Here is the notional Temple of Poetic Faiths (ignore most of the text, it’s AI gibberish). Here is a place – perhaps an installation in a modern art gallery, perhaps a civic center in a nation that truly values things like art and imagination and religious pluralism – wherein are found the altars and shrines … Read moreThe Temple of Poetic Faiths
Brendan Graham Dempsey interviews Tony Wolf, editor of Poetic Faiths: New Religions and Rituals as Works of Living Art: First we tackle the idea of “Poetic Faiths” and what they are before going over what’s in this new anthology of interviews with creators of such Poetic Faiths. Tony shares part of his story that led … Read moreMetamodernism and Poetic Faiths
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.
Tom Robbins (July 22, 1932 – February 9, 2025)
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
From a review of author/magician Alan Moore’s very long-awaited grimoire, The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic: Magic, for the Moores, is somewhere between metaphor and spiritual practice. It’s a way, like art, of exploring the rich territory of internal worlds, following the maps offered by tools like kabbalah and the tarot, and shaping … Read more“Alan Moore Wants You to Invent Your Own God”
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
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
Selected passages from Edgar Morin’s Homeland Earth : A Manifesto for the New Millennium (1999): I would expand the line from Hölderlin by saying: We dwell on Earth both prosaically and poetically. Prosaically (when we work, aim at practical targets, try to survive), and poetically (when we sing, dream, enjoy and love, admire). Human life … Read more“Life for life’s sake” (from “Homeland Earth: A Manifesto for a New Millennium”)
Aug 21, 2024, 2:00 PM – Aug 28, 2024, 2:00 PM The Sky Meadow Mystery School is a free, week-long residential immersion into wholesome work and Deep Play in Vermont’s beautiful Northeast Kingdom. Our theme at the 2024 Harvest Mystery School is memento mori ergo carpe diem; “remember death and therefore seize the day.” For … Read moreThe Sky Meadow Mystery School: Harvest 2024