“Why Fictional Religions Feel So Fake”
The ReligionForBreakfast YouTube channel offers advice for science fiction and fantasy worldbuilders towards creating imaginary religions that feel lived-in and real.
Ritual
Stephen Jenkinson on Ritual
“A ritual, if it is truly a ritual and not a gauzy affirmation of the best of life, or a threadbare disdain for the lowly and the prosaic, carries something of the radioactive about it, something of the dark arts.” “Rituals are out at the edge of what is likely, what is familiar. They are … Read moreStephen Jenkinson on Ritual
The Clock People (from “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues”)
Above: Pat Morita in the godawful film version of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, which omits the Clock People storyline entirely. For your own sake, read the novel instead. The Clock People manage their anarchism (if that is not a contradiction) simply because they have channeled all of their authoritarian compulsions and control mania into … Read moreThe Clock People (from “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues”)
New Traditions: an Illustrated Memoir of the Sky Meadow Sacred Harvest 2025
Photos courtesy and Kathrynne and Tony Wolf. Recently returned from another week-long stay at Sky Meadow, our soulful home-away-from-home deep in the mountains of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. Originally a dairy farm and homestead dating back to the mid-19th century, the 114-acre property has served as a spiritual/nature retreat and permaculture farm since the 1980s. The … Read moreNew Traditions: an Illustrated Memoir of the Sky Meadow Sacred Harvest 2025
“How Spirituality Went from Taboo to Trendy in the Art World”
Eleanor Heartley writes for Art in America: (…) at the advent of the second quarter of the 21st century, a pileup of crises—social, political, environmental, and technological—seems to have all but extinguished the sense of optimism about the future that flared periodically throughout the 20th century. Af Klint’s mysterious, luminous abstractions offer a salve to … Read more“How Spirituality Went from Taboo to Trendy in the Art World”
“Spirits of the Deep South”
Professor Yvonne Chireau explores the tradition of Hoodoo in the deep south and how its beliefs and traditions in spirituality, ancestors, the hereafter, and defense against evil inform the world and characters of the recent movie Sinners. Wunmi Mosaku, who plays Annie, shares how important her role was in the making of this film and … Read more“Spirits of the Deep South”
“Poetic Faiths: The Art of Embodied Philosophy”
Brian James of the Howl in the Wilderness podcast speaks with Tony Wolf on the recent Poetic Faiths interview anthology and on the practicalities of embodied philosophy.
Nunnyunnini
16000 years ago, the Mammoth Skull God Nunnynunni accompanies his tribe across the land bridge from Siberia to a new world in this mesmerizing sequence from American Gods.
“Touch her heart”
August Boatwright (Queen Latifah) tells the story of the Black Madonna to the Daughters of Mary during a homegrown ritual melding Catholic and African traditions, in this scene from The Secret Life of Bees.
“It is a beautiful night for the end of the world” – The Reasonabilists (Parks and Recreation)
For a while in the 1970s, our town was run by a freaky cult, and every few years the remaining members predict that the world’s gonna end, and they have an all-night vigil in the park. It’s super annoying. Turns out when you think the world’s ending, you don’t aim so carefully in the port-a-potties. … Read more“It is a beautiful night for the end of the world” – The Reasonabilists (Parks and Recreation)