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youareartbabygirl · 5 years

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Здравейте, me again,

дойде времето и за третия journal entry, който ще бъде доста по-дълъг, така че сори.

Преди повече от 7месеца си мислех, че съм претърпяла метаморфоза, но след още 2 осъзнах,че вече дори няма и следа от “нелс”, която познавахте.

Нелс преди 7 месеца със сигурност беше открила какво е щастие. В приятели, в семейство, на работа. Но очевидно тогава това не е било достатъчно.

Когато бивах наранявана или да кажем разочарована, търсих отдушник в гнева и булшитвах бейсикли всичко, въпреки че знаех, че след това ще съжалявам. Бях дребнаво, злобно и глупаво човече, обвито във воал от мрак и тъга... Не мислех какво говоря и никога нямах аргумент за нещата, които казвах, което показва колко съм била ограничена, знам го и признавам, че бих се набила или по-скоро бих си набила акъл, ако можех да се върна обратно, уви няма как. Бих определила старото си аз като отрепка и определено думата “боклук” придружава всички останали епитети, с които бих нарекла “нещото”, което бях. Съществувах без да се наслаждавам на живота, песимистични и изключително глупави, безсмислени и отвратителни мисли бяха всичко, за което напрягах и малкото си сиво вещество в главата. Да си тъп,as well as depression, е определено заболяване. Fight it. Moving on tho.

Дължа извинение на много хора, но не смятам да им го дам, не защото мисля, че съм била в правото си, а защото това вече не съм аз. Ако някой смята да ми държи сметка, за всичко, което съм правила, когато мозъкът ми е имал 3мозъчни клетки, коя от коя по-недоразвита, имам да кажа само: време е да го превъзмогнеш, пич, move on, the only person im apologising to is myself and ofc семейството ми,най-вече сладката ми майчица, която възпита едно малко сладко момиченце и му показа, че най-важното е винаги да носиш слънцето в себе си, независимо колко много буреносни облаци са обгърнали мислите ти. Благодаря ти, мамо, ти не само носиш слънцето в себе си-ти си Слънцето. Съжалявам, че голямата ми празна глава е точно това-празна, взех си урок и ти благодаря, че не само, защото си ми майка беше до мен, а и защото виждаш светлината под черното наметало на гърба ми. Може би най-важното в целия този безсмислен пост е: ценете майка си, не я товарете излишно, тя и без това постоянно мисли за вас и как НА ВАС да ви бъде по-добре, пренебрегвайки себе си, по всеки възможен начин. Тормозът, както вече знаете, е не само физически. Внимавайте как й говорите, показвайте ѝ, че виждате всичко, което прави за вас и не го приемайте за даденост. Не всички могат да се похвалят със същото.

Търсех любов на неправилните места, без дори да осъзнавам, че единственото нещо, от което съм имала нужда е малко по-реалистична самооценка и повече книги за четене. Дори и фантасмагориите, по които явно все още си падам.

Нелс в настоящето е много по-зряла, разумна и обнадеждена. Радвам се на живота и хората, които все още стоят плътно зад мен и моите решения, въпреки че не са нещо, което те биха направили. Бройката доста спадна, което е вина определено и на двете страни,и не, не омаловажавам своята, напротив, просто не мисля да продължавам да гледам назад, имайки предвид, че вървя напред и имам големи планове и знам, че ме очакват моменти, на които трябва да се отдам напълно. Има хора, за които трябва да се грижа и до край да показвам, че ги обичам, обожавам и че единствено те, ме държат изправена на двата ми крака, бидейки ми баланса, от който имам нужда.С някой от тях възобновихме контакт, започнахме да пишем отново на чист, бял лист и всичко е толкова различно, във всеки хубав смисъл на думата, защото сме израстнали като личности и виждаме, че дребнавостта и омразата нямат място вече във връзките ни един с друг или като цяло с когото и да било пред, зад, до и, ако искате, дори под нас. (което btw не трябва да мислите, защото като човек, който е бил убит от глупоста си, казвам, че просто трябва да помагате на такива хора,като Нелс от миналото, които очевидно крещят “тъп съм,образовай ме”)

Най-накрая съм щастливо влюбена, чувствам се обичана, не само от нея, а от всички около мен. Сама създадох семейство от хора, които сама избрах и благодарение на това научих неща, които ми помагат всеки ден да бъда по-добра версия на вчерашната. Искам да кажа, че на работното си място намерих не само колеги,но и приятели. Надявам се тези от вас, на които имам блоговете да го видите и да знаете, че на работа виждам хора, с които мога спокойно да разговарявам за каквото и да било.

И въпреки всичко, за почти една година постигнах нещо, за което мечтая от години: обичам себе си, щастлива съм, имам хора, за които си струва да се боря и жена, която виждам в бъдещето си, независимо от начина, по който се развият нещата. Сега правя щастието си сама и се старая да правя и семейството си толкова щастливо, колкото и то ме прави. В никакъв случай не казвам, че “кризистни ситуации” няма, защото би било лъжа, но казвам, че това да оставите миналото там, където му е мястото и да давате същото, което околните дават на вас ще бъде огромна стъпка за личностното Ви развитие във всеки смисъл на думата.

Не съжалявам, че пиша поредното дълго нещо в тази дупка за емоционално сринати тийнейджъри (естествено не забравям и вас,които вече сте се хванали в ръце и тези, чието лице е вече чисто и хормоните по-спокойни), единственото, което мога да бъда е поласкана, ако случайно някой отдели време да прочете рубриката “шитпостър на годината”. За правописни грешки, и каквито и да било други грешки, не ме интересува, надявам се да се разберем.

Чао,част 3.

Част 4,очаквам те.

#journal entry 3 #journal entry #3/-#mine #adf poetry #винаги на нещо когато пиша #хаххах #journal entries #journal entry 3/-

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chronarchy · 5 years

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America Will Never Be Full

Listening to the news yesterday, and recognizing the language I heard from our leaders, I was moved to prayer. In my car, I wrote three simple lines that have become something I’d like to share.

Here’s a good discussion of the language around countries being “too full” for asylum seekers. We learned our lesson a century ago, and some want us to unlearn it:

https://www.npr.org/711169817

America, as we love it, can never be “full:” the idea of America is that all deserve freedom, all deserve a place, and there is no one who comes to our shores who does not deserve freedom.

Background image by Edward Moran: “Unveiling The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World,” 1886

Image Text:

America Will Never Be Full

America will never be full

Until all who crash, teeming upon her shores,

Have homes and hopes and dreams to call their own.

America will never be full

Until each child and mother who seeks a better life

Is welcomed with open arms and hearts as friend.

America will never be full

Until all who flee oppression and war-torn lands

Find the safety to rekindle the fire of their ancestors.

America is built for the dreamers,

Seeking Liberty, seeking Justice,

Seeking the Light beside the Golden Door.

Let that Door swing wide.

#prayer #adfdruidry #druidry #pagan #adf #liberty #statue of liberty #activism #poetry #immigration #immigrants #golden door

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mercifulwonderful-blog · 7 years

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Until Death by Del Mar

She stares all day at blank walls

She cries and wastes away

She never moves a single inch

She slowly fades away

He watches her in frustration

He screams at her to move

He bottles up the pain inside him

He leaves her in cluttered desolation

She refuses to get up at all

She’s covered in filth and mess

She feels less than human now

She prays to a God for death

He sits inside a broken car

He prays for pain relief

He wonders where it all went wrong

He becomes victim to grief

She lies silently dressed in white

She looks finally at peace

She hasn’t looked like that in years

She will stay in endless sleep

He finally allows tears to fall

He kisses her on the cheek

He whispers softly in her ear

He goes to sleep and never leaves

#until death #poetry #depression #romeo and juliet #tragedy #ADF #Del Mar #poem

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aeondeug · 3 years

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How does one follow the Druídecht?

This is a question that doesn't really have a definitive answer, sadly. There's nothing like the Buddhist temple systems in place. I suppose there's things like ADF, but I'm not personally a member and it's never really appealed to me. Though if one does want structure I suppose that is an option? The reality though is that you're more than likely going to have to make your own course. Which is a nice thing about it, really, though I can understand how it might be daunting.

I personally started by reading my way through books on the CR FAQ. Then I started reading my way through the CELT archive. I haven't gone through the whole thing, obviously, but I did read quite a bit. I read histories. I went to my college's library and read my way through the small Celtic studies section we had. I read a lot. That I think, for me, is very key to how I do things. Study is vital.

In terms of places to start...Besides the CR FAQ's book list, university libraries, and the CELT archive...Lora O'Brien is good. I'd check out her stuff. Moran Daimler's good. I really liked Erynn Rowan Laurie's essays, give those a look too perhaps. These should give you other jumping off points too.

This isn't just to learn things about how to construct what your own path looks like. It's also because lorekeeping is one of the things associated with it.

Beyond that...I also got involved in poetry. Which is where a good chunk of my study and practice is. Enough so that I came to find that being a poet is what I was to do, and so I work on making my own way of being a fíli based off what I've read. For that I read lots of poetry and I write lots of poetry and I learned to compose orally. Learning to memorize and recite is important too I think. So I ended up less a druí and instead a fíli.

Overall though I think the big thing is studying. And then accepting that we don't really know exactly what they did, so anything that you come up with as a practice is ultimately going to be a new thing.

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txst-psf · 4 years

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Druidry and Irish Polytheism 101

Hi all!

I know this time of isolation and global crisis is wildly boring and stressful, so hopefully a few informative posts will help to keep you busy and distracted! Remember to practice tons of self care, and keep a regular cleaning schedule to stay healthy. I love you all!

- Wren

See below the read more break for Druidry 101!

DISCLAIMER: this is my own personal understanding and experience with Druidry (based on research, but still filtered through my perspective), so, like with all research you do, take this with a grain of salt! I consider myself an Irish Polytheist Reconstructionist as well, so this article will be based on Irish Druidry in particular.

First off, let’s explore what “reconstructionism” is. Reconstructionism is looking to history and finding (to the best of our ability) the practices ancient practitioners used and recreating the tradition as if it had evolved naturally with time. Not all Pagans/Druids/witches are reconstructionists, and that’s perfectly valid! If you know me or have heard any of my workshops before, you know how much I love research, and that’s partly because of the reconstructionist approach I take to my practice. I like to know why I do the things I do in the way that I do them, as well as the most “authentic” way to practice and honor my deities (for lack of a better word! Other approaches to Paganism and witchcraft are valid as well, it all depends on the practitioner. No two paths are the same, and that’s part of the beauty of Paganism and magic!).

That being said, the history of Druidry is complicated and muddy, due to the stark lack of primary sources. A lot of the information we have is filtered through a prejudiced Roman or Christian perspective, so we have to sift through the resources we do have very carefully to try to piece together the true history of Druidry and ancient Celtic practices. It’s also enough content to warrant several other posts... So let me know if you’d like to hear more about it and how Druids fit into ancient society (and if you just can’t wait, a good start is researching the four cycles of Irish mythology)!

For now, I’ll focus on what my favorite author (Morgan Daimler) considers to be “commonly held beliefs” in Irish Reconstructionist Polytheism, “...polytheism, animism, belief in honoring spirits and ancestors, immortality of the soul, and shared cosmology.”

Polytheism and Animism

Polytheism is the belief in more than one deity, or a pantheon of deities, and animism is the belief that everything has a soul/spirit. Irish Reconstructionist Pagans believe in and/or worship Irish deities, otherworldly spirits, land spirits, and ancestral spirits, often through offerings, stories, prayers, and song. There are several landmarks in Ireland (wells, rivers, trees, boulders, mounds, etc.) that ancient Irish folks held to be sacred spaces with their own spirit and personalities.

Belief in Honoring Spirits and Ancestors

There’s a loose hierarchy of spirits, depending on who you ask. First, there are land spirits, the physical, topographical features I was describing earlier. They’re thought to be fairly sedentary and tied to their respective feature, rarely traveling far away from it. They have their own personalities, which can be malicious, especially if associated with a place that’s perceived to be dangerous, and usually have myths about their danger.

Next, there are sovereign spirits. These are like land spirits, but with a larger area associated with them, from a field to cities to sometimes entire counties in Ireland. They’re perceived as guardians of the land spirits in their area, and can travel a bit farther from their spot, but rarely do. They’re said to occasionally take the form of a person or animal to communicate with folks that can see them, and can also communicate through visions or dreams.

Higher up the hierarchy are the Fae, or faeries, Good Neighbors, Fair Folk, Other Crowd, daoine sidhe, aos sidhe... etc. According to another of my favorite authors, O hOgain: “In Irish lore the Fair Folk live in the land, on the sea, and in the air, being associated with the mounds, stone circles, watery locations including the sea and bogs, caverns, and strange swirls of wind, as well as specific trees, especially lone hawthorn trees.” Working with the Good Neighbors is generally an important aspect of Druidry. Honoring them can be incredibly rewarding if you can get on their good side and strike up a safe deal with them. They’ll teach you magic and healing, enhance artistic performance, and bring good luck and blessing. It’s important to note that a relationship with the Good Neighbors should be based on respect and friendship, not what you want from them. I could write several posts about the Good Neighbors, but for now, I’ll leave it at this: be very careful, and very respectful when dealing with the Fae. Like with any practice, be sure to do your research before jumping into it.

Fourth, we have ancestors! Since this tradition generally believes in the immortality of the soul, it’s only natural that we’d honor our ancestors. They’re probably one of the easiest spirits to commune with, since they’re closer to us and have an established interest in us and our well-being. A lot of folks have ancestor shrines and celebrate holidays with their ancestors when they come back to visit. It’s also important to note that our ancestors don’t have to be blood relatives! Some folks prefer to count family friends or chosen family members who have passed on as their ancestors, or even mythic heroes.

Immortality of the Soul

Some myths mention reincarnation into animals, like Lebor na hUidre and Tochmarc Etain. This is debated, but some believe that the mortal dead can join the Good Neighbors. Other than that, I truly have no idea where souls go between lives. It’s fairly debated, and from my understanding, not well known. There are several possibilities: Tech Duinn (the house of Donn), Tír Tairngire (Land of Promise), Tír fo Thuinn (Land under the Wave), Mag Mell (Plane of Delight), and Tír na nÓg (Land of Youth), to name a few. Basically, we have no clue where we’re gonna end up, but we do know that we’ll keep on goin’!

Shared Cosmology

First off, what is cosmology? Basically, it’s the understanding of the universe, how and why it works, and how it'll end. We have something close to an end of the world story, which is the Morrigan’s second prophecy in the Cath Maige Tuired, but we don’t have much of a creation story, as far as I know. We do have hints that some folks have tried to fill in the holes for, like Lebor Gabala Erenn, where the world is divided into 5 (five being the number that implied a sacred whole) sections, each representing important qualities to the ancient Celts.

According to druidry.org, North was for battle and conflict, represented by fire, the sword, and the eagle. East was for prosperity, represented by earth, riches and bees, and the salmon. South was for creativity and intuition, represented by water, music and poetry, and the sow. West was for intellect and remembrance, represented by air, learning and teaching, and the stag. The center was thought to complete the ritual space, and was for “mastery and rulership.” It was usually represented by a stone and the Mare of Sovereignty.

The ancient Irish invented the wheel of the year, and believed in two seasons, the light half of the year (Summer) and the dark half of the year (Winter). Summer began with Bealtaine/Beltane (pronounced kind of like bee-YELL-ten-uh in Irish), and Winter began with Samhain (pronounced s-OW-ehn).

They also believed in a threefold world, represented by the triskele/triskelion, three spirals connected at the center. The three spirals represented the three realms (the sea, the land, and the sky), and the middle, where they all meet, represents the center or the sacred fire.

The sea, and some bodies of water, were believed to be connected/portals to the Otherworld, as the various otherworlds were generally thought of as islands across the sea. The land was the physical world, inhabited by our Kindreds - other people. The sky was the realm of the Gods, or Shining Ones, from which they watch over the world. Offerings were often made in sacred fires, as the belief was that the smoke would carry the offering to the Gods.

The three realms are also represented as energy centers in the body. We call them the cauldron of the mind, of the heart, and of the belly. The cauldron of the mind holds our wisdom, and is upside down at birth. It’s turned upwards through learning and spirituality. The cauldron of the heart holds our emotions and artistry, and is sideways at birth. It’s turned upwards through artistic mastery and emotional maturity. The cauldron of the belly holds our health, and is upright in a healthy person, sideways in a sick person, and turned upside down at death.

I’d like to reiterate that this is by no means a complete guide to Druidry! I’m not an authority on the subject either, just a gal who reads a lot. Regardless, I hope this helps someone in their path!

- Wren

Resources:

Irish Paganism: Reconstructing Irish Polytheism by Morgan Daimler

https://druidry.org/druid-way/other-paths/druidry-dharma/two-seasons-three-worlds-four-treasures-five-directions-pillars

https://www.adf.org/articles/cosmology/worlds-kindreds.html

Chris Godwin, Senior Druid for Hearthstone Grove, ADF

#druidry 101 #druid #pagan #paganism #witchcraft #witch #wren #resource

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seidrstuff · 5 years

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Ritual Basics: Creating Your Ritual

The point of any ritual is what works for YOU. You are the one building relationships with the gods, your ancestors and the spirits of the place/wights(referred to as the unseen for brevity) as well as any friends or family who are practicing with you. Anything I say here is a loose guideline.

I’ve drawn heavily on The Elder Troth: An Introductory Course of Study by KveldufR Hagen Gundarsson(which is an excellent guide for understanding standard Troth practice), some ADF bits and my Wiccan training for how I do rituals.

Questions before your ritual

What type of ritual would you like to do?

A basic blessing/prayer is known as a blot. All that takes is a horn/cup/glass with something a little special, like mead or sparkling apple juice or apple cider. However, if you can’t afford that, then water you have prayed over is fine. It is the speaking words of prayer or praise over it that make the container and what is inside sacred. Then you drink and pour a bit aside to pour out on the ground later(or if you are practicing outside, right there at the time).

A building block you can add is the sumbel/sumble/toast, boast and roast. A sumbel is toasting, or if you are practicing with others, passing the container of special juice around and have people toast a god/ancestor/spirit of place/person/event(depending on what your ritual purpose is). This is also a community building exercise, both between you and the unseen and between you and the seen. If you have accomplished something difficult, this is where you brag about that, take pride in it. If you need help with something, this is where you ask for it, so that the unseen/seen can help you. If you have something hard to do and would like someone to hold you accountable for doing it, this is where you vow to do the thing, with the expectation that the community, unseen and seen, will witness your oath.

What is your purpose?

Are you giving thanks? Are you honoring an astronomical event?(half of the “Wheel of the Year” is based on equinoxes and solstices). Are you honoring a widely held pagan holiday? Are you honoring a life transition?(birth, adulthood, marriage, identity transition, death) Are you asking for help?

Who are you asking/thanking/praying to?

Are you speaking to your deity/deities of choice? Are you asking your ancestors for advice? Are you asking the spirits of place to bless your garden/pet/houseplant?

Part of my practice is giving offerings/gifts to whoever I am speaking with. Each god/ancestor/spirit of place will have an appropriate offering and you get to choose what that is. For example, if I am giving thanks to Odin for his help with my disabled ass, I offer him a poem or a song(he also likes brain teasers and word puzzles). I try to choose offerings that are easily disposed of and take more devotion than money. I spent most of my pagan life poor, so elaborate offerings of expensive components is not something I do often.

Many deities have some overlap as to what offerings are acceptable, for instance in my experience, Frigga and Sif have a grain/cornmeal/barley/rye/flour overlap. My wife is gluten free (GF), which means we don’t have conventional flour in our home. I have gotten good results with GF oat flour and birdseed. In my experience, the Norse gods are especially impressed/gladdened by flexibility, frugality and ingenuity.

How many people?

There are practical as well as spiritual compromises that must be made whenever you add other people to a ritual. If you are practicing alone, the only person you have to worry about is yourself.

For a practical example, if I am doing a simple blot, I can do that anyplace I can hold a glass. However, if I am adding members of my household, then I need to clear out and clean up a space to hold that practice.

Practical considerations:

Are is there space for singing/dancing/gesturing?

Is there anything that can be tripped over or run into?

Is there a quiet space for someone to process their experience?

Is it accessible to the people I have invited? (As I have grown older and more visibly disabled, I have to look out for pitfalls that many pagans don’t see).

Is there enough parking?

Is your space close to public transportation?

For a spiritual example, if I am doing a simple blot, I have a dedicated place that has been blessed and cleansed and holds the grooves of rituals repeated daily for years. However, if I am adding the members of my household, then I need to purify and cleanse that space so that it is easier for me to see it as sacred, protect it from the unfriendly unseen and help those people with me to leave better than when they came in.

Spiritual considerations:

Am I in a relatively stable emotional/mental state?

If someone is affected deeply by the ritual, do I have the spoons to take care of them, to help them through their distress?

If I don’t have those spoons, do I have someone that can step in and do that?

Especially for people that are new to ritual work, the energy raised and used can be overwhelming. It can stimulate damage from religious or family of origin trauma. It can stimulate damage from past relationships with unseen and seen. It can also stimulate manic joy and gladness, which can be distressing to some.

As the host of the ritual, it is your responsibility to have at least thought about what to do if someone is distressed in your ritual.

Constructing Ritual Space

Wiccans have a cleansing/casting/calling routine for creating sacred space. ADF druids have an offering/calling cycle that invites the unseen. Heathens use a variety of sacred space creation methods, from making the sign of the Hammer over the assembled to the elaborate ritual laid out in The Elder Troth.

Purifying/cleansing can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. I like the four element Wiccan system, sprinkling salt water for water and earth and wafting incense for fire and air as I claim that space as sacred.

I also like claiming the space with fire, or carrying a torch or candle around the area, using a chant to Thor out of the sagas. Many Norse pagans just make the sign of the Hammer(which looks a bit like making a giant T in the air) to make a space sacred. The nice thing about claiming the place cleansed in the name of Thor also calls upon the most valiant protector of Asgard, adding to my mind an extra level of protection.

As a performance note, it is common during public rituals for the ritual facilitator to do the cleansing in the presence of the people as part of the ritual. Because of my increasing disability and general lack of spoons, I will either do that part ahead of time or have someone else say the words to reassure people during the ritual, even if I have set up my protections beforehand. So making that space sacred ahead of time is fine.

Many pagans keep that space dedicated for ritual use only. I don’t. Up until recently, I have lived in small apartments, so I didn’t have the ability to have a dedicated ritual space/room. That did give me the flexibility to honor Frigga in my kitchen when I’m cooking and Freya when I’m having intimate time with my wife and Odin when I am writing at my kitchen table and communing with my spirits of place while I sat on my porch. That put me in the habit of speaking with the unseen bit by bit throughout the day, which makes me feel closer to them continuously.

Saying the words

One of the few things I am insistent on is: write what you want to say before you say it. You can use someone’s else’s words(Wiccans use Gardner’s ritual words, I use the prayers from the Eddas and sagas) read it off the back of your hand, forget it totally, read it from flash cards. That’s not the part the matters.

If you construct what you want to say beforehand, you are setting your intent in a way we in the modern world understand and respond to. (By writing it down, I don’t mean the physical pen and paper. Dictate it, draw it, paint it, sing it, dance it, type it, use any method that works for you)

Rituals are often constructed in three acts or multiples of threes.

Act One is the opening, establishing the space, blessing/thanking those unseen and seen in attendance, and explaining what the purpose is to the gathered(if this is a solitary ritual, you don’t have to explain why you are there most of the time. The unseen appreciate the heads up sometimes, but if you’ve established relationships, you can skip this. They know.)

Act Two is the heart of the ritual, constructed from why you are there. This is so varied that I’m going to use an example here from my household.

Yule is a very important holiday to me and my queer household. We always celebrate it in a much more elaborate fashion than any other holiday. This year, because of events in the outside world as well as personal transformations, we focused on the death and the rebirth of sunlight, as a plea for continuing hope.

Our honored deities were Sunna and her brother Mani, Frigga as the matron of our home and our spirits of place for keeping us so well over the year before. We also have some Hellenic and Etruscan practitioners in our household, so we made space to honor them as well.

We assembled a variety of offerings, some baked goods we had made for Christmas celebrations later in the month, some whole grains, wood, the last of herbs we had grown in the summer and household spices. We also had words we had written for those deities that are more drawn to poetry. We have the privilege of a backyard with a fire pit, so we could throw our offerings in the fire. (In the past, I have offered spring water, pennies, rainbows through prisms, and lots of poetry, more ephemeral things that I didn’t have to find ways to dispose of.)

We spent some part of the day thinking about what we wanted to focus on during the ritual. We gathered together at sunset and had our youngest member make sure all the lights were off in the house and then carried a candle around the dark house, “relighting” our home fires. Then we offered to our deities of home and hearth. Then we offered to Sunna to return and Mani to call her home. We made offerings and prayers through the night, and kept the fire pit burning until dawn. Then we thanked Sunna for her return and let the fire burn out.

Act Two of the ritual is the most individual, the most flexible and deeply dependent on what you want to accomplish. Simple, elaborate, informal, formal, all things you get to choose. In my experience, some unseen are more formal than others, and you will learn that as you build relationships with them.

Act Three is saying goodbye. Usually in the opposite order as they were invited or acknowledged, final offerings are given, final hugs are offered, final prayers flow between the seen and unseen.

Attending someone else’s ritual is a different thing and I will post some ritual etiquette in a later piece.

Please DM me if you have any questions.

Your mileage will most certainly vary :)

Sources

Most pagan worldview systems have problematic stances on queer people, usually non-binary and/or trans folx, although there are factions of all of them that are any queer antagonistic. I try to choose sources that have less of that bias baked in, but I am not always successful.

The Elder Troth: The Elder Troth: An Introductory Course of Study by KveldulfR Hagen Gundarsson (this is under $5 on Amazon and is a great guide with exercises and readings from the lore that correspond to almost any basic question you may have as a Norse practitioner.)

The ADF Dedicant Path through the Wheel of the Year by Rev. Michael Dangler (this is under $10 and has a different ritual construction that has some great aspects)

Wicca: A Guide of the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham (This was one of my first books about Wicca and it is super problematic as to gender binaries, so read with much caution. However, it does have some useful practices that have just gotten folded in to my practice)

Positive Magic: Ancient Metaphysical Techniques for Modern Lives by Marion Weinstein (lots of problems here too, in the same Wiccan binary ways, so read with much caution, but some useful techniques for cleansing/purifying)

#ritual basics #Norse polytheism

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thepatchworkcrow · 5 years

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Tuesday’s prompt for Week 2 was “Witch, what does it mean to you? What type of witch are you?... Are there certain things you plan to learn as a witch? Certain goals you have?”

A witch, to me, is someone who practices witchcraft in some way: this can be spells and rituals, crystal healing, divination, artwork, devotional poetry, yoga, astrology, essentially the crafts of “The Craft”. A witch doesn’t follow a specific religious or spiritual path- they can be atheists, Christian, Wiccan, polytheists of any sort, whatever. Witches and witchcraft, for my definition of the term aren’t bound necessarily by any specific religious or spiritual paradigm, but rather in the practice of those arts.

I personally identify first as a Druid and Bard. My reasons for this are:

1. “Witch” is often conflated with “Wiccan” and as my religious beliefs and practices are NOT Wiccan, I find it easier to start at Druidry. Druidry is a nature-based spiritual philosophy which may be applied to a number of different sects of Celtic (and Indo-European if you’re a member of the ADF) polytheism as well as other more mainstream religious movements. Druidry is focused upon connection, care and respect for the natural world, and expression of creativity- usually with an emphasis on song and poetry I’ve found. It’s usually very much entwined with Celtic cultural values of hospitality, the sacred landscape, good humor and wit, etc. and as a spiritual philosophy is not as necessarily concerned with the “craft” part of my witchcraft definition.

2. My personal practice is, usually a lot less “witchcraft-y” and more spiritual. I spend a great deal more time wandering the woods, contemplating the universe and meditating than I do crafting spells and reading cards. Therefore to call myself solely a witch feels a bit.. fake.

If I were to define the type of witch I was, I would probably call myself a Druid-Witch, or a Witch of the Wild Hunt. Longtime followers of my blog will have noticed (scattered through here and probably difficult to find because when the hell do I ever actually post personal / original content?) that I work specifically with a version of the Wild Hunt and their horned god leader. For me, this path is first and foremost concerned with nature (particularly storms and the forest), connecting with it, knowing my local environment and its cycles and patterns, etc. On another level, I feel very much called to be a bard for said hunter deity. A lot of my path is made up of composing devotional poetry and artwork, recording the tales I uncover as well as my own adventures and growth. This path includes studying patterns of the stars- not just astrology but the actual dance of the constellations across my own sky. It includes keeping my home, and my altar, as hearth for my familiar spirits to rest and to speak with me. It includes journeying through trancework and meditation with those spirits and gods. But it very very rarely includes ritual, spell work, etc. I do those things, but they aren’t the bulk of what makes up my practice.

Right now, my “witchy” goals include finishing up the OBOD Bardic Grade course, learning palmistry, and taking up Welsh and harp playing as devotional work for my gods. There’s a long way to go, but I’m eager to get started.

#2019 Grimoire Challenge #2019 gc #2019 gc week 2 #2019 gc january week 2 #january week 2 #personal #personal path #personal gnosis #witch #witchcraft #pagan #paganism #druid #druidry #patch-workcrow #2019 grimoire challenge week 2

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neemat · 4 years

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: : #love #neematdiary #366daypoetry #celebrateregardless #nopainnogain #writer #poet #day176of366 #poem #music #rain #showerofblessings #showeroflove #quarantinelife #writing #heartbreak #letloverule #stayhomestaysafe #motherearth #neemat #poem #love #muslimsconnect #writer #poet #writing #femalewriter #poetrycommunity #poetry #lover #love #femalewritersofinstagram #writersofinstagram #writersofinstagrampoetry #loveyourself https://www.instagram.com/p/CB-adf-FoQl/?igshid=1k9b6ks16bud8

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irachelartistblr · 4 years

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Research Log - all research documented in my sketchbook

about nature:

BBC Civilisation - Nature Worship - video 1969

Rousseau’s beliefs about nature

‘Nature Worship’ show at MASH gallery, Catherine Ruane

Going on walks - 1st hand research

Article - ‘how nature can help us heal from grief’

Video of the children’s story ‘The Fall of Freddie the Leaf’

‘Trees in mythology’ wikipedia

The Tale of Two Brothers - wikipedia

The prayer of the woods

about nature worship:

Trees and prayers - clooties - Myth & moor blog, wikipedia

Druidry - wikipedia

‘modern druids’ - video about ADF

BBC iwonder, druids bards and rituals, what is Eisteddfod

Druidry - Damh the Bard

Order of bards, ovates and druids, introductory video

about religious groups and ‘cults’:

Cults:explained (netflix)

Ares (netflix)

Cult - wikipedia

poetry about nature:

Coleridge’s poem ‘Hymn before Sun-rise, in the Vale of Chamouni’

Mary Oliver, several poems including The Summer Day and Wild Geese

Poetry collections:

Driftwood by Marya Layth

about written artwork:

I read the book Carl Andre: Poems

about performance:

‘A Life (Black and white)’ by Nedko Solakov

‘A Line made by Walking’ by Richard Long

‘Live at Home’ - Martin Creed’s performances live on instagram

other artwork:

Paul Nash - paintings about nature and loss

Hamish Fulton - text + photo work, walks

Katrina Palmer - Yorkshire sculpture park

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sonofcernmagic · 6 years

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On Gods and Spirits: My Own Celtic Animistic Pantheon + some random ramblings and thoughts

Edit Note 8/25/2019: This is an old post which may not totally reflect what I still think today but it’s still fairly close to my ideas and I think it still can be an interesting read nonetheless. I may or may not make a more updated post here in a few days. Note that I use the term “the Fey” as if to refer to all nature spirits. I personally would not do this anymore and would instead keep the term to refer specifically to the ideas of the fairies and the Irish and Scottish Sidhe of folklore instead as it should be. Other then this it should still stand up as a decent post nevertheless.

My overall relationship and theological position on the gods is a very complicated and ever-changing one, but it generally revolves around the idea that most if not all gods came from one of the following origins:

1) Once an ancestral spirit, whose importance rose to that of divinity and thus their true origin was, overtime, forgotten about. 2) A spirit of nature, personified by humanity and worshiped in a more personal, human form. 3) Neither of the above, but instead totally and completely formed out of the sheer belief of many people who became convinced of their existence, thus creating a “thought-form” that became its own deified, independent spirit.

This perspective leads to many natural assumptions and conclusions. For example, many people could worship the “same god” but if their beliefs and notions are significantly different from each other, then different versions of that god may begin to manifest. Moreover, by worshiping the “spirit” of a natural phenomenon in the form of a personified deity, different “aspects” of that spirit may form. This leads to some interesting questions, like did the collective “spirit” of thunder storms decide to make gods like Thor, Perun, Taranis, and Zeus, or did humanity make them up and thus spawn them into existence?

At any rate, the importance of the gods on the psychological level seems to be that of fulfilling the need for archetypal role models and guidance. To this end I have come to the conclusion that, at least for me, it does not matter what or how you worship, so long as you’re feeling that inner need for a spiritual connection being fulfilled.

I myself am an animist, in that I believe nature is filled with spirits, all of which are to some extent connected with one another. As a result my belief centers around the worship of three main classifications of spirits, known in the ADF and other Druidic circles as the Three Kindred's.

These are: The Ancestors The “Fey” (Spirits of Nature)* The Gods

*Edit Note: This isn’t really what the ADF calls the Three Kindreds. To the ADF, they are: the Shining One’s (gods) the Mighty Ones (ancestors) and the Noble Ones (basically spirits of nature, which would include, among others, the Fey)

This post will focus on what I’ve come to view as the main “gods” of this world, who are all based on concepts and forces of nature, almost all of which I’ve chosen to view in their “Celtic” forms, as for one reason or another they always appeal to me the most. This may not be remotely a complete list but it should be a good overview and hopefully get all of the main “archetypes.”

*Just to clarify, even though I call these gods by “Celtic” names and use their Celtic personifications and imagery, I’m not really thinking of it as worshiping Celtic gods per-say, rather I’m worshiping the personified form of spirits of nature using their Celtic name.

The Gods and Goddesses

“The Creator” -”The Creator,” “Ba’al,” the Universal Spirit / Soul, etc, basically the spirit of the whole universe

The Two Divine Masculines and Feminines: Note: Think of these not as adversaries, but more like allies with opposing approaches who need each other to preserve the natural balance; don’t think Jedi vs Sith, think Yin and Yang.

The Lord and Lady of Order: -Bel, or Belenus - God of the Sun and Purification -Danu - The Earth Mother, and goddess of “pure” love

The Lord and Lady of Chaos: -Cernunnos - Horned God of the Hunt, the wild and untamed forests, animals, the Otherworld / Underworld, and liberation -Arianrhod, or Ariana - Goddess of the Moon, of emotions, wild and unrestrained love and sexuality, and divination The Gods and Goddesses of both Nature and Civilization: -Taranis - God of thunder, storms, and rain -Manannan Mac Lir - God of the Sea -Arawn (roughly pronounced “Are-on” I think) - God of the Underworld, possibly a more specialized aspect of Cernunnos -Sucellus or Sucellos - God of agriculture, alcohol, and revelry -Epona - Goddess of horses and travel -Brigid - Goddess of hearth and home, poetry, creativity, (controlled) fire, love and healing -Sirona - Goddess of spiritual healing and rebirth -Maponos - God of youth -Lugh or Lugus - God of many skills, and of justice, fairness, sportsmanship, and honor -Ogma or Ogmios - God of knowledge, language, persuasion, and wisdom -Andraste - Goddess of wrathful vengeance and revolution -Morrigan - Raven Goddess of war, fate, and death -Caturix - Boar God of warriors and brute strength and endurance -Artio - Mother Bear Goddess of guardianship The “Gatekeeper” For many in druidry there is a “gatekeeper” who “opens the gates” between the Otherworld and this one, thus facilitating our connection with the gods. For me this role is fulfilled by~ -Nemetona - Goddess of sacred groves, purification, peace, and serenity To me this goddess not only serves as an invaluable liaison between me and the divine, but also as a protector of me and my sacred space from any malicious spirits.

Conclusion

So that is the basic rundown of “my” pantheon. It may not be totally complete but it should cover all of the main bases. Anyway that’s about all for now. Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings, and I hope you enjoyed it all. If you have any thoughts or questions on this feel free to comment or message me privately if you’d rather and I’ll try to get back to you as soon as I can. Again, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!

Further Reading

If you’re interested in reading more about druidry, I’d recommend starting with the official websites of some of the biggest neodruidic organisations, such as: ADF (A Druid Fellowship): https://www.adf.org/ OBOD (Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids): http://www.druidry.org/

And for one of the least dogmatic and chillest religious groups ever, I’d suggest the RDNA (Reformed Druids of North America), however their site is outdated and seemingly abandoned, so instead I would recommend the YouTube channel of “John the Verbose”: https://www.youtube.com/user/brojoghost Or you can find him here on Tumblr @minnesotadruids

Unfortunately I do not live anywhere near Minnesota but if I did you’d better believe I’d be joining their grove, cause they is kewl. There are several other RDNA groves across North America however it’s just sadly none are within a reasonable travelling distance to me, so if you’re interested definitely check them out. Who knows, maybe you live near one of those many groves of theirs.

Oh, and here’s a good side by side comparison of the aforementioned groups: https://www.danaan.net/druid-cat/druid-group-comparison/

#gods #deity #deities #pagan #druidry #adfdruidry #neopaganism #neodruid #rdna #wicca #wiccan #nedruidry #spirits #spirituality #neopagan #druid #neodruidry #reformed druid #reformed druidry

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themodernsouthernpolytheist · 7 years

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I went to Atlanta Pagan Pride today.

It was really interesting! I was super uncomfortable at first, not knowin anyone and some type of anxiety that flared up as I got there. Speakin of which, the parking for the event was in a Missionary Baptist church and the event itself was in a Quaker Friends Meeting House! I thought that was really cool and it made me smile.

So, I wandered around the booths for a while. Most of them were stuff for sale, which I didn’t have the money and/or the need for, so I lighted in the meeting room and listened to some poetry and retellings of Greek myths from Alena Sullivan that I super enjoyed. She’s an MFA student, though I didn’t catch where, and y’all should definitely take a gander if you’re into that.

After that, I went to the Grove of the Red Earth ADF ritual. I’ll start with the positives here. As a Grove, they honored Demeter, Sif, and Tailtiu, so it was an interesting way to celebrate this time of year. It was also nice to see Tailtiu honored because I feel like she gets left out a lot, often cause people’ve never even heard of her. I also loved that they provided offering materials for everyone present (bread, water, and herbed olive oil) and had three methods of offerings (water, burial, and fire - though the final acts would have to be done later because of the rules of the Meeting House). They also gave an invitation and time for everyone to come up and make their offerings, then handed out blessed water for a group libation, which was cool.

But the ritual was also a little too freeform for me. The folks leadin were readin from paper and it didn’t seem well-rehearsed and that kills a lot of the vibe for me. The people randomly chattering didn’t help, but I understood given the amount of time it took for everyone to go through the ritual offerings. But, because of all that time take, the ritual itself was like...maybe 15 minutes? I’d like to see another of their rituals and my understanding is they have public ones every so often, so I may try again.

After the ritual, there was a class on diversity and inclusion in Pagan spaces. This is RIGHT up my alley. One of the facilitators was a prof at UGA and the other her student in the Feri Tradition. It was a cool intro into why Pagan spaces are so white based on history and that took a whole hour, lol. I’m sure we could’ve taken the day and still had more to discuss. But we exchanged emails and I really hope we can get somethin off the ground.

I also got to talk a bit more to someone from the local CUUPs group and get a little more info. They’re havin a dinner thing in a couple weeks that I think I’m gonna go to and that should be fun. I’m really wantin to take advantage of the size and population of Atlanta while I’m here and I really hope this pans out.

#Atlanta #Pagan Pride #Georgia #The South #Me #My Practice #UUCG #CUUPs #Ár nDaíocht Féin #Unitarian Universalism

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maman-corbeau · 7 years

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hey! i'm looking to follow new people, i'm new here! please like (or reblog) if: -luciferian (or work with lucifer) -any kind of pagan -druid (especially if youre part of ADF!!) -witch aesthetic -any aesthetic tbh -poetry

#aesthetic #slam poetry #poetry #luciferian #lucifer #druid #druidry #witch #pagan #neopagan

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nancydhooper · 7 years

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The Masterpiece Cakeshop Supreme Court Case Is One Piece of a Much Larger Attack on LGBTQ Lives

It’s not about the cake. And it’s not about artistic expression. It’s about survival.

This term the Supreme Court will hear a case, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Charlie Craig & David Mullins, involving a Colorado bakery that refused to serve a same-sex couple who wanted to purchase a cake for their wedding reception.

Colorado law prohibits discrimination in places of public accommodations — places like bakeries, movie theatres, restaurants, hospitals, and other establishments open to the public — based on sexual orientation, among other protected classes. The Colorado courts, interpreting this straightforward law, held that the bakery’s refusal to serve the couple constituted discrimination based on sexual orientation and that there is no constitutional right to discriminate that supersedes this protection.

Now before the United States Supreme Court and supported by anti-LGBTQ groups, and the United States Department of Justice, the bakery argues that it has a First Amendment right to discriminate based on the owner’s religious beliefs. The owner also claims that because his business — making cakes — involves some creativity, he should be allowed to determine who can receive his services.

His argument can be deceptively appealing. Cakes can often have artistic or creative designs. So can sandwiches, legal briefs, bicycles, cars, flowers, medical care. Indeed, the work that we do often has great personal meaning to us and reflects our skill and passion.

But it is wrong to think that (1) any business that involves a creative component should be exempt from nondiscrimination laws, or (2) that a business is somehow endorsing each and every customer it serves.

As civil rights attorney Mary Bonauto wrote in a recent piece for SCOTUSBlog:

Earning a living from the sweat of one’s brow coexists with human creativity, with the passion for cutting hair or cooking food, with designing and sewing clothing – with making something both functional and beautiful. Uplifting the dignity and creativity in all work, Dr. Martin Luther King spoke of the “street sweeper” who could “sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures; sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven composed music; sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry.”

To argue, as do Masterpiece Cakeshop and the Department of Justice in this case, that the exemption that would be created by a ruling for the business is narrow, is to ignore that reality. If we start to exempt from nondiscrimination laws businesses that reflect creativity and passion, such a move would undermine all nondiscrimination protections.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the organization defending the business at the Supreme Court, is taking great pains to frame this case as one about art and expression. It is using this tactic to gain support and obscure the fact that this case is part of a broader strategy to banish LGBTQ people from public life.

This is not about cake. This is about demolishing the legal protections that exist against discrimination in places of public accommodation.

Groups like ADF have already proposed and passed laws seeking to exempt from nondiscrimination protections any action that infringes upon an individual or businesses deeply held religious or moral belief that: “(a) Marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman; (b) Sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage; and (c) Male (man) or female (woman) refer to an individual's immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth.”

I shudder at this final point since it means a moral or religious belief that trans people do not exist. And that is precisely what ADF and others have argued time and time again in litigation.

In the past two years, they and others have advanced the arguments that it is “outlandish” for the federal government to protect transgender students from discrimination, that having a gender that does not accord with the gender assigned to a person at birth is a “delusion,” and that providing health insurance coverage for gender transition would amount to “material cooperation with evil.”

If the Supreme Court sides with the bakery, the systematic rejection of LGBTQ people from public life will gain legitimacy and anti-LGBTQ movements will grow stronger.

It is possible to value creative labor and religious liberty without gutting generally applicable legal protections against discrimination and opening the door to a world in which trans people are rejected from public life because people don’t believe we do or should exist.

If a baker can reject LGBTQ people because of who we are, then what about the mechanic, the florist, the doctor, the teacher? This is not about cake. This is not about art. This is about survival.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8247012 https://www.aclu.org/blog/lgbt-rights/lgbt-nondiscrimination-protections/masterpiece-cakeshop-supreme-court-case-one via http://www.rssmix.com/

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nationaltaichungtheater · 7 years

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Grand Tour with Theater Titans-Double Bill by Bulareyaung Dance Company

STAY THAT WAY

Time to get drunk! Don't be martyred slaves of Time, Get drunk! Stay drunk! On wine, virtue, poetry, whatever! – excerpted from the poem Get Drunk by Charles Baudelaire.

This poem is the inspiration for Stay That Way by the Bulareyaung Dance Company. Its founder, Bulareyaung Pagarlava, is from the indigenous Paiwan tribe of Taiwan, and a well-known dancer and choreographer, who has worked with Cloud Gate Dance Theatre. In this production, he shares the beauty of indigenous ballads. Three singers perform traditional songs, complemented by the movements of dancers. This outdoor performance in the National Taichung Theater's Sky Garden is not constrained by a stage, and, as Bulareyaung notes, that makes it purposely difficult to predict how it will unfold.

COLORS

Colors is based on Bulareyaung Pagarlava's observations and perceptions of natural elements,as well as the interpretation of "beauty" by the young dancers who perform this work. Bulareyaung is a well-known dancer and choreographer from the indigenous Paiwan tribe who has trained professionally with Cloud Gate Dance Theatre since college. He founded the Bulareyaung Dance Company in his hometown of Taitung in southeastern Taiwan. Taitung is most acknowledged for its beautiful coastline. He, therefore, intends to bring the waters of Taitung to the audience. By sharing the voices and physicality of Taiwan's indigenous people, Colors successfully transforms the stage into a beach by blue canvas. The beach was the rehearsal space for Colors since a severe typhoon destroyed their dance studio in 2016.

Choreographer -Bulareyaung Pagarlava

Bulareyaung Pagarlava is from Taiwan's indigenous Paiwan tribe. His name means "happy warrior" in his native language. He started his dance training at the age of 15 and choreographing when he was a student in the Dance Department of Taipei National University of the Arts. A former dancer with Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, Bulareyaung received a Performing Arts Fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council to study in New York in 1998. He was a resident artist at the American Dance Festival in 2008. Three years later, he was invited to return to the Festival where he created Landscapes 2011 ADF. Bulareyaung was twice commissioned by the Martha Graham Dance Company, for which he produced Lamentation Variation in 2009 and Chasing in 2011. In 2012, he was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons in Taiwan.

Bulareyaung Dance Company

The Bulareyaung Dance Company (BDC) was founded in 2014 by indigenouschoreographer Bulareyaung Pagarlava in his hometown of Taitung, Taiwan.During the last two decades, Bulareyaung has been invited on numerousoccasions to choreograph and perform for various contemporary dancecompanies both at home and abroad. However, his increasing awareness ofhis Paiwan identity led him on a new path. He now focuses on his own motherculture, as well as explores the music, dances and traditions of other indigenouscultures.Dance with indigenous natural voices from land and hearts differentiates BDCfrom other contemporary dance companies and also outstands himself fromregional to international.

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