The Minoans had dogs. I remember being a little surprised to learn that, some years ago. Somehow, I just never connected "Minoans" with "dogs" in my mind. Cats, sure, but dogs?

Yep, they had them - in fact, the breed the Minoans had still exists on Crete. It's called the Cretan Hound and is considered to be the oldest European dog breed. That's one of them in the image above, on a carved stone pyxis lid from Mochlos dating to about 2400 BCE. I can imagine the person who owned that pyxis (a lidded jewelry box) choosing it because their dog loved to lie in the same pose, stretched out in the shade of an olive tree.

An artist friend of my housemate was at the house and said he wanted to paint the Green Fairy but he'd never seen her. So of course I immediately got the necessary things from the wet bar: the absinthe, the sugar cubes, and so on.

I had not originally intended to lead a meditation, just supply drinks. But after we all had some, his speech sped up and he started telling stories about his past nonstop, so rapidly that I thought the fairy would never get a word in edgewise. He might not notice her if she arrived. So I improvised a guided meditation. Those few who have heard what my voice sounds like when I'm guiding a meditation or ritual experience, that's how I sounded. I made my voice slow and calm.

When I went out to the Veterans' Cemetery in Boulder City, Nevada, to lay flowers at Tom's marker, a large raven flew over the graveyard and landed on the peak of the roof of the building next to the Columbarium, which is where the urns and ashes are installed. I gasped in awe. I felt that it was one of Odin's ravens, come to watch over the warrior dead.

It was Memorial Day, 2022, and every grave had a small flag planted on it. The markers in the Columbarium had not been similarly decorated, though. I left flowers from my garden at Tom's marker.

It's been a while since I've posted on here, mainly because I've been working on my new book about Hedgewitchcraft, out in October 2022! While I get back into the swing of writing here on this channel, I'd like to share a video with you that I made this month, about the liminal places, which are so important to the art of hedge riding. x

Coming down from the mountain
I have seen the lofty glory
I will go again some day
But for now, I’m coming down.

–Meat Puppets

There is an ache in my heart right now, a longing for the people and experiences of Suntree Retreat.

CW: animal sacrifice, human sacrifice

When I shared last week's post about what's missing in Minoan art on social media, I got an interesting response from a fellow Pagan writer, who guessed (before reading the post) that what was missing was war and violence.

There's something to that, but it's not a simple subject.