In this episode of Sacred Tension, I speak with Ministers of Satan Joe Dee and Jon Eldritch about the new Satanic Temple campaign Sober Faction. We discuss recovery culture, theistic and nontheistic recovery programs, the 7 rituals of Sober Faction, and more.
Find Sober Faction here.
Continue reading “Sacred Tension: Getting Sober with Satan feat. Ministers Joe Dee and Jon Eldritch”
Several months ago, I had a meditation experience the likes of which I’d never had before. The instructor advised me to take note of the feeling of being a subject looking at an object. He then said, “look for the one who is looking. Turn awareness upon itself, and look for the subject who is perceiving the object.”
Continue reading “There is Only Consciousness: On Minority Experience and Universal Humanity”
Sunday Curiosities is the weekly series in which I share interesting, controversial, or thought provoking things that caught my attention from around the web. Do you have any suggested content for this series? Do you have a blog you’d like me to check out? Please email me.
Renowned Ethiopian feminist author Chimamanda Adichie unleashed her fury on twitter activism in an essay titled “It is Obscene”:
Continue reading “Sunday Curiosities: The Obscenity of Twitter Activism and the Catastrophe of Losing the Classics”
In this episode of Sacred Tension, I speak once again with Lucien Greaves, co-founder and spokesperson of The Satanic Temple. We discuss his new album Satanic Planet, creativity during COVID, Lil Nas X, writing music for Satanic ritual, and more.
Continue reading “Sacred Tension: Music, Ritual, and Liberation From Superstition with Lucien Greaves”
René Grigori is one of many volunteer leaders who helped form the Southern California Congregation of The Satanic Temple(TST) in 2019. At the beginning of 2020 René became the congregation’s Media Liaison and began hosting a weekly Friday Night TST Hangout. In May 2021 René was ordained a Minister of The Satanic Temple.
Interested in writing a guest post for the blog? Please contact me.
This ritual was inspired by the Temple Service sermon on Internal and External Satanism by Stephen Bradford Long and the ensuing discussion. Meditation/contemplation were provided as examples of internal expressions of Satanism while embodying/living the tenets were provided as examples of external expressions. The resulting ritual is a fusion of the internal and external where contemplation of the various situations that arise in the Tarot deepens our understanding of the Tenets and helps us better apply the Tenets to the various situations in our daily lives.
Continue reading “Guest Post: Daily Tenet-Tarot Ritual”
In this episode, I speak with the gentleman skeptic Mick West about UFO disclosure. We discuss the press coverage of UFOs, the weird inner workings of the Pentagon uUFO program, and whether there is good evidence to support the claim that we are in the presence of mysterious, unearthly technology.
Mick West is a video game programmer turned skeptic and debunker. He is a podcaster, youtuber, the author of Escaping the Rabbit Hole, and the founder of metabunk.org
Continue reading “Sacred Tension: UFO Disclosure with Mick West”
In this episode I speak with religious scholar and intersectional demonologist S. Jonathon O’Donnell. We discuss their new book Passing Orders: Demonology and Sovereignty in American Spiritual Warfare, which is an examination of how American Evangelical beliefs about spiritual warfare intersect with transphobia, racism, and homophobia. Buy the book here.
Continue reading “Sacred Tension: Intersectional Demonology with S. Jonathon O’Donnell”
I’ve been making noise on social media lately about how I deliberately read problematic books. By problematic, I mean that they are deemed, justly or unjustly, toxic or bad by people I usually agree with. I’ve noticed some palpable discomfort when I bring up the topic, so I thought I would take some time to explore why I think reading problematic literature is helpful.
Continue reading “In Defense of Reading Controversial Books”
In this episode of Sacred Tension, I speak with Mandisa Thomas, founder and president of Black Nonbelievers. We discuss the experience of being a black atheist, the black church in America, racism in the atheist community, and much more.
Find Black Nonbelievers here
Continue reading “Sacred Tension: Black Nonbelievers with Mandisa Thomas”
It was the activism that first drew me to The Satanic Temple in 2017. My boyfriend was sitting on his laptop and suddenly exclaimed, “oh my God, Stephen, you have to see this.” He showed me the BDSM baby protest, in which diaper and baby-mask clad protestors peacefully poured milk over themselves in protest against anti-abortion theocrats.
Continue reading “Interior and Exterior Satanism”
