Culture Blogs


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Culture Blogs

Popular subjects in contemporary Pagan culture and practice.

Category contains 2 blog entries contributed to teamblogs
Beyond the Essentials: A to Z Oils for Candle Enchantments Part I

Agrimony oil has been used since ancient times and is very highly regarded as an all-purpose healer for the body. Turn to agrimony for help with sleep. It is a protective herb which brings about a sense of well-being and ease. Remember agrimony essential oil for your wellness rituals.

Amber oil is derived from the resin of tree sap. You can tell by its delightful scent that it contains much magic and is excellent for love spells. Amber will ground and balance your personal energy; it is also beneficial for purification psychic shielding and protection.

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Beads on a necklace, memory-amber

 

Call them Northern Songlines.

Some remember by books, but for us the Land itself bears memory. All landscapes are mythic, at least potentially.

I've traveled Route 61 south along the Mississippi to the pagan land-sanctuaries of the Driftless Area for so many decades now that it has become, for me, a pilgrimage-route.

So I've re-cast the journey along the lines of the list of place-names in the Táin that recounts the way taken by Medb's army to fateful Cúailnge.

Each place a bead on a necklace, memory-amber.

 

Journey to the Driftless

 

This was their route, east, south and east again from Minneapolis on the Mississippi, Father of Waters:

 

eastward through Pig's Eye of the Sow, called St. Paul,

southward through Newport of the Red Rock,

through Hastings,

through Red Wing of the Clays, under Barn Bluff,

through Lake City on Pepin, where the water-horse swims,

through Wabasha,

past Trempeleau, Rattlesnake Island, where the Horned came down from Heaven,

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Don’t Blame the Magical Ragwort

At this time of year when wildflowers are keeping the meadows colorful and we want to spend as much time as possible outside… allergy season comes creeping in. The biggest culprit is ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia), but unfortunately ragwort (Senecio jacobaea syn. Jacobaea vulgaris) blooms at the same time and is blamed for hay fever. Having a similar name doesn’t help, either.
        Ragwort leaves have deep lobes with uneven edges and an unpleasant odor when crushed. So, the plant’s not perfect and that’s why it has a folk name of stinking Willie. The flower stem is red at the base and branches at the top with a spray of flowers. The yellow, daisy-like flowers grow in clusters. The seeds have downy, white hairs that carry them on the wind.
        This plant is also known as fairy horse and in Ireland it is dedicated to the faeries. With a magic word, the fae were said to turn ragwort into golden horses so they could gallop to their midnight revels. Samhain was a favorite time to ride. In the Hebrides of Scotland, ragwort was considered sacred to the fae who used it to ride between the islands.
        According to other legends, ragwort and St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) are daytime disguises for faery horses. Stepping on one of these plants after sunset reputedly causes the horse to rear up and gallop off with the unsuspecting human on its back. At dawn they would be left far from home with a sprig of ragwort in their hands. Faeries were believed to take shelter from the rain under ragwort, especially on stormy nights.
        As part of a spell to attract wealth and prosperity, place dried flowers in a sachet and keep it with your financial papers. If you can’t find the plant near your house, ragwort flower essence is available to purchase. Counteract any spells sent your way by dabbing a little ragwort flower essence on an amulet. Cut long stems of flowers and position them wherever you need to dispel negativity. When working with the fae, visualize swaying stems of ragwort as golden horses preparing to carry you to faeryland. You can’t do that with ragweed.

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When, on the morning after

the witches' sabbat, the Horned

leads us up out of the woods and,

to the singing of meadowlarks,

mounts the horizon and,

lambent with white flame,

disappears over the edge,

I've always wondered whether

he sinks down into Earth

or walks off into the Sky,

or maybe both;

but now I know.

 

I, Steven of Prodea,

Steven son of Russell,

with my own eyes have seen

the Gates of Heaven swing

wide to admit him, and lo!

to the sounding of horns

and trumpets he entered in,

and lo! the gates were shut.

This with my own lips I tell you,

and what I tell is true.

 

Myth meets myth.

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Prepare Your Own Sandalwood Oil

While vanilla and amber is perhaps my favorite oil combination, I have recently moved into a sandalwood oil phase and am delighting in its powers. Sandalwood oil, ruled by both the sun and the moon, is very suited for use in protection and healing. It can be used as a massage oil and is ideal for friendship magic in particular.

To prepare this oil, stir together six teaspoons of powdered sandalwood and two cups of a neutral oil, such as sesame or almond, in a glass bowl. Heat the mixture gently over a flame, taking care not to bring it to a boiling point. After cooling, place it in a colored glass jar and seal it securely.

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Carrier Oils and Their Uses

A carrier oil is a vegetable oil that is used to dilute essential oils without diminishing the effect of the essence. It ensures that essential oils used topically are comfortable on the skin. Each essential oil carries specific vibrations that hold much curative power. These base oils support other ingredients, including essential oils, and can be a vessel for healing in and of themselves.

Apricot kernel oil, with its warmth and resilience, is especially good for women. Apricot protects love and nurtures women at every age and stage of life.

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 The Egypt Game - Wikipedia

How many of us can honestly say that we got our start in pagan ritual from a kid's book?

I can. The book was Zilpha Keatley Snyder's 1973 The Egypt Game.

In an unnamed California college town, a disused storage yard becomes, for a small group of kids, the magical Land of Egypt, “a land of mystery and mud.”

There, in imaginative half-play/half-seriousness, they enact rites for the ancient gods of the Nile.

Then unexpected things begin to happen.

 

Illuminated by Anton Raible's charming drawings, The Egypt Game tells a large-hearted tale of the lived imagination. It has everything: likeable, flawed characters, mystery, even murder. Oh, and Halloween, too: that patronal holiday of children, which no kid's book would be complete without.

In 1973, assembling a diverse cast of White, Black, Asian, and Latino characters, as Snyder does here, was pretty radical for a children's book. Even at the time, I knew it was the Way of the Future.

And then there are the rituals.

Snyder captures, better than any other author that I know, the excitement, the mystery, the sheer joyful exuberance, of creating and enacting ritual.

You read about what the Egypt Gang does, and you know that ritual matters. You think: “I could do this too.”

So you do.

 

Modesty is not a pagan virtue; truth, though, is. Fifty years on, I can say truthfully that I'm one of Pagandom's ace ritualists.

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