Greetings from the Canadian prairies! I feel so honoured to be here taking part in this amazing conversation. As a long-time reader of Witches and Pagans, as well as PaganSquare, it is very exciting to be invited to blog with you, and share some of my reflections on earthen spirituality at this critical juncture of our shared planetary life.

So, I'm a ChristoPagan. I know: tricky. These dual-faith identifications can be so messy, can't they? There are few religious groups in the world who have been so historically conflicted as Christians and Pagans, so to incarnate both spiritualities within one person is fraught with complexity. To make matters worse, I'm not only a Christian, I'm a priest! I serve the Anglican Church of Canada as a theological educator and a ministry mentor in my diocese. From a NeoPagan perspective, I just might be “public enemy number 1” ... but I hope not! I hope instead that we can learn from each other and share the wisdom that comes from life in the Green.

ChristoPaganism is an interesting path. There are so many different combinations and permutations of the two spiritualities that there is no single definition which fits every individual ChristoPagan. In general, there is an intentional and reflective blending of Christian and Pagan theo/thealogy, cosmology, and spiritual practice. And we generally get in hot water with both “parent” religions!

For me personally, ChristoPaganism involves a robust and orthodox christology and soteriology, combined with an animistic and magical cosmology. For others, it might look quite different.

The other thing I bring to this conversation is my life off-the-grid. My family and I live in a small farm community, nestled between forested hills and a beautiful lake. We have solar power, wood heat, no running water (I run to the lake and haul water!), and we grow most of our own food. Our little community is mult-faith, and I'm the chaplain: part priest and part druid. So the questions I like to explore can be quite practical: what is the best ritual to use before cutting down a tree for firewood? What is the best gift or blessing for the barn-wight? How should I give last rites to the chicken about to be slaughtered for supper? These are practical and magical questions, and they are also pastoral questions. My pastoral care extends beyond the human community to the land itself, and to all of the Mother's creatures.

So it's an interesting journey, this. Usually controversial. Sometimes conflicted. Always complex. But the ChristoPagan path is also filled with beauty and faith and celebration and reconciliation. I hope that, even if this path is not yours, you will walk it with me for a while. Blessed be!