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 We be of one blood, you and I.

Animals have gender.

Animals—by which I mean, of course, non-human animals—are male and female, just like we are.*

Why then, in English, do we refer to animals as “it”?

If you think that there are religious implications here, you're right.

“Animals” are our kin. As such, they deserve to be accorded dignity and treated with respect.

As such, they deserve to be spoken of as he or she, not it.

The mask—and, in particular, the horned mask—is generally reckoned among the mysteries of the Horned Lord; his priest wears it to personify Him in ritual. As such, it is also accounted a men's mystery.

Why?

As is usual with the archaic, ones looks for origins to humanity's perennial preoccupation, the getting of food.

As such, the mask originated as a strategy of the hunt.

To disguise your scent and outline, you wear the head and hide of (for example) a deer. Here we see the origins of disguise generally.

It is also the origin of the personifying priesthood: pretending, in effect, to be who you are not. Disguise yourself as a deer and act like a deer, and it gives you a better chance of taking the deer that you need to feed both you and your People.

This also explains the Mask's specific (though, of course, not exclusive) association with men. Although among people who live by hunting-gathering, virtually everyone—regardless of age or sex—hunts as well as gathers, hunting is generally accounted part of the men's sphere, since hunting large animals is dangerous and (to be quite frank), in the larger life of any given society, men are more readily expendable than women.

To this day, the priest of the Horned still wears the god's horned mask at the Sabbat, and a sacred connection to our food-sources lies at the very heart of the Sabbat and everything that we do there.

For those of you who have already read Lesson One (the link for which is below), and those who will read it upcoming, please note that lessons may contain changes after they are first posted, to correct missed typos, add or remove information to provide clarification, or other helpful adjustments. This process has already begun for Lesson One, so please check in again before the next lesson is posted, as you may wish to re-read or re-print the lessons once they’ve been adjusted for best clarity!

                                Orca with the Isle of Eigg in the background and the peaks of Rum in the distance.                                                        Click photo for source - Wilderness Scotland

In these tutorials, we are going to learn how to pronounce words in Old Irish. This is a form of Irish / Gaelic which is seen in the earliest manuscripts (c. 600-900 CE / AD). 

So, how's the last month been? Was it intense? If not for you, then for acquaintances, social circle, family members?

Or maybe not. One thing I have learned as I have saged with age, is that the more you become conscious - mindful of all the various strands and strains, as well as the bigger issues - less dramatic happenings, well, happen to you personally. Some people need the neonlit drama to din in the meaning or life lesson that has been avoided.

Woe, I cry, woe: five long years, and never a good tomato.

Either it got too hot, and the tomatoes languished.

Or it didn't get hot enough, and they never ripened.

We didn't have enough rain, and so they were tough-skinned and bitter.

Or we had too much rain, and they swelled up obese and flavorless, red water balloons.

Oh, but this year: this year the gods have been good.

Earth and Your two boon husbands, Sun and Thunder: thank You, thank You All.

Firm, sweet, kissed by the Sun: at every meal tomatoes, and you never get tired of them.

Glory to the gift of the Aztecs, best of Nightshades! But in every good tomato year, you always reach glut: the point at which they're coming in so fast that you can't keep up, no matter how many you eat.

That means that it's time for the Nectar of the Gods.