“Religion does not help me. The faith that others give to what is unseen, I give to what one can touch, and look at. My gods dwell in temples made with hands; and within the circle of actual experience is my creed made perfect and complete: too complete, it may be, for like many or … Read more“Every Thing to be True Must Become a Religion”: Oscar Wilde’s Confraternity of the Faithless
My Midwinter altar – I think “locus” is actually more apt in this context – is a literal illumination of the vanitas theme, a union of wunderkammer and kamidana (wunderkamidana?) It’s an assemblage of objects whose symbolic meanings are both amplified and made more subtle by their interrelationships. I try my clumsy best to make … Read moreMidwinter Solstice and the Notion of Genius Loci
By Tony Wolf Beginning about thirty years ago, increasingly since my father died in mid-2016 and with great intensity since the start of this year, I’ve been developing an embodied philosophical/artistic approach to – and “poetic faith” in -the reality of death and its implications for living meaningful lives. It draws inspiration from aspects of … Read moreMy Way of Life and Death
This evening I returned the last of the leaves from my Autumnal altar, plus the surplus flower stems from my wife’s birthday bouquet, to nature. They will nourish the growth of the tree outside our apartment. A simple and sincere memento mori ergo carpe diem ritual gesture sealed the deal. The flowers themselves, having lost … Read moreReturning
Social philosopher, Religion for Atheists author and School of Life founder Alain de Botton presents his concept of Atheism 2.0, a life-stance and process of inquiry that begins with the understanding that the “supernatural” is fictional and then asks “how can this fiction help us live meaningful and fulfilling lives?” This is also the premise … Read moreAtheism 2.0 with Alain de Botton
Established in 1990 and on hold (in its full form) until the abeyance of the COVID-19 crisis, Tucson’s All Souls Procession remains a grassroots community festival of memorial and celebration. This short video offers a glimpse back into its history.
This recent episode of The Wonder presents an Atheopagan perspective on mortality: THE WONDER explores perspectives, rituals, and observances of modern, naturalistic, Earth-revering Neopagan religious paths. Naturalistic Pagans embrace the world as understood by science (that is, without gods, magic, or the supernatural), and enhance our lives with myth, ritual and activism. Click here to … Read more“The Wonder” Atheopagan Podcast Considers Death
Sometimes I think that death is like when a leaf falls from a tree. I look up and hear and see a rustling, colorful mass. But then one breaks free and for a glorious moment (who can say how long it may seem?) that leaf swirls catching light and casting shadows like it never has … Read more“Like when a leaf falls from a tree”
At midnight on November the first, 2020 – the first of the Days of the Dead in Mexican tradition, the night after Halloween when, according to custom and poetic sentiment, the veils between the worlds are thinnest and magic is possible, I consecrated my newly-assembled totenpass amulet. As I write these words, I can still … Read moreTotenpass
From the creator’s website: In 2011, I stood in the shadow of the Temple of Transition. I taped a photograph of my wife’s recently deceased father to the inside of an archway. I roamed her hallways, silent. I witnessed a beauty that brought me to my knees, as Mike Ventimiglia writes: “I don’t know if I’ve … Read moreDear Guardians: A Burning Man Short Film (2014)