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Darling, don't be naive.

Two gay guys, walking down the hall at Paganicon, holding hands? Everyone saw us.

Believe me, we're already an item.

I know we're not an item. You know we're not an item.

But trust me: according to the hedge telegraph, we're an item. Just wait. You'll see.

Oh, come on, you're not that new to the community. It's the pagan equivalent of what my Indigenous friends call the rez telegraph: that uncanny, simultaneous ability of everyone in your entire community to know every single detail of your most intimate personal life. Never, ever underestimate the power of the hedge telegraph.

How it actually operates is one of the Greater Mysteries, for sure. Which isn't to say that it always gets things right, of course.

The “Tantra” of Temple Worship

Hey, do me a favor, would you? When you finally manage to perfect that spell for summoning the dead that you've been working on, would you let me know?

Oh, nobody in particular. Pretty much any ancient Egyptian priest would do, I should think.

Well, yeah...I do have a question about...ah, temple protocol, you could call it, that I'd like to ask him. You know, offerings and such?

Say: you've got a home temple, don't you? Do you pray and make offerings there on a daily basis?

Just off and on, eh? Hmm. Well...let me ask you anyway.

So...when you make the prayers and offerings, do you ever find yourself getting...well, physically aroused?

OK, whew. So it's not just me. I mean, it makes perfect sense: serpent power and all. Every temple offering's a Great Rite, right?

Still, I mean, we're witches, serving witch gods. I mean: Old Hornie, “lord of the skull and the phallus”, right? He pretty much is Arousal, right? Like god, like priest?

But does it depend on which god you're serving, maybe? I mean, Min, sure, but Amun? Or Thoth? That's what I want to know.

Yeah, f*ck, that's the bitch of it. Witchery, sure, that's never gone away, but witch temples now, our tribal sanctuaries? We haven't had those for years and years.

So much lost, so much.

(Sighs.)

Back when, there would have been a senior priest to ask, but now...we just have to figure it out as we go, and try not to blow anything up in the meantime.

Here playeth the temple orchestra.

Call it an unwritten rubric.

In the old days, of course, every endowed temple would have had its own orchestra: professional musicians whose sacred playing accompanied the daily rites.

There are offerings, and there are enhanced offerings.

Alas, in these benighted days, when temples go largely unfunded, whether by community or by generous patron, temple-keeping is largely an act of private love and devotion, with the resident priest or priestess  themselves providing most of the candles, incense, and offerings. As I say, an act of love.

But sometimes vistas of the future open suddenly before our eyes.

For the last few days my friend and colleague Frater Barrabbas has been, in advance of Paganicon 2023, guesting here at Temple of the Moon. He's a gifted guy (just wait 'til you see his forthcoming book on the inner mechanics of the Personifying priesthood: it's a stunner), and (inter alia) plays a mean flute, the throaty silver tones of which can literally lure the Horned from the woods. (I've seen it myself.)

Usually when making the morning and evening offerings before the altar, I sing, or hum, or make what composers call vocalise, and the Irish mouth music.

Now, one flute does not a temple orchestra make. Oh, but it sure beats humming.

A Religion of Converts?

One might, on the face of it, think that most New Pagans are—in effect—converts.

Some seventy-five years into the Pagan Revival, I suspect that, still, the vast majority of us didn't grow up this way. I myself was, as they say in New Crete, “hatched in the wrong nest.”

And yet, if they asked you, “When did you become pagan?”, would the most honest answer really not be, “This is who I've always been”?

In my travels, I've met a spare handful who became pagan as the result of (if you'll pardon the comparison) a “road to Damascus” experience: the overwhelming, life-changing epiphany of a god or, more often, goddess.

But the fact remains that, for most of us, becoming pagan is not so much a matter of becoming something that we weren't before as it is of discovering a name for who and what we've always already been.

As we move out of sensitive Pisces, I feel my own fiery sun sign of Aries begin to kick its strong hooves into gear. I love when the sun first enters the sign of Aries at the time of the Spring Equinox/Ostara. I’m all about new beginnings, new projects, fresh starts, and creative approaches to problem-solving. When coupled with the always optimistic, first glimmers of spring, one can’t help but lean hard on the side of hope. I appreciate the dreamy, sweet side of Pisces, and know that I have some in my chart, due to the close proximity of where my birthdate falls (the 23^rd). This being said, I also welcome my fighting, brave, adventurous side just around the corner. I look forward to ushering it in with verve and gusto. I’ve had to employ some of this especially recently when it comes to standing up for myself. Often I’d prefer to avoid unpleasant confrontation, preferring flight instead of fight mode.

Justice for All

One thing about we Aries types though, we have a particularly strong sense of defending against anything unjust—whether behavior done to ourselves or our loved ones. So that doesn’t really allow for hiding away from saying what needs to be said or done. This can be applied in the workplace, setting firm boundaries with those who are apt to bring you down, or simply calling out a particularly rough new hygienist in the dentist’s office. Sure we could just lay back and grimace through the pain. But is it really doing anyone any good, especially if the rudeness if pretty over-the -op and the perp isn’t aware, or doesn’t think there are any consequences for their behavior?

Big Questions

How long have you been pagan? Five years? Twenty-five? All your life?

Time, then, for some big questions.

Has your paganism made you a better person?

Has your paganism challenged you to grow?

Has your paganism bettered the lives of those around you?

Remarks from a Pagan Funeral

In his quite remarkable book European Paganism: The Realities of Cult, from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, Ken Dowden makes the observation that all over ancient Europe, it was customary to end funerals with a dance: specifically, with a round dance, preferably performed around the grave itself.

A funeral ends with a round dance. This is profound and articulate action. Ancient Europe was a large place, much larger than it is today: a place of many peoples, many languages, and many cultures; and yet everywhere, across ethnic, linguistic, and cultural boundaries, funerals ended with a round dance.

A funeral ends with a round dance. Now why, do you think, would the ancestors have done this? Anyone?

[Field responses from people.]

The pagan religions are preeminently religions of praxis: they're about what you do. For pagans, to dance is to pray. (Reporter: Do witches pray? Witch [thinks a moment, then smiles.] We dance.) Among the Kalasha of what is now NW Pakistan, the only Indo-European-speaking people who have practiced their ancient religion continuously since antiquity, the same word—the same word—means both to dance and to pray. Consider the implications of this.