The Wrath of Eros

Love, is a powerful kind of magic.  Lust is too. When it comes to matters of the heart, the witch is the historic expert on how to seduce through all kinds of means.  But not all love magic is about getting love, or fulfilling carnal desires.  A lot charms are oriented towards an equally important purpose: closure.  The pain of loss is so great sometimes that your entire soul can ache with the pain of it.  It will resonate down to your soul, turn your stomach and make every memory choke the beat of your heart.

The sad, painful, pitiful truth is that …

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words for Fool in Old Irish

I can’t stand April Fool’s Day, but in the spirit of the holiday (no joke) I thought I’d do a fun short post on the different words for fool in Old Irish and their contexts. Much like my previous blog about the word ‘witch’, saying fool in Old Irish isn’t a straightforward matter because there are a variety of options each with different nuances.
   First we have the words which are used for…

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Blood, Blade and Bullets for The Morrigan

So I came to post a blog today about how I am slowly coming back into my “warrior” training. My youngest son’s third birthday will be coming up soon and in typical “Celtic” fashion, threes seem to be what inspire my actions. It took three years for me to start losing the weight and getting back to training after my first child and apparently, it will once again prove to be the magic number after my second.

A few months ago I took …

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How to Read a Myth

Title: How to Read a Myth
Series: Phylosophy and Literary Theory
Author: William Marderness
Publisher: Humanity Books

Synopsis:
Roland Barthes and Mircea Eliade pioneered two contrasting yet equally influential theories of myth. Until now, no one has successfully integrated Barthes’ interpretation of myth as a system of signs and Eliade’s interpretation of myth as a sacred narrative. In this important contribution to the study of myth, philosopher William Marderness proposes a comprehensive theory that accounts for the diverse interpretations of Barthes and Eliade, among others.

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Welcome to My New and Stark Surroundings

Welcome to Arokk.NET, my new personal, (mostly) non-political blog.

This will be the place for my general ramblings, philosophical rants, and general nonsense. I may also start working on some regular features and column-esque stuff and things, but the idea is to intellectually unwind, reconnect with my spiritual and religious studies and musings, and to refocus myself. If you’re one of the random folks interested in my more political-focused opinions and musings, feel free to check out my much less relaxed blog, Rag’n Arokk.

You’ll notice that the theme on this site is pretty stark. That’s because I haven’t really done a lot of writing with any regularity that warrants any sort of “fanciness” here. I don’t really care about the way things look, so long as things can be found. Window dressing means nothing if the building is empty.

Once gain…welcome.

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Irish – or Celtic?

Recently a news article hit both the Irish cultural community and the pagan community. Titled ‘Man’s discovery of bones under his pub could forever change what we know about the Irish’ the article discusses an archaeological find, the genetic analysis of the bones found, and one main academic response to it. The response focused on is that of Barry Cunliffe, professor of Archaeology at Oxford…

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Natura Perfecta

It is said that your perfect nature can be found in the stars; that understanding one’s celestial self and the spirits that dwell within their ruling planets and stars would have a true knowledge of themselves, and thus be enlightened among the lowly.   I never really took much stock in astrology and the star mysticism so popular among esoteric circles.  I guess I always sort of didn’t see how the stars could have anything to do with us.  To be truthful, I still don’t.  I don’t buy astrology as a predictive source, but I certainly find it fun and sometimes eerie in its ability to match up so well with some people.  Despite being rather unsold on the subject, I admit I am one of those people who’s natal chart and birthday are freakishly, disturbingly well matched to their personality.  I love the stars, because I love astrophysics and interstellar sciences, so despite a lifetime of occultism, I never paid much attention to natal charts or the personal influences of cosmic entities.  Since I’ve been spending more time with people who do study astrology, particularly my new friend Dev, it got me curious about what it all says about me.

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Transltion ~ Pangur Ban

Pangur Ban is one of the more well known Old Irish poems, a work from around the 9th century which details the exploits -academic and hunting – of a scholar and his cat. The following Old Irish is from Stokes Thesaurus Paleohibernicus, from 1903. The English translation is my own. Messe ocus Pangur bán,cechtar nathar fria saindán;bíth a menma-sam fri seilgg,mu menma céin im saincheirdd(Myself…

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Bog Bodies Uncovered

Full Title: Bog Bodies Uncovered: Solving Europe’s Ancient Mystery
Author: Miranda Aldhouse-Green
Synopsis: Some 2,000 years ago, certain unfortunate individuals were violently killed and buried not in graves but in bogs. What was a tragedy for the victims has proved an archaeologist’s dream…

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Goodreads Giveaway – Fairycraft

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