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Rediscovering the Runes
- Details
- Category: Runes
- Written by Henry Lauer
Article by Henry Lauer
'Web of Wyrd' by Willow Arleana
A additional artwork by Sarah Lawless
Rediscovering the Runes
Runes are mysterious — literally so, for "mystery" is the root meaning of "rune." As a Heathen, runes form an important part of both my spiritual and magical life. The symbols and their complex interrelationships open doors into a deeper horizon than that which ordinary consciousness affords. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Norse myth of Odin's winning of the runes. The story goes that for nine nights he hung from the World Tree, delirious, starving, and wounded, until with a shriek he took up the runes and ended his ordeal. Odin embraced mystery, the fabric from which all reality is woven, and captured that infinitely inexpressible thing in just a handful of characters. This story reflects both the intensity of rune magic, and the richness that a broader grounding in history and mythology affords to our use of the runes.
Earth Her Body
- Details
- Category: Earth Wisdom
- Written by Sierra Black
Earth Her Body —
The Path of Pagan Permaculture
Permaculture is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive systems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. — Graham Bell, The Permaculture Way
Permaculture has been permeating our Pagan culture for many years. From Austin to Montreal, Witches and activists practicing earth-based spirituality are using the systems taught in permaculture design courses to organize everything from their farms to their finances.
Starhawk has been a prime mover of this movement, with her Earth Activist Training melding Pagan spirituality with permaculture design. (See our interview with her directly in the magazine.)
A Visit to America's Bible Belt
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- Category: Community
- Written by Hank Eder
Southern, Pagan & Proud
Article & Photos by Hank Eder
Hidden in Plain Sight
Crickets chant their cry of ages. Frogs sing their hearts out in a symphony of pulsing rhythm, blending the high soprano squeaks of tiny tree dwellers with the basso profundo of giant bullfrogs. Somewhere in the distance a bobcat screams like the Bean Sidhe. The night is alive with sound and washed in the ethereal light of the full moon, coyly revealing Her face through the willows. Stars and faerie lights — fireflies by the thousands — drift along the hills, flashing their yellow-green vacancy signs. This is a glorious summer night in the heart of the American South, the kind of night only country dwellers ever get to see.
The snap of a twig heralds a rustling in the leaves. A small band of Wiccans wends its way through the dark trees, emerging into a secret glade. Tonight is a night of wonder and power. They will call the Quarters, invoke the God and Goddess, and partake of wine and cakes and soaring visions.
There is deep magick in these woods. A confluence of cultures mixed and mingled, merging their knowledge of Earth and Her ways into a mélange unique to this enigmatic land. Native shamans once roamed these woods; Africans brought here as slaves brought their tears — and their traditions. The Faerie folk followed the Scots and Irish to these lush mountains and valleys and their paths of power remain to this day all across the South, hidden in plain sight among the steeples of the ubiquitous churches.
Heathenism: a return to tribal-based religion.
- Details
- Category: From the Editor
- Written by Anne Newkirk Niven
Today’s Northern traditions represent an entirely different way of doing religion.
I’m writing this editorial the day after Thanksgiving, which seems to me an eminently appropriate occasion to address the conundrums of Northern/Heathen culture. Why? Because, like Thanksgiving Day, Heathen/ Northern traditions are centered in trying to promote the bonds of kinship and family tradition.
I’d like to begin by acknowledging that I have little first-hand experience with Heathen rituals and theology; I’m a thorough-going Neo-Pagan and my personal experience lies entirely within the rather porous boundaries of West Coast Paganism. But I’ve been fascinated for some time with what I’ve observed of Germanic-based reconstructionist religion, and thus the concept of this issue — our most detailed look at a specific tradition to date — was born.
