When it comes to religious expression and the religious experience it’s easy for us to think of rituals and prayers… but there’s so much more available to us as well. Many philosophers will speak of the power of words… but even beyond mere words there is an inherent power in music that can move our souls to joy or to tears. Music can be shared as an outward reflection of our religious choices. Sometimes we enjoy the music because it’s... Read more
Patheos’ new What Do I Really Believe? series is about what we feel is true in our heart and soul, which may conform to our faith tradition’s beliefs or not. Only so many Pagan responses made it to the homepage but we received some really fabulous ones. Instructions on how to respond to the next question are at the bottom of this post. What really happens when we die? Your best friend is crushed when his 10-year-old son dies of... Read more
In a few days, September will be over and we will have entered the month of Samhain, the month in which some of us celebrate Winter Nights, the month immediately preceding the Day of the Dead, the month which is, in so much of Paganism given over to honoring the ancestors. I think this is good. Granted, I think it is even better to honor the ancestors consistently throughout the year but I am glad we have a holy tide... Read more
This summer, I have spent more time doing pagan things – attending festivals and events, teaching and attending workshops, crafting and performing rituals – than at any other point in my life. During these experiences, I have come to believe that one of the largest issues facing paganism today is one of definition: Who are the pagans, exactly? Various answers to this question have been put forward over the years, many of which conflict and confuse, and none of which... Read more
In Brian Froud and Jessica MacBeth’s Faeries Oracle there is a card for a faery called Sylvanius who bears the Mask That Reveals. He tells us that sometimes things must be hidden before the truth can be revealed. It’s an interesting bit of wisdom. As I look out my bedroom window the mountains in the distance are obscured by mist, fog, cloud. A stranger to this land would never know they exist today, when visibility is limited to seeing only... Read more
I used to work in an office in a nice-upscale suburb of Atlanta. Women in my office rocked Fendi, Louis Vuitton, Tommy Hilfiger and all those labels that were equivalent to what I paid in rent. As a thrift store aficianado, I was a fish out of water but the experience did get me thinking about purses as magical tools. A purse is a very feminine thing, an enveloping thing, a secretive thing. We carry tools of money, beauty, and... Read more
Paganism is the the most accepting group of religions today. If you are GLBT, polyamorous, vegan, goth, or what-have-you, we welcome you with open arms. We will set a place for you at our tables and accommodate you as best we can. We are the spiritual embodiment of Emma Lazarus’ poem: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift... Read more
I don’t want to think about Christine O’Donnell or Eddie Long or any of the other issues and scandals rocking our nation. Something important has happened. Something tremendous. Something I have been longing and yearning for weeks to happen, if not months. The leaves are changing, and with them, so is life changing. My entire being is renewed and refreshed by the sight of a handful of leaves. I have waited for autumn for so long! The heat of summer... Read more
Just as our pagan cousins celebrate the eight major sabbats or holidays that comprise the Wheel of the Year, for those of us in the Northern Tradition we too have somewhat similar key celebrations that we call holy tides. Some of these celebrations, like the one now upon us known as Winter Nights, are more special than others and these are known as high holy tides. Some practitioners of the Northern Tradition are celebrating Winter Nights around now, the time... Read more
The Pagan community never expected this kind of media attention over Christine O’Donnell’s ignorant and silly comments. We certainly didn’t receive this much attention when Jerry Falwell said that we, along with the ACLU and others, caused 9/11. As a community we are used to people saying something negative and ridiculous about us in the public forum while we try in vain to be heard above the media hoopla. Yet O’Donnell’s comments have the media coming to us, and this... Read more
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