PaganSquare.com - WitchesAndPagans.com

Hello my faithful readers! 2024 is the 10th anniversary of this blog, Gnosis Diary: Life as a Heathen. I started out telling the story of my personal religious journey from the very beginning, and along the way have also done a lot of topical posts about Asatru, heathenry, and related subjects.  I think a great way to mark this milestone would be to collect some links to some of my earlier posts. This post contains links to my very first post, and also my top 5 most popular posts from 5 or more years ago.

My very first post on this blog, so you can read them in order if you wish:

Bunny, the resident familiar here at Witch Central, is in fact a Manx cat, and so comes by her cute little stumpy tail honestly.

But, of course, facts should never get in the way of a good story.

The Bunnycat Song

(Tune: “Spiderman”)

Bunnycat, Bunnycat

wasn't always a stumpy cat,

till that fateful day when she

backed into a guillotine.

Look out!

(Mrrraaaoooow!)

On the off chance that you didn't happen to grow up speaking the Irish, or any of its near kin, let me mention just a few intriguing facts about the Celtic languages.

In Celtic languages, words shape-shift.

In Welsh, tad means “father,” but—depending on phonic environment—can also take the form dad, nhad, or thad.

In Celtic languages, things have agency.

In English, we say: I have a book.

In Scots Gaelic, though, the agency is the book's: Tha leabhar agam, literally The book is at me.

In Celtic languages, the verb comes first.

Unlike Subject-Verb-Object English (the cat caught the mouse) or SOV German (the cat the mouse caught), in VSO Celtic sentences, the verb comes first: Rug an cat air an luchag, literally Caught the cat the mouse.

When Celts speak, you're already in the middle of the story even before you've reached the second word of the sentence.

Shifting of shapes, things with agency, the primacy of story.

This is one of the easiest recipes for brownies you will find anywhere. So yummy!

½ cup flour

“No, no, no, you've got it all wrong!” I insist, with (for me) uncharacteristic lack of diplomacy.

The body-painting crew is discussing what patterns they're going to paint on the sacred king's bare torso. Thing is, they're all visual artists, trained to create visuals that draw and hold the eye.

This, though, is something else again.

“M. has one of the most beautiful chests this side of the Mississippi, and you want to cover it up?” I continue, with perhaps too much vehemence. “So that we end up looking at the paint instead of what's underneath?

“No. We want enhancement, paint that reveals, paint that directs the viewer's gaze, not paint that draws attention to itself.”

Fortunately, they're artists; they hear the sense of what I'm saying. The resulting body-paint that they create ripples and rills along the topography of his body like a stream through rolling hills, just as it should.

One of the interesting aspects of imagining or recreating Minoan daily life - including religious practice - is that we don't have any textiles to speak of: no altar cloths, no curtains, no rugs or baskets. The damp Mediterranean Sea air tends to rot organic materials pretty swiftly. So we only have a few tiny fragments of the real thing, plus pictures of them in Minoan art.

But we have an interesting reflection of soft materials in some creative ceramics the Minoan potters made. Minoan pottery was pretty imaginative all round, including loads of 3d decorations and other fun details. But this particular class of ceramic vessels is unique: They all look like they're made of soft materials.

It is very important to gather your soul tribe and just celebrate each other from time to time. Here is a pagan ritual I have performed on weekends—I call it “Saturn-day night fever.” Over the years, I have added many embellishments, such as astrological or holiday themes. The basic ritual of cakes and ale, however, is a timeless and powerful classic.