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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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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in 2016

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

Quest for Canada is a new series of articles that will appear alternately in both my Witches & Pagans column 49 Degrees and my Patheos blog Between the Shadows.  It will be published once a week in an alternating schedule between the two blogs.   Links will be provided in both blogs.

I believe in new gods as well as old gods.  When you invest spiritual and emotional energy into a concept, it acquires its own egregore; and when enough people do it for long enough, it develops a very powerful egregore.  Most of my readers will have heard of Lady Liberty, or the American Dream.  Simon and Garfunkle wrote a beautiful song about searching for the spirit of America, which was remembered recently in a political campaign ad.  I, as a Canadian, went in search of the spirit of my own country, Canada.

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This is not the blog entry I intended to write

This isn't the blog entry I intended to write this week.

The blog entry I intended to write was going to talk about the article featuring me that appeared in my local alt-weekly, the Dallas Observer. It was going to talk about the reception of the article in the Pagan community, which was surprising in ways both pleasant and not. It was going to talk about the way that I've seen coverage of Paganism change in the Dallas press over the last 20 years. 

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Recent comment in this post - Show all comments
  • Lizann Bassham
    Lizann Bassham says #
    Blessings on you dear one, blessings on your city, blessings your work
SCOTUS Strikes Down Texas's Abortion TRAP law

Three years ago, I sat up most of the night in front of my computer, watching the debate on HB2, one of the nation's most restrictive abortion laws, live-streamed from the floor of the Texas Legislature. That was the night of Wendy Davis's courageous filibuster, and although I had been unable to drive to Austin to be part of the Unruly Mob in person, I was glued to the proceedings. In between watching debate, tweeting out and Facebooking links, and talking to my fellow activists who were terrified that this bill would pass and essentially end access to abortion and other forms of reproductive healthcare in Texas, I was silently thanking my high school debate coach for teaching me parliamentary procedure and how to "flow" debates. In the end, the Republican senators broke the chamber rules and voted the bill in just past midnight. Another special session would be called, and the bill would become law. It effectively closed the majority of abortion providers in Texas -- many of which also provided other vital healthcare.

Today, the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) struck down that law, citing two provisions -- that all abortion providers meet the same standards as ambulatory surgical centers, and that all abortion providers have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles -- as placing an undue burden on those seeking abortion care. 

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Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs
Orlando, Rise In Power

I must not fear.

Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs

 

b2ap3_thumbnail_fire-in-cauldron.jpgA life truly lived
burns away what is no longer relevant
gradually reveals our essence
until, at last, we are strong enough 
to stand in our naked truth

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Byron Ballard
    Byron Ballard says #
    Imagine me shaking my fist at both Mars and Neptune. Thanks for the heads-up.
  • Tony Lima
    Tony Lima says #
    Great, yet a find a grain of salt in my observations due to how some humans delve in the Third Person, and also because it maybe a

Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs
Weekly Goddess Inspiration: Haltia

One of the things I love most about the Goddess Inspiration Oracle by Kris Waldherr is that it includes many lesser-known and even obscure Goddess alongside those that are familiar to me. I appreciate the chance to learn about Goddesses who may have been overlooked in my mythological education, and to find connections with Goddesses from pantheons or cultures I may know little about. 

This week brings the Baltic Goddess Haltia, Goddess of the Hearth and Home. She has much in common with the Estonia Goddess Holdja, and with Hearth Goddesses more generally. Honored among the Baltic Finns as the guardian of the hearth and hearthfire, Haltia lives on today as a general name for the house faeries or spirits who guard homes, water, graveyards and other places where humans dwell and carry out our daily activities.

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Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs
Welcome Spring! Ostara Blessings!

Ostara Blessings to those of you in the Northern Hemisphere. May the coming spring and summer bring you much joy, love, and abundance! 

My Ostara gift to you is a piece I wrote for MotherHouse of the Goddess, a wonderful portal for Goddess Spirituality. 

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