Blog – Page 3 – Gus diZerega

Transforming the Cultural Appropriation Debate: Pagan and magickal insights.

Posted on September 2, 2017April 28, 2023 by Gus

The common academic issue of whether or not one engages in ‘cultural appropriation’ has divided the Pagan community. I have been very explicit in my dislike of the idea, but in working out just why I dislike the concept I … Read more

Circles and Lines in “The Wolf at Twilight”

Posted on September 29, 2016June 23, 2017 by Gus

I was started along this line of thought while reading Kent Nerburn’s powerful, moving, painful and hauntingly beautiful The Wolf at Twilight: An Indian Elder’s Journey through a Land of Ghosts and Shadows. There are many levels to this … Read more

The Trance of Belief: Part I.

Posted on April 27, 2016October 15, 2018 by Gus

I have been both fascinated and appalled at how quickly mostly the political right has abandoned reason and evidence in favor of assertion and arrogance in discussing issues. Here is what I think is going on. I published it in … Read more

My Near Death Experience in Maine: And a powerful lesson in compassion

Posted on January 15, 2016January 15, 2016 by Gus

Foster Gamble Again

Posted on December 14, 2015December 14, 2015 by Gus

A couple of days ago I received an email from a Pagan list connecting to a “New Paradigm” conference where prominent speakers would be libertarians mixing a dose of conspiracy theory, libertarian boilerplate, and New Age rhetoric into a supposed … Read more

Hayekian Insights on Capitalism Part III: Capitalism and Nature

Posted on October 29, 2015October 29, 2015 by Gus

Capitalism undermines the natural systems that support human well-being for the same reason it undermines civil society: the values it elevates above all others are incompatible with human or natural flourishing. Capitalism fails to achieve the minimal ethical standards to … Read more

Capitalism 3.0: A Wonderful Book

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Gus

Peter Barnes, a founder of the progressive phone company Credo and of the Mesa Refuge, has written Capitalism 3.0, a very important book on how the threat of global warming could be solved quickly from within a market context. Sadly … Read more

Answering critics of Pagan polytheism

Posted on June 12, 2015 by Gus

Bizarrely some Pagans are trying to claim the term “polytheist” for themselves, and deny it to anyone who looks at the matter differently. In my newest Witches & Pagans post I demonstrate they do not know what they are talking … Read more

New post on Patheos: Caitlin Jenner, the Duggars, and Us

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Gus

Caitlin Jenner and the Duggars together help us better understand the deeper levels of the cultural and political struggle dividing the US today. I explore how this is true in my newest post on Patheos.… Read more

Language, Power, Care and Childhood

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Gus

Changes in what words are dropped from the Oxford Junior Dictionary point to troubling shifts in the words that dominate not just adult life, but also that of children I discuss this worrisome trend in The Language of Power and … Read more