A Modern Pagan View of Sacrifice

April 22, 2013 By 2 Comments
offering 04.22.13b

Last week Sam Webster had an excellent column on restoring Pagan sacrifice which drew largely from the ancient Greeks. I’d like to continue that conversation and offer my own thoughts on sacrifice: what it is and why we should do it. Sacrifice has two separate but related meanings. If we are to understand sacrifice, much less practice it effectively, we need to understand both. The common meaning of sacrifice is “to give up.” We pour a libation, giving up the opportunity to drink the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Ritual Tagged With: , , , , , 2 Comments

Morrigan Devotional Ritual

February 11, 2013 By 6 Comments
Spear made by Ted Davidson. Photo by Erin Kane.

On Friday night, seven people gathered in a back yard in Denton for a devotional ritual to the Goddess Morrigan. It was an intensely powerful experience. Though we took no oaths of secrecy (none were asked and none were made) the experience feels too intimate to share in great detail. But I think there is value in telling at least part of this story, in showing what can be done and what Pagan ritual can be and do when we are in alignment with each other and with our gods and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gods and Goddesses, Ritual Tagged With: , , , , , , 6 Comments

Wondering About Offerings

February 5, 2013 By 5 Comments
offering of milk

There are two main questions to ask when planning a public ritual:  what do you want to do and what do you want people to take away?  For this year’s Imbolc ritual, what we wanted to do was pretty clear – render due honor to the Goddess Brighid. But part of the magic of public ritual is planting seeds for future growth:  introducing people to concepts, practices and beings they haven’t seen before or haven’t noticed before.  While I didn’t give the question of takeaways much … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Ritual Tagged With: , , , , , , 5 Comments

Render Due Honor

February 3, 2013 By 2 Comments
Erin and Michi, two of the priestesses for this year's Imbolc circle

One of the responsibilities of being a leader in a Pagan group is making sure you have good rituals for every circle on the calendar. That doesn’t mean I lead them all – Denton CUUPS is blessed with a good variety of capable and experienced ritualists. I typically lead one or two of the eight major holidays and assist on one or two others. Writing Imbolc was not in my plans for this year. But when our circle coordinator for Imbolc developed some serious health issues (she’s doing better … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Ritual Tagged With: , , , , , , 2 Comments