PaganSquare.com - WitchesAndPagans.com PaganSquare is a community blog space where Pagans can discuss topics relevant to the life and spiritual practice of all Pagans.
May 9, 2021
Here we are, this deeply into the month of May, and it’s snowing.
That’s what I get for not having sex on May Day.
Well, I’m going to remedy the situation, right now. It’s not too late.
Ancients knew to bless the budding green and burgeoning crops by making love in Spring.
Elixirs are very simple potions made by placing a crystal or gemstone in a glass of water for at least seven hours. Remove the stone and drink the crystallized water. The water will now carry the vibrational energy of the stone, the very essence of the crystal.
Place into a glass of water:
Chances are, you've seen pictures of the Rällinge Frey many times before.
But how often have you seen His back?
Note the complex, swirling patterns worked in gold. Whoever it was that took the time and care to make them clearly felt that the god's back was important, perhaps just as important as his front.
What are they? Vegetation? A tree, maybe? If so, this tells us something important about this god that we would never have guessed if we'd only seen him from in front.
Across Pagandom these days, gods tend to get shoved onto altars, and there's an end to it, but that's not how the ancestors saw it. To them, the god's back was as important as his front, and they took care to lavish attention—and craftsmanship—on both.
It's intriguing that this should be so regardless of the perspective from which the image was intended to be seen. This makes sense, of course: who would leave a god's likeness incomplete? Such would hardly be a worthy vessel for the divine.
A major way to venerate a statue—or, rather, the god present in the statue—was to circumambulate: to walk around the statue. Anyone that knows gods knows that there's more to any given god than what you can see from the front alone. Much, much more.
One of the pleasures of traveling to Greece was finally being able to see what famous statues looked like from behind; for some curious reason, rear views rarely tend to make it into books. There I was quickly disabused of the notion that I knew these works well. How can you claim to know a work of art when you've only seen half of it?
If you want to jump-start your life and bring about positive change, tap into the power of the rose and red stones. Stones of this color spectrum contain life’s energy and can help you become more motivated, energetic and vibrant. Wear this list of rosy and red stones or place them on your desk and throughout your home for an instant boost: alexandrite, carnelian, garnet, red coral, red jasper, rhyolite, rose jasper, and ruby. The new moon phase is an excellent time to introduce this vibrancy into your life, but you should also rock them anytime you need a boost.
Help! I need an answer to a theological question, and I need it quick.
As I write this, the little terracotta goddess lies sleeping, wrapped in silk, on a shelf in the pantry.
But soon she'll be standing out in the corner of the garden, plunged to her thighs in the ground. Through the summer to come—night and day, rain and shine—she will watch over the growth of this year's tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, squash, beans, herbs, and greens.
So here's the question. Does the Garden Goddess go into the ground:
These stones pave the path to prosperity for everyone. Use them on your altar, piled up on an arrangement on your desk at work or keep them in your pocket. This earth-based energy acts like a battery to boost you along.
Azurite strengthens mental powers.
Chalcedony gives you get-up-and-go!
Emerald aids in problem solving.
Opal encourages faithful service.
Pearl engenders material wealth.
Quartz helps overcome fear of rejection.
Sapphire helps with goal setting.
Tourmaline promotes an attitude of accomplishment.
It's become a truism in Craft circles that organizing witches is like herding cats.
Writer John Michael Greer suggested some years back, though, that this question approaches the problem from the wrong direction.
“Cats aren't herd animals,” he said. “If what you want is cats, what you need to do is to open a can of tuna fish.”
Students of the pagan community have not infrequently commented on the problem of the “disappearing pagan male,” and the resulting gender imbalance in our population. The long-term implications of such a demographic hemorrhage are, of course, dire: a community without men will not long survive.
Fortunately, I think that there's a solution to hand.
In June, the Warlocks of the Driftless will finally—after a year's hiatus for the plague—be raising the Bull Stone at Sweetwood Sanctuary in southwestern Witchconsin's Driftless Area.
Suddenly, there are men converging from all directions who have heard about the project and can't wait to help.
Clearly, men just want to raise standing stones.
