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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in Canadian Pagans

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

 

 

 To the tune of “O Canada

(well, the last four lines, anyway)

(well, kind of)

 

Justin Trudeau,

what do you know?

Who's got the cutest booty?

Justin Trudeau.

Flower of Northern beauty,

Justin Trudeau.

 

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Steven Posch
    Steven Posch says #
    Gods, what was he thinking?1
  • Jamie
    Jamie says #
    Mr. Posch, Prime Minister Trudeau's blackface indiscretions of yesteryear notwithstanding, I think the Canadian people are lucky

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Canadian Seasons

The Sabbat Wheel made a lot of sense for our Pagan ancestors, for whom the seasons and their mid-points roughly corresponded with the Year-Wheel as we know it.  But more and more, I'm finding that it makes little sense in other places, especially where I live.  When I was growing up, the Wheel had only the loosest correspondence with the seasons I knew anyway. The snow was starting to melt by Imbolc, for example, and we had mud season a lot, but crocuses were still at least two weeks away. You knew it was Ostara because there were bees.  The hawthorn and fruit trees were usually blooming by Beltane, but it was still too cold (and often too wet) to camp outside. And so on.

With climate change taking hold, this has become less and less true.  With each passing year I find it more difficult to find meaning in the symbols and landmarks that are supposed to be associated with each Sabbat. The last few years, it simply hasn't felt like the Sabbat at all.

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Anthony Gresham
    Anthony Gresham says #
    I live in Virginia. On June 19th I woke from a dream telling me to "Call upon the gods of love, friendship and community to guard
  • Anthony Gresham
    Anthony Gresham says #
    I totally get not feeling it with the Sabbats. When I have tried it, it felt contrived and artificial. Working with the calendar
  • Sable Aradia
    Sable Aradia says #
    Makes sense to me, Anthony! Whereabouts are you in the world, and when do you choose to celebrate?
  • Anne Newkirk Niven
    Anne Newkirk Niven says #
    Great idea -- we've been kinda doing this for years in my house. I *do* suspect that Ostara may give you some trouble since (Chri
  • Sable Aradia
    Sable Aradia says #
    I thought about that, but a) yeah, I think the lunar/solar calendar juxtaposition is very Pagan anyway, and I understand they base

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

Tapestry is a long-running and respected CBC Radio program that looks at different religions in Canada.  As far as I know, this is the first time Wicca, or any Pagan faith, has been featured on the show.  I thought it was worth sharing!

Listen here:

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Recent comment in this post - Show all comments
  • Jamie
    Jamie says #
    Thanks for sharing! I'll definitely give this a listen in the near future.

Dominique SmithNo, this is not the United States.

This is Canada.

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Shawn Sanford Beck
    Shawn Sanford Beck says #
    Greeting friend, I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to help with this campaign. I'm a ChristoPagan, and a priest in the A
  • Durantia None
    Durantia None says #
    This is definitely a hate crime. The failure of the Winnipeg Police Service to address this issue violates her constitutional righ
  • Kenq
    Kenq says #
    I was stunned to learn that there is no legal recognition for Pagans in Canada. We've had it here in the states since I think the
  • Anthony Gresham
    Anthony Gresham says #
    Doesn't Canada have laws against vandalism? Why waste time with hate crime stuff when there is obvious and repeated vandalism goi
  • Sable Aradia
    Sable Aradia says #
    Oh yes, there are laws against all of that. But the police don't spend a great deal of effort investigating and prosecuting rando
Pagan News Beagle: Watery Wednesday, February 22 2017

Pagan students organize in Texas. A discussion of "familiar spirits." And one Pagan writer explains why, for him, his "gods cannot come first." It's Watery Wednesday, our segment about news in the Pagan community worldwide. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

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A Quest for Canada is a series of articles that will appear in both my Witches & Pagans column 49 Degrees and my Patheos blog Between the Shadows on an alternating schedule between the two blogs.   Links will be provided in both blogs.

2016-09-05 11.04.12It was the perfect moment.

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A Pagan TestamentIt is a common complaint of seasoned Pagans that there is a dearth of advanced material out there. Wicca 101 books are a dime a dozen, but books that deal with the deeper matters of Pagan faith are rare. This is one of those much-desired books. But it's also ideal for the student or the journeyman, and for different reasons.

Canadian Pagan author Brendan Myers is a doctor of philosophy who has not crawled up his academic navel. His language is clear and flowing, almost poetry even in his prose, and it engages at a heart level. He teaches you by taking you through his journey and you're not even aware, at least until the end, that you're learning something.

Clearly it was Myers' goal to bring together the written elements that comprise the common Pagan body of literature and mythology, as the synopsis tells you. So what did he include, and why did he include it?

Much of his material was gathered by surveying the Pagan community. What did they consider to be important? Though this is probably the most effective method of determining a common liturgy, this also resulted in one of the book's weaknesses, which is that much of the contemporary section (which is, don't get me wrong, both extensive and valuable) feels to me like it has a regional bias. This is inevitable because of the nature of the beast; when you make a public appeal for a response, you are likely to get responses heavily weighted in favour of the people you know. It's just a matter of course. But I don't feel that much of the Western North American Pagan literature is represented here, save through Starhawk, as a result. It's probably a less regional collection than most because Myers lived in both Eastern Canada and the U.K., and has traveled quite a lot, but there are natural limits to what any one person can do.

However, the classical literary section is probably bar none. Here Myers' long experience in the Pagan community comes together with his classical education, and he has managed to include almost every piece of source material for the common Pagan mythos that I would ever recommend to my students. He begins with an examination of the primordial Mother Goddess and Horned God (and the anthropological theories on them that spawned modern Paganism, even the parts that are currently disproven.) He then includes formative Aboriginal beliefs that influenced the Pagan movement. One might argue that with its European origins an Aboriginal influence seems unlikely, but I would disagree for two reasons: the first is that Ronald Hutton conclusively demonstrated that the woodcraft movement, which is, in essence, a British Colonial interpretation inspired by Aboriginal beliefs, is an essential part of the formative elements of modern Paganism; and secondly, the North American witchcraft movement in the 60s and 70s most certainly embraced and incorporated (limited interpretations) of Aboriginal beliefs. This is perhaps noticed more profoundly here in Canada than elsewhere, since it is often said that Canadian culture is, and always has been, defined by the juxtaposition between English, French, and Aboriginal cultures.

From there he goes into the classical written sources: The Descent of Inanna and Babylonian Hymns to Ishtar. Demeter and the Eleusinian Mysteries of Greece. Celtic tales of the Morrighan the Dagda, and Cuchulain. Selections from the Poetic Eddas in regards to the Norns, the World Tree, and various Gods and Goddesses.

Then he progresses into the lore of the witch: Beliefs about witches from the Malleus Malificarum. Lore of the witchcraft trials that formed the myth of the Burning Times. Selections from Aradia: Gospel of the Witches.

He includes a selection of poetry and music that is part of our common lore. I think this section is really well researched and there's only a few pieces I would have included that Myers did not. But again, this is one of the "modern literature" sections that would have been impossible to present completely, since the lore is so extensive. It consists primarily of several folk ballads, most of which originate as the English Childe Ballads, and poetry, much of it cribbed from Kipling, Keats, Yeats, Burns, and Wordsworth. I would also have included some of the work of Walt Whitman and Aleister Crowley, but perhaps that's my regional bias showing, since they likely were more influential on the North American Pagan movement than the European one.

He follows with a section on the Book of Shadows, which includes selections from the Gardnerian Book of Shadows, the work of Doreen Valiente, Margot Adler, the Farrars, and Tamarra James, and some explanatory blurbs on some Wiccan traditions such as the Five Fold Kiss. This section is strictly Pagan material written strictly by Pagan writers for the formative liturgy of Paganism. I don't think he missed a single thing that I might have included, save perhaps some brief passages from the Book of the Law; but the OTO can be downright stuck up about their copyright, so perhaps he asked but was denied. It also does not include any of the work of the Clan of Tubal Cain, so perhaps that could be considered an oversight or a Gardnerian bias.

The next section is on what he calls "wisdom teachings." These are the common proverbs and lore that we Pagans share amongst one another. It's awesome! I'm so glad he thought to include this; I would not have, and that shared oral tradition is so important to what makes us a community and what builds our faith and our movement. He lists the things we say in blurbs and verses presented like a list of Proverbs or the Song of Solomon; and then he presents an explanation at the end for those who, for example, may not know what the "two passwords" are.

The following section is on Circle Songs; chants. This is the section I felt was the most regionally-focused of the lot, but the collection of chants is extensive and valuable, and it displays most of the most important elements of the Pagan liturgies that we teach each other in this way. I only wish the tunes had been included! But I suppose that's what Google's for.

Last, Myers offers his own commentary on the Pagan world view, in which he references philosophical authors whose works have influenced our movement. He discusses Schweitzer's idea of "world view," the act of Naming, the Vedas and the Upanishads, the Word of Creation and the Song of Life, simple wisdom and Utilitarian theory, Hinduism and Tantra, the often-forgotten but very important influence of Sufi mysticism, and the nature of love and the dwelling-place of Divinity. It's awesome stuff, and these elements are a wonderful examination of the sources of Paganism.

He breaks this up by discussing the often-overlooked influence of Schopenhauer, which is excellent, primarily through Crowley, as well as Crowley's own influence. This is one area in which I strongly disagree with Myers' conclusions, who was dismissive of Crowley's philosophy as self-serving and shallow (self-serving most certainly, but shallow I would argue with, and probably will in a blog column). He also derided Crowley as a bad poet; which he was, but that doesn't diminish the influence of Crowley's writing on Paganism and I think it should at least have been included.

So, this is excellent for the long-term "advanced" Pagan, because it obviously sparks thought and discussion. It's excellent for the journeyman because it would be a great way to fill in the blanks. By the time you get to that level in your study, you realize that you have some gaps in your knowledge, mostly due to the still largely oral tradition we have and the deterioration of modern classical education, and these are absolutely the things that you should know. And I'm putting on the required reading list for my students, so obviously I think it's great for the novice too. A highly recommended book that I think every Pagan should read.

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