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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in temples

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Time and a Little Incense

Did you know that you've got people making offerings on your behalf every day?

At the Temple of the Moon, that's what we do.

Here at the Temple of the Moon, we offer and pray twice daily, morning and evening.

At each offering, along with the more specific prayers, we pray for the well-being of pagans everywhere, old and new alike.

That means you. Remember that next time that you're feeling stressed.

And, of course, we're not the only ones. In temples and shrines across Pagandom, the same thing happens every day.

Know them or don't, people are offering, and praying, for you. Every day they do this: and, indeed, across the world, our numbers grow daily.

You, too, can join this worldwide offering.

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  • robert
    robert says #
    Blessings and Thank You!!!!!

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Building the Temple of Your Dreams

OK, here you go: I'm writing you a check. I want you to build your ideal pagan temple, spare no expense.

So what would it look like?

Would it have columns? Standing stones? Would it have a dome? Would it even have a roof at all?

What is it made from? Wood, stone, brick? Poured concrete?

What is its footprint? Is it circular? Square? Rectangular?

What's around it? A grove? An encircling temenos wall? Gardens? Is there a sacred spring, a sacred tree, a sacred stone?

What does the inner sanctuary look like? Is it large, the gathering place of many, or is it small and intimate? Are there windows? Is it dark and private, or filled with air and light?

What existing temple does it most resemble? Stonehenge? New Grange? Karnak? The Parthenon?

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  • Jamie
    Jamie says #
    Mr. Posch, My ideal temple would be inconspicuous. An ordinary commercial structure hidden in plain sight, preferably near a rive
When the Temple Priest or Priestess Goes on Vacation, Then What?

Every day, in temples far and wide across Pagandom, offerings are made, and prayers go up, for the well-being of pagan peoples everywhere. The Lore would have it that, indeed, the very well-being of our People depends on these prayers and offerings, and everyone agrees that, once the making of prayers and offerings has begun, it is bad to discontinue them.

So what happens when the priest or priestess goes on vacation?

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Pagans, Pagans Everywhere

And this year's award for Most Beautiful Working Pagan Temple goes to...the pagan community of...(drum-roll, please)....Armenia!

The Temple of Garni, shown here, was likely built during the 1st century CE as a temple to Mihr (= Mithras). Toppled by an earthquake in 1679, it was reconstructed between 1969 and 1975, and has since become the national shrine of the New Pagans of Armenia. They hold rituals there regularly and, in fact, are in the process of planting a sacred grove of almond trees around it.

Now that's style.

Yes, there are pagans in Armenia. There are pagans everywhere. Check out the Wikipedia page on the Armenian community and follow the links at the bottom. You'll be amazed at where they take you.

Ossetia. Daghestan. Kirghizistan. Mongolia. Across Central Europe and Central Asia, New Pagan movements have sprung up since independence like mushrooms after rain, as people ponder their post-colonial identity and direction. Tengrism—the traditional shamanic worship of Tengri, Blue Father Sky—has undergone a massive resurgence across the steppes of Asia. In some countries, pagans actually constitute a substantial percentage of the population.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Every Shrine Needs a Keeper

Every shrine needs a keeper.

Shrines are busy places. Someone needs to sweep away the ash, compost the wilted flowers, remove the food offerings before they go bad.

In a timely manner, mind you, but not too soon. Part of the joy of shrines—part of the encounter that takes place there—is the evidence of the worship of others.

Another part of the keeper's job is to decide. Not all offerings are, shall we say, worthy.

The plastic, the cutesy, the distracting: they've served their purpose. (The worth of the offering is in the making.) Off with them to the favissa. (The Romans had a name for everything.)

After all, they've been given: they belong to a god now. Worthy or not, they still need to be treated with respect.

That's why there's a special pit for sacred garbage.

You can be a shrine-keeper, too.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
I Love the Doorposts of Your House

You're entering a sacred place. What do you do?

You can't just saunter in, doing nothing, as if it were (say) some big box store. It's a sacred place; going in means something.

So what do you do?

Some reach down and touch the ground. (If you're reading this, I probably don't need to tell you why you would do this.) In practice, this often means that you touch the threshold of the temple.

What comes next is up to you. Some people touch their hearts, some (with a kiss) their lips. Some touch their brows. I usually touch all three: In my heart, on my lips, in my thoughts.

Or some variation thereof. The deeply pious may bow down and kiss the Earth. Those of us who aren't as spry as we used to be may settle for kissing the doorposts of the temple. (I love the doorposts of your house, goes the old song.)

So much for entering. How do you leave a sacred place?

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
A Call to Pagan Artists

 If you build the candy cottage, the children will come.

 

So: the well-heeled patron (or matron) of the pagan arts comes to you and says: “I want a temple, expense no object.”

What would you design?

What will the pagan temples of the future look like?

The New Paganisms are, for the most part, young religions, virtually all under 100 years old. For various reasons that I won't go into here, temple-building hasn't so far been a priority for us.

But that won't always be the case.

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Sarah Avery
    Sarah Avery says #
    The complex needs an outdoor amphitheater, so we can reboot the Dionysia and any other performance-related sacred activities. It w
  • Steven Posch
    Steven Posch says #
    Goddess bless 'em. And of course there's the new Asatruarfelgid hoff-in-building in Reyjavik: I've seen sketches but no blueprints
  • Anne Newkirk Niven
    Anne Newkirk Niven says #
    Not sure about "large scale" but may I be so bold as to point out the Cascadia druids blog about building their shrines, right on
  • Steven Posch
    Steven Posch says #
    May we both live to see it, Michelle, even so.
  • Michelle Gruben
    Michelle Gruben says #
    Interesting! I believe there is some Pagan temple planning astir, albeit in the realm of fantasy film/fiction. I'll bet you anythi

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