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.

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).

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.

The post I enjoyed reading most recently was this one by Kaye; it touched on a lot of points that have been rolling around my brain recently, as well as topics that I’ve seen brought up in other polytheist spaces.

Joe on Caffeine-Fueled Magick has a post about fear that reminds me of some of the best rituals I’ve conducted or participated in.

Lorna Smithers wrote an interesting and engaging post on the term ‘awenyddion’ and the nuances of cultural appropriation.

I can remember so many times when I’ve word vomited at people to explain to them why I am in a place, or why I am in another place, or why, why, why, why, why, as if I’m spinning a prayer wheel to the Gods asking for some definitive answer(s) about where and with whom I belong and how I find a path and how I find this, that, or another community, or when you know that you’re in or out.

Kaye, ‘The “Why” Is Not and, and Cannot Be, Uniform’

Tommy Elf has a post on the how and why of his self-described unconventional spiritual practices. I think it’s worth a read if you’re thinking of innovating yourself or if you find yourself resistant to changes to established ritual or magical practice.

You may have complications that you can’t overcome. Maybe your family situation doesn’t leave enough time to devote the necessary hours to practice and service. Maybe your health restricts what you can do.

The fact that some people can seemingly do it all doesn’t mean you can… and you never know how closely their circumstances match yours.

John Beckett, ‘You Will Never Be Ready – Do It Anyway‘ on Patheos Pagan

Lastly, here is a post about Navrarti, a 9 day festival in the Hindu tradition. I’ve been participating in Navaratri online with a group of polytheist friends and acquaintances, as part of my goal to participate in more non-Otherfaith polytheist and Pagan activities.