An Atheopagan Path: Journeys in the Sacred World

Musings, values and practices in non-theistic Paganism

  • Home
    Home This is where you can find all the blog posts throughout the site.
  • Tags
    Tags Displays a list of tags that have been used in the blog.
  • Bloggers
    Bloggers Search for your favorite blogger from this site.
  • Login
    Login Login form
Mark Green

Mark Green

Mark Green is an activist, writer and nonprofit professional with a background in environmental public policy and electoral campaigns. He is the author of "Atheopaganism: an Earth-Honoring Path Rooted in Science", published in 2019. A Pagan since 1987, he presents at Pantheacon and has been published in Green Egg and the anthology "Godless Paganism" (for which he wrote the foreword). His Pagan writing appears here, at the Humanistic Paganism website (humanisticpaganism.com), at the Naturalist Pagan site (naturalpagans.com) and at the Atheopaganism blog.  

Posted by on in Paths Blogs
Innovation vs. Tradition in Paganism

The mainstream current of modern Paganism has made much of celebrating “Ancient Ways” and “Old Gods”. This creates an inherent tension between old (or putatively old) practices and beliefs and the innovations and achievements of modernity.

Elements of the broad Pagan umbrella range widely across this expanse. At one pole, you have Reconstructionists, for whom ancient ideas and practices are pretty much everything, and those of other paths who choose to continue to believe (despite much scholarship to the contrary) that today’s Paganism derives from an unbroken lineage of tradition stemming from medieval times or earlier.

...
Last modified on
Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Mark Green
    Mark Green says #
    Thank you, Lisa!
  • Lisa
    Lisa says #
    Thanks for the great blog! There's some great ideas for me to think about here. I especially like the way you framed the idea of h
  • Mark Green
    Mark Green says #
    Carol, thanks for your comment. Yes, hopefully we have learned a thing or two in the past thousands of years. We have a long way t
  • Carol P. Christ
    Carol P. Christ says #
    I could not agree with you more in calling attention to the fact that there is a danger in simply "following" any tradition, espec

Posted by on in Paths Blogs
Summer's End

As I celebrate the Wheel of the Year, the midpoint between the summer solstice (Midsummer) and the autumnal equinox (Harvest) is Summer’s End. I call it that because this is the moment when Autumn first becomes detectable in my region: in the angle of the light, in the hard blue of the sky, in the sputtering of the fog cycle to bring searing hot days, and in the first turning of early leaves.

Summer’s End’s metaphorical meanings relate to work and craft, to technology and toolmaking and effort. It is the time when the harvests of hay and blackberries and early summer vegetables are at their height, so there is a lot of work to be done. Gardens are producing and gophers are marauding and the relaxed waiting of Midsummer is gone as the fruits of labor begin to come to ripeness. It is the beginning of Autumn: the time the labor of early harvesting begins in earnest.

...
Last modified on

Posted by on in Paths Blogs
What Is There to Live For?

In an atheistic world, many ask: what’s the point? What is the purpose of living if there’s no judgment, no afterlife to be attained, no cosmic plan or purpose?

I can’t tell you what is meaningful in your life. Perhaps it’s your art, or your family: being the best parent (or grandparent, or aunt or uncle) you can be. Perhaps it’s the sacred calling of a career of service to the Earth, or to fellow humans. Perhaps it is simply to enjoy the pleasures of this abundant world.

...
Last modified on

Posted by on in Paths Blogs
Hail, the Magnificent Sun!

Whose warm love flows across the land each day

Stirring Life, the world’s magic, arms yearning up,

...
Last modified on

Posted by on in Paths Blogs
Why I Don't Write Ritual Scripts

I’m asked pretty frequently for sample Atheopagan group (as opposed to solitary) ritual scripts, and I never deliver them. Here’s why.

I don’t write ritual scripts. I have hardly ever been to a group ritual where leaders/facilitators “read their lines” (or had obviously memorized them) that didn’t feel like a waste of my time, and I don’t want my rituals to be like that. I want them to be engaged and juicy and alive.

...
Last modified on
Recent comment in this post - Show all comments
  • D. R. Bartlette
    D. R. Bartlette says #
    Hail and Blessed Be!!! I couldn't agree more. The only public rituals offered in my area are of the heavily scripted kind, and the
The Sun Broom--A Midsummer Ritual and Tool

The Sun broom is both a Midsummer ritual and a tool you can use ritually around the year.

You will need:

...
Last modified on
Substance Use, Background Noise, and Reenchanting the World

I’m drinking a beer as I write this.

That’s not a big deal. I’m not drunk and I don’t intend to have another. But I’m sitting at my local with a laptop, and I’m surrounded by a typical Friday afternoon crowd, which will swell considerably after 5:00.

...
Last modified on

Additional information