2018-06-23T07:59:13-06:00

Last updated on: June 23, 2018 at 7:59 am   By

Friday is the 10th anniversary of Under the Ancient Oaks. I’ll have a special post talking about how I got started, my steps (and some missteps) in blogging, and where I see the blog going in the future.

Today I want to review the best of the blog – the Top 10 posts of all time, as measured by pageviews.

I have pageview statistics by post since I moved to Patheos in January 2013. For the Blogger era, all I have are monthly totals. But given the extremely low traffic during that time, I’m confident the list is accurate. Three of the Top 10 were written for Blogger.

As with the annual Top 10 lists, I’m excluding the solitary ritual series. If I didn’t, Samhain would be 4th, Winter Solstice 6th, Imbolc 7th, and Summer Solstice 9th.

Here are the Top 10 posts of all time on Under the Ancient Oaks.

10. The Call of the Morrigan (July 2012). This wasn’t the first time I wrote about the Great Queen, but it was the most timely. You’ll noticed I dropped the “the” from Her name in the post. I didn’t think it fit. I don’t remember when I finally realized that didn’t matter – She was known as the Morrigan in ancient times, and She wants to be known as the Morrigan in our times.

Sadly, the conclusion to this post has proven prophetic.

I hope and pray I’m right and Morrigan is calling priestesses and priests to serve a new and growing Community of the Earth.

Because if I’m wrong, then she’s preparing an army of Ravens to clean up the mess we’re going to make in clinging to a myth and a lifestyle that can’t be supported very much longer.

The Morrigan Devotional Ritual at this year’s Mystic South Conference is titled “A Gathering of Ravens.” Because that’s what She wants. Because that’s what our current situation calls for.

9. Druids and Their Robes (October 2012). At the 2012 OBOD East Coast Gathering, several of us got to talking about what we wear for ritual. I persuaded several people to write a paragraph about what they wear and why, combined it with some pictures, and loaded it on Blogger.

You don’t have to have a robe to be a Druid. As I said in the post, never let the lack of magical clothing keep you from attending a Druid or similar event, or from participating as fully as you can. Robes are nice but they aren’t necessary. But like magical tools and jewelry, robes help put us in the right frame of mind for ritual and magic. They help us express who we are and what we’re striving to become.

with the late James Bianchi and Kimberly Kirner at the 2012 OBOD East Coast Gathering

8. The Cernunnos Ritual (August 2013). My ritual recaps tend to not be well read. This one is the notable exception. It’s the story of our first ecstatic ritual in honor of Cernunnos. I  didn’t write this ritual so much as I transcribed it – this is what He wanted, so it’s what we did. As recaps go this one is pretty good, but it can’t compare to being there.

We performed this ritual twice more in 2013, at the OBOD East Coast Gathering and at the DFW Pagan Pride Day. Last year we performed an updated version at Beltane, and another version at the Beyond the Gates retreat.

I’m sure we’ll do it again before too long…

7. Something Bad Isn’t Coming, It’s Here (March 2016). For years, many of us heard our Gods warning us “there’s a storm coming – get ready.” In March of 2016 – before the election, when Trump himself still didn’t expect to win – it became apparent that the storm was here.

John Michael Greer calls it The Long Descent. Byron Ballard calls it Tower Time. It’s not Mercury Retrograde – it’s not going to be over in three weeks. This is the new reality. We can pretend it doesn’t exist and hope for the best, or we can deal with it head-on.

I prefer to deal with it.

6. The Dark Side of Druidry (October 2014). Modern Druidry is usually associated with Nature spirituality and Celtic heritage. Druids are poets, songwriters, and storytellers. Druids plant gardens and protest fracking. It’s not the Lorax but the Druids who speak for the trees. Druidry is light and peaceful and nice.

But there are times we can’t be nice. How can we be nice in the face of environmental destruction? How can we be nice in the face of injustice and the abuse of power? How can we be nice in the face of oppression? How can we be nice in the face of criminal threats?

The Druids of old fought alongside their warriors, not with swords and spears but with their bardic skills and with magic. So can we.

5. Letter To My Christian Friends (June 2015). My Christian friends tend to agree with my reverence for Nature. Some of them smile politely when I talk about magic, while others ask me to work magic for them. But when I begin talking about the worship of many Gods, some of them get angry.

I want my Christian friends to remain friends. I want them to know I have no need or desire to convert them or anyone else. But this is who I am, this is what I believe and what I do, and why.

4. The Otherworld is Bleeding Through (June 2016). Early one morning two years ago, I saw a green glowing bird. It was something that could not be, but there it was. All attempts to explain it away failed – I couldn’t pretend I didn’t see what I saw.

I still don’t know if this was an Otherworldly bird that found its way into our world, or if it was an ordinary bird that found its way into place where the Otherworld intersected with our world. I tend to think the latter. But I’m convinced this isn’t a one-time thing. It’s part of a long-term shift in reality and we’d best figure out how we’re going to deal with it.

3. The Purpose of Religion (November 2011). This is the oldest post on this list. It never got much traction when it was new, but people keep finding it through Google searches. It’s written from a very UU perspective – I would write this post rather differently today. But I’m still happy with it.

Not everybody’s religion has the same purpose. Some use religion to blame all their problems on other people. Some use religion to make themselves feel good. But others use religion to challenge themselves to learn and grow, so they can serve others and the common good.

2. Dude, It’s You (May 2014). This was my first post to “go viral” to a mainstream audience. In May of 2014, a misogynistic “incel” murdered 6 people and injured 13 others.  He was angry because women wouldn’t have sex with him.

This was my first exposure to men’s rights activists. I assumed they were fathers who got the short end of divorce settlements and were angry over it, with varying degrees of justification. I found out I was rather naïve. There are some seriously screwed up men out there spreading some seriously screwed up ideas – ideas that have dangerous consequences for women, that are unhelpful for men, and that piss me off.

Our hypermasculine culture sets unrealistic expectations and encourages men to see women as sex objects to be conquered instead of as neighbors, co-workers, and friends. All too often it is deadly for women and it’s no friend of the vast majority of men. It’s long past time for it to change to a culture built on mutual respect.

And if you can’t see that, dude, the problem is you.

1. “Adulting” Is an Indictment of Society, Not of Millennials (January 2016). This is another post that went viral to a mainstream audience. It’s the most widely read post not just on Under the Ancient Oaks, but for all of Patheos Pagan.

Criticizing Millennials for using adult as a verb isn’t a valid complaint, but the whole concept of adulting is an indictment of our mainstream society. Millennials and others who don’t want to adult aren’t being immature. They just don’t like the mainstream society’s definition of “adult.” And sooner or later, they’re going to change it.

2017-12-28T12:52:38-06:00

Last updated on: December 28, 2017 at 12:52 pm   By

These are the top ten posts of this year, as measured by page views. Only 2017 posts are listed. The Solitary Ritual series ranks high every year but they were written in 2014 and 2015 – they aren’t eligible.

Blog traffic has been good this year. Patheos management made some server upgrades and some improvements to search engine optimization that has more than made up for what we lost with the Facebook algorithm changes of mid-2016. On the other hand, I haven’t had a post “go viral” this year. In absolute numbers, all 10 posts in this 2017 list would have ranked higher than 4 but lower than 3 in the 2016 list.

I find that fascinating, but I imagine most of you just want to see what’s on this year’s list. So here they are: the top 10 posts of 2017 on Under the Ancient Oaks.

Top 10 of 2017

10. The Otherworld Needs to be Experienced, Not Escaped (October 2017). The Big Tent of Paganism is big enough for all kinds of beliefs. But when people who call themselves Pagans describe the land of the Gods and ancestors as “escapism” that demands a response.

I’ve seen the Otherworld. I’ve had first-hand experiences of Gods and spirits that are more real than anything in this world. Those experiences changed the way I see this world and the way I live in this world. My life is better for these experiences, and not in a small way.

9. 7 Spiritual Practices for Difficult Times (May 2017). If we are consistent with spiritual practice when times are good, we will build a foundation that will support us when times are bad.

These are the spiritual practices that work for me in difficult times. They won’t prevent bad things from happening – nothing will do that. They don’t keep me from getting upset or stressed or stuck. But they help me regain my center faster and they help me respond to difficult times in the ways I want to respond.

8. The Inspiration of Badass Park Rangers (January 2017). One of Trump’s first acts was to ban government agencies from communicating with the public. He wants to control their message and suppress inconvenient facts. But the people at the EPA, FDA, NASA, and the National Park Service don’t work for Trump – they work for us, and they decided to do their jobs anyway. They set up alternate twitter accounts and continued doing the work we pay them to do. And that started a Facebook meme:

First they came for the scientists…

And the National Parks Services said, “lol, no” and went rogue and we were all like “I was not expecting the park rangers to lead the resistance, none of the dystopian novels I read prepared me for this but cool.”

You don’t have be a hero. Just take inspiration from the badass park rangers and do whatever it is that you do best.

Glacier Bay National Park 2011

7. Spiritual Treatment Is No Substitute For Mental Health Care (March 2017). Pagans like to think of ourselves as better educated, more open minded, and less judgmental than everybody else. But too many of us jump to wrong conclusions because they’re nice and easy, or we reject mainstream treatments because they’re part of the mainstream and we want to be countercultural. So we suffer needlessly and we commit spiritual malpractice by encouraging others to avoid necessary treatment.

Spiritual practice is no substitute for proper mental health care. This isn’t a difference of opinion. This isn’t a case of “agree to disagree.” This is a wrong and dangerous belief that I see too often in Pagan and alternative spirituality circles.

Spiritual treatment is no substitute for proper mental health care.

6. When You Hear The Call of The Morrigan (July 2017). Of all the deities that are moving in our world, the Morrigan is perhaps the most active. Many people are hearing Her call. But what do you do when you hear it?

Begin a devotional practice. Read good books about Her. Reclaim your sovereignty – rule your own life and resist those who would control you for their own purposes. Find your place – the call of the Morrigan is almost always a call to service. Do the work She puts in front of you. Share your experiences – people are craving knowledge of Her. And stay with it – this is hard work in hard times, and it isn’t going to be over any time soon.

There are many ways to respond. This is one way, but it’s a way that’s been shown to work.

5. It Ain’t Necessarily So: Five Falsehoods in the Pagan Community (October 2017). In October there was a trend going around to write a blog post listing ideas that are popular in the Pagan community that aren’t as true as we like to think. While some things aren’t worth fighting over, it didn’t take long for me to come up with five things I hear on a regular basis that are like fingernails on a chalkboard. Some of them are more half-truths than outright lies, but all of them are troublesome ideas that need to be challenged.

Religion isn’t all about what you believe. Deep down all religions aren’t the same. Interfering with other people’s free will not only isn’t the greatest sin, it’s a regular and necessary occurrence. Everything is not sacred. And yes, sometimes we do need priests.

BTG 2017 50

4. The Call of the Morrigan is Louder and More Urgent (January 2017). Many of us have heard the call of the Morrigan over the past six years or so. Early this year that call got louder and even more demanding. The storm She warned us was coming is now here.

There are literal battles going on right now. There are metaphorical battles going on right now. There are metaphysical battles going on right now. For those of us who hear the call of the Morrigan, it’s time to join them. Choose your weapon. And know the difference between the enemy and those who are fighting on your side in a different function or service.

Gather your gear. Buckle on your armor. Pick up your weapons. The order to engage is imminent.

3. The Aesthetic of Witchcraft and the Return of Real Magic (November 2017). There have always been witches – people who use magic for unauthorized purposes. Today, those who feel threatened and excluded by those in power are attracted to the image of the witch and to the forms of witchcraft. And since there’s no risk of being burned at the stake, more and more people are not only willing to visit the witch, but to call themselves witches – even though their witchcraft is mostly a fashion choice. This is upsetting some people for whom witchcraft is serious business.

But witchcraft survived literal witch hunters – it will survive this too. And the publicity is good. Those of us who practice real magic need to be concerned with welcoming and teaching those who want more from their witchcraft than a fashion trend.

2. Why I’m Not Participating in the Mass Binding of Donald Trump and What I’m Doing Instead (February 2017). In his first month in office, Trump attacked refugees and immigrants, tried to silence scientists, removed federal protection for transgendered students, tried to silence the press, and appointed a cabinet dedicated to destroying public education, prioritizing economic exploitation over environmental protection, and ending net neutrality. It is no surprise that many witches and other magical practitioners decided to combine forces to oppose him.

But the group working that got the most publicity was poorly timed and even more poorly constructed. I declined to participate in it. But I’m not sitting out – I’m doing my own combination of magic and mundane action.

1. The Re-emergence of the Fair Folk in the Ordinary World (March 2017). The Fair Folk never really went away. Perhaps they came into this world less often, but mainly we stopped noticing them. Now we’re seeing them, hearing them, and feeling the impact of their presence on an increasingly frequent basis. We’d best pay attention.

Not only was this the most widely read post of the year by a considerable margin, it generated a ton of comments, some on the blog and many more on Facebook. Some criticized my North American / Celtic-centric approach, while others suggested that the changes aren’t with the Good Neighbors or with the Otherworld but within ourselves. Those criticisms have merit, and I addressed them in a follow-up post titled What’s Changing: The World or Us?

Ultimately I don’t know who’s right or to what degree. But I do know our world is changing rapidly and not for the better. We need the help of all our allies, which means we need to be allies worthy of help. The Fair Folk are re-emerging in the ordinary world. Take the time to learn a thing or two about them so they will be more likely to see you as an honorable person who they can deal with honorably.

07 06d Faerie Fort

In 2016 it seemed like a new horror was dropping on us every week. 2017 has been less shocking, but only because the reality of the times has started to sink in. This is the new normal.

The good news is that more and more people are realizing that things don’t just get better on their own. It takes work. More people are engaged: some politically, but others magically and religiously.

Who can stand against us when we align ourselves with the currents of Nature? Who can stand against us when we ally ourselves with our Good Neighbors in honor and respect? Who can stand against us when rank upon rank of mighty ancestors surround us? And who can stand against us when we ally ourselves with the Gods?

Thank you for all your support this year. Here’s to a year of deeper practice, stronger devotion, and more powerful magic in 2018.

2017-12-09T12:34:46-06:00

Last updated on: December 9, 2017 at 12:34 pm   By

I’ve been writing a lot of serious stuff lately and I need a break. So let’s do something fun.

What is Pagan music?

Is it the songs and instruments of our ancestors? Is it inspirational and devotional music for Pagans? Perhaps it’s the artistic exploration of Pagan themes. Maybe it’s music made by Pagans. Or perhaps it’s just music Pagans like. A good case can be made for any and all of these definitions.

I use recorded music in most of my rituals. Some of it’s for devotional offerings, but most is for background music, played while we’re doing something non-verbal. Occasionally I make playlists dedicated to a particular deity or theme. And because I’m a geek, I plan these playlists in spreadsheets.

I combined 21 playlists from the past 11 years into one big spreadsheet, then pivoted by artist and album. The cut from 71 albums down to 16 was easy. Cutting down to the final 10 was hard. But it’s a Top 10 list, so that’s what I did.

Please note the qualifier at the beginning of the title: this is my Top 10 list. I’m not a music critic or historian, and this isn’t a list of the “best” or “most influential” albums in the Pagan world. This is my list of the albums I like and have played a lot in ritual. Your list will be different, and different is good.

So, in no particular order (mostly), here are my Top 10 Pagan albums of all time.

I only have CDs for two of the Top 10 - my younger self is very sad
I only have CDs for two of the Top 10 – everything else is a digital download. My younger self is very sad.

Damh the Bard:  Spirit of Albion  (2006). I said there was no particular order, but Spirit of Albion has to be first. Damh started writing songs so we’d have something Pagan to sing around the campfire, and I’ve definitely used them in that spirit. The title song is perhaps the most rousing anthem in all of Paganism. “Morrighan” is a haunting devotion to the Battle Raven. “Noon on the Solstice” was Damh’s first song to the Horned Gods, and “Oak, Broom and Meadowsweet” would partially inspire this year’s bardic offering Y Mabinogi.

There are no weak songs on Spirit of Albion, just good ones and better ones. I’ve played music from all of Damh’s albums at one time or another, but this is the one I use most of all.

Damh the Bard in concert at the 2015 OBOD East Coast Gathering
Damh the Bard in concert at the 2015 OBOD East Coast Gathering

Pandemonaeon:  Dangerous Beauty  (2010). Pandemonaeon is Sharon Knight’s plugged-in rock band. The instruments are positively powerful, and while Sharon’s vocals are always good, here they’re haunting. Some of the songs aren’t strictly Pagan, but others are very much so: the lyrics to “Heart Girt With A Serpent” come straight from Aleister Crowley.

This album turned up near the top of this list because I’ve used “Queen of Shadows” in devotions to the Morrigan so often. And “The Goat Is On The Pole” is a fast and fun instrumental piece that’s great for finishing off a Maypole dance. But mainly, I love listening to it. Dangerous Beauty fits all the definitions of Pagan music I listed at the beginning of the post. For listening (as opposed to playing in ritual) this may be the best of the Top 10.

Dead Can Dance:  The Serpent’s Egg  (1988). Wikipedia calls Dead Can Dance “Neoclassical dark wave” and that’s fairly accurate. Their music isn’t explicitly Pagan, but I know a lot of Pagans who like it. There isn’t anything better for setting a ritual atmosphere before beginning something deep and introspective.

I could have chosen any of their albums. I picked The Serpent’s Egg primarily because of “The Host of Seraphim.” Before Denton CUUPS’ first Spiral Labyrinth at Samhain 2011, I was unusually nervous, almost agitated. “The Host of Seraphim” was our prelude. I turned it on and closed my eyes. Six minutes and 18 seconds later I was in the proper frame of mind for the ritual, and so was everyone else.

S.J. Tucker:  Blessings  (2007). S.J. Tucker is a brilliant singer-songwriter whose “fun and filk” music is popular with a lot of Pagans. Most of it is too light for my tastes. But not Blessings – it’s plainly Pagan… so much so there’s a warning on her website that it “may not be appropriate for all audiences.” But “for those that are open to alternative spiritual paths, this album is not to be missed.” Truth in advertising is a good thing.

“For Love of All Who Gather” is an invocation. “Witches’ Rune” is a beautiful exposition of Wiccan ritual. “Come To The Labyrinth” is renewing and inspiring. And while “Hymn to Herne” is a cute and sexy song, it has a serious element to it. The video below is old and the talking part is hard to hear. Turn your speakers up, watch S.J.’s facial expressions, and hear her struggle to not get choked up when she says “and he showed up.”

Bulgarian State Radio and Television Female Vocal Choir:  Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares  (1975). This is a collection of Bulgarian folk songs performed by a large and talented women’s choir. I picked it up in a used CD store in the mid-1990s because some of it had been used in the Xena: Warrior Princess TV show. I listened to it a few times and liked it, but then I put it in my CD rack and forgot about it. When I went looking for ritual music for Samhain 2011 I was very glad I had it.

The harmonies are beautiful, and because Bulgarian is so different from English it has a very mysterious sound to it. If these aren’t authentic pre-Christian songs of Bulgaria and Thrace, they could be. I’ve used it in some of our Samhain rituals and in our 2015 Rite of Hermes.

There have been three similar albums released by this same project. Volume 2 won a Grammy Award in 1989.

Damh the Bard:  The Cauldron Born  (2008). This album is for all those who’ve said finding Paganism is like coming home. It has two rousing anthems. “The Cauldron Born” says we’re not alone:

“You feel so lonely, Come with me and let me show, There are others just like you.”

“Land, Sky and Sea” could be the theme song for Nature-centered Paganism, and “Pagan Ways” tells the mainstream TV culture that we’re different and we’re happy about it.

Sharon Knight:  Neofolk Romantique  (2013). The Sex Pistols made it into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on the basis of only one album. Neofolk Romantique makes it onto this list on the basis of only one song: “Fire in the Head.” It’s based on a Welsh legend that says anyone who sleeps on a certain mountain will wake either mad, dead, or a poet. Both the lyrics and the music are simultaneously beautiful and terrifying.

“The screaming hag that rides the wind
Will rip the soul right from your skin
The hollow hills will swallow you
And flay apart your mind
To win the kiss of the gifted ones
We risk our lives on the mountain front
There’s some wake mad, and some wake dead
And some will rise with a fire in their head.”

“Mistress of MacLyr” is an original devotion to the sea and the God of the Sea, and “The Captain’s Flask” is another short fun instrumental piece. The rest are traditional Celtic folks songs and sea shanties. They’re good, but they’re not really what I think of when I want Pagan music. But “Fire in the Head” is enough to put this album on my Top 10 list all by itself.

Faith And The Muse:  :Ankoku Butoh:  (2009). Faith and the Muse is a dark wave collaboration between William Faith and Monica Richards. This album has a Japanese theme and uses Taiko drums extensively. This is powerful, driving music.

If you want a mysterious torchlight procession, play Dead Can Dance. If you want to call people to rise up and fight, play “Battle Hymn” “When We Go Dark” and “Sovereign” from :Ankoku Butoh:.

Their 1996 album Annwyn, Beneath the Waves has a Celtic theme and includes songs to Arianrhod, Rhiannon, and Cernunnos. I’ve used some of that music in ritual too. But top to bottom :Ankoku Butoh: is their best album, and their most powerful.

Omnia:  PaganFolk  (2006). Omnia is a “Neoceltic” Pagan band from the Netherlands that has had a variety of members and instruments over the years. Their music has changed a lot too, from Celtic and Neoceltic at their beginning to the environmentalist emphasis of their more current stuff.

They can be more show than music, and their last couple of albums have been rather preachy. For me, PaganFolk was their “just right” phase. Much of it isn’t in English, but the sound is perfect for light background music. “Tine Bealtaine” and “Dil Gaya” are regular choices for our Maypole Dance.

Sharon Knight and T. Thorn Coyle:  Songs for the Waning Year  (2008). Pagan chants shouldn’t be dirges, but for many years most all of them were. This is a collection of 22 short songs that can be incorporated into your rituals. We’ve used “Ancestor Chant” “Beyond the Gates” “Come All Who Hunger” and “Prayer for the Dead” as interactive chants. Just teach them to everyone before the ritual begins, and as long as you’ve got a couple of strong singers to carry the tune, everyone else can follow along.

Sharon and Thorn also did Songs for the Strengthening Sun in 2009. It’s good too, but I like Songs for the Waning Year better.

rehearsing “Come All Who Hunger” before a Denton CUUPS ritual

The 6 that didn’t make the cut

Enya:  The Celts  (1986).
Loreena McKennitt:  The Visit  (1991).
Loreena McKennitt:  The Mask and the Mirror  (1994).
Wendy Rule:  The Wolf Sky  (2006).
Faun:  Eden  (2011).
Blood Ceremony:  Living With the Ancients  (2011).

I love all this music, and I’ve used a lot from the first five of these albums as background music in rituals and in my personal practice.

Enya’s popularity with the New Age crowd is no reason for Pagans to avoid her. I saw Loreena McKennitt in concert last year and she was awesome. I don’t do much Wicca-based ritual anymore, but I’d still like to find a way to do a live version of Wendy Rule’s “The Circle Song” and “Elemental Chant” in a group ritual.

Faun is similar to the best of Omnia but with a more consistent sound. For some reason I don’t have their Midgard album from last year – I need to fix that. And Blood Ceremony isn’t serious Pagan music, but its 70s metal / Hammer Films vibe is a lot of fun.

I could have put any of these in the Top 10 list (especially Eden or The Visit) but then I would have had to take one of the Top 10 out.

2016-12-21T19:34:27-06:00

Last updated on: December 21, 2016 at 7:34 pm   By

On Monday I gave you the four best posts you didn’t read. Now here are the top ten you did read.

These are the top ten posts of this year, as measured by page views. Only 2016 posts are listed. The Purpose of Religion from 2011 was the #5 post overall (it was the #3 post last year) but it wasn’t eligible. These are the top ten that I posted this year and that you read this year.

Top 10 of 2016 600x300

10. Racism Cannot Be Tolerated (January 2016). The drive for ideological purity – from the left as well as from the right – has wounded political debate and made good, pragmatic governance almost impossible. There are very few issues where hard lines must be drawn and no compromise is possible. Racism is one of those issues.

9. Our Gods Are Not Jealous Gods (June 2016). I’m a Druid who mostly worships and works with Celtic deities. But every year at Summer Solstice I take off my Druid robe, put on a plain white tunic, and serve as a priest of the Neteru – the Gods of Egypt.

Jealousy is not a virtue. Its roots are not in love and power, but in possessiveness and insecurity. It seeks a relationship of control and often abuse, not one of respect and reciprocity. As long as the Celtic Gods get what They want, they don’t mind me working with Gods from other lands.

8. Beginning a Devotional Practice (January 2016). When someone asks for suggestions on getting started in Paganism or polytheism, one of the first things I recommend is to begin a devotional practice. Choose a deity, create an altar, pray, meditate, make offerings, study, and do devotional reading. Listen. Start with one or two practices, then add more as you progress.

There is no substitute for a consistent, reverent, devotional practice.

Danu 09.07.14 01 600x300

7. The Veil Is Shredded (November 2016). The Veil is the boundary and the barrier between the ordinary world and the Otherworld, the world of the Gods and ancestors. Modern Pagan tradition says it is thinnest at Samhain and Beltane, at the liminal times when Summer changes to Winter and vice versa. But many of us are seeing this kind of crossover year-round. Otherworldly beings and influences are bleeding over into the ordinary world at an ever-increasing rate and many of them aren’t particularly pleasant or benign.

6. I Do Believe In Mercury Retrograde! I Do, I Do, I Do! (September 2016). I never put much stock in astrology and for most of my life I’ve been able to safely ignore Mercury retrograde. If I’m at 80% of my normal writing effectiveness, I can still get my message across. So most times when Mercury goes retrograde, I may have a slight drop-off, but not enough to cause problems. If I write when I’m sick, it’s not as good as normal, but it’s still good enough.

But put the two together and all of a sudden I’m writing at 60% effectiveness. Now the message isn’t getting across. In September, Mercury retrograde slapped me upside the head – now I have no choice but to believe in it.

5. An Imbolc Meditation (January 2016). The season from January 2 to Imbolc is the perfect time for review, introspection, planning, and new beginnings. We’re past the Solstice and the commotion of all the December holidays. The cold weather slows us down and keeps us inside. As we celebrate Imbolc, let us use this cold, slow time of the year to prepare ourselves for a warm, vibrant Spring.

4. 4 Steps to a Deeper Pagan Practice (January 2016). If we’re looking for something to make our lives better in a new year, there are few things more helpful than deepening our religious and spiritual practices. There is no such thing as certainty in religion – make a choice. Challenge the assumptions of the mainstream society and build a strong foundation. Begin a devotional practice. And keep it up – persistence is an important virtue.

Hot Springs 2015 70 600x300 posterized

3. Something Bad Isn’t Coming, It’s Here (March 2016). 2016 got off to an ominous start with multiple prominent deaths, unusually deadly weather, and the rise of Trump. By March, it was clear to many of us that the warnings of “a storm is coming” were over – the storm was here. The rest of the year showed that was true.

The situation is extremely complicated and it’s bigger than any of us. Attempts to boil it down to one or two factors are not helpful. I don’t like it, but we’re going to have to deal with it. And if we’re going to deal with it, we’re going to have to take care of ourselves and build our tribes.

There was a big jump from #4 to #3 – this post had over three times as many views as the one above it. Clearly, it resonated with a lot of people.

2. The Otherworld is Bleeding Through (June 2016). On an early morning walk in June, I saw a green glowing bird. It should not exist, but there it was. I worked through every possible “rational explanation” I could think of: an escaped parrot, a bird that had been covered in paint, a toy out of place, unusual light interactions, and more. I was left with the conclusion that either this was an Otherworldly bird, or it was an ordinary bird sitting in a place where the Veil Between the Worlds (see Top Post #7 above) was wide open – the Otherworld is bleeding through into this world.

The stories of our ancestors tell us that the Otherworld used to be much closer to the ordinary world. That changed with the beginning of civilization and technology. Now the Otherworld is bleeding over into the ordinary world once again, and it’s bringing things a lot more troublesome than green glowing birds. How long until our GPS apps start to warn us “here be dragons”?

1. “Adulting” is an Indictment of Society, Not of Millennials (January 2016). This post went viral into a mainstream audience. Within a week it became my most popular post ever – Jason Mankey tells me it’s now the most widely read post in the history of the entire Pagan channel.

The idea that the younger generation is always screwing things up has been going on since the ancient Greeks complained of “luxury, bad manners, contempt for authority, disrespect to elders, and a love for chatter in place of exercise.” We’re seeing that now with the near-incessant bashing of Millennials – bashing that is unfair and misplaced. Millennials and others who don’t want to adult aren’t being immature. They just don’t like the mainstream society’s definition of “adult.” And sooner or later, they’re going to change it.

02 16 steam on Mississippi 600x300

2016 has been a difficult year. Too many people who were important to us died, both famous people and people who were our close friends. The Pagan and polytheist communities spent too much time fighting among ourselves, and too much of that fighting was personal and mean-spirited. Xenophobia isn’t just being expressed by some in this country, it’s being celebrated. And Trump.

I hope 2017 will be better, but I have little confidence that it will. I do have confidence that we will persevere in honoring Nature and the Gods, in building strong and resilient tribes and communities, and in caring for ourselves and each other.

Thank you for your friendship and your support. It is needed, it is helpful, and it is appreciated.

2015-12-20T11:48:49-06:00

Last updated on: December 20, 2015 at 11:48 am   By

Last week I gave you the four best posts you didn’t read. Now here are the top ten you did read.

These are the top ten posts of this year, as measured by page views. Only 2015 posts are listed. The Purpose of Religion from 2011 was the #3 post overall, but it wasn’t eligible. Also, I disqualified the solitary ritual series. Five of them were in the top ten, and that would make this post rather boring.

Top 10 of 2015

10. Worshipping Fearsome Gods (November 2015). Many of you don’t like the word “sermon,” but that’s what you call the talky bit in a church service, and that’s what this was. I even have a video of it. Anyway, my sermons tend to do very poorly as blog posts. They’re far longer than a typical post, and they’re written for an audience of UUs and visitors, not Pagans and polytheists.  But this one did very well. I think that’s because while it was intended for a general audience, it was unapologetically polytheist.

tree and ruins - Ephesus 20129. The Lore vs. UPG – A False Dichotomy (March 2015). There are some Pagans who privilege the written word over personal experience, insisting that unless something has a basis in literature and scholarship, it isn’t proper. I see this as a false dichotomy. Lore is a valuable treasure, but unless we have vibrant religious experiences of our own, our traditions will stagnate into irrelevance.

8. Until There Are No More Missionaries (September 2015). As I left the DFW Pagan Unity Fest, I encountered a man preaching a fringe-Christian message of fear and doom. When it became clear he was beyond the reach of reason, I walked away. But I worried about others who would hear his lies and be reminded of an old religion that still had its hooks in them. I wanted to banish him, but I couldn’t. All I can do is to keep telling my story of leaving fundamentalist Christianity and finding Paganism, and keep doing it until there are no more false preachers of doom.

7. The Limits of Personal Power and The Dangers of Ignoring Them (February 2015). We’ve all seen the posts and memes saying things like “you create your own reality” “anything is possible if you just believe” and “you have unlimited power.” While even the weakest among us is an incredibly powerful being, the memes are only half true. Our power is not unlimited, and pretending it is causes us to act ineffectively with ourselves and unethically with others. Stop looking for simple answers to complicated problems and start seeing things as they truly are.

Horus 06.07.156. You Can’t Practice Paganism While You Look Down Your Nose At It (August 2015). Our mainstream society thinks belief in magic and in many Gods is delusion or foolishness or both. While Paganism does not insist we hold any specific beliefs, if we are more interested in impressing the mainstream and in being “respectable” than in actually being Pagans, our Paganism will be weak and ineffective.

5. Religion and Smart People – A Reasonable Response to Unreasonable Smugness (January 2015). This is another rebuttal to an atheist making insulting claims, in this case not just about Paganism but about theism in general. A writer for Salon called religious belief “a strange aberration among otherwise intelligent people.” The writer’s false and unstated assumptions are huge: he assumes religion is all about belief, he makes scientistic materialism the ultimate arbiter of what is true, and most importantly, he completely ignores religious experiences. Don’t try to tell me I need to abandon a path that’s proved meaningful and helpful just because some people believe some dumb things and some smart people don’t believe anything at all.

4. 5 Reasons You Can’t Find the Right Spiritual Path (July 2015). Religion used to be simple. You learned the religion of your family growing up and that was that. That’s still the case in some parts of the world. Here, more options bring more freedom but also more complexity. Finding the right spiritual path is possible, but it requires dedicated, consistent, mindful work. This post looks at the five most common reasons seekers can’t find what they’re looking for, and what to do instead.

lamp post Oct2013 1200x800

3. Responding to the Religiously Obnoxious (April 2015). It seems like at least once a week I see a post in one of my social media groups saying “people keep attacking me because I’m Pagan – what can I do about it?”  Many of them are young, stuck in schools and even families that are unsupportive, with few outside resources available to them.  The usual clichés of “just ignore them” and “don’t let it bother you” aren’t helpful. There are things we can do to make things better, starting with being who you are and who you’re called to be.

2. Our Gods Are Not Safe (October 2015). In order to fully restore the Way of the Gods, polytheism must be accessible for those who simply want to honor the Gods and live virtuous but ordinary lives. It must be as accessible for the accountant and the plumber as for the priest and the scholar. This means expressing polytheist concepts in ways that ordinary people who live in our monotheist-dominated culture can understand.

But it can never mean dumbing things down. In particular, it can never mean downplaying the power of the Gods who are the focus of our polytheism. Our Gods are not safe… but safety is not the greatest good.

1. Letter To My Christian Friends (June 2015). I’m pretty open about who I am and what I do. My Christian friends and family mostly ignore my Paganism, but while they often nod in agreement with my reverence for Nature and smile politely with my esoteric practices, this year I had several get upset with my worship of many Gods. This was my attempt to tell them what I believe and why.

This was far and away the most popular post of 2015 – it had almost as many page views as #2, #3, and #4 combined. The comments show this post spoke both to and for a lot of people who’ve struggled with reactions to their Paganism.

My own Christian friends and family pretty much ignored this post, though I’m sure many of them read it. I’m fine with that. I hope it cleared up some of their misunderstandings.  But I closed with a line from the Christian reformer Martin Luther: here I stand – I can do no other.

Thank you all for your support in 2015. Here’s to another great year of Paganism, polytheism, and Druidry (and some Unitarian Universalism) in 2016.

Bushkill Falls 2015 09

2014-12-20T11:54:04-06:00

Last updated on: December 20, 2014 at 11:54 am   By

Beaumaris Gorsedd Circle, Anglesey, WalesThese are the Top 10 posts on this blog as measured by page views.  Yes, I did another Top 10 Posts back in March – that was the all-time Top 10.  This is the Top 10 of 2014 – anything that was written this year.

10. Why I Worship the Gods.  As the Anomalous Thracian likes to say, it’s damn fine time to be a polytheist.  But in a culture where monotheism dominates and atheism is growing, the idea of worshipping many Gods can seem odd.  It all boils down to one thing:  I’ve had good experiences of the Gods.

9. Unfortunate Effects of Joseph Campbell.  Joseph Campbell was incredibly influential in shaping late 20th century American thinking on mythology – his impact on George Lucas and Star Wars is legendary.  But his concept of monomyth turned our rich cultural and religious diversity into “a (Joseph) Campbell soup of myths that loses all local flavor.”

8. Proselytizing, Secrecy, and a Better Way.  Writing prompts sometimes come from unusual sources – this one came from an overheard conversation in a restaurant.  Proselytizing is offensive, secrecy is a recipe for oblivion, but public religion is a viable and ethical alternative to both.

7. The Four Centers of Paganism.  Modern Paganism is impossible to define, but it is possible to describe.  This model focuses on Nature, the Gods, the Self, and Community.  Individual Pagans aren’t in or out of Paganism, they’re closer to or farther from these four centers.

6. Sacrifice and the Fear of Real Gods.  Let someone mention animal sacrifice and watch the overreaction go wild.  Most of the complaints don’t come from vegetarians.  They come from omnivores who don’t like to think about where their meat comes from – and who are afraid of people who take their religion seriously.

5. A Pagan View of Suffering.  That there is suffering in the world is an undisputed fact.  But why is there suffering, and what does it mean?  Suffering can be educational and it can be transformative, but insisting there must be some grand cosmic purpose for suffering is not compatible with polytheist theology.

4. A Reasoned Defense of Paganism.  Pagans are used to being proselytized by Christians, but what do we do when atheists try to convert us?  This reasoned defense of Paganism is unlikely to satisfy aggressive atheists, but it doesn’t have to satisfy them.  It just has to satisfy me.  And it does.

3. Winter Solstice – A Solitary Ritual.  My ritual posts usually aren’t very well read.  I don’t know that this one was all that different, but for what ever reason it was extremely popular.  We’re past the Winter Solstice now, but keep it in mind if you need a solitary ritual next year.

2. I’m Not OK With This.  In case the folks who look like me (or anyone else, for that matter) have any doubts where I stand, Black Lives Matter.

1. Dude, It’s You.  This post is the closest I’ve come to having something “go viral.” It was shared far outside the Pagan community, and it has almost twice as many page views as the others on this list combined.  It was written in response to the murders of six people by a man who thought women owed him sex.  Guys, if you think women owe you anything at all, the problem is you.

It’s been a very good year on Under the Ancient Oaks.  Here’s to another year of exploring the Big Tent of Paganism.

2014-03-08T12:27:27-06:00

Last updated on: March 8, 2014 at 12:27 pm   By

I’m out of the country on a 12-day trip that’s part vacation and part pilgrimage.  Yes, you’ll hear all about it when I get back.  Until then, take a look at the top 10 posts since I moved to Patheos.

When I moved here from Blogger in January 2013 I lost all my statistics.  So this list is based on traffic after I moved to Patheos – about the last 14 months.  But as you’ll see, some of the most popular posts were from the Blogger era.

10) Race and Religion in the Modern Pagan World (August 2013) Late last summer the Pagan internet had a dust-up on the question of racial ties between groups of people and the Gods.  My take: we’re all humans and the Gods call who they call, be sensitive when approaching cultures that have been oppressed, and show some basic hospitality to everyone.

Professor Ronald Hutton

9) Ronald Hutton and the Paradox of Witchcraft (April 2013)  Last year I attended the Sacred Lands and Spiritual Landscapes conference sponsored by Cherry Hill Seminary.  Professor Ronald Hutton was the guest of honor – this is my summary of his two presentations.  The title comes from his statement that “we are the only society that both believes in witchcraft and doesn’t believe in it, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

8) Why I Am a Devotional Polytheist (February 2014)  Rather than wade into the Pagan street fight about the definition of “polytheist” and who owns the term, I decided to talk about my journey to polytheism.  It all comes down to experience.

7) American Horror Story and the Currents of Magic (February 2014)  My wrap-up of the witchy TV show American Horror Story: Coven.  It was bad, it was fun, and it reflects a growing mainstream interest in magic and witchcraft.

6) Farewell Sookie Stackhouse (May 2013)  This was a recap of the final book in Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire series, which is the basis for the True Blood TV show.  I figured a handful of people would read it.  But Anne Rice posted my review on her Twitter account, giving me my heaviest traffic day ever at the time – on a Saturday.

me with OBOD Chosen Chief Philip Carr-Gomm at the 2012 East Coast Gathering

5) Druids and Their Robes (October 2012)  I put this together after the 2012 OBOD East Coast Gathering, where I asked people to talk about their ritual garb and what it means to them.  This was before I moved to Patheos – people are finding it when they Google “Druid robes,” either as a web search or as an image search.

4) Fate, the Gods, and Free Will (July 2013)  This was my response to a question in Patheos’ site-wide “What Do I Really Believe?” series.  My answer: whether we have free will or not, we are far better off ordering our lives as though we do.  This post had a decent initial response, but it’s had a long tail – it’s turning up on Google searches.

3) The Call of the Morrigan (July 2012)  This is my observation of the increased activity of the Goddess Morrigan starting in late 2010, including my own interactions with Her.  I still don’t know what She’s up to, I’m just honored to have a small part in it.  This post has been linked to many times in many places – it’s another one with a very long tail.

2) Psssst – We’re Winning (August 2013)  Over a few days last summer I saw several articles attacking polytheism: some from Christians and others from atheists.  And it occurred to me – they were attacking us because they saw us as a credible threat.  We’re still small but now we’re too large, too vocal, and too visible to ignore.  Unlike the other posts in the top five, this traffic came all at once – it generated what is still my biggest single day ever, but it died down to nothing after two weeks.

1) The Purpose of Religion (November 2011)  Yes, this is the oldest post on the list, but remember – the clock was reset in January 2013.  This traffic is all coming from people asking Google “what’s the purpose of religion?”  My answer is that there are three kinds of religion, each with a different purpose.  Interestingly, while this is far and away my most popular post, it’s generated a grand total of one comment.

2023-12-18T08:36:48-06:00

Last updated on: December 18, 2023 at 8:36 am   By
0 Comments

Stories are magical.

A good story can transport you to places and times in the far past, in the distant future, or in an alternate universe. It can help you see things in the ordinary world that were previously invisible to you. It can inform you, inspire you, and encourage you to try new things and branch out in new directions.

If you want to change hearts and minds, you don’t need facts. You need stories.

I read a lot growing up. There was no internet and only three TV channels – my entertainment options were rather limited. My fiction reading peaked in my late 20s and early 30s, mainly because I was reading every vampire novel I could get my hands on.

And then I got busy. Three cross country moves in six years, driven by three new jobs. Discovering witchcraft and Druidry, experiencing an ephipany, and taking a leadership role in a local Pagan group. Deciding to start a blog, and, well, you know how that turned out. I still read the occasional urban fantasy, and in 2021 I made an effort to read something new. But even that was a pale comparison to what I used to read.

This year I set a goal to read one novel a month. Again, that’s a fraction of what I used to read, but it would be a step in the right direction. I’m happy to say I’ve met that goal. The stories I’ve read have been entertaining, but they’ve also been inspiring. I can’t do the kind of magic fictional witches can do, but reading fictional magic encourages me to go deeper into the real magic I can do.

I’ve not been shy about asking for reading recommendations. So in the spirit of reciprocity, here are my recommendations to you.

Here are the top five novels I read in 2023.

photo by John Beckett

5. All That Consumes Us

All That Consumes Us by Erica Waters. 2023, 416 pages.

Corbin College is a private liberal arts college in the South. Most of its students are from wealthy families, but Tara is not. So she’s thrilled when she’s given the opportunity to join a secretive elite academic society that will pay all her expenses. But that comes with expectations, and with a price that isn’t disclosed up front.

This is a ghost story, a cautionary tale for people (of all ages) whose lives are focused on achievement at all costs, and a story about the meaning of friendship.

All That Consumes Us is classified as Young Adult. The main character is a 17 year old college freshman, so I suppose it is. But its themes are quite mature, and I never felt like I was reading something intended for kids. Also, it does a great job of being inclusive and representative (around race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, disability, and class) without being preachy. Some other authors I read this year tried to do this – none did it so well.

4. The Lost Apothecary

The Lost Apothecary by Sara Penner. 2021, 320 pages.

The Lost Apothecary is three stories in one. In 1791, Nella runs a secret apothecary shop, helping the women of London with their problems – including their problems with troublesome men. Eliza is a domestic servant who pays a visit to Nella on behalf of her mistress and then becomes entangled with her. And in the present day, Caroline visits London for what was supposed to be her 10th wedding anniversary, until things turned sour.

I generally don’t like non-linear storytelling, but this works. We learn how Nella and Eliza’s stories happen from their perspective, and then we see how Caroline discovers bits and pieces of that story. In the process, she becomes the historian she always wanted to be before she took a job as a bookkeeper because it was the safe and sensible thing to do. But will she embrace her calling?

Is magic real in this world? The main characters are skeptical, but as in our world, sometimes it’s easier to accept that magic works than to rationalize it away.

3. A Dowry of Blood

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson. 2022, 320 pages.

For all the many retellings and reimaginings of the Dracula story – in print and on screen – almost none of them have taken the opportunity to fill in the stories of the three Brides of Dracula (Hammer’s 1960 movie of that title was a completely different story). Stoker does not name them, and Jonathan Harker refers to them only as “the weird sisters.” Dracula is long out of copyright and these characters are just waiting for someone to tell their stories.

A Dowry of Blood is a series of letters written to Dracula (though he’s never called by name) by Constanta, his first bride. It’s a vampire story, but mainly it’s a story about domestic violence. Not physical violence, but the violence of emotional manipulation and financial control, and the difficulty of leaving such a situation. And also, the necessity of leaving. I won’t give any real spoilers, but I will say I was happy with the ending.

S.T. Gibson has a retelling of Carmilla coming out in February titled An Education In Malice. I will definitely be reading it.

2. The Cloisters

The Cloisters by Katy Hays. 2022, 336 pages.

This is another dark academia novel, but instead of being set in a college, it’s set in the musuem world of New York City. Ann is a recent graduate in Art History from a small college in eastern Washington who moves to New York for a summer internship. At The Cloisters  – a real life museum that specializes in medieval art – she helps the curator and his assistant with their research into a very old Tarot deck, and with their explorations into reading the Tarot.

The Tarot explorations give the story a very Ninth Gate feel to it, minus the Emmanuelle Seigner as the Devil angle.

This isn’t the best novel on this list (that’s why it’s #2) but it is the deepest. It explores the question of free will vs. fate and it shows how some people’s opinions about fate are more about believing what they want – and need – to believe instead of where facts and reason and virtues lead them.

With about a quarter of the book left, I told someone that there were four ways it could end and I had no idea which way it would go. I wouldn’t call the ending happy, but I would call it satisfying.

I haven’t been to New York City since a business trip in 1988. I think I’m going to have to go again, to see The Cloisters.

1. Ninth House

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. 2019, 480 pages.

Most of us have heard of Skull and Bones, the secret society at Yale University whose membership includes George W. Bush. But there are others – a quick Google search says there may be as many as 47. Apparently, some are more secret than others. Author Leigh Bardugo is a member of Wolf’s Head, founded in 1883.

In Ninth House there are eight secret societies. Their power comes not just from old money and political conections, but also from magic. Each house has a magical speciality, and they use magic pretty much how you’d expect rich entitled college kids to use it.

Lethe is the ninth house, formed to oversee the magical workings of the other eight. It requires members to have certain skills and talents with magic and the supernatural.

Alex Stern is the last person you’d expect to find at Yale. She’s smart enough, but her high school years were spent with drugs and dealers instead of application-boosting extra curricular activities. But she can see ghosts, so she’s recruited to Yale to serve in Lethe. She struggles to fit in at Yale and to escape her past on the West Coast, while trying to do her job and not get killed – or kicked out of school – in the process.

Ninth House is as much urban fantasy as it is dark academia, and I love the mixture. The timeline bounces around from past to present (you learn the backstory as the main story unfolds) but chapters are labeled so you always know where you are.

My only complaint with Ninth House is that it doesn’t have an ending – it just stops. Fortunately, the sequel (really more of a continuation) came out earlier this year. Hell Bent runs 496 pages and it’s just as good as the original.

This one didn’t make the cut

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. 2011, 592 pages.

This is the story of Diana, a young woman who is the latest in a long line of witches, but who prefers to build a life as a scholar. But she can’t quite leave magic alone, and she finds herself entwined in a centuries-long battle for supremacy among the world’s magical species.

I should love this book. It combines my current favorite genre – dark academia – with witches and vampires. A lot of people do love it. When I asked for suggestions in 2021, this book got more recommendations than any other. It also got the most negative comments. One reviewer called Diana TSTL – too stupid to live. That’s a little harsh, but she does take risks that are both serious and obvious. Main characters who never screw up are boring, but those that have the reader screaming “what could you possibly be thinking???!!!” are frustrating.

A Discovery of Witches isn’t a bad book and I don’t regret reading it. But I haven’t read the sequels, and I doubt I will.

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