Alternative Religions July 2012 Archive

Santeria is all about the relationship between humans and orishas.  Humans seek the counsel and favor of the orishas, but the orishas also need a life-giving power known as ashe ... Read More

Religions generally help people understand, communicate with and/or interact with the spiritual world.  There's a variety of ways this happens, but often it is at least facilitated by an intermediary: ... Read More

I originally wrote this for my newsletter, which will come out tomorrow as it always does.  But I think it's worth repeating here as well (in a slightly longer form). Words ... Read More

"Magick" is one of my great peeves in neopagan circles. 99 times out of 100, the non-standard spelling doesn't actually mean anything other than "magic."  Which is a problem.  When a ... Read More

Teaching religion in a very religiously homogenous area, I continue to be acutely aware of the Christianized view so many people have of religion.  So many people expect all religions ... Read More

The Emerald Tablet has long been considered a foundational basic of hermeticism and alchemy.  It has a fairly complicated history, since we really have no idea when it was actually ... Read More

Religious requirements are a product of the culture they originated in.  Christianity borrowed a lot from the Jews and the Romans.  The Hebrews borrowed from wider Mesopotamian ideas.  But times ... Read More

With the divorce of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, Scientology has once more been brought up in mass media.  But it's interesting to read the articles on the subject.  A ... Read More

The Necronomicon is one of the most well known grimoires in the world.  It's continued popularity fuels the impression that this is a real, archaic document.  In truth, there is ... Read More

Dealing with so many wild claims about religions (both traditional and alternative), articles like this one about the potential bones of John the Baptist always catch my attention. The article is ... Read More