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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in ancestors

Posted by on in Studies Blogs
Bone & Spirit

As Halloween and the Day of the Dead approach, I see more and more skulls both cheery and eerie decorating homes and businesses. This year I have seen them in greater abundance than in previous years. This may be true or it may be that I am taking better note of them. To be truthful, I have some skulls that are decor and some that are altar pieces that grace our home year round. Last night I took a crystal skull out of one of our cabinets and sat it on the table, and took a contemplative ramble.

 

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Alfablot: Honoring the Spirits of the Earth and the Dead

“‘Do not come any farther in, wretched fellow’, said the woman; ‘I fear the wrath of Óðinn; we are heathen.’ The disagreeable female, who drove me away like a wolf without hesitation, said they were holding a sacrifice to the elves inside her farmhouse.” (“Austrfararvísur”)

Feast of Spirits

The Alfablot is an ancient Norse holiday celebrated around this time of year, the end of the harvest and the start of the winter season. As for many other peoples across the world, offerings to the spirits were in order during seasonal shifts, especially when advancing into the most challenging season.

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  • Anthony Gresham
    Anthony Gresham says #
    Having read Journey to Ixilan by Castaneda and Supernatural by Graham Hancock I am inclined to view the Elves as primarily the spi

Posted by on in Paths Blogs

A diaspora, a scattered and exiled people is held together mainly by shared stories and songs, customs and language. Through space and time, generations and movement, the traditions passed down change. They fade and dwindle, but they also are revived and brightened. They are added onto, embellished. Neighborhoods and cities become their territory, each gaining its own character, each city having a synthesis of all the waves of immigrants that enter its gates. Conquest, slavery, genocide, war, so many tragedies and trauma haunt us all in different ways. Expressing what has been lost and erased and  asking gods, spirits and ancestors why all these things happened, and asking who we are now, what are we becoming, what is this this idea, this great story we are all part of, called America? We struggle, who tells this larger story of who we are, who controls and steers it determines who are the heroes and the villains.

What was the original version of the story, of the song may not be remembered?  There are a thousand versions. How well it is sung or told and whether the people believe in its poetic truth and power matters more. Each people has a story of their journey of how they became American, each is a part of a great story, the story of America.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Mystic South - 2018

Well, magical folks. It’s been about a week, and now I finally have enough time, energy, and understanding to share about my experiences at Mystic South 2018. Wow! What an event! It takes a whole week (or more) to process experiences like this – a Southern Pagan conference full of love, learning, magic, healing, and mysticism.

I arrived to Atlanta “a day late and a dollar short” (as Grandpa used to say). Despite missing a day of workshops, as well as literally losing hours to Atlanta traffic, I was able to settle in nicely on Friday night. The kind, patient, and smiling folks at the registration table set the tone for the rest of the weekend – everywhere I went I was greeted with friendly smiles and welcoming energy.

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This part one in a series of blog posts as I head home to Scotland for the Ancestral Mothers of Scotland Retreat. I'll be spending time on a Hebridean island whose name means Isle of the Big Women, heading in search of hag stones and a visit to the Cairngorm reindeer herd.

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Posted by on in Paths Blogs

 

Memorial Day

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  • Anthony Gresham
    Anthony Gresham says #
    Thank you for a beautiful prayer. I have reposted it on Facebook through your link at the top of the page. I also printed out a

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
What Was Otzi's Religion?

I first heard about Ötzi the Ice Man from a sermon.

I'd gone with a friend to Friday evening services at his synagogue. The rabbi began talking about a newly-discovered ice mummy “from the time of Abraham.”*

It really made her feel connected, she said, to her Jewish roots.

Well, that's a bit of a stretch, I can remember thinking.

But, stretch or no stretch, that was how I first met Ötzi.

We don't often get to come literally face-to-face with the ancestors. With Ötzi we do. I think that that's one reason why he's become such a celebrity. We look at him and of course we want to see ourselves.

So, what would Ötzi's religion have been?

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