Before we get started, I’m going to assign reading that fundamentally changed how I view science and religion. Gould’s “Non-overlapping Magisteria” should be required reading for every witch who struggles to align the natural expression of the universe with the presence of the divine. I recommend it regularly on Reddit when people start trying to prove the existence of “God” using science… which is kind of like flipping pancakes with a rainbow, to the detriment of both. Gould instead envisions distinct knowledge-realms which sit side-by-side but do not, in fact, blur or overlap. Science and the scientific method make a beautiful, elegant structure for explaining the measurable world. It helps us understand what and how and where, the cause and effect of atoms banging into each other and how fish become apes, and why stars shine for so long after they die.
What Science doesn’t give us is the “why” of our lives. Science doesn’t help us be better people or live in better community with each other. That gap is often filled by other means – art, religion and spirituality, ethics, etc. These are all magisteria that may dwell in close confines with Science but are not interchangeable as paradigms. Instead, they are complimentary lenses through which we can begin to perceive the fullness of existence. Science is a description of the physical universe where the Spirit is a reflection of the interior intangible self – immeasurable and imperceptible to Science but of particular interest to the individual experiencing consciousness.
As a science-informed witch, I use my understanding of the natural world to support my practice. I believe the sun is a giant ball of burning gas, throwing radiation around at the center of our galaxy… the source of of all light and life. The sun is worthy of my respect and admiration. The moon, which was originally of the Earth but violently separated by an interplanetary fender-bender, reflects and refines the light of the sun but does not produce it’s own light. They both are important parts of my personal cosmology, but neither is inherently gendered nor are they equally balanced. So, I follow the sun by celebrating the equinoxes and solstices. I pray and meditate and make offerings while learning the flora and fauna of my city’s ecoregion and garden to support my local pollinators. And in the end, I have a more secure connection to myself and the world around me.
All of us exist within the bounds of the natural world. SASS Witchcraft aims to walk a fine line between observable truth of Science and the wondrous magic of the divine, unknowable Spirit.
Further reading….
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