Happy Birthday this week to Lughnah Willow, Amanda Chandler, Dolphin Brown, Gemma Dubaldo, Lisa Plummer(!!!!!!!), Samuel Charles Salmon, Sondra Graber, Lyn Thurman(!!!!!!!!!), Sharon Grimshaw (!!!), Lee Smith, Skytiyia Stormcloud, Laura Ellsworth, Diane Hughes, and Tom McDonough. May this be your best birthday EVER, and may your next year of life be filled with joy, blessings, peace, health and all good things in abundance!
In the News
Witchdoctor helps in search for missing woman
Prison for adultery, out-of-wedlock and witchcraft under revised criminal code
Missouri library agrees not to block witch websites
Group launches campaign to help suspected witches in Malawi
UN condemns surge of "vicious" witchcraft attacks on albinos in Tanzania
It's witchcraft not satanism-Grandma
Forced marriage, witchcraft accusations must end
Pagan Lore with Karen Szabo
Sunday, March 10
On this day in the year 1909, the famous Dutch clairvoyant and psychic healer Gerard Croiset was born in the Netherlands. Using his clairvoyant abilities, which manifested early in his childhood, Croiset healed hundreds of patients daily at this clinic. He also worked with various police departments as a psychic criminologist and solved crimes in more than half a dozen countries. His passed away on July 20, 1980.
Monday, March 11
Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Order of the Knights Templar, was burned alive at the stake on this date in the year 1314. Shortly before he died, he accurately predicted the death of King Philip IV of France within the year and the death of Pope Clement within forty days.
Tuesday, March 12
Today was the Babylonian Feast of Marduk. On this day in the year 1873, psychic researcher and occultists Stewart Edward White was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He authored several books containing material obtained through his wife's spirit-channeling sessions, and he served as president of the American Society for Psychical Research in San Francisco, California.
Wednesday, March 13
The thirteenth day of the third month is considered to be one of the luckiest days of the year for all Witches (especially if it should happen to fall on a Friday), as thirteen is the number associated with the traditional Witches' coven and three is a powerful magickal number. In Luxembourg a Pagan fire festival known as Burgsonndeg is celebrated annually on this day with the lighting of great bonfires to welcome Spring and the rebirth of the Sun.
Thursday, March 14
The annual thirteen-day Ghanian New Year celebration begins on this date. A series of special ritual dances are traditionally performed on the first eleven days of the festival to dispel all evil spirits and honor the souls of the departed. The shrines of the beneficial spirits are ritually purified on the twelfth day, and a joyous celebration of the new year takes place on the thirteenth day. This day is also sacred to Ua Zit, a serpent-goddess of the ancient Egyptian religion.
Friday, March 15
On this date in ancient Rome, the annual Festival of Attis and Cybele began with a procession of reed-bearers to commemorate the finding of the infant Attis among the reeds. The festival was followed by nine consecutive days of fasting and sexual abstinence.
Saturday, March 16
The annual Hindu festival of Holi is held in India on this date to celebrate Spring and to commemorate the burning death of the child-eating, she-demon known as Holika. On this date in the year 1946, J.Z. Knight, the famous spirit channeler for the ancient entity known as "Ramtha", was born in New Mexico.
And there you have the Pagan Lore for today and the coming week! Oh and chin up -- we're more than halfway through the current Mercury Retrograde, and Ostara will be here soon, so we have much to look forward to! Wishing you all a wonderful week,
Karen
Sparkle & Shine with Sosanna
Spring Forward!
Today is the start of Daylight Saving Time. Yes that was singular. It’s not Daylight Savings Time. There’s only one. Back in 1784 Benjamin Franklin wrote an essay called “An Economical Project” introducing the concept of moving time in order to get more use of the day light. Coming from Franklin, who is known for saying “Early to bed, Early to rise, makes a man healthy wealthy and wise”, I’m not the least bit surprised that he’d come up with this crazy idea.
During World War I the US formally adopted it but it was discontinued within a year because it was so unpopular. In the late 60’s Congress passed the Uniform Time Act which gave a specific time period for Daylight Saving Time for each of the states that used it. Yes, that’s right I said “states that use it”. The states, Arizona and Hawaii and the territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands do not observe Daylight Saving Time.
The original thought behind Daylight Saving Time was to save money on candles. I rarely attempt to stand up to speak for any group of people. I fit into several categories and have never claimed to be the spokesperson for any of them. But on this point, I believe that I can speak for Pagan peoples around the US and possibly even the world when I say… Dear Government, if anyone has plenty of candles its pagans!
I've scoured the web and I cannot find a single real reason to continue with this crazy day. Bars don’t get to stay open later. It doesn't happen on Monday so we can call in late for work because of it. In 2007 the policy was changed to prolong it, apparently our Congress is populated with time lords.
As a service to all the wonderful followers of the Sunday Stew, I’ve come up with a list of things that can be done with that extra hour of time. Feel free to comment your results.
- Search for yourself on Google (Ok you’ve probably done that already)
- See how Fox offends all Wiccans – Fox News
- Convert to Wiccanism
- Learn about Women in the Media – Killing Us Softly
- Meet a Warlock – Christian Day
- Post a link referring to gun control and stand back – Piers Morgan & Alex Jones
- Look for a birthday song for your sister – (Happy Birthday)
- Look up the lyrics to your favorite song and determine if it’s really a description of sex – Down on Me– Call me Naive I had no idea (stares at the sky)
- Watch cute videos on YouTube – Here I’ll get you started - Single Ladies
- . Understand a friend with Borderline Personality – Inside the Mind of Borderline Personality
- . Learn to make a fimo squirrel – How to make a squirrel
- . Confirm that Sosanna spends entirely too much time on YouTube
There you have, 12 things you can do with that spare hour of daylight. There’s something there for everyone. Each one of these are things that I enjoy and try to spend a little bit of time doing. These are the things that make me Sparkle and Shine.
Kallan Note: Deborah Blake has posted another fun idea for Daylight Saving Time on Pagan Square.
Song of the Week with Kestril True Seeker
I haven't come up with a perfect answer to that, but I will say that I draw inspiration from several close friends - who certainly have some deep scars, but also have made it through. I know, because I've seen it before, that sometimes all you can do is to take really tiny baby steps and just focus on each one until you get to the end. And a little knocking on wood never hurt either.
Keep Dancing,
Kestril
This Week in Astrology
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| Pisces by Josephine Wall |
New Moon in Pisces: Monday, March 11th, 2013, at 3:51 PM EDT
March 11 New Moon- Starry Eyed (Darkstar Astrology)
Pisces New Moon: Parallel Worlds (Simone Butler, Mooncircles)
New Moon in Pisces: Get Your Flow On! (Astrodispatch)
Mar 12th: Mars enters Aries 2:26 AM
Upcoming note: Mar 17th: Mercury Direct 4:03 PM
Weekly Horoscope from Darkstar Astrology (note: it runs from Mon-Sun)
Moon VoC Calendar for March
Uncharted Seas with Cap'n Dave
Getting All Voodoo on St. Patrick
Christians understand God, the Father. That one’s easy. They understand Jesus Christ, the Holy Son of the Father. And then when asked to explain the Holy Spirit, they get this vacant look on their faces. This is something that is never taught, yet if you say you once were a Christian before you became a member of such-and-such faith, you’ll be regaled with statements about how you were never a true Christian and that you just didn’t have the Holy Spirit in you.
The answer I found in the dictionary describes the Holy Spirit as “The third person of the Trinity; God as spiritually active in the world.” But isn't God already spiritually active? Isn't He God?
“What does God need with a starship?”
– Captain Kirk, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Why would He need to manifest Himself into a non-corporeal entity in order to do things in the world when He’s already non-corporeal? This, to me, seems to be proverbially castrating God if He’s not able to do anything in the world unless He manifests Himself into this sort of ephemeral…something.
As a point of fact, there is no mention of a Holy Trinity anywhere in the Bible. It wasn't until the Council of Nicea in the year 325 that this was ever coined, centuries after the last books of the Bible were written, so again we’re left with that question: What is the Holy Spirit?
Is it a state of being? A physical entity and part of the Holy Trinity? Could it be the unknowable collective consciousness that so many faiths outside of the Abrahamic philosophies speak of? Could it, perhaps, be Goddess, and the Christians just don’t want to admit to anything feminine ever having power?
In my beliefs, which incorporate the beliefs of Vodou, there is a complete and total understanding of the hierarchy of Deity. There is no ambiguity as there is with Christianity, yet the Christians will state that mine are based upon “false gods” and are “evil”, when they don’t even understand their own God? Interesting…
“The god of Voodoo is not the biblical God but a remote god who is not involved with humanity or nature. The worship of the Voodoo spirits is the worship of false gods, and as such is condemned throughout the Bible.”– from “Got Questions Ministries”
Remote? Not involved? Let’s examine this. Bondyé – this is our “Holy Spirit” as it were – is neither male nor female, but both and neither – a paradox. Bondyé is transcendent, as is the Christian God (that is, remote – not imminent, or directly a part of Nature); however, Bondyé is involved with humanity and Nature through the Orishas.
As for the devil? Satan? Mephistopheles? Lucifer? The Prince of Darkness? The Father of Lies? Asmodeus? Beelzebub? The Beast? Yeah…um…there isn’t one. Bondyé may be referred to as the “good God”, but there is no “bad” counterpart. Why? Because we believe in taking responsibility for our own actions and owning up to the consequences thereof, not foisting it off on some ethereal scapegoat the way that the Abrahamic beliefs do (Christianity in particular).
Because there’s no God of Evil, there’s no reason for us to go out into the world and try to “save” everyone from it. We understand that each person’s path is their own. There’s no need to go out and try to
Next in the “hierarchy”, so to speak, comes Damballah Wedo and Ayida Wedo – depicted as serpents, entwined about one another, both of the same and yet separate, the creators of the world. Damballah is the Father God figure, with Ayida (literally the feminine aspect) His “other half”. Note, this is not His consort, or a “helpmeet”, or anything of this nature. Though often regarded as being married to Damballah, such union is a true marriage in which the two parts are joined into one.So why bring up Vodou when speaking of Celtic happenings? For the simple reason of just whom is associated with the benevolent father God, Damballah: St. Patrick.... (to read on, click here)
New Feature: Toil & Trouble by Cap'n Dave
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Kallan note: If you're having trouble viewing, click here.
Sunshine's Meanderings with Kathleen
When you meet someone for the first time, how do you identify yourself? And what do you look for in the other person? Do you automatically see a possible friend or do you tend to put up walls? Do you open up emotionally or shield yourself until you see who and what this other person is? Is the person you show this stranger the real you or a personification of the person you think they want to see?
I grew up knowing who I was with my tribal culture and that you never told your real name to anyone. That name was how you saw yourself in relation to the Earth Mother and was between you and the Earth. In the tribal culture there was not a "religion" as it is thought of. It was a cultural centering and involved your place within the tribe and its practices and relationship with the Earth. Everyone had a name that they were called by and sometimes it was the name they were given at birth or sometimes the name they took later. And sometimes that name changed as the patterns of their life changed.
On the other side of the family, the Celtic tradition was different and the "religion" was truly that with deities and ceremonies to the goddesses and gods. It seemed to me when I was young that the two were so far apart that I could never meld them into anything that worked for me. Because of the schism I tended to stay more to the tribal practices. I couldn't seem to wrap my head around the idea that there were spirits that actually needed recognition from me. It took well into my teens before the two were able to come together in my head and heart and then I finally grasped that they were just different interpretations of the same thing.
Danu is the Celtic version of the Earth Mother, more or less. There didn't seem to be any tribal version of the Green Man but there were many lesser spirits that played tricks and could lead people astray. I discovered their counterparts in Celtic belief and there seemed no reason not to believe that they were simply different names for the same beings. The Moon Goddess seems to be the same being whether you call her Nikomis or Aine.
Later still in life, I finally realized that my real name was somehow connected with my astrological moon sign. Whether that was because that was how I saw myself or for some other reason, I don't know. My moon self is very different to the sun sign that I show the world. Life never seems to quit being a teacher so who knows who I will be before I finally end this spoke of the wheel. Grandma didn't teach me anything about Astrology, but she did use rune stones. She also didn't use tarot cards. As a result, I came into Astrology as a teenager and also discovered tarot cards. So the "who I am" changed and then changed again later on when I lived in California and joined a coven.
So, the question is "Who are You?" Has your inner me changed as your path has moved on or did you know the real me from the beginning? Have those changes changed the Me you show the world or are they all inside? Have they pushed you to grow or changed your path?
Weekly Tarot: 7 of Swords
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| Vanessa Tarot |
The Seven of Swords is one of those warning cards that tells you to heighten your awareness and be prepared to take action. It could be that you've been playing ostrich, sticking your head in the sand, hoping against hope that the problem will just go away. It's time to face it head-on. It could be you thought you got away with something- maybe you did (on the surface), but who was affected by it? On the other hand, this could be a warning that someone is trying to take something that's yours. It could be physical property, or your job, your self-esteem, your joy... open your eyes, and take a look at your surroundings.
Or, it could be this is a time for you to have the boldness of this charming thief. It's time to be strong, confident, and know you can accomplish anything, if you are only bold enough to try.
Now is a time to review and act swiftly upon the information you receive.
Weekly Totem: Owl
The owl is symbolic in many different cultures:
Greece: Owl was the totem of Athena, the Greek goddess of learning and wisdom.
Celtic societies, Egypt, Hindu culture: Owl is the guardian of the Otherworld or Underworld, and protector of the dead.
Native American nations: Owl is the symbol of wisdom, foresight, and the keeper of sacred knowledge.
Medieval Europe: Owls were said to be the form witches and wizards took as a disguise.
West African and Aboriginal Australian cultures viewed the owl as a messenger of secrets, kin to sorcerers, as well as companions to seers, mystics and medicine people.
Owl sees and knows the truth. It's ability to navigate through the darkest night and bring back nourishment for itself and others is the foundation of this essence.
When you have lost your way, owl essence will guide you back to your proper path and wisdom. Owl medicine can help a person to extract secrets, to see that which is hidden in the darkness and is very powerful for soul retrievals for this reason.
Many shamans, psychic healers and mediums have owl medicine either as a primary totem or can call upon one as needed. They can see clear through to the core reason for any type of imbalance and then they can spot the proper medicine needed to heal the imbalance.
Owl people tend to be very wise, often beyond their years because they see far more deeply than many others do. They tend to be mystical, rather magical people and often are highly interested in magic and ritual at which they are extremely gifted. They can find secrets and things being hidden (deceptions) quite easily.
Owl's message is to look more deeply into yourself and others before making a decision this week. Your intuition is telling you something- heed what it has to say.
The Shameless Plug
Check it out for yourself here.
That's it for this week's Stew. Mull Digest. Enjoy!
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