Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Edward P. Butler, PhD @epbutler.bsky.social · 14h

A note on parallels between Hera's conception of Hephaestus and Isis' conception of Horus substack.com/profile/5275...

Reposted by Edward P. Butler, PhD

The Wild Hunt News @thewildhunt.bsky.social · 2d

A historic first: a couple married at the Temple of Zeus in Cyprus in a Hellenic polytheist ceremony—the first of its kind legally recognized in Greece—marking a powerful step toward restoring ancestral faith and identity across the Mediterranean.

wildhunt.org/2025/10/hist...

#hellenism #pagan

Historic First: Legal Hellenic Polytheist Marriage Ceremony Held in Cyprus — A Milestone for Mediterranean Paganism - Europe, Paganism, Religion, The Wild Hunt, World

Witchcraft & Pagan News - A historic first: a couple married at the Temple of Zeus in Cyprus in a Hellenic polytheist ceremony—the first of its kind legally recognized in Greece—marking a powerful ste...

wildhunt.org

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Edward P. Butler, PhD @epbutler.bsky.social · 1d

"Was Plato really hostile to poets? Or did he, rather, insist on the crucial importance of poetry to almost every subject he placed before us?" www.bostonreview.net/articles/pla...

Plato and the Poets - Boston Review

The centuries-old debate should be settled: an intellectual world bereft of poetry is a damaged one.

www.bostonreview.net

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Edward P. Butler, PhD @epbutler.bsky.social · 6d

"Xi Jinping pointed out that only by remaining rooted in Chinese soil and steeped in Chinese culture can religions in China be passed down healthily." interpret.csis.org/translations...

At the 22nd collective study session of the CCP Politburo, Xi Jinping stressed the need for systematic advancement of Sinicization of religions in China and active guidance for religions to adapt to a...

The CCP Politburo holds “collective study sessions” on a semi-regular basis, in which an outside academic or government expert leads a discussion on a selected topic. Such sessions can signal which is...

interpret.csis.org

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Edward P. Butler, PhD @epbutler.bsky.social · 6d

Xi Jinping Calls for Accelerated ‘Sinicization of Religion’ Under Party Leadership chinascope.org/archives/39226

Xi Jinping Calls for Accelerated ‘Sinicization of Religion’ Under Party Leadership – Chinascope

On September 29, the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held its 22nd collective study session on advancing the Sinicization of religion in China, chaired by Xi Jinping. Xi emphasiz...

chinascope.org

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Edward P. Butler, PhD @epbutler.bsky.social · 6d

Pagan dawn: Europe’s first pagan state religion in 638 years? by @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social drfrancisyoung.com/2025/10/10/p...

Pagan dawn: Europe’s first pagan state religion in 638 years?

Members of the Dievturi religion at the Latvian Saeima, 9 October 2025 © Dievturi Sadraudze On Thursday the Latvian Saeima (parliament) passed a rather unusual law that, predictably, has escaped no…

drfrancisyoung.com

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Edward P. Butler, PhD @epbutler.bsky.social · 6d

"To wait for the kami is to live in rhythm with the unseen world and to let holiness reveal itself when it is ready. Through this act of waiting, matsuri becomes not a ritual of motion but a stillness that holds all things." What is Matsuri? open.substack.com/pub/toukyo/p...

What is Matsuri？

From prayer to politics to stillness

open.substack.com

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Edward P. Butler, PhD @epbutler.bsky.social · 7d

Thank you, it’s gratifying to be able to find readers receptive to such subtle and even arcane reflections.

Edward P. Butler, PhD @epbutler.bsky.social · 7d

New Substack post: More on Hephaestus and the Theology of Matter open.substack.com/pub/epbutler...

More on Hephaestus and the Theology of Matter

Contemporary reflections on technophany always seem to involve Prometheus, rarely Hephaestus, though technology is the latter’s explicit timē, and is embedded, moreover, in His mythic ‘birth’, inasmuc...

open.substack.com

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Edward P. Butler, PhD @epbutler.bsky.social · 7d

Bodies that Mattered: Ancient Egyptian Corporealities (Free to read online, though not to download) www.sidestone.com/books/bodies...

Bodies that Mattered @ Sidestone Press

Bodies are immanent element of socio-cultural negotiation. Since the 19th century, Egyptology has produced vast knowledge on the ancient Egyptian bodies (human, divine, animal), however, mainly by foc...

www.sidestone.com

Reposted by Edward P. Butler, PhD

Lilith Dorsey @lilithdorsey.bsky.social · 8d

Register now for this amazing class series #Voodoo #Vodou #AfricanTraditionalReligion

Edward P. Butler, PhD @epbutler.bsky.social · 8d

The Real World of Voodoo, Vodou, and African Traditional Religions with @lilithdorsey.bsky.social begins October 21 www.morbidanatomy.org/classes/p/th...

The Real World of Voodoo, Vodou, and African Traditional Religions, with Author and Priestess Lilith Dorsey MFA, Begins October 21 — Morbid Anatomy

Six Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom Tuesdays, October 21 - November 25, 2025 7 - 8:30 pm ET (NYC Time) $150 Paid Patreon Members / $175 General Admission PLEASE NOTE: Classes will be rec...

www.morbidanatomy.org

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Edward P. Butler, PhD @epbutler.bsky.social · 8d

The Real World of Voodoo, Vodou, and African Traditional Religions with @lilithdorsey.bsky.social begins October 21 www.morbidanatomy.org/classes/p/th...

The Real World of Voodoo, Vodou, and African Traditional Religions, with Author and Priestess Lilith Dorsey MFA, Begins October 21 — Morbid Anatomy

Six Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom Tuesdays, October 21 - November 25, 2025 7 - 8:30 pm ET (NYC Time) $150 Paid Patreon Members / $175 General Admission PLEASE NOTE: Classes will be rec...

www.morbidanatomy.org

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Edward P. Butler, PhD @epbutler.bsky.social · 8d

CFP: Annual ICHS USF Conference: Souls and Psychological Phenomena in Greek Antiquity (Tampa, Florida, April 23 – 25, 2026) www.usf.edu/arts-science...

Souls and Psychological Phenomena in Greek Antiquity | Interdisciplinary Center for Hellenic Studies | College of Arts and Sciences | University of South Florida

www.usf.edu

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Edward P. Butler, PhD @epbutler.bsky.social · 8d

A Datura Ritual Complex in the Mississippian Southeast www.academia.edu/144345670/A_...

A Datura Ritual Complex in the Mississippian Southeast

In the American Southwest and northern Mexico, it has long been argued that ceramic vessels with exterior surfaces that are covered with small nodes are Datura seed pod effigies. Datura is a genus of ...

www.academia.edu

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Edward P. Butler, PhD @epbutler.bsky.social · 9d

The Indo-Caribbean Sri Shakti Mariamma Hindu Temple in Queens, New York urgently needs help to fund mandatory repairs and stay open. gofund.me/aa0f6c6b5

Donate to Save Our Beloved Community Temple, organized by Anu L

Namaste, everyone, We are writing on behalf of the Indo-Caribbean Sri Shakti Mariamma Hind… Anu L needs your support for Save Our Beloved Community Temple

gofund.me

Edward P. Butler, PhD @epbutler.bsky.social · 9d

Sharing again this article (and fundraising page in the following post) about a local Indo-Caribbean Kali mandir in need. religionnews.com/2025/07/16/a...

A fight to save a Hindu temple for the 'unheard and unseen'

NEW YORK (RNS) — Since 2008, Shri Shakti Mariammaa has been a safe haven for women and members of the LGBTQ community. But the temple risks closure if it cannot make costly improvements.

religionnews.com

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Edward P. Butler, PhD @epbutler.bsky.social · 9d

October 7-8, Bookshop has free shipping. It's a platform where you can shop online from independent booksellers. Some of my own books are available there, and I earn a commission on other books ordered from my storefront. bookshop.org/shop/epbutler

Edward P. Butler Bookshop

bookshop.org

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Edward P. Butler, PhD @epbutler.bsky.social · 10d

Program for the fifth annual conference of the Canadian Aristotle Society; this year's theme, "Aristotle and the De Anima" www.uottawa.ca/faculty-arts...

Fifth conference of the Canadian Aristotle Society - Aristotle and the De Anima | Faculty of Arts

We are pleased to present the program for the fifth annual conference of the Canadian Aristotle Society, which will be held at the University of Ottawa on October 24 and 25, 2025. This year's conferen...

www.uottawa.ca

Edward P. Butler, PhD @epbutler.bsky.social · 11d

CFP for several virtual round tables: Deus e o Divino nas Tradições Ayahuasca, Kardecistas e Indígenas Brasileiras; Concepções de Realidade Última nas Tradições Vedānta; and Conceptions of Divinity in African and Afro-Brazilian Religions www.god-and-consciousness.com/round-tables

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Edward P. Butler, PhD @epbutler.bsky.social · 13d

Academic Responsibility as Rome Burns: Humane Deliberation in Times of Exigency, by Eli Kramer open.substack.com/pub/palinode...

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Edward P. Butler, PhD @epbutler.bsky.social · 14d

New post up on my Substack: "Some thoughts on disjunctive difference within 'the same' God: A further reply to Antonio Vargas" open.substack.com/pub/epbutler...