The Animistic Way: Contemporary Paganism and the Posthuman

This article aims to explore the affinities between contemporary Paganism and the posthuman project in how they approach the non-human natural world. On the one hand, posthumanism explores new ways of considering the notion of humans and how they are linked with the non-human world. On the other hand, Neopaganism expands this reflection to the spiritual domain through its animistic relational sensibility. Both perspectives challenge the modern paradigm where nature and humans are opposed and mutually disconnected. They instead propose a relational ontology that welcomes the “different other.” This integrated relationship between humans and the “other than human” can be understood through the semiotic Chora, a notion belonging to Julia Kristeva that addresses how the subject is not symbolically separated from the world in which it is contained.

Embodied Engagements with the Megaliths of Carnac: Somatic Experience, Somatic Imagery, and Bodily Techniques in Contemporary Spiritual Practices

This article explores bodily interactions, somatic experiences, and embodiment of New Age and contemporary Paganism practitioners conducting spiritual practices in the megaliths of Carnac in northwest France. Inspired from the sensory ethnography approach and applying a specific methodological framework elaborated for this study, the article argues that participants’ spiritual experiences are constructed using three main elements: somatic experience, somatic imagery, and bodily techniques. Collected data provides understanding of the practitioner’s elaboration of spiritual experience, while also suggesting further inquiries to assess sensory models prevailing in contemporary spiritual practices.

O Sagrado está no Todo: Experiências de Praticantes do (Neo)Paganismo como Possibilidade de Encontro Holístico do Ser

This paper aims to understand the experiences of practitioners of Contemporary Paganism and the relationships they have with their spiritual practices, as well as to investigate how they understand and interact with nature and how they perceive themselves as practitioners of a holistic belief. From in-depth interviews with four practitioners of (Neo) Paganism, it is possible to analyze the discourses on spiritual experiences through two categories of analysis: 1. Contemporary Paganism: Worldview and Holistic Practices, and 2. Understanding Totality: Nature, Self and Community. The research made it possible to understand that the relationship between the sacred, nature and the person in (Neo) Paganism is defined by the notion of totality as a reality in which the living beings, the world and the gods are interconnected, and therefore it is understood that the person-world-sacred does not separate. Palavras-chave : Pagan; Religion; Spirituality.