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' or connecting altars and talismans in a sort of client-server model. (God from the machine).
- found religion - The technopagan draws mythos and symbology from many other places, especially elements of popular culture. Thus you see pagans who use symbols from Mercedes Lackey, Harry Potter, movies, comic books (my favorite being a Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram cast with members of the X-Men instead of archangels)
- small parts, loosely connected - This is a phrase I stole from the description of Web 2.0. It's really about the approach that there is no single overarching scheme (no One True Ring). Instead, you create a working system out of connecting several smaller units loosely together, interacting just where they need to. The revolution will not be televised - it will be mashed up, podcast, blogged, put on an RSS feed, slashdotted, blogged again and then posted to YouTube.
- modern elementalism - The technopagan has a distinctly urban take on the world. This does not disconnect them from the natural world, but puts them in a different relation to it. The classical elements take on different meanings and have different manifestations (for ex. one reckoning: earth is materials, air is communications, fire is energy, water is transportation). Additionally, some things take on an independent existence as elements (is electricity really an aspect of fire? What about plastic? Is it really earth? Some scientists categorize it as the fourth kingdom - the other three being animal, vegatable or mineral).
- satrical reality - That fact is, a lot of reality is funny. Technopaganism embraces the idea that reality is not completely serious, and that often serves as a foil for human hubris.
- evolution of spirit - Technopaganism is forward looking and understands that humanity must evolve. This includes the evolution of the spirit, often spurred on by the problems caused by the progress of technology. This also includes the rejection of the Frankenstein complex, the idea that humanity's quest to understand and harness the natural world will ultimately lead to it's downfall. Rather this is replaced with the idea that technological progress can be joined with a concurrent spiritual and moral progress.

Whew. That was a mouthful (handful?).

Anyway, feel free to disgree, debate, etc. Consider this a sort of RFC. Maybe I'm just full of shit ;)

[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.

[vaxjedi]

Yay me! ;)

[kadiera]

hm. Much to think on there. But at first glance, I like it.

Wikipedia has an article on technopaganism that suggests three "branches" - (1) Pagans who use modern devices for ritual, (2) the overlap of Pagan culture with technological culture (IT people who are Pagan, raves, etc - realistically, this is two separate things: Pagans who are geeks, and what I'd refer to as urban primitive/tribal movements), and (3) the the idea of technology having magickal/spiritual elements of its own.

And maybe this is where my problem with definitions comes from...I've been looking for something that combines discussion on the magickal/spiritual elements of technology with the "Pagan geek" culture, for lack of a better term. What I'm finding is some combination of Pagans who use modern tools, and the fluffier aspects of the "urban lifestyle as a basis for spirituality" folks.

[vaxjedi]

Good point on #2 there. I'll change the wikipedia article since I was the one who wrote the last revision of it. ;)

[vaxjedi]

Actually, on your second paragraph, what do you mean, exactly? What is missing in the wikipedia article's definition (look at it now, I changed it slightly)

[kadiera]

Definition wise, that's good.

As for my statements...

...There are 4 fairly distinct definitions of technopaganism. When searching for information, generally I'm looking for resources on one or two of them, and finding the others instead. :-)