PaganSquare


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

  • Home
    Home This is where you can find all the blog posts throughout the site.
  • Tags
    Tags Displays a list of tags that have been used in the blog.
  • Bloggers
    Bloggers Search for your favorite blogger from this site.
  • Login
    Login Login form
Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in animal

Posted by on in Paths Blogs

Part 2 of this 3 part series deals with the Bear symbol in the Bull and Bear pair which are the patron spirits of Wall Street and by extension the national and global economy. 

Bears are still important in Asatru and other Heathen religions and in my personal practice. The ancient art of Bersarkrgangr is named after the Bear spirit, as it was the most common fylgia, or spirit skin, of historical Bersarkrs. My personal Bear spirit is a guardian spirit as well as a being that I can embody through the art of Bersarkrgangr. I honor my Bear ang gift him with honey. I see him in my mind’s eye as both inhabiting his own realm which is a bear paradise with trees full of wild honey hives and a river full of salmon and a soft place to rest, and also continuously within and around me as my fylgia and guardian against bad entities.

...
Last modified on
The Minoan Flock: The shrine or the dinner table?

CW: Meat eating and animal slaughter/sacrifice

Animals show up a lot in Minoan art and in religious iconography from ancient Crete. In MMP we tend to pay special attention to the ones associated with deities - the Horned Ones, for instance, the deities connected with cattle, goats, and deer.

It's clear from the archaeological record that, in addition to revering these animals as earthly reflections of certain deities, the Minoans also slaughtered them and ate their meat on a regular basis. Animals that were ritually sacrificed were also eaten, probably by temple clergy.

...
Last modified on

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

 

 

It's hours now since Sunset, so at first I can't quite make out what's moving in the back yard.

Whatever it is, it's big, the size of a very large cat—an overweight cat, to be sure—but it's way too low-slung to be one of the neighborhood toms that regularly patrol my yard, and besides, the movement is all wrong: a kind of waddling scuttle.

A raccoon? We had one living up in the eaves a few years back: a big old, well-fed urban raccoon. (I opened the blind early one morning to find it giving me the Look: Just who the f*ck are you, and why are you wasting my time? Raccoons are notoriously attitudinous.) But no, the shape is wrong.

It crosses the yard and heads back to the compost heap by the garden. When I see the long, bare rat-tail, I know immediately what it is. I didn't realize that opossums got so big.

Opossums, North America's only native marsupial. I'm guessing from the size that this one's probably a male. In that case, like all male marsupials, he's got a forked penis. That's pretty cool.

Witch-critters. Here in North America, if you can't get bear-grease to make your flying ointment, possum grease will do just fine, they say. Look out, Mr. Possum.

Last modified on
Recent comment in this post - Show all comments
  • Jamie
    Jamie says #
    Mr. Posch, My wife and I live on the edge of a swamp, and animals emerge into our back yard all the time. Praise be to Artemis, I

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Do Animals Have Religion?

A friend of mine insists that her dog is pagan.

Well, if one defines “pagan” as “following the thews (customs, life-ways, religion) of one's thede (= tribe, people),” I guess I could buy it. Witches (insofar as we follow anything) follow the Witch religion, dogs follow the Dog religion. I would imagine that the Dog religion is a pretty basic biological religion, with an ethical code strongly based on loyalty.

Rather like human paganism at its best, actually.

Then, of course, there's the Kitty-Cat religion. I'm certainly not privy to the inner mysteries here, but so far as I can tell, Cat religion is monotheistic.

There's one god, and it's Me.

Maybe that's where the Abrahamics got it from. This would fit with my theory that monotheism is essentially narcissism writ large.

I'm playing here, of course, but the question is a serious one: can animals—let me be specific and say non-human animals here—be said to have religion? The answer, of course, would depend on how one defines “religion.”

Last modified on

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Lost Species Day: Steller's Sea Cow

November 30 is Lost Species Day.

Steller’s sea cow, a cold water relative of the manatee and dugong, was unknown to modern people until 1741. At that time, the crew of Vitus Bering’s ship, the Sv. Piotr was ship-wrecked off the coast of Kamchatka, where the last remaining herds of these mammals lived. Through overhunting, Steller’s sea cow went extinct thirty years later.

...
Last modified on
Introduction of Correspondences for The Elements and Animals

 In their daily lives, animals are closely aligned with the elements. Based on their elemental correspondences, animals will often act as caretakers of that element. For example, the sandgrouse has a net of filaments on his upper body. After he returns from soaking at the water hole, his chicks drink from the water stored in his net. One could think of the sandgrouse as a guardian of water. This desert bird could be called upon for water magic in arid areas. (Since the elements correspond to the directions, an animal could be asked to guard a particular direction, as well.)  

For the next series of posts, I will be offering suggestions for the pairing of various animals with the elements. This is to give people an idea of how to go about doing this for themselves. I will first list the mammals, since many people have an affinity with them. In other postings, I will continue with birds, reptiles, and insects.

...
Last modified on

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Calling Upon the Animals

When you are feeling aimless, you might want to call upon Beaver to fill you with a sense of purpose.  If you are frightened, invite a courageous animal like Lion to fill you with courage.  Calling on animals for their gifts is a part of understanding the animals of whom you work with.  Remember to always thank them when you are done. 

The following examples of calling upon the animals come from “Shamanism Vol. III: Animal Medicine Powers” by Dolfyn.

...
Last modified on

Additional information