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Continuing the story of my early experiences that led me to my heathen path, when I was 9, my family moved from Ripon, California, “Almond Capitol of the World,” to Sonoma, California, the wine country. By then I had really connected with the desert and its natural ways, but I was happy to move to a place where one did not have to belong to a Christian church to have any friends at school. My Fifth Grade teacher was openly Buddhist, and that really impressed me. She wasn’t a Christian and they let her teach children!

When I was done with all my schoolwork, she let me read real books. My favorite was a version of Robin Hood. The other children were reading middle readers, and I was reading in Middle English. The public school system which segments children by age instead of ability was not serving me well, but being allowed to read real books instead of just stare out the window when I was done with the busywork was wonderful. Going to school in a rural area back then did have one big advantage over today’s modern, urban schools: I was allowed to fight back against bullies and it didn’t ruin my life.

One of the life experiences I had that was later used as evidence that I was born berserker and qualified to learn the martial art of Bersarkrgangr was a playground scuffle during my Fifth Grade year. The following is a quote from my autobiography, Greater Than the Sum of My Parts, which I wrote when I was 30 and later published in 2011.

When I first started writing for W&P my intent was to focus more on nature and Spirit here, more technical, interfaith, and political issues over at Patheos.  Such plans are nice, but rarely maintain themselves, and that one was no exception. On either end.

I just published what I think is an important post on Pagan religion and environmentalism over there as part of a big discussion on the topic.  Perhaps some of you who do not watch that site regularly might want to take a look at it.

In this installment of the PaganNewsBeagle, we have Pagan interfaith activism, the death of Lorean Vigne, an announcement from Cherry Hill Seminary, Pagans organize in Italy and life in a socialist community in Spain.

Last week, Pagan sanctuary Isis Oasis in California announced the death of their founder, Lady Lorean Vigne. Jason Pitzl-Waters at The Wild Hunt offer a remembrance of her life and work.

Cherry Hill Seminary announces the awarding of their second Master's degree to graduate student (and VietNam nurse) Carol Kirk.

PaganNewsBeagle Watery Wednesday presents four stories about the Element of Water. Whale rescue, understanding how waves are formed, great ocean wave photography and fresh water shortages in rural America. Drink deep!

A lovely video of a whale rescue in the Sea of Cortez is guaranteed to warm your heart.

A wonderful, deeply felt meditation on waves in this post from NPR.

In ancient Rome, today is the feast day of Neptulia, set aside to honor Neptune, God of the seas and fresh water. The mythology of Neptune is somewhat a mystery, much like most of the deep sea remains to us. His early association with the Greek God Poseidon muddies the waters, so to speak. One aspect that differs in some detail is the more romanticized mythology of Neptune's ardent pursuit of his undersea queen, Salacia, a beautiful sea nymph.

Salacia was in great awe of her high ranking suitor, and being desirous of preserving her virginity, she played the shy coquet, managing to glide out of Neptune’s sight and hide in the vast waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Last week I was blessed to ring in another year. As a lead up to my birthday week I put together a wish list of decks I would have been more then happy to receive from my inner circle. There are some new and noteworthy decks on my wish list so i thought I would share the love and let you see what is next on my new, noteworthy and must have list for the remainder of the summer. 

Kicking things off at #1 is the Isidore Tarot - Bethalynne Bajema

This neo-victorian deck is a self published deck which you can purchase either right from the decks website or etsy. I am a bit of a sucker for animal based decks and this one must has a great feel to it and to be honest what's not to like about a toad in a top hat!

AGAINST A SWARM OF BEES
Ms. 41, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

 We’re so accustomed to end rhymes in poetry (moon/June) that it seems odd to imagine another kind of poetry. If you've been following my Havamál series, you won't find it odd at all. A millennium ago, the Anglo-Saxon folk of England wrote poetry that alliterates; that is, key words begin with the same sound (like 'bouncy baby boy').The writers made things a little easier on themselves by making any vowel alliterate with any other vowel.Each line of a poem is divided into two half lines. Each half line will have one word which alliterates with a word in the other half line.The underlined letters below show this pattern.