More and more I'm convinced that I was smart to (mostly) separate my political blogging from my pagan blogging.

Anyway you slice it, politics is about controlling other people. What that has to do with the dawn or the coyote's howl drifting through the night is anyone's guess.

When pagans jump up to recite approved scripts to this week's Officially Designated Outrage, they make paganism look silly.

I think it grew out of when paganism was part of the American counterculture. Pagans had to rebel against established mores. Existing culture wasn't good enough, it had to be replaced even if the replacement didn't work. In the 80s it got worse. Pagans became moralistic busybodies when it came to the Earth, and of course when it came to minorities.

But what does that have to do with the Dark Moon or the chill of the night air? What does that have to do with a winter rain or the clouds as they stretch to cover the sky? What does that have to do with a vigil kept in front of the fire all night?

That's paganism.

It's almost sunrise. I'm going to share some oranges with my friend the raven.