To start us off, a useful post on grounding yourself. The amount of practical methods in this post is very helpful.

Yvonne Aburrow writes on why ‘Pride is a Protest‘, focusing on assimilation vs liberation, and linked to some other articles on the topic.

[Pride] should be as inclusive as possible, but raucousness, provocation, and fucking are important too.

James Greig, ‘Why it’s bizarre to try to ban kinks and fetishes at Pride‘

Aburrow also wrote a lovely and interesting post on Steve Wilson, author of Robin Hood: Spirit of the Forest.

Faemon linked me to this piece on creepypastas/internet ghost stories. One quote stood out to me, from Sarah Gretter of Michigan State University: “Being able to experience fears through a story helps kids process what those natural fears are.” It sparked in me a memory of a story I read years ago of children ‘losing fear’ – essentially the entity/spirit of fear disappearing – and the consequences thereof. Suffice to say, it wasn’t good.

Another interesting posting I found was on ‘The animism of stories‘. The article contains information gleaned from interacting with Gwenhwyfar (of Arthurian mythos), talking about storytelling and shaping and how it is connected to the otherworlds. While the post was interesting I found pause in that Gwenhwyfar mentions that television shows ‘kill’ worlds before they get a chance to develop. I think fanfic authors would disagree with you on that point rather viciously. (That one would mention how storytelling has shifted from oral to written and televised yet not mention fanfic seems, uh, weird.)

Annora Silverros wrote on Tarot reading and responsibility in a way I really relate to, especially since I started reading for others (as an intuitive Tarot reader) during high school.

Angelo Nasios, over on Patheos’ Agora, wrote about Sallustius’ On the Gods and the World. I always appreciate book recommendations, especially recommendations with thorough reasoning behind them.

Ideas for establishing a daily (devotional) practice, by Charlie Larson over, again, on Agora.

Irisanya Moon wrote on ‘The Long Work of Magic‘.

Catching up with a lot of links, as I was a bit too busy the past few weekends to get this post out.

I recently joined the Polytheist Monasticism forum and have been reading a lot of the posts there; many of them are not available to the public, however. Through the forum I encountered this post on positive asceticism and thought it might be useful for other Pagans and polytheists who feel a call to monasticism and wonder how asceticism might fit in our practices.

Perhaps it is because I’m more aware of Eastern philosophies, but I think ascetic practices can be applicable to us (speaking as a polytheist). Properly used (de-Christianized) asceticism is not self-punishment or self-denial. These acts are intended to increase spiritual awareness and strengthen one’s connection to the Powers.  They can be a means of showing devotion and dedication. They can be methods of putting oneself into “headspace” or trance, to open oneself to Divine communication. They can be a way to disconnect from the toxic aspects of material culture, at least temporarily, so one can shift their viewpoint towards better spiritual understanding. Asceticism, even much of the painful bits, is not some way to create a suffering believed to be deserved, but a way to create an experience that enhances.

Weeping Crow

Here is a lovely poem, ‘On a granite mountain peak‘.

John Beckett has a post on 15 different types of roles for Pagan priests. Discussions about clergy, priesthood, and leadership have been popping up all over the place recently. I think the question of, “…what do we want our consecrated religious specialists to do, and what should be the responsibility of the people in general?” is an important one.

Mat Auryn has some amazingly detailed book recommendations for traditional witchcraft.

Thorn Mooney, one of my favorite bloggers, has a post on setting up a home shrine.

Finally, a video about ‘Cannibal Holocaust’. Content warnings for gore, animal abuse, cannibalism, sexual abuse…basically every content warning. I’m a big fan of horror and find Ryan Hollinger’s videos about horror to be very thoughtful and engaging. This one isn’t an easy watch though.

I’ve decided to start linking to interesting videos and articles from around the Pagan blogosphere and related areas. I used to do this a few years back but stopped, not wanting to accidentally associate a non-Otherfaith person with our tradition. But I think it is vitally important to share viewpoints from a variety of traditions. It’s one of the best ways to grow!

Jason Mankey wrote recently on gatekeeping, and many of his thoughts mirror my own. The idea that traditions have fences (and definitions!) and that gods may also interact with those that they wish regardless of those traditions is one I think is important.

Morgan Daimler has been writing a series of essays on ‘Priesthood in Service to the Other’ on their blog (part 2 & part 3). A quote I especially like, from their first in the series:

I don’t often see the idea of pagan priesthood specializing, or the acknowledgement that a single person may not be equipped to handle all aspects of such service. 

Part 1: The wide view

They also wrote an excellent post on cautions of honoring fairies. Fairies were an important part in my development of the Otherfaith (the name of the tradition stems from ‘other people’ as a reference to fairies) and are still important to my practice to this day. I especially liked their point about animism not equaling the Fairy Faith. Part of the difficultly in explaining Otherfaith theology is that there is an animist thread as well as a belief in spirits that, like humans, live in/on/around enspirited landscapes and items.

Seo Helrune has an interesting article about restoring the connection to the Other in our landscape and practice.

And here’s a video about prayer and the Daily Office.