Theurgy and Active Imagination: Two Paths to/Perspectives on Higher Consciousness
Inforgraphics by Joseph Carmosy.
Cultpunk
The Case for Religious Fictionalism: or How to Lead a Religious Life Without Faith or Belief
Rob Wheeler writes on the subject of religious fictionalism for the Spiritual Naturalist Society: A major benefit of the fictionalist approach to religion is that cuts through a host of theological conundrums and excuses us from participation in interminable debates over anomalies and inconsistencies in doctrine. For instance by treating all religious texts as fictions, … Read moreThe Case for Religious Fictionalism: or How to Lead a Religious Life Without Faith or Belief
The Cult of Reason (1793)
Oscar Wilde’s radical notion of the Confraternity of the Faithless – posited during his incarceration in Reading Gaol during 1897 – had a practical precedent in the Cult of Reason, which had formed in the maelstrom of the French Revolution a little over one hundred years previously. The avowedly atheistic founders of the Cult – … Read moreThe Cult of Reason (1793)
“The Weird Travails of a Post-Satanist”
Stephen Bradford Long reflects on his time in the Satanic Temple: I didn’t have to work to see Satan as a hero. I didn’t have to contort my mind to see him — and the attendant iconography, dark though it may be — as beautiful and inspiring. Contrary to popular belief, I didn’t become a … Read more“The Weird Travails of a Post-Satanist”
Dumpster Catholicism
In David James Duncan’s epic novel Sun House, Portland urban mystic Jervis McGrath creates (or at least names) the “churchless, priestless, popeless, moneyless street religion” that he calls Dumpster Catholicism: “(…) I looked into our adoptive Mother (Church) not by reading what her own priests and historians said but by poking around in the Church … Read moreDumpster Catholicism
Religions of Oz
Gregory Maguire’s Wicked series of novels deepens L. Frank Baum’s classic Oz mythos by expanding their psychological, cultural, political and religious themes. In Baum’s stories, the only religious impulse even alluded to is a faith in Lurline the Fairy Queen, who was in a sense the creatrix of Oz in that she was responsible for … Read moreReligions of Oz
Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud: Mythopoetic Paganism
From the countercultural beginnings of the neoPagan movement, belief in literal gods and magic have been more nuanced, ambiguous, playful and experimental than critics, outsiders and even many insiders often assume. Entire currents of Pagan practice began not with metaphysical certainty but with immersive theatricality, deliberate mythmaking or even outright satire. Discordianism remains the clearest … Read moreSaying the Quiet Part Out Loud: Mythopoetic Paganism
The Rites of Mu
During the 1991 Summer Solstice, at least 20 British music industry figures and journalists partook in a Wicker Man-inflected magical mystery tour on the Hebridean Isle of Jura organized by the KLF.
The Rothko Chapel (Houston, Texas)
The Rothko Chapel is: (…) a spiritual space, a forum for world leaders, a place for solitude and gathering. It’s an epicenter for civil rights activists, a quiet disruption, a stillness that moves. It’s a destination for the 100,000 people of all faiths who visit each year from all parts of the world. It is … Read moreThe Rothko Chapel (Houston, Texas)