Recently a new book was released: By Blood, Bone, and Blade, a tribute to the Morrigan. This is an interesting work with an assortment of material from many different contributors and like all anthologies some of the material is really good and some is less so. I personally have an essay and several prayers in the book.
On another Morrigan related note I will be at a Morrigan Retreat in Massachusetts this weekend teaching workshops, helping with rituals, and generally honoring the Great Queens. I’m excited for this opportunity to honor Her/Them and to spend time with other people who honor Her. My workshops look at the Morrignae in the Lebor Gabala Erenn and what that tells us about Them, the Morrigan as a goddess for difficult times, and the Morrigan in relation to the daoine sidhe.
When I get back I’ll share my experiences here.
Category Archives: By Land Sea and Sky
Ethics of Divination
In most modern pagan paths divination plays an important role. This is true in modern witchcraft and in Druidism, where divination might be used in ritual to predict a group’s immediate future or to tell if offerings were accepted. Divination in witchcraft might be used before or after spellwork or more broadly to help a person find guidance or communicate with the Gods and spirits. In Heathenry we see divination used sometimes at baby blessings or namings, where a rune might be drawn to predict the child’s luck, or as part of some rituals by adult participants for a similar reason. Besides ritual applications divination is also used more broadly by people seeking answers and looking for insight.
Wellspring 2014
I returned home yesterday from my first national festival, Wellspring, an event put on by ADF. This is ADF’s 30th year, and although I’ve been a member since 2001 I’ve never attended an ADF gathering before. This year though I was asked if I’d be interested in doing a few workshops at Wellspring and after discussing the logistics with my Kindred sister, decided that it would be fun to go and bring the kids. I put in proposals for a selection of workshops and was set to do three: honoring the Other Crowd as a modern pagan, living Celtic Reconstructionism, and the Hidden Folk in Norse and Irish culture.
Berchta – the White Lady
Berchta, also called Perchta, is a goddess of southern Germany and Austria who later became known in folklore as a kind of boogeyman who would frightens children. Modern Heathens look to a variety of sources to understand her as a goddess and so the understandings of her can vary widely.
Something Witchy for my UK friends
Something for my UK friends to check out – Rachel Patterson has written some interesting books and teaches workshops in southern England
Seidhr – a poem
(To respect the author’s copyright and visual theme, no excerpt of this post will be provided. Please click through to “Seidhr – a poem” to enjoy the author’s work fully.)
Daily Spirituality
One of the first things I often see people new to a spirituality asking about is how to celebrate the big things, like the holy days – and indeed one of the first things I did approaching German Heathenry was too look at the holidays. But a better question for people to ask is about daily spirituality; how do we live our spirituality every day? The answer to this question shouldn’t change no matter what religion a person is practicing.
Creating a German Heathen Cycle of Holidays
One of my first steps in approaching Germanic Heathenry has been to look at what holidays to celebrate. Up until now I’ve divided my holidays between the Norse and Irish, with the solar holidays – the equinoxes and solstices – being Norse, so this represents an entirely new approach. I believe though that its important to have a solid idea of what is being celebrated, when, and why because it not only connects us to the cycle of the year but also creates a pattern of offerings and reciprocity with the gods and spirits.
Sommer Entdeckung – My Family’s First Walburgisnacht
The evening of this past April 30th my family celebrated our first German-oriented May Day. It has been an interesting experience so far shifting focus with the children; their questions are pushing me to clarify and have an understanding of what I am doing that I probably wouldn’t worry about otherwise.
Walburgisnacht by Any Other Name….
Like the Irish the pagan Germans originally seem to have acknowledged only two seasons: summer and winter. In Teutonic Mythology Grimm discusses at length the way that these two halves, personified as “Herr Summer” and “Herr Winter” battle against each other with each one winning dominance over half the year (Grimm, 1888). Grimm emphasizes May Day as the beginning of summer, “Again, as summer begins with May, we have that month acting as its representative, and just as full of life and personality.” (Grimm, 1888). And also discusses its importance as a holiday, “Everything goes to prove, that the approach of summer was to our forefathers a holy tide, welcomed by sacrifices, feast and dance, and largely governing and brightening the people’s life.” (Grimm, 1888).