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PaganSquare


PaganSquare is a community blog space where Pagans can discuss topics relevant to the life and spiritual practice of all Pagans.

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Recent blog posts

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

 Bipolar freedom: click your heels three times

 

“You're glowing,” says my friend. “You must have had a good year.”

It's been three since last we talked: Paganicon as family reunion.

Actually, the year has been anything but good: difficulty after difficulty, setback after setback.

He's right, though, and not the first to remark on it: I am glowing. These are the people among whom I can be my truest self, people that speak my mother tongue.

“I'm always at my best among my own,” I say.

He laughs and shakes his head. Corny, maybe, but it's true for him, too. His family threw him out, literally, when as a teen he came out of the broom closet. Pagans have been his people, too, for more than 40 years.

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Posted by on in Paths Blogs
Welcome to the Blooming Time!

The Mediterranean climate has its own unique seasonal cycle. In Ariadne’s Tribe, we’ve created a sacred calendar that acknowledges this climate and gives names to three sacred seasons: Summer, Winter, and the Blooming Time. You can find more details about this seasonal structure in this blog post.

Today I want to talk about the Blooming Time. It begins the day after Spring Equinox and ends with the Blessing of the Ships in mid-May, so it’s a fairly short season. We call it the Blooming Time because, although various trees and flowers bloom throughout most of the year on Crete, the wildflowers bloom in profusion during the Blooming Time and flowers are an important symbol of this unique season.

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Posted by on in Paths Blogs
The Path of the Hedge Witch

The winds of spring are here, carrying with them change. The earth is warming up and scenting the air. The blackbirds are singing me awake at 5am, and their songs of hope fill my heart. It’s another new day for this hedge witch.

What makes the path of the hedge witch so different from others? What does it share with other witchcraft traditions?  In this blog post, we will look at some of the differences and similarities, to hopefully provide an explanation for those who are seeking a way into this enchanted and enchanting world.

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 Matthew Highton on X:

 

Seriously? Stormtroopers? At Paganicon?

I'm hanging out in the Druid hospitality suite when the masked and armed trio shoulder in through the doorway, scanning the crowd.

Thank Goddess for the Lore: forewarned is forearmed. I step forward.

“These are not the Druids you're looking for,” I tell the leader in his white Darth Vader mask.

He turns to his comperes.

“These are not the Druids we're looking for,” he tells them. “Let's keep searching.”

They turn and go. Behind me, the room erupts in laughter and applause.

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The Aurora Cascade: Merging Cosmic Light and Flowing Waters

For some time there was no real certainty as to what causes the otherwordly phenomenon of the aurora borealis. In 2021 scientists finally confirmed that the natural light show starts when disturbances on the sun pull on Earth’s magnetic field. This creates cosmic undulations known as Alfvén waves that launch electrons at high speeds into Earth’s atmosphere where they create the aurora.

Have you ever wondered what our ancestors must have thought and felt when they saw the northern lights? How magical and surreal it must have been for them, almost as much as it is for us even now, despite knowing the exact cause. The lack of mystery does not dampen the wondrous impact the aurora has on the imagination and the soul.

One especially interesting feature that has been discovered is that electrons essentially surf on the Alfvén waves. If they move with the right speed relative to the wave, they get picked up and accelerated much like surfers catch a building wave.

This brings at least one watery allegory into the mix. Yet the aurora and water are more closely related than you might think. All the water on Earth is of interstellar origins and the northern lights undulate in very watery waves and colors. As I often say, we are made of water and starlight, so the convergence of the aurora and of flowing water is not only perfectly harmonious, it creates a powerful visualization tool for grounding, protection, inspiration and manifestation. I call this the Aurora Cascade.

A long, purple and electric blue-green curtain of dancing aurora pours itself out of the sky in a cascade that becomes indistinguishable from a singing, rushing waterfall as it falls closer to the ground. Water and light meld and shimmer in the gentle torrent. Step into the glowing falls and feel it mingle with the waters and the energy in your cells. This is the source, this is what we are made of. It is renewing and it is an ongoing cosmic blessing.

Grounding

We are the center in between the above and below. When sitting or standing within the Aurora Cascade, you are the nexus in this liminal space, the point of origin. All work – meditating, journeying, spell work, manifestation or shamanic work – ideally begins with grounding; rooting and establishing a link, but not just to the below. To the medieval alchemists, water and light were in the same symbolic family, and indeed are two of the main and most essential components to almost all life. The grounding unfolds through a conscious integration of these elemental energies, rooting the individual firmly in the earth’s embrace but also providing a tether to higher cosmic realms.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs

 

 

On December 6, 1992, a Hindu nationalist mob tore down the historic 16th century Babri mosque in the northern Indian city of Ayodhya, claiming that it had been constructed on the site of a temple marking the birthplace of the god Ram.

The claims are certainly credible. The Mughal emperor Babur, who built the mosque, despised Hinduism, and such triumphalist behavior on his part would have been entirely in character.

On January 22, 2024, Narendra Modhi—a savvy politician who has played Hindu nationalists as deftly (and as cynically) as Trump has played American Evangelicals—consecrated his newly-built McTemple on the site of the old Babri mosque.

It was a missed opportunity.

 

So, the Babri mosque is gone?

Fine, and good riddance to the old triumphalism.

On its site, yes indeed, let us raise a new temple to honor the Rambhumi, the birthplace (literally, “Earth”) of Lord Ram.

Beside it, let us raise a new Babri mosque.

Hindu and Muslim standing together, side by side, neighbors extending the hand of friendship.

Is this not what Lord Ram, what Allah—what any god worth worshiping—would want?

 

A friend of mine was recently instrumental in opening a new ISKCON center here in town.

When Modhi opened his new Rambhumi temple in Ayodhya, there was a lot of pressure from the congregation to hold a big solidarity celebration at the center.

Goddess bless him, my friend put his foot down.

“What's going on in Ayodhya is political, not religious,” he said. “Prabhupad [the deceased founder of ISKCON] would not have been pleased.”

There was no celebration.

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 Raindrops on puddle. On rainy day , #AFFILIATE, #puddle, #Raindrops, #day, # rainy #ad | Rain drops, Rainy day aesthetic, Abstract

 

You need rain, badly. You decide to do rain magic, but before you have a chance to do the magic, it rains. Should you still do your magic?

Let me restate the case more generally.

You see a need. You propose to cast a spell to bring about X, but before you get about to making your magic, X happens. Do you still cast the spell?

In this situation, authorities—such as they are—are in universal agreement: Yes, you should still cast your spell, you should still do your rain magic.

Here's the operative question: Why?

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