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21st Century Spirits WebRing

Do you believe humans are as much a part of Gaia as any other creature? Do you find it odd that so many people hate cities, technology, and other creations of humanity, and consider these things to be "unnatural", as if humans aren't as much a part of nature as other creatures? Do you sometimes feel the city spirits? Do you sometimes dance with the forms on the threads of our networks? Do you marvel at the universe science has revealed?

Do you feel one should look for gods in the world of today, not in books about ancient civilizations? Do you find it odd that people from modern urban cities are concerned with acurately reconstructing rites designed for ancient rural peoples rather than creating new rites for the modern age? When someone says, "that's not what the ancients believed," or "that's not what ancient pagans did it," or "there's no historical basis for this practice," do you find yourself wondering why anyone should care, beyond simple historical curiosity? Do you fail to see why this is an argument for why we shouldn't see or do it that way?

Do you believe knowledge and wisdom grow and advance over time, that we aren't somehow more ignorant than the ancients but in fact maybe we've managed to come to understand a few things they never did? Do you think good ideas are found in many different cultures? Are you optimistic (or at least cautiously optimistic) about the future?

If you answered yes to any significant portion of the above, you're a 21st Century Spirit. You live in the present, not the past, and like me, you probably think that if paganism is to survive in this century, it must fit the needs of modern people, and this is far more important than slavishly following ancient rites and customs. We understand that wisdom is to be found in a modern synthesis from many sources of all that is useful to us today, not in dogmatically clinging to a single set of rituals, pantheon, or worldview of some ancient culture that knew only their little part of the world. That there is no virtue in carrying on, unchanged, the traditions of our ancestors, undiluted by good ideas that happened to come from other cultures, belief systems, or times.

The 21st Century Spirits webring is for sites that reflect this point of view, for people that understand that the neo in neopaganism is not something to be embarassed about, but is in fact our saving grace; that the validity of a religion is not proportional to its ancientness but to its freshness; that one should not look as much at the past as to the future for inspiration; that eclecticism is not something to be embarassed about, rather that clinging to a single ancient tradition, dogmatically refusing to incorporate wisdom from other sources is a far more embarassing condition.

Eclectic pagans, neopagans, technopagans, technoshamans, and anyone with a forward-looking, humanity-loving spirituality is welcome here. Those who hate the human race, our works, our cities, our science and technology, and our diverse cultures need not apply.

Times have changed. Have we? Will we? Should we? If you think we should, join us and help forge the future of our 21st century spirituality, a positive and forward-looking view, incorporating the wisdom of the past but not afraid to discard the outdated and create new traditions when appropriate. A view that does not consider us or our works "unnatural" but affirms our connection with the Earth and our part in nature. A modern religion for modern people happy to live in a modern world.

Let's put the neo back into neopaganism.

Please note, I cannot accept sites in the following categories:

1. Commercial sites. I'll make an exception if you have significant non-commercial content, but only if the commercial content does not overshadow it, making it hard to find.

2. Non-English language sites. My foreign language skills are sorely lacking, so I cannot verify that the site contains content relevant to the ring unless it is in English. Sorry.

3. "Coming soon" sites. If your site is "coming soon", I'll be happy to review it for inclusion in the ring after it arrives. It's okay to be partially under construction, but there must already be significant content online.

4. Unreadable sites. I don't demand everyone be a master web designer, but if I can't even read your content, I can't review it for inclusion into this ring. (hints)

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