Weekly Linkage

When you start demanding respect, simply for existing, there tends to be a severe erosion of trust for that same individual. Perhaps, this is where we tend to have the issues that tend to arise in Pagan leadership.

[…]

In our Pagan communities, it seems that the leadership is more concerned with keeping power than practice the art of compassion and seeking to grow others to be leaders for the future.

Tommy Elf, ‘With Respect and Trust

Tommy Elf also has another post about leadership and what leadership looks like within Paganism.

A post from Keen about Feast Week (back in September), a fun weeklong ‘festival’ of meals relating to Tolkein’s Fellowship of the Ring.

Jason Mankey made a list of ‘5 Ways to Make Your Paganism Better‘. I found all of his points worth consideration and adopting to my own practice (where I wasn’t already doing them!), but apart from that don’t have much to say except ‘go read it’.

John Beckett wrote a post on house cleansing, a topic that I feel is rather underappreciated within Paganism and polytheism. Often we find ourselves focusing on establishing sacred space for certain rites and can neglect our greater home. The importance of having a physically clean space shouldn’t be ignored, though your space doesn’t need to be perfect either. But if your space is covered in grime or unknown sticky gunk or just a mess, it will be harder to focus on spiritual or religious matters.

Then again, arguably all ritual involves consciously enacting/participating in an image of divine principles using the theology, ritual, myth, and other resources that come from the wellsprings that the Gods have given us. Perhaps it doesn’t matter if others do not see the essence of them as long as the people who worship the Gods do.

Kaye, ‘Stepping Back Is Important

Songs of the Week

“Another day, another tragedy.” For Evelyn.
For Althea Altair and Lilibell Vega; for the twin spirits. “Don’t you try and run/I’ve already won/
Before the day is done/I’ll have you undone.”
For Hawthorne Joseph. “I hear the sound of your name/
Stuck on a loop in my brain.
Again, for him. But in acoustic. “Over and over again.”
For the Liathane. “Just one little white lie won’t hurt ya.”

Weekly Linkage

Damh the Bard wrote this excellent post on the harvest festivals last month that I’m only getting around to sharing now, but I recommend everyone read it and consider how you connect (or don’t) with the harvest festivals. Living in Europe has definitely changed how I relate to those common Pagan holy days.

Over on Patheos Pagan, Cyndi Brannen wrote about spiritual death and the season of autumn. An interesting read that touches on spiritual dismemberment and witchiness.

There don’t seem to have been any religious temples, in the classical sense, in Ireland. There were many large monuments and sacred sites, but these were mostly open air locations. Any that were enclosed, such as the great Passage Tomb at Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange, County Meath), were quite cramped – physical space wise, you wouldn’t be fitting a lot of live bodies into that passage and the chambers. It makes sense that any large scale community rituals, feast days, etc would have been conducted in the open air, with maybe an ‘inner circle’ element happening in an interior space within the broader context.

Lora O’Brien, ‘Pagan Priesthood in Iris History‘ (also check out ‘A Practical Guide to Pagan Priesthood‘, O’Brien’s new book)

Morgan Daimler has a post up on their PaganSquare blog about the relationship between folklore, pop culture, and fairies. (Always a favorite topic of mine to read!)

Here’s a post from earlier in the year, by Anna Applegate, about prayer and its importance within Paganism and polytheism.

Lastly, an important post by Thenea about ‘thoughts and prayers‘. Many Pagans and polytheists seem perfectly fine using our own version of ‘thoughts and prayers’ in place of actually trying to fix problems that we can address. Any call for us to think more critically about what we are doing (or not doing) is beyond valuable.

Time + Place #2 and A New Fairy Tale

Two new posts from Averill, one of the Other People. The first is a lovely post on the Darren (similar to Averill’s earlier post on the Liathane), and the second is a new story for the meeting of the Clarene and Ophelia. Please give them both a read!

Though restrained and slow in that earlier form as the man of embers and stone, here the phantom stag of the Darren was quick-footed and light, radiating strange power. Here he seemed undeniably ethereal, undeniably fae. There was no mistaking the meaning and origin of this creature in the woods.

Time + Place #2: the Spectre of the Forest

The box was small and intricate, covered in expensive silks and embroidered with the finest gold thread, with powerful magic coursing through the gilded decorations on its surface. Upon its lid was a hole in the shape of a heart, that when the girl’s heart was pressed within it, the bright threads and rich cloths would knit around it and bind it tight, sealing the princess within.

Fairy Tales: The Wishing Well

Songs of the Week

For the myths, the stories, the spirits that keep me up at night.
Strung out on ambition and desire.
For the Clarene.
For the Western Faerylands.
For the Dierne. “I guess I wasn’t perfect/But you were further from it.”
For the Laetha & Dierne.

Weekly Linkage

I’m tired of stories that present love as something effortless and suggest that effort implies it isn’t real love.

Nimue Brown, ‘Love and understanding

Joe from Caffeine-Fueled Magick has a post on a non-toxic flying ointment. As he notes in his own post, it’s good to do your own research on the ingredients of such ointments. You should make sure to test out a small bit on your body before slathering it everywhere as well, in case you have an allergic reaction.

If I decide to spent all of my time watching Netflix with my partner, I don’t spend the time in devotion to a godd.

Irisanya Moon, ‘Related to the Godds, Relating to Each Other‘ on Patheos Pagan

Building further on the above quote, I want to share this post by Nimue Brown on how we develop relationships, as well as what tends to happen when we just let them happen ‘magically’.

Books often paint this picture of ‘advanced practice’ as something that is frankly unrealistic for most people.  Being advanced doesn’t mean you have a three hour long ritual for every Sabbat that includes a full meal, crafts and seasonal spellwork. …Advanced practice means that you have advanced beyond looking for other people to tell you what you should be doing and how to do it, and you have started making those decisions for yourself.  You determine what your advanced practice is, and the more people we can get talking about it, the more everyone benefits!

Kylara, ‘Advanced practice

Annora Silverros has a good post on the offerings we can make to the gods. The post touches on a lot of my own thoughts concerning offerings and what we give the Gods, what we can give Them and why it matters.

Here’s a post by Tommy Elf on identity and labels and being a Pagan that could be useful for Pagans and polytheists of all ‘levels’ (beginner or experienced).

Weekly Linkage

Here’s a cool and informative glossary for terms used in the LV-246 Tradition.

And here’s an awesome poem by Nimue Brown, about romance and metaphors and – just read it.

Paganism. What a great big, wide open expanse that this is. And yet, I have always wondered what draws people to it – what are they seeking from it – what are they expecting of it… Why this? Why here? Why now? Such a perplexing part of this concept of Spirituality to explore, and yet I know that what I write here is only going to be a small part of it because people are individuals. And individuals can have so many varied reasons for doing any one particular thing.

Tommy Elf, ‘Hard work, Dedication, Communication. Do You Think It Is Worth It?

Jean Pagano, on PaganSquare, has a prayer for ‘corners’.

How do you tell, from the outside, if someone is doing the needful inner work to keep their life and/or their art in order? How much space do you give someone to stare dreamily into the middle distance? The odds are it will depend a lot on what they do the rest of the time, and how much you value that. None of us are under any obligation to find anyone else’s processes acceptable – it’s all about negotiation in the end. How we make space for each other is an important question in all relationships.

Nimue Brown, ‘Creatively doing nothing

Laura Perry, also over on PaganSquare, wrote about reconstruction vs revival, from a Minoan Pagan perspective.

Here are two posts from Yvonne Aburrow: the first a recent post on fire within Paganism and history and the second an older post (from 2013) about what sacraments look like in various Pagan traditions.

Daily Observances 6 – 10 October

Videos I Enjoyed

“I disavow it. I’m innocent. I’m innocent!”
It’s about Donkey Kong, and trans rights, and charity.
I do wonder what Ellis’ thoughts are on the second IT movie.
Now for a short bit of fun.

Sunday, 6 October 2019

  • Sunrise: 0737
  • Sunset: 1859
  • Visible: No
  • Moonrise: 1604
  • Moonset: None
  • Moon Phase: Waxing
  • Temperature (Actual): None noted
  • Temperature: Cold
  • Weather: Rained almost all day, road outside house running with water
  • Notes: None

Journal Entry

No entry for the day.

Monday, 7 October 2019

  • Sunrise: 0738
  • Sunset: 1857
  • Visible: No
  • Moonset: 0033
  • Moonrise: 1644
  • Moon Phase: Waxing
  • Temperature (Actual): 11*C
  • Temperature: Chill
  • Weather: Grey and cold all day, no rain
  • Notes: Stayed inside, no natural world observations

Journal Entry

No entry for the day.

Tuesday, 8 October 2019

  • Sunrise: 0740
  • Sunset: 1855
  • Visible: No
  • Moonset: 0134
  • Moonrise: 1644
  • Moon Phase: Waxing
  • Temperature (Actual): 10*C
  • Temperature: Cold
  • Weather: Completely grey, rained heavily all day
  • Notes: Skeletal forms of the trees have begun to peek through the tree line. Grass near cider manufacturing plant extremely green, compared to the subdued greens of the bushes. Yellow has begun dominating the palette.

Journal Entry

Trying to write from certain spirit’s perspectives feels impossible. It’s strange that the Dierne, who I’ve always felt was impossible to nail down, was – is – so easy to write. Yet spirits I know much better escape my hold. Their personality contorts on the page. I feel like appealing to the Laetha tends to backfire; I’ll be inspired, but like my soul was alight, leaving only ashes and exhaustion after.

Wednesday, 9 October 2019

  • Sunrise: 0741
  • Sunset: 1853
  • Visible: No
  • Moonset: 0238
  • Moonrise: 1743
  • Moon Phase: Waxing
  • Temperature (Actual): 12*C
  • Temperature: Cold
  • Weather: Stormy, heavy rain with wind
  • Notes: Sun peeked out for a brief hour then was eaten again by the storm. Some decay has begun to fill the air.

Journal Entry

Cards of the Day

  • Path Oracle: Sacred Sight/Site
    • The ability to see the holy
  • Shadowscapes: Eight of Wands
    • Many projects, many goals, in the wind
  • Children of LItha: Wheel of Fortune
    • Cycles, inescapability of fate, seasons

Thursday, 10 October 2019

  • Sunrise: 0743
  • Sunset: 1851
  • Visible: Yes
  • Moonset: 0342
  • Moonrise: 1806
  • Moon Phase: Waxing
  • Temperature (Actual): 13*C
  • Temperature:
  • Weather: Bright grey, clouds, windy with light rain, eventual blue clear sky
  • Notes: Interesting how many leaves on the streets and fallen on the ground, yet many of the bushes and trees are still seemingly full.

Journal Entry

Cards of the Day

  • Path Oracle: Hearth
    • Remember the house, the foundation of practice, of all things. (Dishes!)
  • Shadowscapes: Queen of Wands
    • Gentle control of passion and drive, surrounded by her many animals, tied to the Clarene. Balances goals with attainability.
  • Children of Litha: The Star
    • Positive omen; refreshing the self; the light of the Gods, providence.