Some of the most memorable parts of 2015 in the Pagan community are celebrated. The historical occultist and court mage John Dee is remembered. And the syncretic nature of Celtic reconstructionist polytheism is examined. It's Watery Wednesday, our weekly segment on news about the Pagan community around the world. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!
PaganSquare
PaganSquare is a community blog space where Pagans can discuss topics relevant to the life and spiritual practice of all Pagans.
Ten Pagans who made a difference in 2015 are remembered and honored. Some of the most interesting Pagan books are listed. And the place of Heathens in the U.S. military is examined. It's Watery Wednesday, our weekly segment on news from within the Pagan community. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!
(A picture of a marble bust of Janus Bifrons, his two bearded faces back-to-back. He looks forward and back.)
I find myself in 2016 wondering exactly where the last of 2015 went. It's a rather easy question to answer in reality. It went to art. It went to family. It went to study and research. To resting. To respecting my spirit's need to pull back and sit within myself. To slow down for the sake of my body.
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I grew up with a copy of Will Durant's "Caesar and Christ" in the house. It had a big fold out map in it. The Roman Empire cover
I spent fifteen days walking the sands of another continent this year. Fifteen days eating the fruits of another land, looking into the eyes of people I had never met, and marveling at the infinite beauty and potential of the human spirit. The cultural immersion trip I participated in was sponsored by my school, Iliff School of Theology, and led by two of my professors who are originally from Harare Zimbabwe.
During the course of those fifteen days we interfaced with universities, non-profit organizations, orphanages, climbed the rocks of Great Zimbabwe, witnessed the power of Victoria Falls, toured the Apartheid museum, and walked the halls of the prison on Robben Island. The trip was simultaneously amazing, exciting, and excruciating. In other words I will never forget it.
...Project for Awesome is a charitable initiative to "decrease world suck." Online content providers upload videos speaking about their favourite charities and non-profits, then people vote on the videos that represent the projects that they want P4A to support. So I made a video for National Novel Writing Month! If you want to vote for my video you can do so HERE; if you want to support NaNoWriMo and vote for all their videos at Project for Awesome you can do so HERE; and if you want to donate to P4A or submit a video you can do so HERE. Please support these great charities! You can only vote or donate this weekend, so please don't delay if you're going to! Thanks.
I remember the moment, the exact instant when Her name was called and She was there. She stood behind me, wrapped Her enormous feathered cloak around my body and completely engulfed me. There's no describing what happened next, except to say that I lay inside of Her for an interminable length of time. I could clearly see the ritual circle and the flames of the bonfire and the other participants going through their own processes, and I was also somewhere completely "other".
For the next three days, I walked between the worlds. I was absolutely present in this world, interacting with people, eating breakfast, making perfect sense and able to carry on conversations about toilets or whatever mundane topics we were discussing. I was utterly not present too; or maybe it's better to say I was also present elsewhere. And She was there too, as real to me as anyone I'd ever met.
...The last week or so has been quite eventful in the Pagan community. Without rehashing specifics, I reference these posts which speak to the second and third order effects of speech and the power of words:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/aloneinherpresence/2015/11/i-wont-shame-my-elders/
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