The Vows

Blogging will be light (or even non-existant) this weekend due to my impending nuptials to the wonderfully talented Mrs. Henry.

ma’am, would it make you feel any better if you knew
that what we’re doing was a holy thing?
you see, we’re on a mission from god.

In a ceremony that will surely vex at least one religious tradition, Mrs Henry (who is Catholic) will be exchanging sacred vows with an avowed Pagan. We will be married by Mrs Henry’s good friend ‘Mittens’ a GLBT/social activist (and daughter of a former AIDS czar) currently preparing to enter seminary and become a Lutheran minister.

We are deeply happy and content and can’t wait to be married out in nature as the sun rises tomorrow. May your gods bless you and keep you, and may your day be as blessed as I hope mine will.

Around the Pagan Web

Over at The Juggler Cather ‘Catalyst’ Steincamp talks about the issues brought up by the Terri Schiavo case and why Pagans should talk about it with eachother.

“I would encourage Pagans to talk about this with their peers, and for groups– be they small, religious groups or large, social groups– to take up this issue. Death is a very spiritual subject, and while we as Pagans do not generally push spiritual views, even within our community, I think we should foster discussion of the subject. I would hate to see the Pagan Community torn apart by something that could be resolved by discussion, and I’d particularly hate to see us pressuring a family to make a decision that may conflict with the wishes of the person who is most affected.”

Over at her blog Thorn Coyle discusses Anarchism, Paganism, Utopianism and the issues of self-governance.

“There is no self-government without self-governance. Yesterday, I sat on the religion and anarchism panel at a conference in Berkeley. I was struck by many things – first of all, by how hard it is for people to articulate their beliefs, no matter what they are and how much they say they believe them. Second, I was struck by a typical human behavior of not really hearing another person because we hold preconceived notions. Here was a group of people dedicated to what I believe is an attempt at something new because it is seldom tried, yet most were behaving in the same old ways. Probably myself included.”

Laura Jean Karr writes a column talking about Pagan Reconstructionists.

“So, what is a Pagan Recon? Well, Pagan Recons are those who strive to practice their faith as closely as possible to the original way in which their chosen pre-Christian faith Pagan culture practiced. They study all there is to know about their chosen path from historical documents to archeological evidence. Recons go beyond what is touched upon by Pagan Eclectics and search for the actual facts of what is known about their chosen faith. Some Recons only establish the historical evidence for their religious practices while other Recons chose to live their daily lives as closely as they can to the way in which their chosen pre-Christian people lived. Recons do not believe or follow any practice unless there is historical or archeological evidence to support it.”

Finally, Chas Clifton points us to a site that discovers modern Pagan holy sites.

“The ‘Neokoroi’ page lists primarily civic sites with strong Graeco-Roman religious elements that might effectively function as holy places.”

I Thought She Was Into Kabbalah?

Leave it to the Catholic League to make the mistake of taking Madonna seriously. The controversy? She dressed as a nun and her husband dressed as a pope for a fete celebrating the Jewish holiday of Purim at the Kabbalah Center in London.

“I suggest that next time, Madonna dress up in something more suited to her, such as from the Wiccan religion. And the Catholic League would donate a broom to her husband ? with instructions on what to do with it.” – Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League.

Dress like a Wiccan eh?

Skyclad or Robed? Which to choose!

Do you think Mr Donohue prefers robed or skyclad? Also in case the Catholic League needs some help here is a primer on the traditional uses of a Witches broom (or Besom). Here we have some chants you could use with your broom, and here are instructions for making their own in case the Catholic League is too cheap to actually buy one.

A Blogging Milestone

This blog just hit its first anniversary! Huzzah! I has certainly been a labor of love, I never thought that posting something almost every day for a year would be as much work as it has been. I think the experience so far has deepened my faith and has allowed me to meet and interact with some amazingly smart, witty and insightful people.

Thank you all for coming here and reading. I hope you’ll stick around for the next years-worth of one Pagan’s look at the world.

A Military Pagan Rejects The Iraq War

“I don’t regret my action.” – Spec. Blake Lemoine

“Spec. Blake Lemoine, 23, of Moraville, La., serving with the 5-96th Maintenance Company of the 16th Combat Support Group, was sentenced to seven months in prison and ordered him discharged with bad conduct. Lemoine said he had asked to leave the Army after returning from a yearlong tour in Iraq. He gave several reasons for his decision at a news conference last week that was sponsored by several anti-war groups. In particular, he argued that his duties as an ordained pagan minister were in conflict with his job in the Army. Lemoine said he had launched a hunger strike, which he vowed to continue while in prison.” – Melissa Eddy, AP

“LeMoine has been on a hunger strike for 41 days in protest against the Army’s refusal to discharge him” – American Views Abroad

…more as I find it

Something Deeper

Gawker reviews the show Topic A With Tina Brown (and not in a positive light I might mention) and gives us this interesting tidbit from an interview with Atoosa Rubenstein, the editor of Seventeen magazine.

Tina: Why are kids religious?

?Toosa: ?Oh, absolutely.?

How to even parse this. Youth religion is an untapped market? Passion gifts for red-state kids and pentacles for the blue-state kids? Kids are embracing Wicca because of 9/11? Whatever it means this much is certain, religion (to them) is seen as just another product to sell to kids. Parents (and kids) in states red, blue or purple need to keep this in mind and always question those who are making a buck off of faith. The real thing doesn’t cost a dime no matter what path you follow.

A Very Pagan Easter

“Twenty-seven-year-old Brandi Pettit of Stevens Point has no problem at all with the presence of pagan symbols in Easter. As a pagan, Pettit says, she views eggs and rabbits as symbols of life and renewal. Although she has been a pagan for the past 3 1/2 years, Pettit sends her children to Methodist services with her mother every Sunday. The two religions share more in common than just a few symbols, she said. ‘If you take all the world’s bigger religions, they all have a lot of similarities,’ Pettit said. ‘Whatever you call the holiday, the heart of it is still the same.’“ – Alex Shaine, Stevens Point Journal

“Though the Christians tried to take over Easter and make it their own, what they really did was to legitimize and assure the survival of a whopping big collection of pagan tradition and ritual, which works fine for me since the pagan elements which we’ve preserved are a lot more fun than the crucifictional alternative. So after the easter egg hunt on Sunday we’re off to a local Renaissance Festival – where better to frolic with the pagans – because apparently the church pretty much says it’s okay to be a pagan at least this one day of the year.” – Dave Nalle, Blogcritics.org

“I decided to forgo the bunnies and chocolate this Easter, and, instead, explore my Ukrainian roots by learning about pysanky – the ancient art of egg decoration. The intricate patterns in my mother’s collection captivated me as a girl. Historically, these decorative eggs were first used in pagan spring rituals as a fertility symbol and were later incorporated by the Christian church.“ – Jennifer Parks, Edmonton Sun

“Many people ask, what does Passover mean to Judaism? Other people ask, what does Easter mean to Christianity? A growing number of people are now asking, what does Ostara mean to Paganism? Paganism, or Earth-Spirit worship, is a path that finds everything in nature sacred, and everything sacred, divine.” – Olive Berrwick, Santa Cruz Sentinel

“To Christians the Easter egg represents re-birth or resurrection, but it was also a cherished symbol for the ancient Greeks, Romans, Gauls, Egyptians, Persians and the Chinese. The holiday itself falls on the northern hemisphere’s Spring Equinox, and the name Easter derives from the old Anglo-Saxon name for the fertility goddess of Spring, who happened to be symbolised by a rabbit, hence, the Easter Bunny. And as Peter Lee observes, it may be that Easter could be leaning back towards old-fashioned pagan-style hedonism.” – Nick Grimm, AM (Australia)

“The Christian Easter tradition has actually been piggy-backed on to pre-existing heathen rituals. These pagan placeholders on the annual circle of life illustrate our deep need to mark the passage of time, and the seasons, with events organised around a relevant theme. This need remains today but we don?t really connect with it any more. In the old days, these instincts connected with the cycle of nature. We were just as much a part of seasonal change as the woods, the fields and the beasts. We held our rituals to clarify with actions and symbols the changes that we felt were happening within us.” – Benjamin Fry, The Times Online

No matter what form you celebrate your Spring rejuvination/ressurection in, have a happy and fulfilling one.