The first instance of Cultpunk at a generational scale occurred during the late 1960s and ’70s, when utopian counterculturalists – mostly on America’s west coast – began inventing new religions under the neo-Pagan banner. These pioneers notably included Frederick Adams (himself a very early outlier, having founded his goddess-oriented religion during the late 1950s) and … Read more“… a religion of atmosphere instead of faith …”
American journalist William Weston – the first foreign reporter to be allowed into the country of Ecotopia (formerly the American region encompassing Northern California, Oregon, and Washington) offers his first impression of Ecotopian religion: This got very exciting. Eyes shining, she leapt out of tub and ran out the door, dripping. I looked after her, … Read more“… a goddamn druid or something …”
Writing for Emerge, Euvie Ivanova argues that the present age of compounding crises may be met by new psychotechnologies: Collective Sapience must include and integrate the practices that: a. Restore wholeness of body and mind, a wholeness of selfb. Restore wholeness of self and other, a collective intimacyc. Restore wholeness of self and world, an … Read more“Psychotechnologies for the Age of Collapse”
Daniel Böttger’s Seven Secular Sermons project offers poetic introductions to/meditations upon seven fields of knowledge – Astrophysics, Molecular Biology, Evolutionary Biology, Biological Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, Cognitive Science and Philosophy. Here, Daniel performs an excerpt from the first Sermon, Adrift in Space and Time:
The creators of the Parable of the Sower – a modern opera inspired by Octavia Butler’s prophetic 1992 work of dystopian fiction – describe the urgent relevance of their story in a time of climate crisis and social malaise: In this genre-defying work of concert performance featuring a powerhouse ensemble of 20 singers and musicians, … Read moreBehind the scenes of the “Parable of the Sower” opera
Grimes‘ music video for her 2020 album Miss Anthropocene imagines new gods for a new world: Miss Anthropocene is an art project by Grimes in which a new pantheon of modern Gods exist as humanoid versions of the concepts that dominate our lives, such as Climate Change, plastic, biological warfare, social media, etc. In the … Read moreGrimes – “New Gods”
Rob Cameron writes for The New Modality on the potentials of re-enchanting the optimistic Solarpunk and Afrofuturist genres: There is no greater or more fundamental technology than culture. It, and the ark of ideologies that arise from it, are more than just peer pressure from dead people. Culture is software. And more often than not, that includes … Read more“Promised Land: Religious Ideology and Solarpunk Science Fiction”
Elizabeth Hand’s short story The Bacchae takes place in a near-future world of sky-shields and mutant fish, awakening to dark-red, cultic magics: A shadow sped across the ground. For an instant it blotted out the sun and Gordon looked up, startled. He had an impression of something immense, immense and dark and moving very quickly … Read more“The Bacchae” (1991)
Click here to read Carole Cusack’s history and analysis of the Church of All Worlds, an early neoPagan religion that drew significant inspiration from Robert A. Heinlein’s science fiction classic Stranger in a Strange Land: The process of secularization, which was assumed to be the dominant model of religion in Western culture, was supposed to … Read more“Science Fiction as Scripture: Robert A. Heinlein’s ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’ and the Church of All Worlds”