Don't forget! For the Love of Ly Week starts here on The Secret Life blog.. see The Shameless Plug for more details. Magaly Guerrero has a special treat on her blog as well. Be sure to check the announcement after the news.
Do you have your tea, coffee or beverage of choice? Great! Then, let's dig in!!
Happy Birthday this week to Ariel Marie(!!!), Nonna Kae, Tee Yem, Theresa Lucas Chase, Lise Silverwolf, Sandi Crawford (!!!), Jess Carlson (!!!), MAGALY GUERRERO (!!!!!!!), Epona Willow(!!!!), Jo Anne Stone, Ygraine Spun Weaver Lennox, Janice Broda, Michelle D. Gregg(!!), and Gypsy Moonwillow. May this be your best birthday ever, and may your next year of life bring you much joy, peace, happiness, health and all good things in abundance!
In the News
Shots Fired at Florida Pagan Author's Home- The Wild Hunt
Man's Head Cut Off for Witchcraft
Gang Burns House over Witchcraft Allegations
Man Kills Mother and Only Daughter over Witchcraft Allegations
Black Magic Witch Doctor Jailed After Defense Fails to Charm Dubai Court
Test Cricketer Fined After Witch Taunt at His Ex-Wife
Click here for more details!
Pagan Lore with Karen Szabo
Good Morning, Sunday Stew readers! Ready for a trip around the world, to sample ancient and current celebrations plus other Pagan Lore? Let's go......
Sunday, March 31
On this date in ancient Rome, the annual Feast of Luna was celebrated at moonrise in honor of the beautiful and powerful Goddess of the Moon and lunar magicks.
On this date in the year 1848, the famous Fox Sisters supposedly made communication with the spirit world at Hydesville Cottage in upstate New York. Their famous seances gave birth to the popular spiritualist movement, which was all the rage in the United States and England from the mid-1880's to the early twentieth century.
Monday, April 1
The month of Venus begins with April Fool's Day (also known as All Fools' Day), an occasion for playing practical jokes on friends, family, and coworkers. This custom dates back to olden times, when inmates of insane asylums were allowed out in the streets for one day each year for the sadistic amusement of those who were (supposedly) normal.
Tuesday, April 2
The old Pagan custom of "carrying death away" is carried out in certain regions of Germany on this day. In celebration of Winter's demise, special straw dolls are burned in sacred bonfires or "drowned" in sacred wells.
Wednesday, April 3
In Iran, this is the thirteenth day of their New Year, when special bowls containing sprouted seeds are traditionally cast into the rivers as offerings in the belief that the bad luck of the previous year will be carried away.
The Goddess Persephone's annual return from the Underworld, allowing the Earth to bloom again, was celebrated every year on this date by the ancient Romans.
Thursday, April 4
The annual festival of Cybele, the Megalesia, was celebrated on this date in ancient Rome. She was a Goddess of fertility whose cult originated in Phrygia. Her male attendants were self-castrated priests and worship of her was wild and orgiastic.
Friday, April 5
Festival of Kwan Yin. Every year on this day, Kwan Yin (the powerful Chinese goddess of healing, mercy, compassion, and forgiveness) is invoked for protection, love, mercy, and wisdom. Offerings of incense and violet-colored candles are placed on her altar, along with rolled-up pieces of rice paper upon which various wishes have been written.
Saturday, April 6
In France, a children's springtime festival takes place on this day. Miniature pine boats, each holding a burning candle, are cast into the estuaries of the Moselle River to symbolize the "sea of life" and the happiness of sailing its sacred waves.
And that's it for another week of Pagan Lore! I hope Spring is actually making an appearance wherever you are, and that the week ahead is full of good things for you! See you next time,
Karen
Sparkle and Shine with Sosanna
Why We Need Marriage Equality
This week there’s been a lot of arguing and fussing about marriage equality. Today around this country and in places around the world same sex relationships are recognized. On a US federal level however, same sex marriages are not recognized and are indeed in some cases punished.
Let’s take Sally Ride for example. Sally was in a 27 year same sex relationship with her partner Dr. Tam O’Shaugnessy. Sally Ride, by all accounts is an American hero. She was the first woman in space and was an inspiration for millions of little girls. When she passed away her partner was entitled to life insurance payments that would automatically go to a surviving spouse of an astronaut. However DOMA does not allow benefits for same sex couples therefore she gets nothing.
DOMA denies 1,138 federal benefits that are available immediately to couples that marry. One of those rights includes immigration rights.
One of these rights includes the right of immigration. Bi-national couples in the United States are allowed to marry their partner and that partner is granted the right to stay in the United States. According to Immigration Equality there are over 35,000 bi-national couples living in the United States. At any time, these families can be ripped apart simply because DOMA does not allow them to marry, a right that any opposite sex couple has. Example, Bradford Wells and Anthony John Makk have been together for 19 years in San Francisco. Bradford is a U. S. Citizen and John is from Australia. John’s application to stay in the United States to remain as the caregiver and spouse to Bradford was denied. DOMA does not allow for same sex marriages. Therefore this family is being destroyed.
One of these rights includes the right of immigration. Bi-national couples in the United States are allowed to marry their partner and that partner is granted the right to stay in the United States. According to Immigration Equality there are over 35,000 bi-national couples living in the United States. At any time, these families can be ripped apart simply because DOMA does not allow them to marry, a right that any opposite sex couple has. Example, Bradford Wells and Anthony John Makk have been together for 19 years in San Francisco. Bradford is a U. S. Citizen and John is from Australia. John’s application to stay in the United States to remain as the caregiver and spouse to Bradford was denied. DOMA does not allow for same sex marriages. Therefore this family is being destroyed.
Marriage Equality means that all marriages, those joined together by two consenting adults will be equal to all other marriages. Gender should not play a role in marriage. Example, Nikki & Thomas Araguz were married for two years in the state of Texas. Thomas, a firefighter died in the line of duty. Nikki would be allowed benefits, pensions and rights based on their legal marriage. Sadly, the family of Thomas is challenging the marriage in order to get his firefighter’s death benefits from his wife. Nikki is transgender. They are claiming that her status of not being a “real woman” makes this marriage a same sex marriage, which is illegal in Texas. So after losing her husband, now she will also be taken to court have her life turned upside down, simply because her marriage is not equal to a opposite sex marriage.
LGBT people are the same as straight people. They have mortgages and families. They get up and go to work and pay taxes just like everyone else, but they are denied basic civil rights that are given to even criminals.
In 1967 Loving v. Virginia , Chief Justice Earl Warren’s opinion stated: "Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival”.
Let’s look at that again; marriage is a basic civil right. Many say that marriage isn’t in the constitution. However the Equal Protection clause of the 14th amendment says:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
By denying marriage to U.S. Citizens, they are being denied a basic fundamental right which is a direct violation of the 14thamendment. They are being denied life, liberty and property, and marriage laws are not being applied equally.
An opposite sex couple can sleep soundly at night knowing that if one passes, the other will get federal benefits including Social Security Death Benefits, insurance and widow/er benefits as it relates to their profession. They do not have to worry that someone will come to their grieving spouse and tax their property or tell them they their marriage was not real and take their home.
An opposite sex couple can stay in the country with their spouse without fear of deportation. They do not need to get wills and powers of attorney or the any other of documents required to mimic only a few of the rights granted by marriage.
How can we as a society continue to allow a group of Americans to be told they are not as good as another? If you've not done so already please educate yourself on the benefits of marriage and what is currently being denied.
“The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities.” -John E. E. Dalberg, Lord Acton, The History of Freedom in Antiquity, [1877].
Namaste & Blessed Be
Sosanna
)O(
Sunshine's Meanderings with Kathleen Lane
I was going through some old papers this week doing some Spring Cleaning and ran onto a bunch of research I had done years ago on the Trickster spot in mythology. In reading back over some of the stuff I decided that this would be the basis for my blog this week.
Growing up the stories I heard were mainly about Raccoon as the Trickster and it wasn't until we moved west that I started hearing the coyote stories. In the course of my research on the subject, it finally dawned on me (forehead slap) that he was part of almost all mythology in one form or another.
The Magician in the Tarot decks takes the form of the Trickster frequently. In some of the decks he appears as a mountebank or juggler. That certainly appears to be the Trickster to me. As Prometheus he stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind. Again the role of the Trickster.
Christopher Moore wrote a great book about Coyote in his role in western Native American mythology in "Coyote Blue" and what can happen if he happens to be your totem animal. If you haven't read the book, I highly recommend it as a fun story and one to make you laugh out loud.
In the mythology of African people, the Trickster frequently takes the form of Monkey or of Rabbit. Think about the Brer Rabbit stories. He was certainly an able Trickster in those stories. In Kipling's "Just So Stories" he took different forms but crops up there, too.
In the culture of NE American Natives, the Trickster is Raccoon. His affinity with Earth, Air and Water makes him a wonderful character and he not only tricks other animals, but humans as well. He teaches lessons about greed, gullibility, sloth, etc.
Using the Trickster as the basis for teaching children satisfies the essentials for children's stories. They are funny, they teach a lesson on morality and in the ones where Trickster is part of the creation they teach children where they came from and how. I don't think I have ever heard or read a Trickster story that didn't have something to teach. Whether he is Loki, Rabbit, Coyote or Raccoon he teaches what to do and what not to do.
This Week in Astrology
Apr 3, 2013 12:37 AM Sun Square Moon (Last Quarter Moon)
Last Quarter Moon by Dana Gerhardt
The Last Quarter moon is good for banishing, reflecting, ridding one's self of addictions and things that "no longer grow corn".
Fun fact: The Last Quarter moon always rises at midnight :)
Stone Cold Banishing Spell by Janina Renee (Llewellyn)
Rx Alert: Pluto goes retrograde on April 12, and stays Rx until September 20. For more on this, check out Lynn Koiner's article here.
Song of the Week with Kestril Trueseeker
This Week's Tarot: The Fool
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| Vanessa Tarot |
It's appropriate that The Fool pays us a visit this week. It's time for new beginnings. Spring is finally arriving and it's time to plant- our intentions, our beginnings, our seeds of all kinds. Adventure is ours for the taking if we follow her lead. We only need be fearless and bold in our actions and thoughts. This is a time of renewal of spirit and heart; for creativity to abound and for us to stop worrying what's going to happen next- it's time to enjoy the ride.
What would you do if you knew all of your needs would be cared for and you had no worries? What is your unique gift you'd like to give the world? What kind of life would you have if you could do anything and know you couldn't fail? Now, remove those what if's and go for it!! You need only be brave.
This Week's Totem: Otter
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| Druid Animal Oracle |
Key words: Joy, Play, Helpfulness
Otters are some of my favorite animals to watch in the wild. We have a river otter that visits my back yard every once in awhile (I happen to be lucky enough to live with a creek behind us that feeds into a run, that feeds into a river). According to National Geographic, "otters swim by propelling themselves with their powerful tails and flexing their long bodies. They also have webbed feet, water repellent fur to keep them dry and warm, and nostrils and ears that close in the water. They remain active in winter, using ice holes to surface and breathe. They can hold their breath underwater for some eight minutes."
Sociologist and animal behaviorists agree that socialization is a key to brain development and intelligence. Otters have this in spades. "River otters are renowned for their sense of play. Otter play mostly consists of wrestling with conspecifics. Chasing is also a common game. River otters rely upon play to learn survival skills such as fighting and hunting." ~Smith College Biology Dept.
Those who carry an otter totem are some of the most fun people to be around. They never lose their sense of childlike wonder and play. They know when to laugh at themselves and when to use their antics to cheer up another. In many indigenous North American cultures, otter was seen as the ultimate feminine creature, and one to which both men and women should aspire for her nurturing, playful spirit that lives without jealousy.
Otter (Dobhran- which means water dog in Gaelic) in Celtic culture was also seen as a playful, go-with-the-flow creature with a strong sense of fun.
Otter's message is to remember the wonder of the world and your connection to nature. Don't take everything so seriously and lighten up this week. Have fun, go outside. Take a hike in the woods, build a fort out of twigs and fallen branches, skip rocks, climb a tree.. be a child again- go ahead. You have permission. PLAY!
Shameless Plug:
Tomorrow, we'll explore "When I See the Wild God".
I found it appropriate to start today with "Magdalene".
Copyright note: The excerpt below is copyrighted to the author and shared here with her permission. To protect her rights, all copy/paste has been disabled on this blog. I'm sure you understand.
Magdalene
Book description on Amazon: "MAGDALENE is the Grail Queen of the Templar Legacy. Miriam, young, naive priestess of the goddess Asherah is of the royal Hasmonean bloodline is the chosen initiatrix of the priest-king, Yeshuah ben Miriam and mother-to-be of their daughter. Set between Judea, ancient Cornwall, Glastonbury, the Druid isle of Mona and the mists of Ireland, Miriam - visionary and prophet - becomes a stranger to the woman she once was, stronger in the face of the savagery and brutality of war than she ever would have thought possible, closer than even she could have believed to the powers within nature to heal in the face of adversity. This is a controversial love story and an adventure into consciousness. Complete with an extensive glossary and bibliography de Angeles' tops off the book with GOD’S BASTARDS, an addendum of research and commentary."
Excerpt
Circa 61CE-
The Roman attack takes the form of a wedge, supported by the auxiliaries and the cavalry. The disorganised British army is forced back onto its own wagons and rapidly the battle becomes a massacre.
Tacitus claims 80,000 British dead and 400 Roman dead.
Boudica, chieftain of the Eceni, knew all along that the Romans were not friends of the Britons.
Her warnings were ignored, not only by the Prasutagus-her husband- but by almost every tribe south of the lands of the Picts. These tribes had firstly been seduced, then bough, then later, as we all know, betrayed. She didn’t act until after her husband died, and it was already too late when she finally convinced the warriors of several tribes to unite…but convince them she did and they rose up against the invaders. They were defeated utterly.
They were brilliant.
Prologue
My name is Miriam. I sit alone in the icy crypt that is shored up with enormous megalithic, hand-cut stone at the very end of the labyrinthine depths of catacombs that are lace beneath the old city of Jerusalem. There, I said all that in one breath.
I shiver from more than the cold and the draught, unable to distract myself from the age-old stories of ghosts and golem said to haunt the passageways of darkness.
I feel silly, a fraud; a child pretending to be a grown-up. Bit I am a woman and must behave. I have a great honour to fulfill, a destiny of such magnitude that I cannot begin to fathom the consequences.
I’m cold and just a little bit bored. At fourteen years old I am qadesha, an initiated priestess of Asherah, and, yes, a woman. My breasts have begun to bud, of which I am most proud but my hips are bit too much like a boy; my legs still gangly and my long copper hair is unruly, escaping from veils gone askew anyway, the bain of my existence because I cannot have it cut. At all. One’s hair holds one’s power.
I am the chosen one. Initiator of my beloved and his chosen queen.
Rather good I think.
What else…My childhood years were spent at my home at Reqem, the great stone city to the east. I studied midwifery, some of the martial arts, the rites of death, the seasonal rituals and many of the secrets of magic. It was there I was inked with my first ritual tattoos, the subtle marks upon my face and hands etch in needle-black; the markings of a priestess and a sorceress as well as the scarifications of my mother’s people.
When I was seven I was sent to train with the sisterhood of the qadesha in Jerusalem, within the walled, remaining buildings of what were once magnificent palaces, amidst stands of enormous oaks. I was taught, mainly, the arts of writing, healing, astrology and mathematics.
A year ago I was initiated into the mysteries of foretelling and upholding the rites of seasonal festivals, journeying beyond the physical body- well, psychic spying really- and interpreting dreams, omens and portents. Our spiritual traditions stretches back in time for several thousand years and beyond, to the temples of Sumer and the ancient of days. Our ways keep the spirits of earth, wind, fire and rain calm and agreeable.
I was chosen to be the sacred bride to our newly anointed king for all of the above reasons. Oh, and also because I am of royal lineage, though no in the line of David, on my mother’s father’s side.
I study Yeshuah from beneath hooded eyes; this man swathed in linen laid out upon his bed of stone, in a drugged stupor, wandering somewhere between the borders of life and death.
I feel nothing of the sacredness of the occasion. I am bored; have been here for an interminably long three days and only wish to be above-ground, immersed in the day-to-day activity of just another day.
He’s the one. Be focused, I berate myself.
He is the prophesied liberator of Judea and, in the presence of my peers and with the members of his following as a witness, I have performed the ritual that anointed him a king and living god in the traditional ways, with spikenard and the fat of the crocodile.
Oh and sleep would be nice, I catch myself thinking, food, a hot bath and a walk amongst the roses and the orange trees.
Then silence again. I shift on my chair and contemplate my hands that lie one upon the other, idle in my lap.
The poison is wearing off and in the motionless light of the candle’s flame I watch his eyelids flicker and move. I know that he dreams and I wonder, briefly, what he sees within the visions of the drug of seeming-death. Does he know that I am with him?
For even though his heart has ceased, he is alive, and is aware.
I have done this myself, several times, under the guidance of the qadesha who know how to interpret the oracles and prophecies that often come with such journeys into another world; where past and future merge; where the line between human and animal blurs and where the forging of otherworldly alliances represents the transition from apprentice to full-fledged priestess.
Ah, mashiah, I whisper to him softly, do not expect much of me.
I am, however, opinionated and proud of what I know about him and about the events unfolding in our region.
This whole damned thing has been his idea and I will love him for it when he fights beside the people in their struggle to regain self-determination against seemingly insurmountable odds; aiding the terrified in understanding the need to rise up and fight; for all the tribes, despite the differences in how they worship, to stand against the invaders. Despite the Sadducees’ acquiescence or perhaps because of it.
He will bring the self-righteous profiteers of Jerusalem who bend so low before the rule of Rome, and the priests of Yahweh- that foreign little thunder-god- who snub and jeer the qadesha; who insult us with bigotry and hatred and call us fornicators as though sex was only something for other creatures, to their knees.
He will bring low the dirty, ragged tzadiks that stand on every corner of the city proclaiming the end of the world. These men declare severity and austerity to be the way of righteousness when all they seem to be doing- all they are doing-is perpetuating a history of bloodshed.
They will not be forgiven if we win; if and when the tail of Rome is tucked between its legs as it flees our beloved desert.
My mind wanders to things beyond this room of rock and I focus on what I know of the way of things beyond the confines of my home here.
I remember the smell of the elusive rain as it pounded from the west and lifted in mists of steams from the rocks and caves beyond the Wadi Diq where my people still live, untouched by Rom, in riches and liberation amongst the vast caverns of our underground rose red city. The smells of the night fires, of figs and lamb roasting. The perfumes of frankincense and acacia.
Then I think of Jerusalem as I have known her. And her people…
I don’t think I like people very much.
I think that perhaps I hate them; they are cowards; rabble.
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| Arian Levanael Photography |
You can visit Ly at her website: LyDeAngeles.com
About the Author (From Amazon):
Ms Ly de Angeles is an internationally recognised author winning awards for both her visionary fiction and film. She has a varied and highly successful background producing and directing stage and street theatre, conducts private consultations with up-and-coming authors/screenwriters and is a freelance editor.Most widely known for her book "Witchcraft Theory and Practice" de Angeles was first published in 1987. She has had thirteen books released worldwide to date.
Ly's main area of study over the past twenty years has been the history of the usurpation of indigenous people through invasion, subsequent colonization, and the history and mythology of Ireland and Britain in particular. She is known to be very outspoken on matters pertaining to the sustainability and guardianship of earth and the rights of all species to self-determination.
Ly currently (2013) lives in Melbourne, Australia and is preparing to release the expanded and much anticipated 2002 sell out The Feast of Flesh and Spirit. She is writing her memoir Bednobs and Bastards/Memoirs of a Witch Queen and working towards a PhD.
For full bio lydeangeles.com
The photo was taken by Arian Levanael, a long-time witch friend of Ly's and phenomenal photographer. Check out his site: ArianLevanael.com
"For the Love of Ly" week continues tomorrow here on this blog, and lasts through Saturday (East Coast U.S. time, that is). Tomorrow, I'll share how I came to this love affair, a bit more of her bio, and much more!
That's it for this week's stew. Mull. Digest. Enjoy!