I have just returned from the second annual Morrigan’s Call Retreat and once again find myself sitting here trying to put into words an experience that is really impossible to describe. Last year the Retreat was new and smaller, fewer people, a wild and otherworldly location, and the energy of the entire weekend was a challenge to step up and answer Her call. This year was very different: more people, a new location that had more of civilization to it, and an energy that was not about hearing Her call as much as about reclaiming ourselves and our own power in this world.
Preconceived Notions and Being a Goth Pagan
I’ve been thinking lately about stereotypes and the way that preconceived notions and expectations shape our larger pagan community. Pervasive buggers, you know, stereotypes creep in where we least expect them. Just when we think we’re in a safe place, a place free of preconceived judgments, bam! we run headfirst into one. We all experience this, I think, some of us to greater degrees than others, depending on who we are and what we identify as.
Defrosting The Freezer
Blessings Darlings!
Being the busy little home maker I am, I’m defrosting the freezer as I type this. We have an OLD upright freezer, 14.7 cubic feet, not at all frost-free. We got it in January 1979, so it predates our 1980 marriage and LONG predates our 1987 Spawn. Every now and then (really, more NOW), it needs to be defrosted.
Continue reading…
Another look at Fedelm in Different Recensions
For fun and to show the difference that can occur between translations I wanted to expand on yesterday’s blog and offer the description of Fedelm from two recensions of the the Táin Bó Cúailnge, the first from the Book of the Dun Cow and the second from the Book of Leinster. You’ll see some similarities and also some significant differences between the two:
Describing Fedelm in the Tain Bo Cuiligne
A bit of descriptive translation for today from the Táin Bó Cuiligne of Medb’s first view of the seeress Fedelm:
Impáis in t-ara in carpat ocus dothaét Medb for cúlu, co n-accai ní rap ingnad lé, .i. in n-aenmnái for fertais in charpait na farrad ina dochum. Is amlaid bói ind ingen: ic figi corrthairi ocus claideb findruini ina láim deiss cona secht n-aslib do dergór ina dessaib; bratt ballabrecc uani impi; bretnas torrach trencend sin brutt osa brunni; gnúis chorcra chrumainech lé; rosc glass gairectach le; beóil derga thanaide; dét niamda nemanda, andar let batar frossa findnémand erctais ina cend; cosmail do nuapartaing a beóil; binnidir téta mendchrot aca seinm allámaib sirshúad bindfogur a gotha ocus a cáinurlabra; gilidir snechta sniged fri oenaidchi taidlech a cniss ocus a colla sech a timthach sechtair; traigthi seta sithgela, ingni corcra córi cruindgéra lé; folt findbudi fata forórda furri; teora trillsi da fult imma cend, trilis aile co m-benad foscad fri colptha.
Irische Texte Mit Ubersetzungen, Windisch (1905.)
What Makes A God?
I’m going to start out by saying clearly, I don’t have any answers to this question and I don’t think there is an answer. It’s a question that inevitably leads to more questions. And I think that’s a good thing – we should question this, we should ask ourselves the hard things like this. Without the hard questions there will never be any real growth or deep theology.
17 Year Cidadae
So the big thing this summer is that the 17-year cycle cicadas are hatching. They’re big, red, noisy bastards, and a type of bug I’ve always disliked. I’ve never been big on bugs, and having insects that large that fling themselves at you unpredictable while making an awful buzzing sound is a sure-fire way to […]
On Being *That* Guy
Everyone knows that guy*, the person who is always one of the first ones to speak up about paganism or polytheism, even though they don’t really know that much about it. … No one gets less sympathy than that guy.
The thing is – we were all that guy…
Green Water of the Mountain
Some of what I gather is going to become spirit food, made by hand from the herbs I was compelled and directed to gather. The flowers all have very specific and unique properties and are all under the guardianship of the great old mountain god, Takoma, who makes the waters that feed the valley meadows where I hunt at the base. The mountain is home to deer gods and river goddesses, to bear spirit and eagle. Powerful place, deserving of respect, I collect my herbs from the riverside and old-growth moss covered wetlands where the grandfather waters provide all the nourishment of those who forage in the shadow of the peaks.
Big Ritual
I’ve been doing ritual magick in some form since I first bought Don Kraig’s Modern Magick 20 years ago. Much of that was based in Golden Dawn derived ritual, performed alone for my personal benefit in the dark corner of wherever I happened to live. Early group rituals were largely impromptu, and with small groups […]