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Wordless Wednesday: Devotional

I contributed to this Anthology and it's going to be released soon! Click on image for more info

Happy Irish Heritage and All Snakes Day (aka St. Patty’s Day)

There was a green branch hung with many a bell

When her own people ruled this tragic Eire;

And from its murmuring greenness, calm of Faery,

A Druid kindness, on all hearers fell.

 

It charmed away the merchant from his guile,

And turned the farmer’s memory from his cattle,

And hushed in sleep the roaring ranks of battle:

And all grew friendly for a little while.

 

Ah, Exiles wandering over lands and seas,

And planning, plotting always that some morrow

May set a stone upon ancestral Sorrow!

I also bear a bell-branch full of ease.

 

I tore it from green boughs winds tore and tossed

Until the sap of summer had grown weary!

I tore it from the barren boughs of Eire,

That country where a man can be so crossed;

 

Can be so battered, badgered and destroyed

That he’s a loveless man: gay bells bring laughter

That shakes a mouldering cobweb from the rafter;

And yet the saddest chimes are best enjoyed.

 

Gay bells or sad, they bring you memories

Of half-forgotten innocent old places:

We and our bitterness have left no traces

On Munster grass and Connemara skies.

 

 

 

~ The… Continue reading

Blessed Hypatia Day to You

The Course of My Studies Part One

“At the very dawn of religion, God was a woman. Do you remember?” – From: When God Was a Woman by Merlin Stone, 1931 – 2011

Like many Pagans, Merlin Stone’s book was amongst the first I found. Interestingly, I find that many Pagans my age or younger have, in fact, not read this book; as well as others like it such as “The Wise Wound” for an example. I was not like many of my generation’s young Pagans in that my very first book on Paganism did not come from the hand of Silver Ravenwolf.

This is a blog post I have been considering writing for a little while now. I was also considering reading it for the podcast, but I worry it might be boring to listen to. So, in honour of the memory of such persons as Merlin Stone, here goes …

My first literary foray into Magick, Witchcraft and Paganism came from fairy tales of course; Jack and the Bean Stalk, Disney, Mom reading ‘The Hobbit” to us. Like many children I played witches brew with mud and crud in the back yard, tapped stones with my sparkly cheerleading baton to wake the fairies, pretended I… Continue reading

Valentine’s Day Link Love

While Bren and I go to a book sale and drink some wine for Valentine’s Day (and pretend we don’t have a podcast episode waiting to be finished) here is a list of awesome articles and blog posts worthy of being read:

The Curious Case of American Land Spirits

The question is, can those of us of European descent summon, honor, call, and treat with American land spirits?

Thinking Shall Replace Killing: A Short Look at a Pagan Model of Ethics

At the most basic level, it matters that you are the kind of person who resolves problems with force of thought and feeling instead of with the force of arms.

Hellhound on My Trail

Celtic and European legends are filled with the sounds of the Wild Hunt, the hounds traveling across the night sky: Arawn, Celtic god of the underworld, has a pack of white hounds with blood-red ears; Lugh has a magical hound, as does the family of Harelquin, the Oskerei, Gandreidh, and Herne and his brutal band of wild men. Sometimes it’s called the “Furious Host.”

The Trouble With Bright Girls

For women, ability doesn’t always lead to confidence. Here’s why.

Roman Statues Trace Back to Troubled… Continue reading

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