This is from a response I wrote to a question on an email group.
Do Wiccans and neopagan witches have familiars? It really depends on who you ask. There are plenty of people that will say that a familiar is an animal who is bonded in some way with the witch and that helps them with their magic. Familiars are often beloved pets, are said to choose the witch, and seem drawn to magical workings. It seems like everyone has a familiar these days …
Author Archives: Lairbhan
the dream of pagan unity and why it’s so hard to achieve, part 2
This is a reprint of the second half of an article I published on witchvox in February 2011 http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=&c=words&id=14414, but it still seems appropriate…
As a group pagans need to stop nitpicking each other; if another tradition has a different way of doing things that you disagree with on purely theological or personal grounds let …
the dream of pagan unity and why it’s so hard to achieve, part 1
This is a reprint of the first half of an article I published on witchvox in February 2011 http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=&c=words&id=14414, but it still seems appropriate…the second half will be posted here on thursday.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about ecumenism among Pagan groups; maybe its the recent flurry of Pagan Pride Day planning, maybe its the common refrain that so many people …
Another Yeats poem for a Monday
THE HOSTING OF THE SIDHE
The host is riding from Knocknarea,
And over the grave of Clooth-na-bare;
Caolte tossing his burning hair,
And Niamh calling, ‘Away, come away;
Empty your heart of its mortal dream.
The winds awaken, the leaves whirl round,
Our cheeks are pale, our …
Moon of Blessings
“When I see the new moon,
It becomes me to lift my eyes
It becomes me to bend my knee
It becomes me to bow mt head
Giving you praise, you moon of guidance,
That I have seen you again,
That I have seen the new moon,
The lovely leader of the way.
Many a one has passed beyond
In the time between the two moons,
Though I am still enjoying earth,
You moon of moons and of blessings!”
– the Silver Bough
<br …
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Community conundrums
I’ve been thinking a lot lately of community. How do we define who belongs to our community? Is it as simple as who we like and want to see as our community? Is it anyone who follows tha same spirituality we do? Is it the larger pagan community? Or is it more subtle and complex than this? I don’t actually have an answer yet, except that community is a nebulous thing that can include people where I live, people I choose to interact with, people online in groups I choose to belong to, …
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Beannachtai Lughnasa
Well another Lughnasa has come and gone…
This year most of my plans for celebrating had to be cancelled due to illness, but I was able to have a nice quiet celebration yesterday with my family. We started off with a nice breakfast of oatmeal and raspberries we picked from our yard and then the girls and I spent the day together while my husband worked. We cleaned the ritual room and re-did the main altar while talking about what Lughnasa was to us. My 3 year old decided it was a …
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the "D" word
Nothing is more useful in paganism or can cause more confusion than labels, and both of those apply in equal measure to the word “Druid”. Labels, of course, serve an important purpose in connecting to people’s schema and helping to give an instant understanding of what you’re talking about or trying to convey; they create a common ground, although sometimes defintions differ and discussion is required to get on the same page.
The best words to describe my spirituality are probably …
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Into the Twilight
Today’s blog post has been pre-empted by illness. Instead, please enjoy this 1893 W. B. Yeats poem:
Into the Twilight
Out-worn heart, in a time out-worn,
Come clear of the nets of wrong and right;
Laugh, heart, again in the gray twilight;
Sigh, heart, again in the dew of the morn.
Thy mother Eire is always young,
Dew ever shining and twilight gray,
Though hope fall from thee or love decay<br …
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Offerings and sacrifice
One of the key aspects of practice as a recon is the idea of offerings and sacrifice. It comes up in discussion on groups all the time, both people discussing what the ideas mean to them and also talking about what constitutes an acceptable offering or sacrifice. For myself I define a sacrifice as the giving to a Power something precious and valuable – often irreplaceable – and I see an offering as the giving of something special but not unique. Put another way I see a sacrifice as a gift while an offering is more of a sharing. These are purely my own definitions of course; if you look both words up in the dictionary you’ll see the meanings are essentially identical. When the subject of sacrifices comes up people usually think of animals, but other things like jewelry, silver, and weaponry can also be sacrificed. Offerings might include incense, flowers, food, candles, …
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