definitions...

[kadiera]

So...I was talking with a non-Pagan friend of mine, and he asked:

What exactly is TechnoPaganism?

So, I put it to you:

Define TechnoPaganism and TechnoShamanism

Is it about deities and spirits related to computers? Is it about using technology for magickal means? Something else entirely?

Comments

[vaxjedi]

I was hoping to get this sort of thing up on my Indranet site, which is down because I fubarred the code for my site. Hopefully it'll be back up soon.

Anyways, my response to what is technopaganism is to fall back on prototype theory and describe prototypical technopaganism, with the understanding that a prototype is simply a limit and a useful model for comparison, and not an actual descriptor of a particular instance in reality.

So here's my first run at it, prototypical technopaganism. It has these attributes.

- Deus en machina/Deus ex machina - Technopaganism asserts the magickal nature of technology, including spirits/gods of machines and computers, the spiritual nature of the Internet, etc (God in the machine) However, it also asserts the converse, that is, the technological nature of magick. This ranges form the substitution of technology for traditional tools and symbology to the application of technological (particularly computer science) concepts to magick, such as the invocation of god forms as 'running divine software

[tyrsalvia]

Thank you, this is excellent.

[velvetdahlia]

Yes-- this is a thorough yet conscise response-- I couldn't have put it better myself. Thanks.

[vaxjedi]

Glad you liked it.

[tyrsalvia]

Please see the definition posts linked in the userinfo for the last two times someone asked this, and the comments therin.

You asked, "Is it about deities and spirits related to computers? Is it about using technology for magickal means?" In my opinion, it's about either or both. I'm also willing to open it up to things that are modern but not necessarily about computers, such as cities and cars. I tend to find collections of power at freeway overpasses, the modern equivalent of the ancient crossroads power. This strikes me as technopagan as well, because it's explicitly modern. I've also made a sigil into an lj icon for use in changing my life. I've known people who have coded their intent into electronic music. I've known people who have created digital servitors to help them in informational tasks. This all counts. It is not a narrow definition.

Does that help?

[andrewwilde]

I'm also willing to open it up to things that are modern but not necessarily about computers, such as cities and cars
I'm glad someone mentioned this - I'm not a computer 'geek', but I do get a connection with old cars. You can feel the life in it, and can tweak things that make it more or less 'healthy' or 'happy'. (How do those words work if it's just a hunk of moving metal parts?) In a way, I guess the engineers of the Victorian era were the technopagans of their time?

[nancyblue]

Digital servitors! How cool is that!

Just my Opinions...

[gillshallows]

Technopaganism: Is the belief that the Spiritual Life Force (often called "God" "Goddess" etc.) is prenent in all things including, and perhaps especialy in the works of the human race.'
ie. Magick doesn't end when the forest becomes sidewalks.

Technoshaman: A Shaman to a technologicly advanced "tribe".

Re: Just my Opinions...

[pope_guilty]

I think key to it is eliminating the nonsensical distinction between "natural" and "unnatural" and realising that mixing sand and water does create concrete, but it's still sand and water.

Re: Just my Opinions...

[eleri]

ayup. Just because humans made it, doesn't make it 'unnatural'. Truly unnatural things don't exist.

Re: Just my Opinions...

[nancyblue]

Yes! You made a great point. For me it's more than just "those of us who are 'stuck' in the city can be Pagan too" mentality. It's a complete rethinking and elimination of of the natural/unnatural paradigm. Some people have real problems with this notion because Paganism has been so aligned with this idea of the "primitive" and a return to some idealised/imagined state.