I’m thankful that I was not brought up with the nonsense about the rapture (which is weird because I grew up in the Exclusive Plymouth Brethren until the age of 9, and it was apparently the founder of the Plymouth Brethren, JN Darby, who popularized the concept of the rapture, along with dispensationalist theology). But I recognize that it is still traumatic to think about for a lot of people.
Continue readingChristianity
Deprogramming with Gillian Jenkinson
Just got an update from Gillian Jenkinson:
Inside the Cult of the Jesus Army BBC2 27 July and 3 August 9pm
I had the privilege of being filmed delivering Post-Cult Counselling in a Recovery Workshop for a documentary “Inside the Cult of the Jesus Army” with four amazing survivors. This was filmed at my house in the Hope Valley by a wonderful team who have been very professional and supportive in every way throughout this process.
The two-part documentary includes a history of JA and archive material, interviews and the Recovery Workshop and is being screened on Sunday 27th July and 3rd August at 9pm on BBC 2. It will be on BBC iPlayer from 27th July.
There will also be a podcast (which I am not involved with) which will be very interesting as it will address legal issues around cults/coercive control amongst many other things.
Just visiting
I’ve often referenced these posts by Annika Mongan, which present a fascinating account of what’s happening energetically at evangelical churches, and at Pagan gatherings. I also got independent confirmation of this by speaking to another Wiccan who sees energy as colours (I experience it as changes in temperature) who confirmed that she saw a lot of orange energy around an evangelical campground.
Continue readingUndermining Christian hegemony
I think it’s important to challenge the hegemony of Christianity in our culture and promote tolerance of all religions that want to live in harmony with each other and with atheists. The way to get to that point is not by insisting that we should all read the Bible so we can use it to argue with bigots, nor is it by embracing “cultural Christianity”.
Continue readingWomen, LGBT+ people and the churches
This is old news, but interesting nonetheless. BRIN (British Religion In Numbers) collated a number of datasets and research results from a variety of sources in 2017, including data on women and LGBT+ people in churches, both of which would go a long way towards explaining why people are leaving churches in droves.
Continue readingStill second class citizens
So the Pope has offered the blessing of same sex relationships—while still saying that same sex relationships are sinful. You can’t bless something with one hand and condemn it with the other.
This is more of the same homophobia with a slightly better public relations spin on it. A turd augmented with glitter.
Continue readingFolk witches and dual faith
Polish Folk Witch (on instagram and Patreon) has an excellent article on dual faith practice and syncretism among folk witches: Dual Faith: the elephant in the room of the witchcraft community.
The topic of dual faith keeps returning on a regular basis in the broader witchcraft community online, especially on the intersection of folk magic, paganism and christian occultism.
Folk witches often practice some form of dual faith, developed based on the mixture their cultural background, religious background, as well as bioregional features and animistic immersion in the world around them. Each folk witch’s exact praxis will therefore vary.
—Joanna Wiedźma (Polish folk witch)
This reminded me of my articles on dual faith practice based on an essay I wrote for my masters degree.
Dual-faith practice (part 1 of 4)
Dual-faith practice (part 2 of 4)
Dual-faith practice (part 3 of 4)
Dual-faith practice (part 4 of 4)
And this article that I wrote about my personal experiences of practising more than one religion (not the same as syncretic practices):
And here’s one that I wrote about my spiritual wobbles, which was the start of the process that gave rise to the book (Changing Paths):
In The Magick Kitchen
Check out my conversation with the wonderful Elyse Wells (writer and podcast host) on The Magick Kitchen podcast, series 5, episode 9.
Religions evolve
Oh dear: the evangelicals are spouting rubbish about Paganism again — ably debunked by John Beckett.
The idea of evangelicals claiming that Paganisms don’t have continuity with ancient paganisms is hilarious when you consider the lack of continuity between evangelical Christianity and early Christianity.
Jungian dreams
Changing Paths challenge day 19 — dreams.
Once I dreamed that I was walking across a rocky sandy landscape (the bedrock was reddish sandstone) and saw an old church.
Changing Paths 