Can we derive a secular spirituality from the seasons?

As we look forward to the vernal equinox (the first day of Spring), Bart Everson will engage in a community discussion on the question, “Can we derive a secular spirituality from the seasons?” Everson’s book, “Spinning in Place”, outlines a this-worldly approach to spirituality for the scientifically-minded. “As a longtime atheist, I’m skeptical of many expressions of religiosity,” Everson writes. “But over the years I’ve learned to see much of value in religion as well. To be fully human, we must be open to the full range of human experience. I wrote this book to show one way that humanists, atheists, agnostics, freethinkers and skeptics might celebrate what it means to be alive here on this planet. Further, by placing a focus on the natural world, we can learn to be better citizens of the Earth.”

Everson is known in the New Orleans area for his role in kickstarting the Lafitte Greenway, a 2.5 mile rail-trail which connects neighborhoods in the heart of the city. His first full-length book, “Spinning in Place” focuses on a series of seasonal celebrations which include the solstices, the equinoxes, and the lesser-known “cross-quarter days.” Taken together, they form eight holidays spaced evenly throughout the year and have served as a principle focus of Neo-Pagan spiritual practice.

It’s “a clear and thought-provoking guide to the festival year” according to James Nichol, author of “Contemplative Druidry: People, Practice and Potential”, who calls the book “highly recommended.”

Bart Everson is a writer, an artist, an activist, a teacher, a baker of bread, a husband and a father. His formative years were in Indiana and northern Sweden, and he has lived in New Orleans since 1999. He writes a column for Mid-City Messenger and Humanistic Paganism. More information is available at BartEverson.com.