So what's a Technopagan anyway? And what do they yearn for? - Updated


Almost four years on this blog and I hadn't answered these questions yet.

To answer that, I really have to go back deep into the mists of time.

While today some people have a romanticized view of the past as "better times" or a "Golden Age," that's not necessarily so. It's fairly common in mythology for the gods to bring science and technology to their people. One of my favorite goddesses, Brigid, has one aspect that was tied into the forge and smithing. Lugh is known as the Lord of Every Skill. Apollo was supposed to have invented music and archery for sport. Demeter taught sowing and planting.

The gods and their power was expressed found expression through the skills and crafts of the people. This relationship is dynamic. Gods and magick have always lived in technology. It's just that that some modern Western thought separated the Divine from the world and especially from the works of men.

So today we have the romantic notion that Stonehenge is more magickal than the average backyard. Which does, oddly enough, give a glimmer of the truth.

It's not if the technology is period or not, it's the skill and effort that's necessary to create and maintain it.

The other day I talked about my mother's yard with it's thirty or so flower beds. Is it more magickal than Stonehenge? Maybe not, but there is no doubt of the feelings you get there on a hot summer's day.

Form joining function in something greater than either. That's the inspired technology. And that is why a good custom motorcycle is as much a work of art as a vehicle.

That's the difference between a Walmart office chair and a Herman Miller Aeron chair. Both "get the job done," but one adds atheistically to it's surroundings.

No matter how beautiful the form, god inspired crafting is meant to be used. It's dishonorable to receive a gift from the gods and put it on a shelf just to look at on special occasions.

A Technopagan recognizes those two principles.

And a Technopagan yearns to see more god inspired works in the world.

Some Technopagans use technology in their rites and rituals. But using technology isn't what makes a Technopagan. Recognizing the Divine in human endeavor AND honoring the magick, that's what really makes a Technopagan.

Form joining function in something greater than either. And using what the gods inspired people to make.

_____

Okay, so I can't leave well enough alone.

When it comes to operative Technopagan magick, there are three basic forms.

First is the network. The best example is when the internet is used to facilitate and coordinate a ritual.

Second is the joining of lower elementals with technological items. This is a very involved subject and one near and dear to my heart since it involves some of my gifts. One of these days when I am feeling less paranoid and have the time, I will explain about my relationship with critters. For now, I'll just tell you that when I name some of the things around me, they tend to be more reliable and more responsive to what I need. Yes I know that some of this is because of my expectations, it's a complicated subject and it deserves it's own entry.

And the third is one of my specialties. I use patterns of words on the page to contain spellforms and plant memetic operators in your mind.

Here's one example: People Needing People

Here's another example: Systematically

Here's one of the best ones I've done recently: How do you reclaim the word "rights?" It borrows heavily from one I've been using and tweaking for years now. That one is part of the welcome on the NeoWayland NetWork page, but here it is so you can judge for yourself.


This is my life. I'd like to share part of it with you.

Dancing in the border between light and shadow. Drawn to the rhythm of reconstructed faiths while reaching for life among the stars. Living in a fabricated city and dreaming deep green thoughts tinged with bloodred life. Riding the surge of evolution and change along an unexplored way.

I am a technopagan. I seek the divine in human, nature and machine. My name here reflects that. Neo meaning new, sometimes used as a prefix before pagan to describe the modern revival of paganism. Wayland was the name a mythical smith who worked wonders at his forge. I've been told that Wayland is also the name of a mystical place halfway between darkness and light.

I want to find the synthesis between mankind and ideas, between faith and technology, between what was and what will be.

My tools are words carried by electrons. The electrons link you, me, and countless others in a living web of information and ideas unrivaled in human history.

Maybe together we can find the forge for a better future.


Bright and Dark Blessings, all.

Posted: Tue - March 24, 2009 at 07:26 AM
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