What is the primary purpose of your religion? Religion in general has many purposes, most of them dealing with forming and maintaining relationships: with God or Goddess, with gods and goddesses, with our ancestors, with the spirits of Nature, with our families and communities. But right or wrong, religion in the contemporary Western world is generally thought of as an individual thing. Bring up religion to the guy in the next cubicle and he’s likely to ask “what do you... Read more

I had a couple questions about the music we played at last night’s Denton CUUPS Samhain Circle. Here’s what I could find on YouTube. Prelude: Dead Can Dance – The Host of Seraphim This was intended to be a focusing piece – music to get everyone to stop their conversations, forget about everything outside the circle, forget about what had gone on earlier in the day and think about nothing but where we were and what we were doing. I... Read more

At Samhain we honor and commune with our ancestors who are not dead but who have moved on to another form of living. This isn’t only a Pagan concept – the Quaker William Penn spoke of this in Fruits of Solitude. You may recognize the second half – J.K. Rowling borrowed it for the introduction to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. They that love beyond the World, cannot be separated by it.Death cannot kill, what never dies.Nor can Spirits... Read more

Rev. Meg Barnhouse of First UU Austin has a piece up on UU World.org on the value of accepting help from others. She tells the story of being six cents short at the cash register and having it made up by a stranger who from appearances was much less well off than she. The (presumably) poor stranger’s charity bothered her – when she got to her car she dug out six cents and gave it to the man. Would I... Read more

Ruby Sara has shut down Pagan Godspell and started a new blog she calls Onion Work, subtitled “layers and tears.” The first few entries on the new blog sound a lot like the old blog: deep, conversational, and mystical. But the emphasis in Ruby’s life has changed and she felt like making a clean start with a new blog. Her most recent post (Ruby’s blog posts are, in her own words, long and infrequent) uses a visit to a Christian... Read more

AODA Archdruid John Michael Greer has a new blog post titled “A Lesson in Practical Magic.” Like most of his Archdruid Reports, this entry follows the theme of Peak Oil. But this one deals primarily with Joséphin Péladan, a French writer and occultist of the late 19th century. Péladan is an interesting character – go read John Michael’s description of him. My interest deals primarily with one of Péladan’s principles for becoming an effective magic worker. Greer translates it (from... Read more

Crossposted with No Unsacred Place We are born alive – and hungry. For a short time we are sustained by our mother’s milk.  It is given freely and lovingly (in most cases, anyway), but that gift is possible only because our mothers consume other life. Eventually the maternal intermediary is removed and we begin a life-long process of consuming things that were alive only a short time before we eat them.  This is what every animal on the Earth does. ... Read more

Sometimes dreams are psychological sorting and filing and sometimes they’re messages. And sometimes they’re messages for other people. A friend told me about a dream she had that featured a raven. Ravens are associated with Morrigan, primarily from her role as battle goddess and psychopomp. But Morrigan is also a goddess of sovereignty. Calvinists claim that God’s sovereignty is absolute – since he made everything and everyone, he owns it all, and he has the right to do whatever he... Read more

If you’re in the North Texas area, please join us for our celebration of Samhain on Saturday, October 29.  “Samhain” means “Summer’s End” and perhaps in no other year have we been so glad for Summer to be over!  Our Samhain Circle will include a celebration of Summer’s end and a tribute to our ancestors. The highlight will be a candle-lit spiral labyrinth, which we will walk to make peace with ourselves and to begin – or to strengthen –... Read more

From a Google+ forward by Thorn Coyle comes this website titled “The Art of Non-Conformity – Unconventional Strategies for Life, Work, and Travel” by Chris Guillebeau. It’s another example of a person who has rejected the mainstream world and is living life his way. His blog entry today is titled “Qualifications” and he gleefully lists his own lack thereof, which hasn’t stopped him from doing what he wants to do. I have very mixed feelings about messages like this. On... Read more