Green Priestcraft: A ChristoPagan Pastoralia

"Pastoralia" is a somewhat archaic term denoting the spiritual, pastoral, and ritual care of a community.  "ChristoPagan" is a somewhat emergent term denoting a blend of Christian and Pagan thealogy, cosmology, and spirituality.  So, put the two together, and you have the hopefully intriguing (and, to some, infuriating) description of my own journey as a greenpriest.  I trust that folks of various and sundry spiritual persuasions will find something here to pique their interest, deepen their practice, and feed their souls.  Hear the Rune of Sophia: "God is Love, and Her body is all creation.  She is a Tree of Life, who gathers Her children in Love."  This is the conviction which guides me.  Blessed be.

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Shawn Sanford Beck

Shawn Sanford Beck

 
The Rev. Shawn Sanford Beck is an ecumenical Christian priest, and a member of the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids. He is the author of Christian Animism, and the founder of the Ecumenical Companions of Sophia, an informal online community fostering Christian-Pagan dialogue and spiritual practice.  He lives with his family on an off-the-grid farm community in north-western Saskatchewan (Treaty Six Territory), where he is chaplain to the human and more-than-human wights of the community.  When not writing sermons, chopping wood, or practising magic, Shawn can be counted on to have his nose buried in a book. He can be contacted at greenpriest@hotmail.ca
 

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Long have I been fascinated by the runes.  Recently, my good friend Darcy Blahut and I decided to work together on a joint writing project.  Darcy is an accomplished poet, so I invited him to write a poem inspired on each rune verse and my own reflection on that particular rune.  I expect that this project will take a year or so, but wanted to share our first effort ... feoh.  Enjoy!

 

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In my recent Tapestry interview, I spent a few moments addressing the question of the relationship between magic and prayer. Since then, I've had several interesting conversations pursuing this particular question, and it reminded me of a short posting which I published years ago, in conversation with Adelina St. Clair, author of The Path of a Christian Witch. I'm re-posting that short essay here, and I'd love to hear from others about your thoughts on this topic.


One of the reasons I’m interested in this question of the relationship between magic and prayer, is that as a pastor and theologian, I often hear people talking about intercessory prayer saying something like 'well, it isn’t magic you know'. To me, it seems like that sort of statement misses the point of both magic and prayer. But it reveals that for many people (Christian and Pagan alike), intercessory prayer is about asking God to do something, and magic is making something happen praeternaturally, but without the direct assistance of God/dess.

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Hi there folks!  For those of you who are not familiar with Canadian radio, we have an excellent spirituality program on the CBC called Tapestry.  Recently I was interviewed for Tapestry about my ChristoPagan path.  I was extremely happy with the finished product ... here it is:

http://www.cbc.ca/radio/tapestry/not-doing-religion-by-the-book

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Advent ... Yule ... Midwinter ... Christmas ... whatever we choose to call it, this magical time of the turning year-wheel is essential spiritual fare for those of us living in northern climes.  Of course, it is easy to start mumbling and moaning about the evils of consumer capitalism and the temptations of overconsumption (which is true!), but really, do we need another grinch?  As for me, after a full year of fighting the man, I'm just about ready to kick back and enjoy the blessings of the feast.  Bring on the twinkly lights, the Christmas carols, and a whole army of Santa's elves ... the ice-crystal magic never dies.

From a ChristoPagan perspective, Yuletide is one of the most interesting times of blended spirituality.  Persian druids following a star, talking animals in a midnight manger, and a wild hunt-esque sled bringing presents to children around the globe all blend together with medieval carols, magnificat gospel narratives, and the Wyrd-made-flesh among us.  What's not to like?

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  • Anthony Gresham
    Anthony Gresham says #
    I say bring on the Christmas buffet. Rum balls, date bars, egg nog, ham. whatever your local dishes might be. Other people can k

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For the past half-decade, our family has been homesteading on an off-the-grid farm in Treaty 6 territory.  For anyone who is unfamiliar with Canadian history, Treaty 6 refers to a particular regional relationship whereby land was shared (not ceded ... a very important distinction) by the Indigenous Peoples with the Crown and its settlers.  The treaty was made in the late 19th century, and still holds today, though it has been bent and broken numerous times by the colonial government.  Today, our farm's direct neighbours are the First Nations of Moosomin (Cree) and Saulteaux (Ojibwe), as well as many Metis folk in the near vicinity.  For me, that means that when Samhain comes round on the Great Wheel, my mind turns to a very complicated ancestral inheritance.

As a Christian, and in particular as an Anglican priest, my genetic and spiritual ancestors  were responsible for some pretty reprehensible mayhem in this part of the world.  The residential schools were probably the worst of it, but racist colonialism has been an Anglican curse for several hundred years, and there's still plenty of it to go around.  In recent years, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has delivered a mandate of 94 “Calls to Action” ... concrete steps which can be taken by the Canadian government and other institutions (and individuals) to repent of the toxic legacy which has oppressed so many Indigenous people and torn our nation asunder.  Several of these calls to action are directed specifically toward the churches which ran the residential schools.  This one in particular has been haunting my conscience lately:

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I hope it gives offence to no one, but here is a ChristoPagan version of the Charge of the Goddess. I've adapted it from Starhawk's adaption of Ms. Valiente's original, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!

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  • Piper
    Piper says #
    I am a Gnostic Priest, and a Sophian. This is excellent, Blessings Brother
  • Anthony Gresham
    Anthony Gresham says #
    I like it. I liked it enough to print out a copy for my records.

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My youngest son Robin (age 8) was recently accepted to be part of a kid's advisory group for a well-known national youth magazine.  Lots of fun!  One of Robin's first tasks was to send in some possible questions for a “you asked” column.  Some of his questions were pretty normal: how does a chameleon change colours? how many bricks would it take to build a life-sized Lego person?  Solid questions!  He also generated this question: what proof do we have that any gods exist?

 

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  • Aryós Héngwis
    Aryós Héngwis says #
    Editorial note: Credit for the art added.
  • Shawn Sanford Beck
    Shawn Sanford Beck says #
    Thanks for all the friendly comments ... I really enjoy the community here at Pagansquare, and I'm thankful to be part of it!
  • Mariah Sheehy
    Mariah Sheehy says #
    Oh! You're the EcoSophia guy! Your blog is very interesting, kinda thought you'd disappeared from the Internet, but we all have ou
  • Aryós Héngwis
    Aryós Héngwis says #
    "Biblical theologian Walter Wink has done a wonderful job of unpacking the language of “powers and principalities” which we find i
  • Jamie
    Jamie says #
    Rev. Beck, Thank you for sharing the underlying theology of your ChristoPagan beliefs. I'll pass along that bit from Tolkien to a

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