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At sundown on the eve of her coming-of-age, the grandmothers tied the girl to her mother with a red cord.

One end of the cord, nine ells long, they had bound, with much hilarity, around young Linden's waist; the other (not without a few tears) around her mother's.

And now the women were come, with the red-dyed eggs and the red-wrapped gifts, and so the rites began.

The secret rites of the Women's Side, by which a girl becomes a woman, may not be told; nor could I tell them, I who am of the Men's Side.

But this much I can tell, for it is known to all.

One of the dangers of having an ancient civilization as the focus of our spirituality is the tendency to view that culture through rose-colored glasses. That’s especially tempting when it comes to ancient Crete and the Minoan civilization that flourished there in the third and second millennium BCE.

There are so many positive aspects of Minoan culture: Women had high status and the Goddess was revered. Minoan cities and towns had paved streets, enclosed sewers, and flush toilets. The Minoans appear not to have had any sort of military, choosing instead to invest all their energy and wealth into what was probably the largest merchant fleet in the Mediterranean at the time, so their society was prosperous and relatively peaceful.

American Indian commentators reflect on the legacy of the September 11 attacks. A look at efforts to stop recruitment by Daesh in North Africa. And how climate change could severely impact our communities in the near future. It's Fiery Tuesday, our weekly segment on political and societal news from around the globe. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

The moon is growing stronger each night.  During the waxing (or growing) phase the “moon in more than half illuminated but not quite full.  This is the calm before the fullmoon.  As the light grows even brighter in the night your confidence grows.”  This is a time of growing and adjusting.  Give yourself time to adjust to the changes.  

In the last month, I’ve been dealing with a lot of changes.  My middle daughter is moving.  She got a different job and is relocating two states away from where she currently lives.  It’s great she’ll be closer to home but the transition is hard on her.  

Whenever Jow and I have a moment of time, we like to pretend that we will always have the luxury of time and immediately set about reorganizing our lives, both together and as individuals.  Sometimes it sticks (like we've been cooking more together), sometimes less so (See: Mount St. Laundry in the bedroom).  Inevitably, the conversation will cycle around to how we suck at having a spiritual practice.  We sometimes slap together a pooja to do together, we make offerings of water, light and incense to our goddesses, spirits and ancestors, I make offerings to my Ladies, he meditates sometimes, we do half asleep japa, once in a while we will "whale spout" (a mediation from an old book, I forget the actual name) but it's all v. ad hoc which is v. unsatisfying to Jow.  He wants to treat this like it's the first time he's ever gone on a diet.  Hardcore!  Constant effort!  No excuses!  Other fitspiration here!

Me: That's not going to work.

I recently facilitated a large, public ritual at a local state park.  A lot of friends and old regulars came, and we were lucky to have a few new faces, too.  One of our surprise guests was a young mother who we have known for a few years but don’t get to see very often.  She comes to events when she can, but I really only end up seeing her once a year or so, at most.  Much to my surprise, she brought her kids with her to the ritual.  They’re sweet, clever little devils, and they have a history of being somewhat rowdy and in need of a lot of re-direction.

The children came rushing up to the altar as soon as the family arrived at the park.  This was one of those moments where Childless Trivia thought in panic “Ooh... right… kids…!”  I took time out to speak to them about the altar, making it very clear to them that they could look to their heart’s desire but touching was absolutely forbidden.  The children nodded solemnly and then went to go play on some rocks, immediately forgetting about candles, statues, and various other temptations.

I generally don't post pieces that seem to me mean-spirited. Gods know, there's no lack of such in our community, and that's not what I'm here to do.

But in this case, I'm going to make an exception.

The easily-offended may not wish to read any further.