PaganSquare


PaganSquare is a community blog space where Pagans can discuss topics relevant to the life and spiritual practice of all Pagans.

  • Home
    Home This is where you can find all the blog posts throughout the site.
  • Tags
    Tags Displays a list of tags that have been used in the blog.
  • Bloggers
    Bloggers Search for your favorite blogger from this site.
  • Login
    Login Login form
Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in workshops
Workshops and Classes and Presentations, oh my!

I've been offering workshops and presentations about Minoan spirituality for several years now, and I'm delighted to be giving a workshop about just that topic next month at WitchCon. I hope you'll join me!

As I gear up for another year of public appearances, I'm wondering how deep I should dive into the topics that are my purview as The Minoan Lady.

...
Last modified on

Posted by on in Paths Blogs

I’m preparing to teach Basic Folk Dance at Southwest Frith Moot. My time slot between the other things on the schedule is a half hour, so I’ve selected two dances, Hora and Tot Ursi. Tot Ursi is a procession dance and the Hora is a round dance. Tot Ursi is so simple that I can teach it before I teach any actual dance basics, so I can teach Tot Ursi, do a short lecture teaching dance basics, and then teach the Hora. The dance basics I need to teach for the second dance include what “line of direction” means (move to the right, starting on the right foot), how to hold hands (dancing in a circle round, left hand up and the right one down,) and how to cut in.

My mom and I dance with the Ethnic Express Folk Dancers. We dance to bring people together—ourselves, most of all—and to preserve the world heritage of dance. I’m the only heathen in the dance group. Mom and I originally got into folk dance as an activity we could do together when I was in high school. Even when she can’t dance, our folk dance friends are a big part of our life.

...
Last modified on
Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Erin Lale
    Erin Lale says #
    Schedule change for Pagan Pride Day 2017, I'll be teaching Folk Dance at 2pm instead of 1pm.
  • Erin Lale
    Erin Lale says #
    Babatunde, I will be teaching this Basic Folk Dancing class again at Las Vegas Pagan Pride Day 2017, Sept. 30, at 1pm, at the Unit
  • Babatunde
    Babatunde says #
    can you teach me and where are you thanks??
  • Erin Lale
    Erin Lale says #
    Babatunde, the moot is in Arizona, but the event is full. I'm in the Las Vegas, Nevada, area. I do plan to teach this dance at the

Posted by on in Paths Blogs
Join Us for Moon Meet this Summer!

The first Pagan festival for Atheopagans, nontheist Pagans, and naturalist Pagans is actually happening. It's called Moon Meet, and it will be August 4-6 of this year, on private land near Healdsburg in Sonoma County, California. The event is $90, which will include five meals.

For me, this is a dream.

...
Last modified on

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Gabble Ratchet

As a young woman, I fell in love with the work of Mary Stewart and have read all of her books.  There is one that is set in Lebanon called The Gabriel Hounds and from it I learned the phrase "gabble ratchet" which is a folk corruption of "Gabriel's hounds." It means the sound of wild geese flying, a sound that is evocative of a pack of baying hounds. In folklore, the Gabriel hounds are sometimes the souls of unbaptized children crying in the night, or they may foretell a death or they're thought to be the hounds of Hel(l).

In my heart, though, that eerie sound--so full of longing and grief--always evokes the Ancestors, the Beloved Dead. My writing desk sets by a west-facing window and that window looks out over the French Broad River. The Canada geese use the old river as a flight path that sweeps them northward to a couple of good feeding grounds and a man-made lake. In the spring, we are rewarded with the site of families of the gabble ratchets with their fuzzy chicks, grazing on the chickweed near the old railroad tracks.

...
Last modified on
Do you Hoodoo? or, Rootwork Amongst the Edamame

I returned from the West Kentucky Hoodoo Rootworker Heritage Festival last evening. The festival site was set in farm country in western Kentucky and vast fields of soybeans formed a crescent around the encampment.  A rooster crowed up the Sun each morning and coyotes yipped through the long, cool nights. We had one wet night and one cold night and days filled with one of the most diverse groups I've seen in my (admittedly limited) Pagan festival experience.

There were workshops, rituals, classes and plenty of networking with colleagues from as far away as Toronto. The food was good, the company cheerful and remarkably even-tempered. Lots of nice vendors tempted us all with their pretty wares and I can't even complain about the late-night karaoke simply because the folks doing it were having so much fun.

...
Last modified on
Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Celeste Jackson
    Celeste Jackson says #
    Absolutely! Bryan, Jack and I would be delighted to assist you. I would also LOVE to introduce you to Dr. Erika Brady. Dr Montell
  • Byron Ballard
    Byron Ballard says #
    Too funny. Yes, it was nice meeting you, too, at long last and nice to meet Bryan. I am considering a limited tour of Kentucky and
  • Celeste Jackson
    Celeste Jackson says #
    I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you and reading your book(yes, I did finish it- I could not put it down) and had one heck of a time e
  • shentonta
    shentonta says #
    love the article. I live in NE Tennessee and did not know there was a festival of root work this close. I want to go next year. T
  • Byron Ballard
    Byron Ballard says #
    Thank you. It was a powerful festival--I hope to see you there next year.

Additional information