Paganistan: Notes from the Secret Commonwealth

In Which One Midwest Man-in-Black Confers, Converses & Otherwise Hob-Nobs with his Fellow Hob-Men (& -Women) Concerning the Sundry Ways of the Famed but Ill-Starred Tribe of Witches.

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Living Gold

Consider the common marigold.

New World native, bearer of mythic names, flower of the dead.

In the 18th century, Swedish botanist Karl Linne named the genus Tagetes, for Tagus, the Divine Child of Etruscan mythology, who sprang from a plowed furrow one day and gave law to the Etruscan people.

The common English name means “Mary's gold.” Mary, of course, is the de facto goddess of Christianity, but since Robert Graves' day certain witches have known their goddess as Mari as well.

Well, these flowers are her living gold.

In Mexico, it wouldn't be Day of the Dead without marigolds. There's hardly a deity image in India that hasn't been garlanded with marigolds at some point.

Nip off the blooms. String them head-to-tail. Garland your temples, homes, and gods with them.

There's a New Year coming.

How better to greet it than with a goddess' living gold?

 

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Poet, scholar and storyteller Steven Posch was raised in the hardwood forests of western Pennsylvania by white-tailed deer. (That's the story, anyway.) He emigrated to Paganistan in 1979 and by sheer dint of personality has become one of Lake Country's foremost men-in-black. He is current keeper of the Minnesota Ooser.

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