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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Winter Solstice Reflections Free Form

So here's the thing. I'm feeling a million different thoughts and emotions right now, and I'd really like to let them go and let them flow. This is the time of year for that sort of thing, right? Here it goes. I long for peace. On earth and in my life. In all my relations and dealings with people. I know this isn't always possible. Some folks want to remain combative no matter what, at all costs. It costs a lot if you hold on to that and carry it around with you. It just shouldn't be that hard to maintain peaceful relations with your fellow human beings on a daily basis. The struggle is real, you know? I realize all too well that there are several motivating factors that have led to this peaceful possibility being more difficult at this point and time. I can still wish, and hope, and strive to be peaceful and project that, regardless. I choose to do that.

I long for people to be kinder and gentler with each other. Stop fighting, stop competing, stop backstabbing, stop the negativity, already! There's way too much of it out there, but that doesn't mean we all have to jump on the cray-cray train. Live and let live, I say. When I say that, I mean let me be me, too. If I give you respect, I have every right to expect it in turn. You can take the high road, but it's also high time to stand up for ourselves when someone crosses a line. Let's speak our truths in a strong and intelligent way.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
The Calm Before the Storm

Many of us are bracing before the big blizzard that's due to hit, across the northern Rockies, northern Plains, and Great Lakes area of the Midwest in a matter of 24 hours or so. Not only will there be dangerous snowy conditions, but there will also be strong gusts of wind, and icy, bitter cold. There could be power outages, so folks are advised to hunker down and stock up on food, water, and batteries for their flashlights. The storm is predicted to be at its worst Thursday evening into Friday morning, when many businesses will likely be shut down. At times, it's somewhat disconcerting to realize how addicted we are to electric power and just how helpless we are without it. Even most gas stoves, and water heaters require it to function. If you're not lucky enough to have a fireplace in your home, your only option may be many layers of clothing and blankets to bundle up in and keep warm.

Be Mindful

It seems all the more appropriate then that the Winter Solstice falls today before all of this is supposed to take place. If we're fortunate, it won't quite as fearsome as they're predicting. But I believe it does urge us all to be especially mindful about our activities today as we prepare and slow down and take time to consider how we spend our time and do so with purpose, if possible. Rather than run around willy-nilly like panicked little stress balls, it would do us better to slow down and be selective. Figure out what needs our absolute attention today, and what can transpire naturally while we're snowbound. Run the errands that need to be and decide what can wait. Stop being obsessed with the to-do list and being ahead of the game and become practical and considerate. Because the latest wave of COVID/flu/and RSV, along now with this latest serious potential storm has and could possibly force many of us to be flexible with our holiday plans—we should do just that and let Mother Nature run her course.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Spread Some Winter Solstice Joy

Forget About a Somber Solstice

Why not stir things up and get out of your winter rut before it begins? That's the way I'm feeling this year, folks. Life's too weird and short and unpredictable. After two unbearably long years of a pandemic with no end in sight, we should be looking for little bursts of laughter and light wherever we can find them. Be safe and caring for your loved ones, but still take surprise opportunities that come your way. A candlelit labyrinth walk at sunset in a nearby urban garden with a friend? Count me in. Share, give, reach out. Chances are good that everyone you know will be needing and appreciating it.

Laugh it Up

I don't know about all of you, but I still take a childlike delight in revisiting childhood Christmas classics this time of year on TV. There's a purity and wonder there that stand the test of time, not to mention catchy tunes and delightful artwork. My top five faves in this order would be: 1. "Scrooge," (musical 70s Albert Finney version), 2. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," (because puppets) 3. "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (Boris Karloff, people), 4. "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (that Vince Garibaldi Trio soundtrack is beautifully haunting), and 5. "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" (I dare you not to laugh at the squirrel in the tree). There are times we need to be reminded of things like innocence and giggling just for the heck of it. I would venture that these are those times.

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On Sunday, December 19, 2021 (10 a.m. CST) I'll be addressing (via Zoom) the good folks of the Unitarian Church of Underwood, Minnesota. 

 

Have You Spoken with the Sun Lately?

Reflections on the Winter Solstice

 

A reporter once asked a witch: Do witches pray?

The witch smiled. We dance, she said.

 

Please join us Sunday, December 19, 2021, when storyteller Steven Posch asks, "Have you spoken with the Sun lately?", reflects on Indigenous European religion, and shares the songs, tales, and even—yes—dances of the Winter Solstice.

 

Poet, scholar, and storyteller Steven Posch (rhymes with "gauche") was raised in the wooded hills of western Pennsylvania by white-tailed deer (that's the story, anyway), and has celebrated the Winter Solstice since the tender age of twelve. He emigrated to Paganistan (which may or may not be Minneapolis, MN) in 1989, and has since become (gods help us all) a respected senior voice in the American pagan community. Current keeper of the Minnesota Ooser, he blogs at the wickedly popular Paganistan blog.

He also looks pretty good in a kilt.

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At the end of the Yuledays, we take down the greenery that has gladdened our darkest nights, and we burn it.

Why?

(In the old days, of course, it wasn't just Yule that was bedecked with seasonal greenery, but all the holidays. Think of Harvest Home's leaves and sheaves, for example.)

The greenery that bedecks a holiday partakes of the sacredness of the holy tide, and you don't just throw away something sacred. What is sacred needs to be disposed of in a sacred way.

In Received Tradition, there are three means of sacred disposal:

By Earth: i.e. by burial.

By Water: i.e. by deposition in a river or body of water.

By Fire: i.e. by burning.

(Those familiar with the Threefold Cosmology of the ancients will readily see the analogues here.)

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs

 

Housefly - Wikipedia

 

Here's the odd thing this Yule: I've been experiencing a plague of flies.

What's odd is not the flies themselves, but the timing. Usually about a fortnight or so after I move the outdoor plants inside before Samhain, there's a hatching of flies. I presume that the eggs come in with the plants, and the warmth of the house hatches them out. Hence, flies. It always takes me a few days to hunt them all down. With flies, I've learned, you have to be pretty ruthless. If you don't get them before they breed, you'll be sorry.

This autumn there was no hatching of flies. At the time, I remarked the fact, but can't say that I missed them.

On the first day of Yule, though, I saw the first fly. The next day, there were a couple more. The next, a few more.

You know how it is with the Yuledays: things that happen then somehow take on added significance.

Well, the mistletoe is still hanging, and has been since Midwinter's Eve. Technically, this means that the house is under the bough, i.e. in a state of Yulefrith—the peace of Yule—and that nothing should be killed here for the duration.

I'll admit that this gave me pause, but only briefly. Call me impious, but in my house the Yulefrith extends to fellow humans and—if we're pushing it—to fellow mammals. Yes, flies are kin, too—We be of one blood, you and I—but when it comes to frith, I'm sorry: bugs don't count. As I've said before, sometimes you have to be ruthless.

So, I killed them as I saw them. Every day, through all the first Twelve Days of Yule, there were more flies for me to kill, like some sort of weird sacrificial holiday ritual.

Was this a seasonal anomaly, I wonder: the usual autumn hatching, come late? Did I maybe bring them in with the Yule tree, or with the holly from the yard that I cut and brought in a couple of days before Midwinter's Eve?

A buddy of mine once made the observation that omens imply the out-of-place. To know what's unusual, you first have to know what's usual. (He was dating a Druid at the time who, out walking one day, picked up an oak leaf from the ground and said: Oh, it's an omen of great good luck to find an oak leaf! as if this were some nugget of ancient Druidic wisdom.  My friend thought: Um, it's November, and we're in a stand of oak trees. Needless to say, that relationship didn't last long.) In Minnesota, flies in late December are out of place. So what does it mean that I've had an infestation of flies through all the days of Yule?

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Steven Posch
    Steven Posch says #
    Eek!
  • Anthony Gresham
    Anthony Gresham says #
    I think of flies as omens of tribulation. Each fly you dealt with per day would mean the number of tribulations you will face eac

assorted-color figurine collection bokeh photography

 

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