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Posted by on in Paths Blogs
The Animate World is the Normal World

I happened on a scientific paper saying that believing in or sensing the spirit in an "object" was abnormal. How sad it must be to live in a world full of dead things, where everything is inanimate. Worse to evangelize it and say animist religion and fairy tales are pathological.

Animist religion is not something from the dusty past. Many modern religions have animist components, not only modern revivals of pagan and heathen religions, but continuous religions too.

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In retrospect, it was one of the formative moments in my early pagan career.

1973. A gangly tow-head is sitting on the floor of his grandparents' living room in Pittsburgh, reading a National Geographic article about that year's Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan.

One photo was all it took.

The organizers had commissioned a local artist to make three massive—25 foot—snow sculptures of three pertaining kami for the occasion: the kami, if memory serves, of Winter, Snow, and Ice.

But now the Olympics were over, and it was time to tear down the snow-statues before they became a hazard. ("Look Out for Falling Gods.") In the photo, a workman is making a final offering to the kami before they're broken up: he's leaning out of the basket of a cherry-picker, pouring a bottle of sake into the fanged mouth of one of them.

In that moment, a door opened in my head. Lacking contextual experience of kami, Shinto, or pagan religious practice, I somehow recognized and understood what I saw in that photo. I didn't need any explanation of what they were doing to know that it made sense, and that it was right.

Lo and behold: nearly half a century later, that gawky teen, now grown up, has become chronicler, and éminence grise, to one of the US's largest and most vibrant pagan communities.

Talk to any pagan, and you will hear about similar formative experiences; we all have them.

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Pagan News Beagle: Watery Wednesday, April 26 2017

An online network seeks to help Pagan professionals. A look at some useful resources for those interested in Shinto. And a game that might be of interest to Heathens. It's Watery Wednesday, our news segment about the Pagan community around the world! All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

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Pagan News Beagle: Watery Wednesday, April 5 2017

We take a look at the way in which online customers of occult services are being taken advantage of. A Pagan writer describes the "beauty of the warrior." And reflections and thoughts on the arrival of spring. It's Watery Wednesday, our segment for news and content from the Pagan community around the world. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

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Pagan News Beagle: Watery Wednesday, October 19

Who bears the responsibility for training Pagan clergy? What happens when a Jewish woman tries to reintroduce the divine feminine into her culture? And how are death and darkness treated in Shinto vs. western Paganism? It's Watery Wednesday, our weekly segment on news and analysis from the Pagan community! All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

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Pagan News Beagle: Faithful Friday, July 29

Tips on how to take care of yourself if you're a religious activist. A look at the role of "dynamic harmony" in Confucianism. And a Muslim father mourns the loss of his son on a national stage. It's Faithful Friday, our weekly segment on news about faiths and religious communities from around the world. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

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Pagan News Beagle: Watery Wednesday, July 13

A Shinto practitioner shares a basic prayer for beginners. One visitor to the Michigan Pagan Festivals reports on it afterward. And portable shrines for traveling Pagans make their debut. It's Watery Wednesday, our weekly segment for news about the Pagan community. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

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