Jesus is always pissing someone off! Back in his day he was a controversial, anti-establishment Jewish teacher, and today he’s getting Pagans all riled up about a little book called Jesus Through Pagan Eyes. I worked with the Reverend Mark Townsend on this book from its inception in 2009, and it’s really an exciting premise: looking at the figure of Jesus (both historical and mythical, which must be teased out from each other and examined separately) outside of the confines of the Christian church, and seeing whether there is anything Pagans can take away from this vision and apply to our own paradigm, or rather framing Jesus according to our own understanding and worldview. Not as a

Happy Beltane, Everyone. Beltane, occurring at the mid-point between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice is always a wonderful Pagan holiday, filled with joy and exuberance, both for children—with games such as circling the Maypole—and for adults who will be playing, uh, more adult games to bring the summer in. Dancing Round the Maypole From A Little Pretty Pocket-Book by Isaiah Thomas, 1767 Beltane is one of the Pagan holidays not fully absorbed as part of Christianity. As most of my readers know, holidays on the Christian calendar are almost exclusively taken from earlier Pagan holidays. The goal was to get Pagans to worship the Christian God. "Oh, you're not really worshiping the

When I went to high school the only good musicians were in the school's jazz band. I didn't want to play jazz, I wanted to rock out! I ended up in a variety of bands playing all over. Here is an early picture of me playing on my highly customized Hammond B3 organ. The small box on top of it was a theremin I had built from a kit. Rock on, dude! The photo was taken at a huge rock concert on Venice beach in southern California. I was also in bands that opened for groups such as Great White and Elton John. So when it comes to rock and roll, I know it. For a time, I lived in a small apartment right next to the famous Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood. If you want to see where I lived, get a

Perhaps you’ve already seen the infamous headline today: “Pope calls Christians the most persecuted.” My knee-jerk reaction is something like this: “Seriously, Christians? You’re persecuted? You, who practice the dominant religion in North and South America, Australia and Europe? You seriously believe your basic freedom to worship is being restricted? The most?” I hate it when Pagans bash Christians for no other reason than their own baggage and dissatisfaction with the religion’s message or adherents. Yes, back during the Inquisition the Church was the boogeyman and the sworn foe of heretics, including Pagans. Yes, during worldwide colonization countless atrocities were