We just started watching the series Warrior Nun on Netflix. It’s rather enjoyable so far. However I couldn’t help noticing that it is wrong about haloes.
religion
BIPOC Pagan Reading List
A reading list of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) authors covering Paganism, the occult, astrology, Tarot, and Indigenous spirituality.
Note that the deities of African diaspora religions can only be contacted through those religions and not via other religions. And that Indigenous life ways and spiritual practices are specific to their cultures and should not be culturally appropriated.
I’ve put out a call on Twitter and Instagram for more books to add to this list, and I will post updates (as I do with the Queer Pagan Reading List).
The Tower and the Virus
My first guest column at The Wild Hunt.
I have been anxious for months, years even. I have watched with growing horror the rise of right-wing populism, the melting of the icecaps, the burning of Australia, the beginnings of wars over water and resources, the seemingly inexorable destruction wrought by climate change. The protests of Fridays for Future and Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion gave me some cause for optimism, but it is also obvious that governments have not been doing enough to turn the economy around to stop the production of carbon emissions. So when everyone suddenly swung into action to deal with the coronavirus crisis, it gave me some hope that perhaps now the needful actions to deal with climate change (many of which, it turns out, are quite similar to the actions needed to flatten the curve of coronavirus transmission) would seem doable. It also feels like now everyone else is as anxious as me.
Continue reading at The Wild Hunt.
If you enjoyed this post, you might like my new book, Dark Mirror: the Inner Work of Witchcraft.
Follow Friday
Just been having a conversation with someone I’m following about how to find good blogs to follow on WordPress.
I don’t use the search function very often. I have found the occasional good stuff via search, but it is rare.
Instead, I follow the blogs of people who write good comments on blogs I’m already following. Or people I find on Twitter or Instagram who share an interesting article. Or people I know from other contexts.
I have also followed a lot of people whose posts are featured in Wrycrow’s excellent series, Friday Foraging.
In this post, I am going to share a list of the people whose blogs I am following on WordPress. (The title is from #FollowFriday on Twitter)
What we have in common
I dreamed that I was in an Anglican or Episcopalian Church in North America and had been invited by the vicar to introduce a hymn. She handed me the order of service which already had a hymn picked out, and it had been annotated to change “him” to “her”, so I introduced it and encouraged people to sing “her” where appropriate if they wanted to. One of the congregation said they didn’t really know the tune for that hymn. So then I suggested we sang Morning has broken and changed “him” to “her” in the second verse, and “God’s” to “Her” in the third verse. Then I woke up.
Notable and quotable: coronavirus (1)
- Nimue Brown has written on the political implications;
- Laura Tempest Zakroff has created an immunity sigil. (Patheos *)
- I’ve offered a modified version of the cakes and wine ritual.
- Dana offers spiritual self care practices to ease the stress.
- Video from Lora O’Brien on community and coronavirus protocols.
- Article from The Wild Hunt Pagan news outlet on cancelling or rescheduling Pagan events, and rethinking communal practices.
- Excellent comments and advice from John Beckett (Patheos *)
- Wonderful post from Ryan Cronin on Indoor Druidry.
- Mark Green on community and spirituality during quarantine (and good news, he’s working on another book).
- Further updates from the Wild Hunt Pagan news site on event cancellations due to coronavirus.
- Reflections from Julian Vayne on the occult significance of this, and being community-minded.
- My post What we have in common, reminding us of shared values of community and compassion across different faith groups including Pagan traditions.
- How to hug whilst standing two metres apart.
- Notable and quotable: coronavirus: part 2
Theriomorphic deities
The revelation of the restored version of the Mystic Lamb from the Ghent Altarpiece got me thinking about theriomorphic deities.
The scary goggly eyes of the restored version attracted quite a lot of comment and even a scary meme of the Lamb winking.
Before you go and have a look at the pictures, I have to warn you that what has been seen cannot be unseen.
Polytheism in Wicca
I’m still seeing people assuming that all Wiccans are duotheists. In my experience, this is simply not the case.
Notable and quotable 5
This week I have been mostly reading The Guardian with great sadness over the horrific murder of 50 Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand, and growing incredulity at the self-inflicted wound of Brexit. So I have not been keeping up with what’s going on in the blogosphere.
However, I just spotted this excellent post about queer magic by Julian Vayne.
What makes you a priest/ess?
Michael asked, Am I a real priest?
Short answer, if you feel a calling to be one, then you probably are one, even if you’re on the beginner slopes.
My working definition of a priest or priestess is a person who can facilitate contact between the other-than-human and the human, and/or who can create meaning, community, and a sense of connectedness for others. Note that this definition includes atheists and animists.
