PaganSquare.com - WitchesAndPagans.com

On Fiery Tuesday, the PaganNewsBeagle focuses on issues of activism and the Element of Fire. Today we have stories on civic invocations (aka prayers); crowdfunding site Go Fund Me bans "sorcery," fiery photos from Burning Man; a prominent Heathen speaks out about racism in his community; and the Pagan Environmental Coalition of New York visits fracking sites in Pennsylvania.

Now that "civic prayers" have been ruled legal by the Supreme Court, who gets to give a prayer before government meetings? Patheos blogger "The Friendly Atheist" writes about his experience in this post.

I told you all in my previous article on wands that they were my favorite tool, and I wasn't kidding.  I've always loved the idea of waving a wand and casting a spell.  I used to carry around wands, staves, and rods as a kid- some made of driftwood, some more ornate deals of crystal and metal.  It helps having a mother who was a sci-fi fan and also essentially pagan, when one is secretly training to become a first-class sorcerer and witch.  That was my ambition as a child, and honestly I'm rather happy with how things turned out.

But I digress- the point is, I've had wands of all shapes and sizes since I was very young.  And one thing always used to drive me crazy about them.

So I'm curious- how many of you are tabletop gamers?  You know, pen-and-paper RPGs, dice, maybe some figurines or what-have-you?

Because I'm a HUGE gamer.  As in four times a week, in some cases.  If you haven't realized that from my blog, then I'm telling you now.

So, about a year ago I was having a conversation with my friend Christopher and a host of others, and we were talking about something very interesting he had heard about.

It's called "the wizard's game."  It's a sort of trick old Pagans and occultists play on each other.  I may have mentioned it in my previous blog posts, but here's a simple recap: a new person enters into a conversation on a subject she or he are very new to and enthusiastic about.  However, this person, we'll refer to the person as "he" for the rest of this analogy, is a bit of a showoff or a know-it-all, or is perhaps espousing some sort of shallow theory as fact.

It's probably no surprise that I'm a huge fan of parodies and satire, or the various "-ifications" on the net (yes, I know that's not a word, I'm using it anyway).

I really enjoy it when people get creative about their interpretations of things- the creative world is too broad and vast for us to get terribly proprietary over our ideas.  Copyright infringement and patent laws and such really bug me.  Of course, I like the reversal of such things, like Repo: the Genetic Opera, which is not even terribly tongue in cheek in its commentary on commercialism in health care.