because they’re somehow lower on the evolutionary scale than we are, but because IT IS A REALLY BIG THING. Just because we did it, we don’t need to go around acting like it’s an everyday occurrence. That discredits both us and others who’ve done it, as well as those who hope to do it but haven’t yet.

Another eye-opener happened for me the first time I went, with my book, to one of the rather big Pagan gatherings, Sacred Space 2014 in Laurel, Maryland. Of course I went there planning to take some awesome classes, participate in some amazing rituals, and meet some great new people. I also hoped to sell a few books! I was excited, thinking about MY book, in all its grandness, being on The Authors’ Table along with many others.

When I arrived, and strode boldly to The Authors’ Table with my small stack of books, though, I suddenly plummeted from a proud High to a small and humble Low. There were so many books already there, by so many authors! Some were by people I’d never heard of before, a few of whom might’ve been fledgling authors like me. But many were by very famous Pagans whom nearly all Pagans have heard of, some of whom were going to be teaching classes at the Conference! Since first helping to design the cover of my book, I’d been especially proud of how beautiful it was…but all of the books on The Authors’ Table were just as beautiful! And I found myself thinking, “Why would anyone choose my book from amongst all these?” From my own smaller world, in which I felt fairly significant, I’d stepped into a much bigger world and was feeling very insignificant indeed.

Happily, book sales happened and spirits lifted. And I learned that, no matter how big one’s accomplishment is, there will always come a time and place where one meets others whose accomplishments are bigger. There is no “best in show” for the majority of human accomplishments! The fact is, we are all traveling on a path, with some people a bit ahead of us, and others a bit behind us, and a few who walk along right beside us for a ways. Besides that, nearly all of us travel on several different paths at the same time! For example, I am traveling the Author path and also the Magickal path. I know people who travel just one or the other of these, and a lot who travel both! Some of them, I might be ahead of on one of the paths and behind on the other. Some, I might be ahead of or behind of on both! It really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I am ON paths and I am moving forward on each one, and so are you and you. Shared experience like this should never intimidate us; it can inspire us and give us insight and help us grow.

Sometimes we hesitate to take the first step…to writing a book or to any other goal…because we don’t feel that we are ready yet. The truth is, sometimes we’re really not ready, but oftentimes we need to get started on the work in order to finish the task of BECOMING ready! Our skills might need honing, and taking those first steps hones them! There certainly is importance in the preparatory work that we do, but acts of preparation can only get us to a certain point. The more advanced skill-enhancement comes in the actual doing. In short, there’s a limit to how ready you can become before you begin! It’s the process itself, and going through it, that gets you fully ready.

Do not ever wait to perform your dance, song, etc., or present your book, workshop, art, etc., until you or it is perfect, because if you are that picky, you’ll never think it’s perfect enough. Even when you do, for a moment, decide it is perfect, you’ll eventually encounter an example of it, manifested by someone else, that will seem better than yours. That is perfectly okay, too, because once you’ve taken that first step, and reached that goal for the first time, you’ll undoubtedly not stop there. You’ll reach it again and again, with each time being better than the first, even though none are that unattainable “perfect”!

It’s been said that beauty lies in imperfection, and that is true. As we gather our courage, shift our gears into “drive, ” and take our first steps toward the things we want to do in this life, there is so much beauty in our planning, dreaming, hoping, revising, conferring with others, improving, erasing, restarting, and finally celebrating and sharing! And while it could be said that as we manifest creative works again and again, we are striving toward perfection, I think it’s better to not say that. We’re not striving toward perfection at all; we are striving toward doing and completing, for only with completion can we have things to share with others, that can help and inspire them. And along with our doing and completing is our BECOMING. With each first step, and through each process, and with each completion, we become more and more the shining individuals we came into this life to be!

The Three Centers of Paganism

Author: John Halstead

I have found a useful tool for thinking about the Pagan community. Most attempts to describe contemporary Paganism use lists of beliefs or practices. Some of these lists attempt to be comprehensive, while others do not. One problem with these lists is that they inevitably focus on those elements that the person making the list wants to emphasize. Consequently, large portions of the Pagan community are excluded.

Another common way of understanding the Pagan community is as a metaphorical umbrella. The problem with this metaphor is that the image of an umbrella suggests a single center. And what the “center” represents is a matter of perspective, usually the perspective of the person drawing the umbrella.

Instead of a single circle with a single center, I would describe the Pagan community as three overlapping circles. Each circle has a different center, a different focus that transcends the individual. The three circles of the contemporary Pagan community are: earth, Self, and deity.

Earth-centered Paganism

Earth-centered Paganism includes those Paganisms concerned primarily with religious ecology, “deep green religion”, animism, and what is sometimes euphemistically called “dirt worship”. For earth-centered Pagans, their relationship to the earth is what defines their Paganism, and connecting to the “more-than-human” natural world is what characterizes their spiritual practice. A sense of wonder or awe often characterizes the religious experience of earth-centered Pagans. Of course, there are those whose spirituality may be described in these terms, but who do not identify with the Pagan community, including some earth-centered Christians.

Self-centric Paganism

“Self-centric” is used here, not in pejorative sense of ego-centrism, and for that reason I have capitalized the word “Self”. “Self” here means that larger sense of “self” which transcends the ego and even the individual. It is sometimes called the “Big Self” or “Deep Self”. Self-centric Paganism includes many forms of Neo-Wicca, Jungian Neo-Paganism, feminist witchcraft, and more ceremonial or esoteric forms of Paganism. The goal of Self-centric Pagan practice is personal development, spiritually and/or psychologically, through connecting with the Deep Self. This may be described in terms of psychological wholeness or ecstatic union with a divine “Oneness”. Again, there are those whose spirituality may be described in these terms, but who do not identify with the Pagan community, including many New Age practitioners and ceremonial magicians.

Deity-centered Paganism

“Deity-centered” is a term which I adopted from Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone’s book, Progressive Witchcraft. Deity-centered Paganism includes many forms of polytheistic worship, some reconstructionist or revivalist forms of Paganism, including those that are closer to Heathenry, and those that borrow techniques from African-diasporic religions. Deity-centered Pagans identify primarily in terms of their dedication to one or more deities. The goal of deity-centered Pagan practice is to develop a relationship with those deities. A sense of passionate devotion is what most characterizes the religious experience of deity-centered Pagans. As with the other two categories mentioned above, there are many people whose spirituality might be called “deity-centered”, but who do not identify as Pagan. They would include some contemporary polytheists who have rejected the Pagan label, many traditional or indigenous (small-p) “pagan” religions, bhakti Hindus, and many Judeo-Christian-Islamic monotheists as well, including but not limited to evangelical Christians and Catholic devotee’s of Mary.

Drawing Boundaries

Because contemporary Paganism is so diverse, the more inclusive ways of describing Paganism tend to group individual Pagans together with others with whom they share little commonality. This is one reason why there is so much conflict over the definition of “Pagan”. Individuals respond to this by either opting-out and rejecting the Pagan label, or by attempting to define the term in a way that excludes those they are uncomfortable with.

One advantage of the “three centers” approach is that it recognizes both the similarities and the differences among contemporary Pagans. On the one hand, individual Pagans can identify with one or two of the centers, without having to identify with all three centers. On the other hand, the three centers approach also recognizes the overlap between these groups. For example, some feminist Goddess worshippers might overlap with both earth-centered and Self-centric Paganisms. Likewise, some forms of animism might overlap with both earth-centered and deity-centered Paganisms.

“Three Centers” Correspondences

The three centers described above correspond to three chapters in Graham Harvey’s book, What Pagans Believe, which describes Pagan practices in these terms: “Celebrating Nature”, “Working Magic”, and “Honoring Deities”.

In addition, the three centers correspond roughly to three different Classical “paganisms” described by 19th century classicists and philologists: (1) the local cults of the country folk (which corresponds to earth-centric Paganism) (2) the mystery cults (which correspond to Self-centric Paganism) , and (3) the poets and the city state cults (which corresponds to deity-centric Paganism) . Often contemporary Pagans will focus on one of these groups of ancient Pagans when invoking antiquity in support of their claim to the term “Pagan”.

Finally, the three centers correspond to three different reactions to Christianity. Earth-centered Pagans reject the “other-worldly” focus of Christian eschatology and the dualistic separation of matter and spirit, as well as its anthropocentrism. Self-centric Pagans, challenge the Christian condemnation of the body, sex, and the feminine, and seek to reclaim these. And deity-centered Pagans, reject monotheism and all it implies.

Community: A Fourth Center?

In contrast to Paganism, Heathenry tends to be community-centered. In recent years there has been greater interaction between the Pagan and Heathen communities, which grew up alongside each other, but held different values. As the two communities begin to blend somewhat, a fourth center of Paganism may be discerned. Community-centered Pagans define their Pagan identity by belonging to the group, which calls itself “Pagan”. Pagan authenticity is defined in terms of conformity to communal norms and participation in group rituals. For community-centered Pagans, the community is that which transcends the individual. The relationship between community-centered Pagans and the community is ideally characterized by mutual fidelity. Like earth-centered Pagans, what community-centered Pagans get out of the relationship is a sense of belonging to something greater than themselves.

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2015 September 13

A Partial Solar Eclipse over Texas
Image Credit & Copyright: Jimmy Westlake (Colorado Mountain College) & Linda Westlake

Explanation: It was a typical Texas sunset except that most of the Sun was missing. The location of the missing piece of the Sun was not a mystery — it was behind the Moon. Featured here is one of the more interesting images taken of a partial solar eclipse that occurred in 2012, capturing a temporarily crescent Sun setting in a reddened sky behind brush and a windmill. The image was taken about 20 miles west of Sundown, Texas, USA, just after the ring of fire effect was broken by the Moon moving away from the center of the Sun. Today a new partial solar eclipse of the Sun will be visible from Earth. Unfortunately for people who live in Texas, today’s eclipse can only be seen from southern Africa and Antarctica.

 Planet Tracker

Virgo is the last sign of the summer when the warm days of vacation frolicking give way to harvest time. It is this work of gathering, cleaning and sorting that gives the meaning of this sign. Virgo’s predecessor Leo is about the fullness of the summer Sun and the development of personal pride, creativity and ego-awareness. Virgo, the mutable earth sign, is about the practical application of this great life force.

After Leo opens the heart, Virgo is there to refine and direct its impulses to the specific arts, crafts and tasks that are most appropriate. A desire to create and express has little value without Virgo’s direction of that impulse through specific channels of application. This sign is about bringing inspiration down to earth and giving it a concrete form.

The Virgin archetype
The notion of virginity was, originally, not about a sexless life, but an independent one for women. A virgin was a woman without a husband, not necessarily a person who did not have sexual relations. Virgo is very concerned with health and a well-functioning body. In fact, the efficiency of all systems is part of Virgo’s domain. As such, sexuality is seen as normal and healthy as long as it includes discretion, appropriateness of partner and physical safety. These are Virgo issues, reflecting the careful, often self-controlled attributes of this sign.

Everyone’s a critic
Virgo is popularly regarded as the sign of the perfectionist. The positive side of this is a highly developed sense of quality (and service). However, this can also express itself to amplify flaws and engender criticism. People with strong Virgo influence in their charts need to be careful about not accentuating what’s imperfect in themselves or others. There is a thin line between the critical comments that lead to improvements and those that tear down people and things.

Virgo’s analytical mind does well to remember that perfection is not a fixed state of being that one is or isn’t. Perfecting, the ongoing process of improvement, is a more useful concept for seeing how to continually improve ourselves and this world.

Celebrity Virgos
The arts are full of Virgos who apply technique to their creative impulses. Musical Virgos include Leonard Bernstein, Elvis Costello, Shania Twain and LeAnn Rimes (both born August 28), Michael Jackson, Harry Connick Jr. and Fiona Apple. Virgo actors are Sean Connery, Cameron Diaz, Richard Gere, Lily Tomlin, Salma Hayek, Keanu Reeves, (likely) non-virgin Charlie Sheen, Rosie Perez, Adam Sandler, Hugh Grant, Lauren Bacall, Anne Bancroft and Jada Pinkett.

Actor Tommy Lee Jones and director Oliver Stone were both born September 15, 1946. Director Brian De Palma is a Virgo, too, as are horror meister Stephen King, Regis Philbin, magician David Copperfield, writer Ken Kesey and legal expert Alan Dershowitz.

Randy Johnson, Reggie Miller, Cal Ripken and Kobe Bryant are high quality sports Virgos. Lastly, perfectly expressing Virgo’s desire to serve humanity is (likely) virgin Mother Teresa.

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