Pagan Journey

FruitcakeIf you want to do something a little different this Christmas season - maybe you're an atheist (like me!) or a pagan, or maybe you just feel quirky - why not celebrate Yule instead?  Yuletide is a traditional winter solstice festival, originally a pagan festival that originated in Germany.  It was later incorporated into the Christmas tradition, when everyone suddenly decided (against all evidence and logic) that Christ should take over the December holidays.

The traditional Yule or Saturnalia was all about fertility, and traditional Yule foods reflect that.  Yule festivities typically consist of a ton of food, a celebration of the harvest of the year, and a demonstration of abundance.  

Yule Log
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When you have an injured or sick loved one, sometimes you feel so helpless it’s unbearable. Yes, you do what the doctor tells you to (or get a second opinion), and whether it’s practicing proper hygiene, delivering adequate doses of medication, or simply waiting, it’s probably the best you can do from a medical standpoint.

But what about a spiritual one? Sending positive thoughts, prayers, healing energy—these are all things you can do that not only may be beneficial to your loved one, but also help connect you to him or her in an empowering and loving way. Here are a few very simple healing rituals that you could do if you are interested in this. Read more

It's the time of year when, every year, I get annoyed by the Christians at one extreme and Neo Pagans at other extreme posting silly things about the ancestry of Halloween and the ancient Celtic festival of Samain. I thought I'd try to forestall some of the less factual assertions by a list of bullet points about what we actually know about Samain and the Celts, since Samain is one of the most popular Neo Pagan festivals or feast-days.

In 609 Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day. The night before, October 31 consequently became All-Hallows Eve, or Halloween. In A.D. 1000, the church made November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. There are references to both feast days earlier in some places, but these are the dates of official sanction. Read more

The Magical Household: Empower Your Home with Love, Protection, Health and Happiness is possibly my favorite pagan book in my entire collection. In it, Scott Cunningham and David Harrington share a plethora of folklore, recipes, spells, and simple actions to make your home more magical and meaningful. There is really something that anyone on any budget can do in this book.

The Magical Household explains that you don’t need money to live in a magical home. You don’t even need to live in a cottage in the woods with herbs, pentagrams and witchy-looking stuff everywhere (though you have to admit that would be fun). Simply using your fingertip to draw sacred symbols for protection on your windows and doors, for example, can help safeguard your home and give it a more magical vibe without spending anything. Read more

Did you get a chance to do all—or some—of September’s activities? I’d love to hear about what you did and how it went! Here is a list of suggestions for October. Feel free to alter any of these to your views or tastes as well as to add your own.

10. Make a Jack O’Lantern: If you want to be truly authentic, use a turnip, and find out more about the history of these lighted vegetables. Read more

Normally I like to write about pagan books (and books in general) that I really enjoy or find helpful. After all, why waste words on things that you don’t like? It’s like Natalie Goldberg says in her lovely work Writing Down the Bones—why spend an entire period criticizing a work that doesn’t really work? Simply give it the samurai sword swiftly and humanely and move on! Read more

No pagan parenting book collection is complete without a copy of Circle Round: Raising Children in Goddess Traditions by Starhawk, Diane Baker, and Anne Hill. With this book and a little creativity, you have everything you need to supplement your child’s education with pagan lessons. Pick and choose the ones that work for you, or use the authors’ ideas to formulate your own stories and rituals based on the ones that they have shared in the book.

The book begins with great introductions and groundwork in goddess studies. Explanations about just who the goddess is, along with different creation stories, elements, and the circle of life are all provided; with anything else in the book, the best way to use these is to read them through yourself, decide which parts you wish to use, and add in your own beliefs and values. Read more

Casa Rinocada

Last week we took a look at the sacred places of Arizona. Before we get to the rest of the Southwest, another state deserves a post entirely of its own—New Mexico.

Tsoodzil, or Mount Taylor, is a stratovolcano in New Mexico. Stratovolcanoes are steep volcanoes that are made up of layers and, while they tend to erupt often, their lava cools and hardens quickly before it has a chance to really spread (Mount Fuji is a stratovolcano). The Navajo people say that it is the turquoise mountain, one of the four sacred mountains marking the four cardinal directions. It’s also one of the markers of the Dinetah, which is considered the Navajo homeland. Sacred to the Laguna, Acoma and Zuni people, it is also the home of Black God, Turquoise Girl and Turquoise Boy. Read more

There are plenty of pagan activities, celebrations, commemorations and festivals to keep you busy year-round. September is just as busy as the rest of the year, especially with the addition of school activities for many. Here are ten things you might want to take part in this September.

10. Harvest Moon. Also known as Singing Moon or Wine Moon, Harvest Moon marks the time of the year when the last of the year’s crops are being reaped before winter comes upon us. To celebrate, wear earth tone colors, honor a harvest deity such as Demeter or Brighid, or hold your own full moon rite. Read more

If you’re looking for an in-depth daily devotional book for Goddess studies, Patricia Monaghan’s The Goddess Companion: Daily Meditations on the Feminine Spirit may be just what you’re after. Like Telesco’s 365 Goddess, it covers a different goddess each and every day. Rather than focus on the nuts and bolts of each goddess and incorporating spellwork, as Telesco does, however, Monaghan focuses more on the spiritual qualities of each goddess and how they apply to us. Read more