Would Arranged Marriage Work For Pagan Communities?

August 24, 2012 By
Handfasting_by_Gordon

Many of you probably already hate this idea, just from the title. Let me save you some time: I know that you hate it and I know why you hate it. I already know that most Pagans do not share the views I'm expressing here, and I don't care. Now that that is out of the way... I've been thinking a lot about the concept of family and continuity in Pagan communities and culture. We tend to base our communities on people who are religiously similar to us, but who rarely have a deeper connection. It … [Read more...]

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Shameless Plug: Limited Tarot Readings with Custom Charm

August 24, 2012 By
305641_224363971005881_100002968387958_368978_1207577605_n

I have exciting things afoot in my personal life. Cogs are moving and wheels are turning. It is going to have a significant impact on my personal practice, my interaction with community, and even my writing. I might even end up sucked into writing for the PNC again. There's a lot of potential with this change. I am very excited. Unfortunately, change sometimes incurs expense, which sucks. So I've decided to do something I gave up years ago: tarot readings. I was told I was good when I did … [Read more...]

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Dar Williams’ In The Time Of Gods

August 22, 2012 By
DarWilliamsInTheTimeOfGods

I have been a big fan of Dar Williams since The Christians and the Pagans, and her lovely contributions to the first Lilith Fair album. Strangely, it was more acceptable for my sisters to listen to Madonna than for me to listen to Dar. Ironically, I think my mother thought Dar, and singer-songwriters like her, were more "gay." I have always liked Dar, but I have literally fallen in love with her new album: In The Time Of Gods. Inspired by Greek myth, it's a collection of modern songs. Had I … [Read more...]

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Astral Poo ( Or If Not For Bad Luck, I Wouldn’t Have Any Luck At All)

August 21, 2012 By
Greek evil eye charms.

Since sometime last week I have been fighting some kind of flu or virus that has fogged my brain, congested my sinuses, plagued me with nausea, given me fever chills, and supplied me with muscle aches. My brain is finally emerging from the fog slowly, and my fully lucid moments are long enough to be able to write something that maintains coherency for more than a few sentences. Before I got sick I hurt my back. Last night I believe I managed to fracture my big toe. I didn't want to get up this … [Read more...]

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Fresh Snark: Spreading Some Love (and Hate) on Polyamory: Married & Dating’s Episode 6

August 20, 2012 By
Jen is literally the only reason watching scenes with the quad is bearable. Maybe because her reaction is in tune with the reaction of the audience so often.

With a large mug of coffee and plenty of coughing and sniffling, I steeled myself to watch episode 6 of Showtime's Polyamory: Married & Dating. I was genuinely expecting to hate it as much as episode 5. I didn't. So today we have snarky bullet points with what I hated, followed by what I loved, and then some thoughtful analysis. If you are one of the people who really hated my review, go read this instead. Jessica Karels writes really thoughtful reviews. Unlike mine. Throwing Some … [Read more...]

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Eager for Decay: Looking Forward to Autumn

August 20, 2012 By
800px-Baby_Pumpkins

Autumn is my favorite season. I revel in it. I read somewhere once that Hel's kingdom was forever a misty autumn, and whether that is true or not, it makes me reluctant to grab hold of a sword when I near death. Loving autumn is a strange thing. Everything is in decline, in decay. Entropy is winning. Those bright leaves? That's the result of trees trying desperately to stave off the inevitable winter. It's a season of death, and I love it. I'm not the only one. Almost everywhere I look … [Read more...]

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Pagans and Family

August 19, 2012 By
Maybe none of these people are related. Maybe this is two gay dads taking their kids to visit their poly triad grandparents.

I am mostly alive today. I've spent days busy dying: coughing, sleeping, shivering and feeling like warmed up dog poo. I've missed the anniversary of the WM3 being freed, I've missed a bit of drama I'm sure, and I still haven't watched that stupid polyamory show again. I know I said I would, but when you feel like complete crap you just can't deal with watching it too.  So go watch Terisa Greenan's Family and trust some snark (and thoughtful analysis) are eventually coming your way. Even … [Read more...]

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Guest Post: P. Sufenas Virius Lupus’ on Unnatural Sex

August 17, 2012 By
PGPT_PSufenas_bio

P. Sufenas Virius Lupus writes the Queer I Stand column here on Patheos Pagan. If you like this please check out his column, as well as all of our other fine columnists and bloggers. For good or ill (and despite the best efforts of queer theory’s proponents), the word “queer” is something that people associate with sexual orientation. At the end of the day, “sexual orientation” is not so much about who one loves (as there are many kinds and definitions of love, and most queer people … [Read more...]

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Guest Post: Steven Abell’s “The Toad Prince & Stuff”

August 16, 2012 By
PGPT_StevenAbell_bio

Steven T Abell writes the Letters From Midgard column here on Patheos Pagan. If you like this please check out his column, as well as all of our other fine columnists and bloggers. Once upon a time ceptin it warn't actually so long ago there was a handsome prince and some people hated him for it cause some folks are like that and also he was rich and a whole lotta folks hated him for that. He knew that folks hated him and he'd stand up there on the balcony of his castle saying Hey don't hate … [Read more...]

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A “Legitimate” Paganism Experiment: What Do You Spiritually Need?

August 14, 2012 By
I need some of this, jazz trumpets included.

BT Newberg referenced the concept of Pagans trying to legitimize themselves "in the eyes of the mainstream."  Aside from the other interesting concepts in his post, including a naturalist/hard polytheist dichotomy, I found that an odd idea. I suppose to some degree it may be true, as the Facebook poll I created shows, but it seems to me we spend far more time trying to legitimize ourselves to each other, or knocking down rampant stupidity (such as the idea we are simply lazy … [Read more...]

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