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By Makarios, on May 25th, 2013  By Patti Wigington
Some Pagans use animal parts in ritual. While this may seem a bit unsavory to some folks, it’s really not that uncommon. A good guideline to follow is as follows:
• if your tradition doesn’t forbid the use of animal parts, AND
• the parts are gathered humanely and ethically
then there’s no reason you can’t use them. Let’s look at some of the different parts you might want to use.
Why Use Animal Parts in Ritual?
Thousands of years ago, our ancestors performed rituals and ceremonies. They didn’t have tools ordered from an online catalog or purchased at the Local Wytchy Shoppe. They made do with what they had. For the ancients, many of their tools — both magical and mundane — came from the animal kingdom. Few things went to waste. Bones could be turned into anything from a knife to a sewing needle. An antler could be used as a weapon or a farming tool. A horse’s bladder might become a pouch to carry herbs. Anything was usable.
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By Makarios, on May 24th, 2013  By Alison Leigh Lilly
When you tell people that you love nature, you run the risk of being accused of one of two things (and sometimes both at once).
If you speak of the pleasure you derive from those ordinary natural things that abound in everyday life — the simple symmetry of a flower, the entrancing movement of sunlight reflected on rippling water, the spinning fall of a leaf, the arch of your cat’s back as he stretches on the windowsill — some people will tell you that you are sentimental and maybe a bit naive. They will tell you that such views of nature are pastoral, idyllic. They will tell you that your views of nature assume too easy a familiarity and that you do not appreciate the harsh reality of the natural world, red in tooth and claw. They will say that it is only thanks to the mastery of modern science and technology that you are afforded the luxury of enjoying what is really only a tame, neutered landscape.
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By Makarios, on May 24th, 2013  By Kathy Gruver
In learning to change our minds, I’ve found one of the simplest and most effective techniques is using affirmations. Some experts estimate that we have around 60,000 thoughts a day and that 50,000 of those are negative. That’s 80% negative thoughts, which translates to me as 80% negative results. It’s so easy, especially with what’s happening in the world today to let our thoughts go to fear, worry and fatalism. And it is important to acknowledge our feelings and note that we do have fear and concern, but when these thoughts start to rule our minds and become repetitive and distorted they can lead to illness and negative changes in our bodies.
Add to this that 60-80% of visits to the doctor are caused by stress. If we look at our life at this exact second, where is the stress? Seriously, look at this moment in time. What is wrong? Our thoughts, and thus our stresses, are often in the future and usually about something that we’re not even sure is going to happen. We talk about it, think about it and dwell on it even if it’s not guaranteed. We can’t often control our emotions, but we can control our thoughts. An easy way to do that is with affirmations, using positive language to program our lives.
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By Makarios, on May 24th, 2013  By P. Sufenas Virius Lupus
Very few religions are more creedal in nature than Christianity and Islam. (In other words, their basis is a formal statement of beliefs, a creed.) Many of the ongoing conflicts today, as well as a great deal of violence historically, have occurred because of the creedalism that characterizes these two religions. The emphasis on holding formal beliefs even stirs enmity between followers of what are ostensibly the same overall religious frameworks. Sunni and Shi’a conflicts in Islam, for example, have existed since a generation after the death of Islam’s founder; and today, there are still large numbers of Protestants who think of Roman Catholics as “not really Christian.”
As I stated in the final page of my last column, however, deity-centered modern Paganism is not and should not be creedal. In fact, most polytheistic religions, both historically and as manifested in modern Paganism, are practical and experiential religions.
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By Makarios, on May 23rd, 2013  By April Elliott Kent
When I began studying astrology, I imagined that sexy Venus and passionate Mars held the secrets to understanding love. After all, most youthful dreams of future soul mates feature torrid tangos of passion and enthrallment. The notion of ending up in a relationship like Mom and Dad’s—so little kissing, so much bill-paying!—tends to fill idealistic young hearts with horror. And yet, more often than not, when we finally settle down into a committed partnership, we find ourselves reenacting much of what we saw our parents doing in their relationship.
Decades later, a career spent studying the astrology of relationships (not to mention seventeen years of marriage) has taught me that there are really two different narratives that underscore every romantic partnership. One, driven by the passionate eroticism of sexual chemistry, certainly does seem to be reflected in the astrology of Venus and Mars. But the other, a quieter tale of compatible temperaments and united purpose, seems better illustrated by the astrological connection between the Sun and Moon.
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By Makarios, on May 23rd, 2013  By Rebecca Buchanan
It could be argued that there is no more famous Goddess in modern Paganism than Isis. Her figure — often winged, with ankh in hand or perhaps an infant Horus, usually crowned by a sun and horns — is immediately recognizable.
Such was the case in much of the ancient Western world, as well. Known as Au Set or Aset in Egypt, her myths and worship spread across northern Africa, deep into the Middle East, throughout Europe, and as far north as Roman Britain. The memory of her survived even into the Christian Middle Ages. With the (re)birth of Paganism, songs and hymns are once again being raised in her honor; Wiccans, solitary Pagans, Goddess Spiritualists, Kemetics and many others praise her as the Queen of Heaven, the Throne of Creation, the Great Magician, the Mother of Mothers, the Rose of Eternal Life.
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By Makarios, on May 23rd, 2013 Reviewed by Egil Asprem
[Snip] Kabbalah research has gone new ways in recent years. A process of reinterpretation has taken place as scholars have move beyond the paradigmatic works of Gershom Scholem, and even expanded the field of kabbalah studies from the domain of Judaism studies. Kabbalah has proved to be one of those fields that display a remarkable historical ability to mediate between and feed into different cultural fields, making the recent interdisciplinary developments particularly welcome. A focus on Christian and Western esoteric receptions of kabbalah has, for example, not only questioned old assumptions about kabbalah, but also proved fruitful for understanding aspects of European and Western religious history in general.
Kabbalah and Modernity is a product of these recent developments. The outcome of a conference at the University of Amsterdam in 2007, it brings together not only contemporary Judaism scholars inscribed in the project of renewing the study of kabbalah, but also specialists of Western esotericism. Of the three editors, Marco Pasi and Kocku von Stuckrad are both well-known names in the field of esotericism research, and Boaz Huss, professor of Jewish thought at the Ben-Gurion University, has worked intently on broadening the academic study of kabbalah.
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By Makarios, on May 22nd, 2013  By Susun S. Weed
Herbal medicine is the medicine of the people. It is simple, safe, effective, and free. Our ancestors knew how to use an enormous variety of plants for health and well-being. Our neighbors around the world continue to use local plants for healing and health maintenance, and you can too.
[Snip] In this lesson you will explore the differences between nourishing, tonifying, stimulating/ sedating and potentially-poisonous plants. You will learn how to prepare and use them for greatest effect and most safety.
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By Makarios, on May 22nd, 2013 Reviewed by Christine Kraemer
[Snip] A Transmythology is an original epic poem by P. Sufenas Virius Lupus. Its narrative involves the conception, birth, and awakening to self of a group of four transgender and/or fluidly-gendered deities called the Tetrad. Their names—Panpsyche, Panhyle, Paneros, and Pancrates—translate literally to the English words of the title (All-Soul, All-Body, All-Love, All-Power).
I have to admit that when I realized the book was an epic poem, I was skeptical, and not from lack of experience with the genre. My PhD specialization was in religion and literature, and I’ve read Homer, Chaucer, Dante, Milton and others with varying levels of engagement and enjoyment. In popular culture, epic poetry is often seen as so formal as to be inaccessible (and dry translations make it more so). This was often not the case with their original audiences, however. I remember what a revelation it was to hear Stanley Lombardo perform parts of his translation of the Odyssey. His interpretation aimed to help us hear the text as the Greeks would have heard it: and the Odyssey, my friends, is rough and raunchy, full of derring-do and heroism. The stiff nineteenth-century British translations that are often stuffed down our throats in school don’t capture its spirit.
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By Makarios, on May 22nd, 2013 By Heather
In this day when fresh fruits from around the world are readily available any day of the year in our supermarkets, many of us are becoming increasingly disconnected not only from the land our food comes from but also from the seasonal cycles that used to be an intimate part of the availability of many foods. Once upon a time, it was unthinkable to eat fresh strawberries in December. Now, we can eat fresh berries whenever we like – albeit tasteless, misshapen specimens that have travelled hundreds or thousands of miles from the fields where they were grown.
While growing your own garden is an excellent way both to eat locally and to become more aware of both the origin and seasonality of your foods, eating wild foods is an even more intimate way to become closely acquainted with your bioregion – its native species and its influences on the availability of food. While most of us probably do not want to forage and hunt for all of our foods, it is not difficult to add at least occasional wild foods to our diets.
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