If I had to characterize Kirk S. Thomas' Sacred Gifts: Reciprocity and the Gods in only two words, it would be: “accessibly profound.”
Don't be put off—as I initially was—by his bantering tone, hyper-colloquial diction, or home-spun analogies. This book speaks as an incisive work of contemporary pagan scholarship and philosophy, and (best of all) points the way forward for future pagan thought.
There can be no relationship without communication. How, then, do we communicate with the gods?
In Sacred Gifts, Thomas answers this question elegantly and authoritatively by beginning with a careful examination of ancestral precedent. From these specifics, he deduces the general principles of the divine economy.
A Hindu festival in Nepal turns down animal sacrifice. Racists gather in Germany to attack refugee asylums. And debates continue about the complex intersection of laws protecting same-sex couples from discrimination and religious liberty laws. That's right, it's Fiery Tuesday, our weekly take on political issues that affect the Pagan community. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!
Blót-monað, the ancestors called it: Sacrifice-Month.* Or one could say (as the ancestors did, in their pragmatic way) Blood-month. It still goes on.
Deer-hunting begins this weekend here in Minnesota. Hunting opener is generally the first full weekend of November. (Just coincidence, I'm sure. Yeah, right.) Blood on the leaves.
It's the season of the Dead, yes, but let us not forget what the witches in their wisdom have always remembered: it's also the time of the Rut.** The fawns that Old Green Eyes sires right now will be born about Bealtaine, sure. Blood and spooge: Old Craft in the nutshell.
In today's Watery Wednesday post, we concentrate on news about our Pagan communities and their allies. Big changes at the Wild Hunt; Pagan scholarship prizes; crowdfunding a Pagan funeral; SilverRavenwolf vs. Facebook; and animal sacrifice in Paganism, pro- and -con.
Big news on the Pagan Media front: The Wild Hunt founder and frontman Jason Pitzl-Waters steps down and leaves the keys to TWH media kingdom with new editor Heather Greene.
In light of recent Pagan conversations around the blogosphere on the topic of animal sacrifice, I thought I'd skip ahead in the Vegan Pagan series to offer the animal-centric perspective I had scheduled for January. I'll be back on track next month.
Good Samhain to all!
- Ceallaigh
Modern Paganism has more than a few bloody roots. The early Celts practiced both animal sacrifice and human ritual killing1 and might well have engaged in ritual cannibalism under extreme circumstances, as historical and archaeological evidence attests.23 Elaborate human sacrifices were performed at the temple in Uppsala and elsewhere in Northern Europe as late as the 10th century AD, and there are well-documented accounts of animal sacrifice as well.45 The early Greeks may have engaged in human sacrifice or human ritual killing and certainly engaged in animal sacrifice.6 These are only a few among many examples, as students of pre-Christian religion well know, and they collectively represent a disquieting piece of theological history. However, while most Pagans will agree that cannibalism, human ritual killing and human sacrifice are better abandoned to history, the practice of animal sacrifice has been reconstructed by a few sects of the Pagan community.
Today is Faithful Friday here at the Pagan News Beagle, the day we share interesting stories about religious communities around the world. Our stories today include the launch of the new Polytheist community website; a call for papers on Pagan and Goddess studies; animal sacrifice outlawed (in part of India); Chinese Buddhist brand building; American Muslims meet (and integrate better than Muslims in Europe.)
The new website Polytheist.com launched recently and hopes to offer a variety of columnists (the site eschews the term "blog") from across this diverse movement.
Steven Posch
When Leto gave birth to Apollo (and his twin Artemis) on the island of Delos, she did so bracing against the trunk of a date palm.
That's why we eat d...
Anthony Gresham
Last year I made Pfeffernusse cookies instead of date bars. They were good, but I really missed the date bars. I placed one in the crotch of the per...
Anthony Gresham
It's taken me a while to finish writing this, but I accept your challenge to write a new myth of my own. Here goes:Narfi & NariI write of Narfi and N...
Before I sat down to write this, I had to wash the blood off my hands.
