Description: Libertarian Paganism: These two apparently unrelated philosophies actually share much in terms of values, ethics, and the way they understand the world.

Verdict: Paganism and libertarianism might seem like odd choices to bring together in a single book. One is a broad set of nature-centric religious and spiritual practices, while the other is a fairly narrow political philosophy focusing on personal freedom and responsibility.

But as a member of both communities, author Logan Albright has been unable to shake the feeling that they actually have more in common than most people realize. Libertarian Paganism posits that there is a fundamental sympathy between these two apparently unrelated belief systems, and that a set of shared values might attract politically homeless pagans to libertarianism, or spiritually homeless libertarians to paganism.

These values include respect for the individual, the importance of consent, the freedom to express views which are out of the mainstream, tolerance and inclusion, and a healthy skepticism towards the powerful. Libertarian paganism is, in Albright’s experience, a way of life that is both personally empowering and deeply ethical, two qualities towards which the author likes to think we are all striving.

It is the author’s hope that readers of any political or spiritual persuasion will find something here of use, or at least thought provoking, in the development of that personal philosophy we all need to work on continually if we are to live lives of meaning and purpose.

In my learning, Pagan ethics tend to the libertarian. There are no commandments revealed by a deity or list of precepts recommended by an enlightened teacher. Decisions are very much up to the individual and there is a faith in human ability to behave well when free to do so.

Indeed, Pagans tend to dislike notions of sin and guilt as having negative effects on human flourishing. Life is to be enjoyed, in ways that respect the rights of other beings to enjoy their lives too. Michael York (2003) characterizes Pagan ethics as based on ‘honor, trust and friendship’. The Pagan perspective that all life is a connected part of the sacred, including all human life and all of nature, has implications for ethical thought about how Pagans interact with the world.

Some Pagans will quote what is known as the ‘Wiccan Rede’: ‘an it harm none, do what thou wilt’ (possibly coined by Doreen Valiente in 1964, and perhaps a response to Crowley’s ‘do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law’). However, harming none (which has echoes of the ahimsa of Jain, Hindu and Buddhist traditions) can put considerable limits on the notion of doing what you like.

Some Pagans are vegetarian or vegan to avoid harming animals or exploiting them in any way, whereas others think eating meat is natural, but that we should be fully aware of and thankful for the life that has been sacrificed to give us nourishment. An ethic not based on codified rules is actually quite difficult as it involves making constant judgments about what is the most loving and least harmful course of action in any given case.

Some Pagans believe that there is a natural justice in the way the universe is organized, and that ‘what goes around comes around’. They may even use the Indian term karma for this idea. Some Wiccans talk about the ‘threefold return’ that applies to magic – everything wished for others will come back to the practitioner three times as much, which is a deterrent to using magic for negative ends. Others dismiss these ideas and hold that we should behave well towards other beings without any thought of reward or punishment.

There have been a number of books published recently, that examine ethics from a Pagan perspective, but take it from me that Logan Albright’s insightful and dutifully sculpted Libertarian Paganism: Freedom and Responsibility in Nature-Based Spirituality is, and without a shadow of a doubt, one of the best of the bunch.

About the Author Logan Albright is a pagan, occultist, libertarian, and writer. He lives in Washington, DC.

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