Title: Black Magic
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Title: Black Magic
...The disdain with which the work of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas has been held in the field of classics and archaeology was shown to me when I stated quietly at a cocktail party at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens that I was interested in her work. This comment, tentatively offered, unleashed a tirade from a young female archaeologist who began shouting at me: “Her work is unscholarly and because it is, it is harder for me and other women scholars in the field to be taken seriously.”
Responding to the backlash against her theories, Gimbutas is said to have told a female colleague that it might take decades, but eventually the value of her work would be recognized. It is now more than twenty years since Marija Gimbutas died in 1994, and the value of her work is beginning to be recognized by (at least some of) her colleagues—including one of her harshest critics. In a lecture titled “Marija Rediviva: DNA and Indo-European Origins,” renowned archaeologist Lord Colin Renfrew (allied with the British Conservative Party**), who had been one of Gimbutas’s most vociferous antagonists and a powerful gate-keeper, concluded the inaugural Marija Gimbutas Lecture at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago with these words: “Marija [Gimbutas]’s Kurgan hypothesis has been magnificently vindicated.”
...Over in Ariadne's Tribe, we've been chasing the Minoan Sun* Goddess for some time now. It has long been a given that there is a Minoan Sun Goddess; Nanno Marinatos even wrote a book that's largely about her, without being able to properly identify her (and clinging far too heavily to some of Sir Arthur Evans' discredited ideas, but that's a rant for another day).
Several of us have had dreams and visions of the Minoan Sun Goddess, and folk dance from around the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean enshrines a regional Sun Goddess even today.
...This is a story about a personal experience I had recently, in which I honored 3 goddesses by wearing colors that represent them.
Before my recent trip, I had gone to my local Renfaire. Every year I trade something I made for a braid. I started doing that back when I sold my hand dyed fabrics from a booth. Some years I am not vending and some years I am, but I always make something out of my hand dyed fabric or yarn for the braidy lady. This year I was vending my hand dyed scarves as part of the Haven Craft booth. The braid booth has the customers choose ribbon colors, typically 3 colors. This year, I chose lavender to honor Sigyn, rose to honor Freya, and gold to honor Sif.
...How I Priestess is affected by the Wheel of the Year and the element that I find myself in each season.
By nature I can get quite cerebral about my spiritual practice, this has both served and hindered me. As I began to work with the Wheel of the Year and implement the four elements into my growth, I found balance. Earth grounded me, water connected me, and fire ignited me, these three elements balanced the cerebral airy nature that I often lean into.
...
"Let's not forget our Taíno culture, " Abuela Antonia said.
"Why?" I asked.
"Guabancex gets angry when we forget our Taíno ancient ways. You don't want to provoke Guabancex," Abuela said in a strident voice.
I swallowed hard. My six-year old brain did not understand. "Who is Guabancex?"