Post No. 3,286 - Pagan reflections on, and interesting reading/viewing from, the past week

Photo by me 
(A patch of clear surface in a wetland surrounded by reeds and grasses, some green) 

 

 Matters for reflection :    

A notable writer has left social media;      Dr Jane Goodall's final words are moving - and include acknowledgement of survival after death;     

• “Why Cynicism is Just Moral Cowardice”   https://www.joanwestenberg.com/p/why-cynicism-is-just-moral-cowardice   by JA Westenberg       

 

 Some llinks that might be of interest or value:

• “American Witches: Christian Nationalism Doesn’t Care If You’re Apolitical.   You can't 'live and let live' your way through tyranny”;      

• “Children Who Remember Previous Lives: Birthmarks and Reincarnation”   episode 195 on the “Our Paranormal Afterlife : Finding Proof of Life After Death” podcast   “What if birthmarks weren’t just biological flukes, but echoes of another lifetime? In this episode, we dive into one of the most fascinating and controversial areas of consciousness research: the cases of young children who spontaneously recall previous lives—and whose bodies sometimes carry physical traces of the deaths they claim to remember.   For over four decades, psychiatrists Dr. Ian Stevenson and Dr. Jim Tucker at the University of Virginia investigated thousands of these reports across cultures and continents. Their archives include children born without fingers who insist they were shot in a former life, toddlers with jagged, sword-shaped birthmarks who vividly describe being killed in battle, and little ones terrified of fire whose skin bears burn-like discolourations from birth. In countless cases, the children not only shared memories but described names, locations, and circumstances of death with a level of detail later confirmed through records and eyewitnesses.”   

• “Beards, Professionalism, and Culture Warriors”   https://www.patheos.com/blogs/johnbeckett/2025/10/beards-professionalism-and-culture-warriors.html   “Professional” dress and grooming has nothing to do with the ability to do a job. If there was ever any doubt about that, Silicon Valley’s tech industry and Steve Jobs’ jeans and black turtleneck proved it conclusively. There’s something to be said for presenting a neat and clean appearance for customers – or just for yourself – but for jobs that have no customer interaction even that adds no value.   “Professionalism” is about affirming and promoting the cultural superiority of the people in charge. In this country, that’s straight white upper-middle-class Christian men. When the recruiter and the VP of Sales said they wanted people to look “professional” they meant “I want them to look like me””;      

• “The Divinity Of Nature”   https://www.patheos.com/blogs/johnbeckett/2025/10/the-divinity-of-nature.html   “Today I want to discuss another foundation of Paganism as I know and practice it: the divinity of Nature.   ...   We were not placed on the Earth, not in a garden or anywhere else. We grew out of the Earth.   ...   We are dependent on Nature   ...   We are not the centre of Nature   ...   I don’t love Nature because I’m a Pagan. I’m a Pagan because I love Nature.”   by John Beckett      

• “High Strangeness In Alien Abduction” on the Alien UFO Podcast This is an excellent introduction to this topic   “In this episode, we step into the mysterious and often unsettling world of “High Strangeness”, a phenomenon that stretches the limits of what people call reality. Drawing from first-hand testimonies, we explore experiences that range from the dreamlike to the downright impossible: encounters with non-human beings, moments when time and space seemed to fold in on themselves, and a deep sense that our world may be layered with something unseen.   The experiencers don’t just describe “UFOs” or “abductions.” They describe entire experiences that blur categories, psychic messages, strange symbols, hybrid realities, and people who walk out of thin air”      

• “The Australians hardwired to be up through the night”   This is a little bit ... so-so, but the acknowledgement that not everyone naturally sleeps the same way is important;       

• thisoweek’s “afterlife report” by the  Zammits:   https://www.victorzammit.com/October10th2025/   

• also from YouTube:
  

• from YouTube and elsewhere ononeurodivergence (noting asymmetrical bifurcation but also synaptic  (under)pruning and neuroplasticity with regard to autism): 
• “THE ADHD FIX: The shockingly simple shift that changes everything”   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xemAEgcUwr8   “In this episode of LATE BLOOMERS, Rox tells Rich she’s finally found “the cure” for ADHD, and together they explore what actually helps reduce symptoms in real life. From routines, environment, and rest, to the power of self-acceptance, they unpack what genuinely makes a difference when you stop trying to “fix” yourself and start working with your brain instead.   They talk about the endless search for hacks and quick fixes, the pressure to be productive, and the surprising mindset shift that changed everything for them both. This one’s about what healing really looks like for ADHD brains: less control, more compassion, and the small everyday choices that make life finally feel calm.”   The thumbnail “ad” had a statement along the lines of   “you will never be neurotypical” (mentioned during the episode) which I consider a perfect encapsulation of this episode’s message       
  

 

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Remember: we generally need to be more human being rather than human doing, to mind our Mӕgan, and to acknowledge that all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering” (just as binary gendered [men’s and women’s] sporting teams are either both given the gender descriptor, or neither).

#PsychicABetterWorld   and  

Note that I am cutting back on aspects of my posts - see here, and Gnwmythr is pronounced new-MYTH-ear  

 

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