A future of religion (and religion of the future)
Must it be taken for granted that “religion” is superstitious, authoritarian and fixed in time? Cultpunks imagine and enact alternatives, working towards a time we may never live to see.
Aesthetics
Te Ātea and the Potentials of Civic Mythopoetics in New Zealand
Recently returned from a trip to New Zealand, where I was heartened and intrigued to note that traditional Māori cultural/spiritual symbolism is increasingly being incorporated into public space design. The photo above is of Te Ātea (“the Space”) on the Lake Taupo foreshore: There are a number of different elements that come together to form … Read moreTe Ātea and the Potentials of Civic Mythopoetics in New Zealand
Possession Ritual
Polish/West German DJ and conceptual performance artist Jemek Jemowit is possessed by American Satanist Jex Blackmore in this 2022 ritual piece.
The Atomic Priesthood Project
The Atomic Priesthood Project was initiated in the early 1980s as a collaboration between semiotician Thomas Sebeok and nuclear physicist Alvin Weinberg. The Project is: (…) an ongoing multidisciplinary project illustrating the relationship(s) between humans and deep time through the culture of nuclear waste stewardship. The Atomic Priesthood was a proposed system of communicating the … Read moreThe Atomic Priesthood Project
“This is not black magic”: the Voodoo renaissance in New Orleans
Voodoo priestess Manbo Jessyka and high priestess Eshé introduce the practice as a way of life and as a means of connecting to ancestors through everyday rituals and spiritual reflection.
ManWoman and Church Punk
As niche and subversive a notion as CultPunk may be, it has some fairly recent cultural progenitors, if you look hard enough. One was the “Church Punk” aesthetic of the Canadian visionary artist and poet ManWoman, who sought to reclaim the ancient emblem of the sun wheel/swastika from association with Nazi atrocity and who wrote, … Read moreManWoman and Church Punk
“Solarpunk humanism: How we dream bigger than despair”
M.L Clark writes for OnlySky: One unspoken tenet of anti-theist discourse is that we are limited by the religious stories at the core of our culture. For that slice of the nonreligious spectrum, it’s not enough not to believe, personally, in a god. The nature of religion poses a narrative problem that anti-theists feel must … Read more“Solarpunk humanism: How we dream bigger than despair”
The Sky Meadow Mystery School, Harvest 2024 in a few words and many images
Taking place during late August of 2024, the inaugural Sky Meadow Mystery School was a free, week-long, residential immersion into wholesome permaculture practice and the mythopoetic mysteries of Life and Death. As an experiment in countercultural community-building, the Mystery School was also a time and place to learn new skills and perspectives. One of our … Read moreThe Sky Meadow Mystery School, Harvest 2024 in a few words and many images
“Devotional Arts” with Swan Frayne-Dao
Brendan Graham Dempsey of the Sky Meadow Institute interviews Swan Frayne-Dao, director of the Institute of Devotional Arts. The Institute plans to hold its first American gathering at the Sky Meadow Retreat Center in July.
The Spring 2024 Metamodern Spirituality Lab at Sky Meadow
I’ve recently returned from Sky Meadow, a soulful home-away-from-home retreat center deep in Vermont’s magical Northeast Kingdom. The Spring ’24 retreat was part of an ongoing series conceived and hosted by Brendan Graham Dempsey and Layman Pascal (whose own reflection upon the event is available here). The theme for this season was “God” (or perhaps … Read moreThe Spring 2024 Metamodern Spirituality Lab at Sky Meadow