PaganSquare.com - WitchesAndPagans.com

Well, you gotta love word geekery.

As a college student learning Gothic, the now-extinct language that is the oldest Germanic language for which we have any substantial documentation, the teen-aged J. R. R. Tolkien—himself an good Hwiccan lad—was not content simply to learn the language.

Of course not. Tolkien being Tolkien, he composed poetry in Gothic as well, using (of course) the old Germanic four-beat alliterative line.

Bagmê Blôma, “flower of trees” (this would be “Beams' Bloom” if we were translating into English cognates) is Tolkien's hymn to the “mistress of the mountain,” Lady Birch, the very arboreal embodiment of Spring.

Scroll forward some years. Linguist and Tolkienist Eric Kinsepp translates Tolkien's Gothic into Modern English, thus giving us words singable to a tune by 20^th century English composer George Mantle Childe.

And lo: the witches sing this song at Ostara to this very day.

Sometimes even in Gothic.

Flower of Trees

Growing up, I was very lucky. We lived on a 200 ace farm in West Virginia. At first, I didn’t love that we were so remote but, eventually, I came to treasure the beauty of nature which I could enjoy at any time. I had an Aunt Edith, my Uncle Edison’s second wife, who mentored me. She took me under her wing and taught me many things. I make much mention of Aunt Edith in my Witch’s Brew Good Spells series and how I owe her for my small wisdom. She taught me about plants and their uses in cooking and healing. She taught me about trees and how to identify each one by bark and leaf. She taught me about the stars in the sky and the constellations, a perfect preparation for the astrology we delved into later on. Witchcraft is the most natural thing in the world- and indeed, it is all about the natural world. On woodland walks, my Aunt Edith pointed out heart’s ease, wild mint, and other herbs, which grew in the creeks bed near my home. We picked, steeped, and sipped these herbs together while she imparted her wisdom. Little did I realize that these teas were sacred potions designed to gently soothe my soul and open my mind to the wonders of witchcraft.

In those timeless afternoons, I learned that the practice is not about looking inward, but about focusing your attention on the world around you. Magic exists in every leaf, every stone, every body of water, and every being. Aunt Edith taught me that becoming attuned to the natural world is a witch’s highest calling, and achieving harmony with the cycles of nature is the key to inner peace; this much I know.

The Guardian examines the long-term influence of one of the world's most famous science fiction novels. A comic details the story of a cop secretly practicing magic. And Vin Diesel explains how The Silmarillion informs his views of mortality. It's Airy Monday, our weekly look at magic and religion in popular culture. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!