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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in snow magic

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
The Song of the Snow Shovel

Skritch! Skritch! Skriiiiitch!

It's been a dry winter here in Paganistan, so it's almost with a sense of relief that I shoulder the snow shovel and go out to clear the walk.

Minnesota being the Land of Common Sense, there's a logic to shoveling snow. You want to get to it early, before the feet of passers-by tramp it down. The sooner you get to it, the easier the job will be.

On our block, Fatima two houses down is always first. No matter how early I go out to shovel, her walk will already be clear.

Then comes Nick across the street, who shovels snow as a hummingbird hovers: you know that it's happening, but it's too quick to see.

Me, I settle for third.

Minnesota being also the Land of Polite, there are thews (customs, laws) governing how you shovel.

(That you do shovel, of course, is an unstated premise. Not to shovel one's sidewalk is tantamount to a declaration of indifference, unneighborliness, if not of downright sociopathy.)

You always, for instance, shovel your own walk and a little bit of your neighbor's. To shovel only your own walk is regarded as stingy, niggardly. But of course, you've got to be careful. Shovel too much of your neighbor's walk and you're making, as it were, a territorial claim. All things in moderation.

Because of how we see the world, witches, of course, have added incentives for shoveling our walks. Some would call it paranoia, but to us it just seems like common sense.

Why?

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  • Tasha Halpert
    Tasha Halpert says #
    Love it, wonderful piece. Thanks for the smiles.

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Snow Flower

A philosophical lot, Northrons.

I was out this morning shoveling this winter's first inch. (Up here in the North Country, snow comes progressively: First Flurry, First Laying Snow, First Shoveling Snow.)

Every single person that went past had something to say, a continuing conversation. You could construct an entire philosophy from what they said.

Well, it's here.

Early or late, it always comes.

Sure is beautiful, though.

Northern fatalism? Not really. Fatalism is laying down and letting it cover you. If this is fatalism, it's a fatalism of honor, a fatalism that spurs to action. If we're going to go down, we'll go down fighting, shovels—like swords—in hand.

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  • Tyger
    Tyger says #
    So beautiful, these words! We don't get much snow in Texas, perhaps every 3rd or 4th year, but it enchants our scorched landscape
  • Steven Posch
    Steven Posch says #
    My own thought was intimately shaped by the rites and mythology of the old Pagan Movement in Britain and Ireland back in the 70s.
  • Anthony Gresham
    Anthony Gresham says #
    My role playing games set in Japan or with an Anime theme mention the Yuki Onna (Snow Woman).
  • Murphy Pizza
    Murphy Pizza says #
    I've heard our winter attitude up here called "Nordic Zen"...you just do winter. It's a waste of energy to get upset if you hate i
  • Steven Posch
    Steven Posch says #
    During the snowy winter of 2011, I attended a Midwinter's Eve rite down at Coldwater Spring at new Moon: dark o' the Sun, dark o'

Posted by on in Paths Blogs
Snow & Ice Magic

Snow & Ice Magic

Where I live, we don’t tend to get a lot of snow and if we do it isn’t usually very much and it doesn’t stay long however if you do have snow then you can make all kinds of magic with it.

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