Pagan Restoration Blogsite

Please click on the titles to go to the full article:

Restoration gone Wild, Hunt that is. . .

For a bit over a year we have been outlining the emerging Pagan Restoration, the creation if not renewal of Pagan culture and society and the activism that drives it. I am deeply grateful for the attention you have given me. However, my own work is shifting. I must consolidate my public writing for a time and so I must say good bye to this wonderful audience.

Institutions in Paganism: the Coin is for All

Posted March 12, 2014
Counter culture, or up and coming? Are we a religion of individuals or do we have collective will? For thousands of years now humans have collaborated and accomplished great things across the generations by building institutions. Will the Pagan community build institutions to project our Way though time, or are we just the florescence of our time, to be superseded as the individuals coalesce into a new and different form? Efforts are being made.

Pantheon Foundation: building 21st Century Pagan infrastructure

Pantheon Foundation, a California non-profit religious corporation providing IRS group exemptions for Pagan organizations, developing Pagan ministry, studying the history, promoting the culture, and advancing the social welfare of Pagans and the Pagan community was launched at PantheaCon 2014.

Monist? How are you using the word?

I’ve been noting over that past year the use of the term monist to designate a bad kind of paganism, at least from the point of the writer, particularly when they are of the so-called “hard” polytheist variety. Frankly, I’m never really sure what they mean other than monism is somehow bad. Its use also (apparently) contradicts the technical meaning of the term. Perhaps you help me understand how they mean to use it…

Restoration Reviewed

This is the twelfth post of the Pagan Restoration blog, a worthy time for reflection and assessment. Using the resources of theology, history, reason, experience and intuition, I have been examining critical ideas and practices in the Pagan community with the intent to render our community better able strengthen ourselves and face the challenges before us. What’s been done…what’s to come?

Leadership is Relationship

Leadership is a two way street. Those who lead only do so because of those they serve. Leadership is inalienably about service, or it is tyranny. Leadership is also risky. There are lessons to be learned from penguins and the language of ordination.

How Pagans can Save the World: the Pagan Restoration

Posted October 16, 2013

Civilization totters; it needs a new Hierophant to show forth the Sacred, the values that bring about a successful life for All. Pagans are positioned and the skills to fulfill this holy task, and as the Shadow of Western Civilization, we have the power…

Why Pagans Can Save the World

Posted September 18, 2013

Magic-users know that every problem invokes its own solution. I submit that we Pagans were invoked into existence by the crisis humanity is undergoing right now. We are especially suited as the catalyst that will reify a successful future for humanity.

 

Who is Pagan?

Posted August 21, 2013
‘Pagan’ has a vague and confusing definition that keeps us from understanding who we are and our importance at this time in history. Taking a historical view we can, however, eliminate a number of false definitions and come to focus on our unique nature. This contradicts many of the colloquial and even academic ideas about what and who is Pagan, but this deconstruction is a necessary process for us to attain to our rightful place in the world. So I ask: Who is Pagan?

Pagan Ministry: Serving the Pagan People/s

Ministry is fundamentally about serving the ‘congregation,’ in contrast to being primarily about serving the Gods, as in Priesthood. The metaphorically upward movement of priesthood differs from the downward movement of ministry.

Pagan Priesthood: Setting the Table, Restoring the Way of the Gods

Posted June 19, 2013

Priesthood in the ancient world was a call to service and a coveted honor. The Priestfolk were responsible for maintaining the rhythm of society through worship and festival, nurturing the culture’s connection with the Gods. Pagan Priesthood is far from there, but we can rebuild…

Restoring Idolatry to Iconolatry

Posted May 15, 2013

The ancient icons of the Gods were destroyed in order to break worshippers’ contact with their deities. Animating icons will make the Gods’ power and blessings more accessible again.

Toward the Pagan Restoration of Sacrifice

Posted April 17, 2013

It is time for Pagans to restore sacrifice to its ancient and central place in our rites. The world needs the Gods in Their fullest presence.

Why I Am Pagan

Posted April 3, 2013

In 200 words or less, why is Sam Webster Pagan?

Why You Can’t Worship Jesus Christ and Be Pagan

Posted March 19, 2013

A Pagan who worships the Christian God is rendering aid and comfort to an enemy: a Being who wishes Pagans destroyed or to have their religions and culture removed by conversion.

Enough of Because: The Nature of Pagan Authority

Posted February 19, 2013

In the Pagan community, authority is persuasive, not coercive. I write here to provoke debate, not to create or enforce dogma.

Beginning the Pagan Restoration

Posted January 15, 2013

The old ways need to be rebuilt, and Paganism will become something new and different, rooted in the ancient and fulfilling the needs of today.