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

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The Herbalist’s Astrological Almanac – Plant Healing  Wisdom

Plants carry potent energy you can use to amplify your magical workings. Use the signs of the sun, moon and stars to your advantage and, over time, you will come to know which ones are most effective for you. Make sure to use your own astrological chart in working with these herbs.  Here is a guide to the astrological associations of plants you may grow in your kitchen garden or keep dried in your pantry:

 Aries, ruled by Mars: carnation, cedar, clove, cumin, fennel, juniper, peppermint and pine.

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Last modified on

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

 

Next time you put on a pair of pants, thank the Horse Goddess.

 

According to current evidence, pants were invented by those same horse-riding, pot-smoking, milk-drinking Indo-European pastoralists who, starting about 6000 years ago, spread out in all directions from the Pontic-Caspian steppes to take over the known world: our linguistic ancestors.

Why, one might wonder, did they invent pants?

Easily told: because they were also the first to ride horses.

Did you ever try riding a horse while wearing a kilt?

 

Every word's a story.

In their 6000-year history, the lower, bifurcated garment has gone by many names, and pants are only the youngest.

The word, of course, is short for pantaloons, named for a stock character of 17th-century Italian comedy whose signature form of dress they were. Another version would have it that "pantaloons" was a nickname for Venetians, whose patron saint was St. Pantalone. Your call.

Older than pants were trousers, derived from the Gaelic triubhas. The Scots word trews remains more faithful to the original Celtic pronunciation than the longer, extended Southron version, which would seems to have acquired its extra syllable under the influence of drawers, something you draw on.

Older yet, the tunic-ed and toga-ed Romans were horrified to discover the barbarous inhabitants of Gallia Comata (“long-haired Gaul”) wearing leg-coverings that they called braccae. Germans wore them too—you know, those hairy barbarians are all alike—and called them by the same name, whence English breeches, and the Americanized britches. (Once again, Scots breeks remains faithful to the old Celtic pronunciation.) To the Hwicce, the original Anglo-Saxon Tribe of Witches, they were bréc, the plural of bróc, “leg covering.”

Braccae take us back in time about as far as we can go. The word exists in both Celtic and Germanic stocks, so in all likelihood derive, at the very least, from the time of the common tongue from which both language stocks derive: possibly 3500-3000 BCE.

What the original horse-riding, pot-smoking, milk-drinking pastoralists called them on the prairies of eastern Europe 6000 years ago, we don't know.

Last modified on

File:Put ratnika by Andrey Shishkin.jpg ...

 

Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, recently warned priests ministering to soldiers in the Russian army in Ukraine to be on the lookout for “weirdos” attempting to spread “neopaganism.”

Kirill, a close ally of Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and a vociferous supporter of the war in Ukraine, expressed outrage that in the 21st century, “weirdos” (чудики, chudiki) should be attempting to revive “neopagan sentiments” “on the territory of Holy Russia.”

The Patriarch called on clergy in the war-zone to “show special initiative” in eradicating any “neopagan” influence on Russian soldiers, emphasizing the Church's role in shaping their ideological mindset. He also reiterated his belief in a broader conspiracy, claiming that “the forces opposing Russia” orchestrated the war in Ukraine in order to “weaken our country and the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church.”

Since the fall of Communism, the collective search for a post-Soviet identity has lead to a burgeoning revival of old Slavic religion in both Russia and Ukraine. Often strongly nationalistic in tone, these movements have provided numerous soldiers on both sides of the conflict.

Last modified on

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

 

BE IT THIS 16 day of february in the year of Our Lord 1654 that one SVEIN HARDIN of Malmö in Skåne Parish did testify

ITEM to whit that on the 3 day of june in the Year of Grace 1643 that day being a Thursday that as he gathered diverse Mushrooms in the forest he did meet in said Forest with a skögsrå a man of the forest who was clothed all in GREEN from his head to his foot and that

ITEM he being fairer than the sons of men he did have carnal Dealings with said skögsrå and moreover did suffer him to know him per ano which the laws of God and man do plainly forbid and that he did call him his GREEN HANS and that this did call him His Darling lad and further that

ITEM for 10 years thereafter he did at each full of the moon meet with said skögsrå and his Fellows in said woods for dancing and Witch-sabbat and carnal Intercourse therewith and that

ITEM said skögsrå did teach him all herbs and roots and every manner of LEECHCRAFT wherewith he hath these ten years since healed many and many Lives saved withal or so he claimeth

and so for these Crimes do we hereby CONDEMN him for this is no skögsrå but a Fiend from hell from intercourse with which no Good can come however fair its Seeming

that on the 23 day of february in this Year of Grace 1654 for these hellish deeds he the aforesaid SVEIN HARDIN of Malmö in the aforesaid parish shall be BURNT in full public witness in Malmö Square of the aforesaid parish

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Thermometer

 

Nippy today.

Well, middle of February. Gotta expect it.

Could be worse.

Well, we don't have hurricanes, volcanoes, or earthquakes.

Seen warmer.

Seen colder.

Warmer next week, I hear.

All uphill from here.

Well, at least we're not in Duluth.

If you're in Duluth:

Last modified on

Posted by on in Paths Blogs
My Monster Powers February 2025 part 2

Happy Double Freya's Day! Double Freya's Day is not a traditional holiday name but I think it conveys how special today is. Every Friday is Freya's Day, but this year we also have February 14th on a Friday.

I don't usually make a huge deal about Valentine's Day. Its origins are non-heathen, and many Asatruers and other Heathens celebrate a completely made up holiday today instead, Vali's Day. It was created based on the similarity of the names Vali and Valentine. Vali of course is one of our gods, but he's not a romantic figure. His personal story is about Odin setting up all the proper conditions, tools, and people to make Ragnarok happen correctly someday. The end of the world has to be done right so the next world can be better.

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Last modified on

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

The Magic Formula ALU - YouTube

 

Ansuz-Laguz-Uruz: God-Lake-Aurochs. ALU, “ale.”

This mysterious word is one of the earliest and most frequently-occurring runic inscriptions, which commentators generally agree seems to have some sort of magical component: in effect, a “magic word.”

But what does it mean?

Occurring both by itself as well as in other inscriptions, the on-the-face-of-it meaning of the word would seem to be “ale.”

Meaning—what?

(Note the visual similarity of all three rune-staves. Something powerful is happening here.)

Over the course of the past 150 years, since the decipherment of the Elder Futhark, runologists have proposed various readings of the word—frequently referencing ale's supposed entheogenic qualities—but personally, I can't help but wonder if maybe we shouldn't take it at face value.

“Ale.” It's a verbal libation.

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