Inspiration from Brendan Graham Dempsey, caretaker of the Sky Meadow retreat center and principal of the Sky Meadow Institute: Despite the recent uptick of high-profile conversions to traditional Christianity, metamodern spirituality remains centered in progressive developments of and radically novel innovations to religion. Here I foreground and recall these efforts in the desire to reconnect … Read more“Metamodern Religion is Just Getting Started”
A trailer for a 2023 retreat with the Institute of Devotional Arts, whose manifesto reads: We believe we are both actors and spectators of the divine comedy we call life. As spectators, we cultivate our sense of wonder and reverence. As actors, we find ever new ways to give expression to the human experience. Devotion … Read moreThe Institute of Devotional Arts
The good people of Cicely, Alaska enjoy their eccentric, Day of the Dead-inflected version of Thanksgiving in this scene from Northern Exposure (1992). As explained by Marilyn Whirlwind (Elaine Miles), the indigenous people of Cicely do not regard the orthodox Thanksgiving as a day of celebration. In fact, they carry a lot of ancestral anger … Read moreThanksgiving/Day of the Dead in Cicely, Alaska (Northern Exposure, 1992)
I visited the Tapu te Ranga Marae several times over the years when I lived in Wellington, NZ. Sometime in the late ’80s or early ’90s I had a memorably cryptic encounter with founder Bruce Stewart in the main meeting hall. The Marae (very loosely, “community center”) was an extraordinary place. Probably the first and … Read moreTapu te Ranga Marae
Poet and playwright John Constable, sometimes known as the urban shaman John Crow, relates some of his communions with The Goose – the spirit of a medieval sex worker whose apocalyptic visions spurred the creation of the Crossbones Memorial Garden in Southwark, London.
YouTuber Ceisiwr Serith proposes the novel concept of a distinctly American Pagan religion: American Pagans aren’t just Pagans who are living in America; they are Pagans who are American. What does this mean? Ancient Pagan cultures were theocracies, but America is a secular nation. How do we reconcile that? The solution is that there is … Read more“Towards an American Paganism”
CHAPEL by [M] Dudeck/RELIGIONVIRUS September 7-9/2023 at Graffiti Gallery was a three day durational performance. [M] Dudeck, PhD, (born in Winnipeg, 1984) is an artist and cultural engineer who invents their own queer religion as art. Their project, called RELIGIONVIRUS, has been performed, exhibited, screened and published in over thirty countries worldwide. Their work as … Read moreCHAPEL by [M] Dudeck
As suggested on the BackRow.com movie blog: The Electrical Life of Lous Wain conjures the same sort of exhilaration that documentaries Jodorowsky’s Dune and Beauty is Embarrassing bring their viewers; the wildly ecstatic high of one man’s vision striking those around him like a lightning bolt, leaving the permanent marks of what was and will … Read more“Make ‘The Electrical Life of Louis Wain’ Your New Religion”