Nowadays, some of those unable to acknowledge a creator seem eager to make a cult of creation instead. This should not surprise us. Earth worship, rather than deference to personal gods, is arguably humanity’s default religion.

The Earth, after all, requires no act of faith to validate its existence. The generosity with which it bestows life and livelihood, the awesome wrath with which it inflicts flood and famine, and indeed its control over our destiny, all brook no denial. What’s not to worship? What’s not to love, fear and propitiate? (more…)

When he was alive, the U.S. government had no trouble finding a place for Patrick Stewart, never mind his unconventional beliefs. It inducted him into the Army National Guard, issued him dog tags giving his religion as “Wiccan,” and deployed him to Afghanistan. He died there in 2005 when Taliban forces shot down his helicopter. It was only later that Uncle Sam had second thoughts.

Sgt. Stewart was buried in a veterans cemetery in Nevada, and his widow asked that his memorial plaque include the encircled five-pointed star of Wicca, a religion based on nature worship. But the Department of Veterans Affairs declined, because that emblem is not among the 38 religious symbols it allows. (more…)

“Yet mark’d I where the bolt of Cupid fell: It fell upon a little western flower…maidens call it love-in-idleness…The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid, will make man or woman madly dote upon the next live creature that it sees.” So claims Oberon in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, echoing centuries of creepy crones, wizards and shady apothecaries all promising an elixir to call down Cupid. Surely, in our cynical, scientific, deterministic times, romantic love has been discredited by screenwriters and behavioral scientists alike; the promise of a love potion has all but disappeared.

Not so! Love potions, herbs and oils are a booming business; love rituals, spells and other shenanigans intended to inflame the heart of the beloved (or at the very least catch his or her attention) abound. To be fair, many of the herbal ingredients recommended by holistic practitioners are more directly linked to sex: Foregoing romantic or magical attribution, the promised result is framed in such clinical phrases as “increases blood flow to the genitals” or “boosts overall energy including libido.” Perhaps we find these medical descriptions comforting. Given the often catastrophic, unintended and harrowing results of love potion use described in myth and legend, perhaps a little increased blood flow is harmless enough. (more…)