9/11 is a difficult time for me for reasons that it may not be for a lot of other US citizens. We all tell our “Where were we when we heard” stories. Mine started with my best friend waking me up with a call saying that someone was attacking and the world was ending. She was incoherent. Given her “world ending” statement I had to ask if it was aliens (I read War Of The Worlds before most people my... Read more
This weekend I held a blót, a rite of sacrifice and offering, to Freyja. It was held at Flinn Springs County Park in El Cajon, California, a location only about fifteen minutes from my place by car but well worth the drive. The park exists in multiple tiers (as the San Diego area is hilly) that are all connected by paths and areas of sloping ground, which can make finding other folks there a challenge, but it is worth it... Read more
I’ve been learning more all the time about how to be a Very Very Bad Heathen, or in fact, how not to be a Heathen at all. It’s easy to be a terrible at being a Heathen; it’s impossible to be good at it, because rest assured, however you practice, it’s wrong and you’re a bad person for it. Roughly twenty years ago I completed a year-long Pagan study group. I recently found some of the notes from that long-ago class... Read more
(This is the first of a few articles I will be doing prompted by Jolene Poseidonae’s My Polytheism post. If you’re interested in hearing and seeing more, you may want to check out the new My Polytheism community on Facebook). (Image courtesy of FreeImages.com) “We may be in the Universe as dogs and cats are in our libraries, seeing the books and hearing the conversation, but having no inkling of the meaning of it all.” – William James We... Read more
Things are changing. Despite the things we witness around us, they are getting better. We are not alone. You are not alone. You matter, and are worthy, and people are finally starting to realize that. Read more
Whether you count its origins in the pastoral altars of Romantic poets, the channeled voice of the Night Sky herself speaking to a mad sorcerer in Egypt, or the stolen revelations of a secret witch-cult in England--or maybe you don't believe any of those stories--modern Paganism began in protest. It began with the voices of the heretics. Read more
The Gods that I honor most are the ones whose actions I most admire. So while I don’t believe in codifying them for other people, as my Pagan practice has evolved and changed over time, I’ve learned to look to my Gods for inspiration in ways to behave. Read more
There is no figure in modern Heathenry and related traditions that is as controversial as Loki. Many hate and fear him, many love him (and many of those still fear him) and many are adamantly, staunchly indifferent to him, a state of things that reflects well our many understandings of Loki Laufeyson. Read more
Reducing men's or women's experiences to a biological function is a dangerous oversimplification. There are many folks who wear what one of my friends likes to refer to as Schrodinger's Pants – what is inside them is uncertain and undetermined until they are removed. Read more
Poet, wise man, grey-cloaked wanderer, one-eyed, wizard, warrior, king... when I decided to do Odin as my next “Divine Profiles” article, I was overwhelmed. For as much as the Lady is a complex, larger-than-life being, the Allfather has so very many names and stories attached to him that I was afraid that I couldn't do him justice. Read more
The Lady's Quill
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