PaganSquare


PaganSquare is a community blog space where Pagans can discuss topics relevant to the life and spiritual practice of all Pagans.

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Saturn-Day Soul Tribe Gathering

It is very important to gather your soul tribe and just celebrate each other from time to time. Here is a pagan ritual I have performed on weekends—I call it “Saturn-day night fever.” Over the years, I have added many embellishments, such as astrological or holiday themes. The basic ritual of cakes and ale, however, is a timeless and powerful classic.

Gather a group of friends either outdoors under the moon or in a room large enough for dancing, drumming, and singing. Have the guests bring a cake of their choice as well as a cider, mead, beer, or juice to share. (Note that the cake can be of any style, so it does not have to be an iced sheet cake; banana bread, Irish soda bread, or a braided honey bread will do just as well.) Place the offerings in the center, on an altar table. Then light green and brown candles for home and hearth.

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 80+ Driftless Area Photos Stock Photos, Pictures & Royalty-Free Images -  iStock

The rite is complete. I turn to bestow the final blessing, and see something that I have never seen before in ritual: people preparing themselves to receive the blessing that I am about to pronounce.

Some bow their heads and lower their eyes. Some pull themselves up straight. Some brace to receive, as if I'm about to throw something at them. I suppose that, in a sense, I am.

The trust, and strength, of this so-willing self-opening moves me deeply, and calls forth a corresponding tenderness within me.

A tear runs down my cheek. I raise my arms and pronounce the final words.

Around us, the horns of sunset blow.

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Panel on Paganism at American Academy of Religion

This weekend I was a panelist at the American Academy of Religion conference at UNLV on “History of Mystery: Pagans in Las Vegas,” organized by Prof. Candace Kant. The panel included representatives from various pagan traditions. I represented Asatru.

My fellow panelists included BJ Rogers of the ADF (Druid) Larrea Tridentata Grove, Edmond Costello of Sanctuary of Solace (an all-inclusive Goddess community,) Abbi McBride of Vegas Vortex, and Rev. Areeya Marie Sharpe of Desert Moon Circle and Temple of Goddess Spirituality (Sekhmet Temple.) Marissa d’Aradia of Sin City Witches was slated to be on the panel but couldn’t make it. I had met most of the other panelists before, either at Pagan Pride Day events or at Sin City Witches events.

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Revealing the True Self: A Group Mask-Making Ritual

The elements needed for this ritual include:

• Posterboard, newspaper, water, and white flour to make a plaster-like paste, paint, glitter, feathers, sequins, colored markers, and sticks at least twelve inches long

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 Why are earliest sunrises a week or more before summer solstice? | Fox  Weather

 Paganicon 2024

 

Gathering

(7:15 a.m.; sunrise 7:25)

People gather outside Ballroom A (Scandinavian Ballroom).

Welcome (priest)

 

Horns blow

 

Procession
People proceed outdoors, led by:

Stang

Libation bearers

Priest

People

People assemble, facing East.

 

Sunrise

As the first limb of the Sun touches the horizon, horns blow.

People pray, pour libations.

As the Sun clears the horizon, horns blow again.

 

Song: Turn to the East (all)

 

Lift thine eyes, behold the light:

turn to the East, where dawns the day.

Hope and love, forever bright,

guide and protect us on our way.

 

Hail the Sun's rays, shining bright

after Winter's long, dark night.

Lift up thy voice, with praises ringing;

turn to the East, where dawns the day.

 

Blessing and Dismissal

 

Priest

(Turns to face people)

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The Minoan Cat: cute, stealthy, beloved

I've written before about the dogs the Minoans kept as pets and hunting companions. But did you know the Minoans also had cats? They probably came to Crete on trading ships from Egypt, and it's clear from the art that they loved their kitties every bit as much as modern people do.

That's a Minoan cat up top in a fresco from Hagia Triada. In true cat fashion, it's hiding behind some ivy to sneak up on a bird.

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 Hypothetical Planet X

What Should We Name Planet 9?

The math is pretty clear: our Sun has a ninth planet out there, so far out that it makes Pluto look like a next-door neighbor.

For now, they've taken to calling it Planet Nine. But if and when it's actually discovered, we'll need a better name than that.

What, then, should we call it?

 

First, a few parameters.

We should name P9 for a goddess.

Gods know, we've got plenty of Boy planets out there already. We could use more Girls in this family.

We should name P9 for a Classical deity.

Only a polytheist nomenclature is equal to describing the magnificence of That Which Is; all the other planets are already so-named. (While a foolish consistency may be the hobgoblin of small minds, internal systemic consistency is a simple matter of aesthetics. Call it contextual cognitive resonance, if you like.) No pantheon-mixing in this solar system, please.

The name should be in its Latin—not Greek—form.

After all, we say Saturn, not Khronos, Neptune, not Poseidon. While a foolish consistency may be the hobgoblin of small minds....

The Latin name should be in Anglicized form.

After all, we say Saturn, not Saturnus, Neptune, not Neptunus. A foolish consistency...

Granted the above parameters, then, an obvious choice presents itself.

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