We have great articles from Captain Dave, Sosanna, Renee and Kathleen; Karen's bringing you the Pagan Lore, Kestril's got your song, and our usual news, astrology and tarot is all a part of the mix. We're still accepting submissions for the Beltane Edition. Please contact me (Kallan) by Wednesday of this week if you are interested in contributing. Please be sure to check out the special announcement from Christopher Penczak. There's a deadline of noon today on it.
Grab your favorite fork, spoon and beverage of choice.. it's time to dig in!
Happy Birthday this week to Autumn Earthsong(!!!), Lisa Davis, Corielle Riddell, Helen Songer, Marcela Horacio-Diaz (!!), Elizabeth Cody, ROMMY DRIKS (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), LJ Scott, Lily Shahar Kunning, Tabitha Cook Hammons, Dana Wright, Klavdiya Georgieva Kitanova, Dana McKinney (!!!!!), Susan Yee, Lugh Samildanach, Joshua Holcomb, Tina M. Price, ANGEL BELLA MIXON (!!!!!!!!!!!!), Sue Parks, and Élise Pettey(!!!!!!!!!!!). May all of you have the most wonderful birthday ever, and may your next year of life be filled with good health, joy, peace, happiness, wealth and the very best of things in abundance :)
In the News
Witchcraft-accused Fears to Go Home
3 Feared Dead, Houses Razed over Witchcraft Accusations
PNG Socery Law Highlights a Deadly Problem
Pooka Pages Beltane Issue is Live
SPECIAL EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: On behalf of Christopher Penczak...
49 North Policy Street, Salem, NH 03079
PLEASE NOTE: This is an online fundraising event, ongoing from now until April 21st – physical attendance (or distance) are not concerns! THIS LASTS THROUGH NOON TODAY ONLINE.
The Temple has met one of its most important goals: the acquisition of land and buildings to give the Temple a permanent home. The Temple has purchased Grandview Manor, a beautiful late 19th-century house with detached barn and cottage and over five acres of land in Salem, NH.
Read this article.
To comply with the town's requirements for holding classes and religious services at the property, we need to put in additional parking between the house and the barn. We have a site plan, approved by the Salem Town Planning Board, what we need now is to raise the funds to hire a contractor to do the work to implement it.
Towards that end we have launched a fundraising campaign on IndieGoGo. You can find the fundraising page here:
http://www.indiegogo.com/TOWparking
While donations in all amounts are welcome, the lead ministers and founders of the Temple would like to specifically offer our thanks to donors with the perks listed along with our fundraiser. Please feel free to choose an appropriate thank you at your donation level with our blessings!
You can contribute, and ask friends and family to contribute. Donations to the Temple of deductible on your federal income tax. In addition to donating, you can tell people you know within the pagan and witchcraft communities and share information about our fundraiser on social networks from Facebook, Google+, and Twitter, to pagan-specific mailing lists and social groups.
Our thanks to the gods and spirits and you, our community, for the blessings of this Great Work!
Pagan Lore with Karen Szabo
Sunday, April 21
Birthday of Rome. On this day, an annual festival called the Palilia (Feast of Pales) was celebrated in ancient Rome to honor the pastoral Goddess Pales. In the country, special purification rites were performed to keep the sheep disease-free. Shepherds, followed by their flock, would traditionally leap through bonfires. In the city of Rome, the festival was celebrated with wine and merriment.
Monday, April 22
Earth Day. This is a day dedicated to Mother Earth and a time for Witches throughout the world to perform Gaia-healing rituals. The first Earth Day took place in 1970 as a result of the Ecology Movement of that time, and since then it has been held each year to help encourage recycling programs and the use of solar energy, and to increase community awareness of important environmental issues.
Tuesday, April 23
The Vinalia, a joyous wine festival in honor of the god Jupiter, was held annually on this date in ancient Rome. On this date in the year 1934, actress Shirley MacLaine was born. Her bestselling spirituality books have had a major influence on the Neo-Pagan movement and have made her name synonymous with the New Age. On this date in the year 1976, the first national all-women conference on women's spirituality was held in a rented church in Boston, Massachusetts. Several hundred women attended the event. They proclaimed "The Goddess is alive; magick is afoot!" and invoked Her by dancing, clapping, and chanting. The conference lasted for three consecutive days.
Wednesday, April 24
Saint Mark's Eve. According to folklore of the English countryside, the ghosts of all men, women, and children destined to pass away in the next year can be seen floating by on this night by any person brave enough to spend the night awake on the front porch of a church. However, if a person was unfortunate enough to fall asleep during the vigil or if he failed to repeat it annually for the remainder of his life, he would never wake up the next morning.
Thursday, April 25
On this date in the year 1989, USA Today reported that Patricia Hutchins, a military Wiccan stationed at an air force base in Texas, was granted religious leave by the United States Military in order to observe the eight Sabbats of the Wicca religion. Ms. Hutchins was the first Wiccan in history to have her religious holidays granted by the U.S. Air Force.
Friday, April 26
On this New Year's Day in the African republic of Sierra Leone, an ancient seed-sowing ceremony is performed in honor of, and to appease, the powerful Goddess of fertility who watches over the crops.
Saturday, April 27
A mythical half-man, half-animal being called Tyi Wara is honored annually on this date with songs and dance by farmers in the African republic of Mali. It is believed among the Bambara tribe of that region that Tyi Wara was sent down to Earth by the gods of nature in order to teach human beings the necessary skills of farming.
That's all for now -- I hope everyone has a wonderful week, and I'll see you next time with more Pagan Lore!
Karen
Sparkle and Shine with Sosanna
Do not speak ill of the dead
De mortuis nil nisi bonum dicendum est means - “Of the dead, nothing but good is to be said”
This past few weeks has seen a loss of some pretty public people. The website “Dead or Alive” gives the surfer a chance to look across all the most recent deaths, or deaths on this day. Over the last 15 days or so we've lost a few. Roger Ebert died April 4th. Margaret Thatcher and Annette Funicellodied April 8th. Jonathan Winters died April 11th. I couldn't get over how nasty the media was and the comments on the death of Margaret Thatcher. She’s not my favorite person at all, but it just seemed that people were being vicious about it. Even the BBCis getting in on the act by playing “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead” referring to the departed Thatcher.
When I was a kid I remember my grandmother saying, “Don’t speak ill of the dead.” I never really got it. Just because you die, you don’t turn into some sort of holier than thou person. If you’re an asshole in life, guess what, in death you’re still an asshole.
I do a lot of work on my family tree. My grandmother is 97 years old. As I copy the Obits from her bible I’ll ask her about this person or that person. I read in the obit how they attended church regularly and where “God Fearing” people who were trusted in the community, then my Grandmother says, yeah she used to make me empty her pot and I hated it.
When my Aunt Peggy passed, my Grandmother told me about the time she put both her hands on the side of the old coal stove she had. Her hands were burnt to a crisp she said. I asked, did you take her to the hospital? She said, “no, we took her to an old colored woman who healed her right up too. Better than the church or the doctor could”. She went on to say, “she was a tough one that, Peggy-Ann”. See, Aunt Peggy may have been a tough one, but she wasn't an asshole. So there was no ill speaking of her.
So then, what if you’re an asshole and someone you know dies? Take Pastor Rick Warren of the Saddleback Church in California. Very evangelical. Very very much on my list of people I really don’t need to hear speak… EVER. His 27 year old son committed suicide on April 5th. I was shocked at the number of people that starting giving this family hell. I mean I understand the guys a pr*ck but really? His son just killed himself. He addressed his church with thanks on his blogand yeah I did read it, so I guess “EVER” was a bit harsh.
I've asked myself what I would say if I was asked to give the eulogy at my mother’s funeral. I honestly have nothing good to say. She was an awful person who was nasty to me every chance she got. She was ungrateful and a major drain on my will to live. I’m certainly not going to get up there and spout rainbows and unicorns to make the family feel better. So then, I’m probably not the best person to ask to give the eulogy.
That being said, I have to go back to another one of my grandmother’s (and Thumper’s Dad) quotes, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.” We don’t have to agree with them, we don’t even have to like them. But out of respect for those that did love that asshole, just shut yer pie-hole and move on.
Understanding that we can agree to disagree is one of the most wonderful things I've learned in my life.
I don’t have to love everyone; I just have to love myself. And that my friends, is a wonderful way to continue to Sparkle and Shine.
Namaste & Blessed Be
Sosanna
)O(
This Week in Astrology
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| Josephine Wall |
Full Moon Lunar Eclipse articles:
MysticMamma
ElsaElsa
DarkStar Astrology
Weekly Horoscope from DarkStar Astrology
April VoC Moon Calendar 2013
Sunshine's Meanderings with Kathleen Lane
This is my favorite Empress of all decks. I used to play with my great grandmother's tarot deck when I was little. They were like story books and I used to make up stories about the characters. This Empress is from the Gill deck and I have used it for years. Out of all the decks I have tried down through the years, I like the readings I get from the Gill deck best. My daughter uses the Wildwood deck and my son uses the Thoth deck. I like the Wildwood deck but it doesn't paint pictures for me like the Gill deck does and every time I use the Thoth deck I get very negative and dark readings. It has always seemed strange to me that the style of the deck could influence the readings, but it certainly works that way for me.
Maybe the image that I have in my mind of the Earth Mother which is very similar to the Empress in the Gill deck influences my afinity with the deck. I simply do not know why one deck works well for me and others do not. But this is the perfect Earth Mother for me. Perhaps that is why she has always been me in readings.
I just ordered the Alchemy 1977 England Tarot Deck because I think the symbology is interesting and because I am afraid that I am getting so stuck in a rut that maybe a new deck will force me to see things in a different light.
My second favorite card is the Magician and again I think I like him or her because the character is like The Trickster in Native American beliefs. In the Gill Deck, the Magician is female and the depiction is wonderful. But I wonder what change having a totally different personification will have on my readings. Do other tarot users get totally different readings depending on the deck they use? Or is this just a strange abnormality that I seem to experience? It will be interesting to see how this works out. Are my readings totally dependent on cards that work in my own mental images?
This will be an interesting experiment and maybe one that will open up some new lines of thought for me. I will post the results whichever way it works out.
StarSteps with Renee Avard
All of the world has been shaken this week, not only by the reality of the attacks on American soil again, but even in our own lives, things are a bit 'off'. At least that is the feeling I have this week. Deep breaths and gratitude keep me going ….. the following is all I could muster after everything,,,,,
As time seems to erase things
Circumstances remind
that the threats
are very much real
Shaken at the very core
frightened by the truth
stuck in a stare
Questioning our place
When all the world
seems to be in chaos
breathe and find
the gratitude
Our homes and security
threatened and destroyed
longing to wake
but this is reality
Time gives a false sense
of security and peace
hold on to the light
in a world that is darkening
© Renee Avard
April 19, 2013
Uncharted Seas with Captain Dave
The Death of Reason
I reside in the city of Oakland, California…but I do not consider myself to be an Oaklander.
I’ve lived in the state of California, in one city or another, for most of my life…but I do not consider myself to be a Californian.
Today, I make one more separation.
Here in the United States, we live with the memory of gun violence. It happens so frequently that we’ve become almost numbed by it unless it happens to children, as with the case back in December.
March 25th, 2006
Kyle Aaron Huff, aged 28, opened fire with two semi-automatic handguns, an assault rifle and a pump-action shotgun with military-style pistol grips (all purchased legally in Montana), into a crowd of people at a rave afterparty in Seattle, killing 7 and injuring 2 more before turning the gun on himself.
Kyle Aaron Huff, aged 28, opened fire with two semi-automatic handguns, an assault rifle and a pump-action shotgun with military-style pistol grips (all purchased legally in Montana), into a crowd of people at a rave afterparty in Seattle, killing 7 and injuring 2 more before turning the gun on himself.
November 29th, 2009
Maurice Clemmons, aged 37, was out on bail for child-rape charges when he entered a coffee shop in Parkland, Washington and opened fire on a group of police officers, killing all 4 and injuring a patron. He was later gunned down by police following a two-day intensive manhunt. His semiautomatic handgun was stolen.
Maurice Clemmons, aged 37, was out on bail for child-rape charges when he entered a coffee shop in Parkland, Washington and opened fire on a group of police officers, killing all 4 and injuring a patron. He was later gunned down by police following a two-day intensive manhunt. His semiautomatic handgun was stolen.
June 20th, 1994
Dean Allen Mellberg, a former USAF airman, aged 20, opened fire with a MAK-90 semiautomatic assault rifle purchased from a gun dealer in Spokane, into a hospital at the Fairchild Air Force Base. He claimed the lives of 5 and injured 23 more before he was shot and killed by military police.
Dean Allen Mellberg, a former USAF airman, aged 20, opened fire with a MAK-90 semiautomatic assault rifle purchased from a gun dealer in Spokane, into a hospital at the Fairchild Air Force Base. He claimed the lives of 5 and injured 23 more before he was shot and killed by military police.
May 21st, 1998
Kipland P. Kinkel, aged 15, stole a gun from his father and took two more that he had purchased from a friend and from his father and went on a shooting spree, first at home where he killed his parents, then at the school that expelled him for having a gun in his locker - Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon. He had killed 4 (including his parents) and injured 25 others before five of his classmates wrestled him to the ground and kept him there until police arrested him.
Kipland P. Kinkel, aged 15, stole a gun from his father and took two more that he had purchased from a friend and from his father and went on a shooting spree, first at home where he killed his parents, then at the school that expelled him for having a gun in his locker - Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon. He had killed 4 (including his parents) and injured 25 others before five of his classmates wrestled him to the ground and kept him there until police arrested him.
There are more...many, many more. (continue reading here:)
Song of the Week with Kestril Trueseeker
Everyone has things from their past that haunt them. Maybe it was an action they failed to take. Maybe it was a relationship that went wrong. You can't change the past - it's part of what makes you who you are today. But you can't wallow in those mistakes either. Acknowledge them and then move on. Because it's hard to dance with the devil on your back.
Keep Dancing,
Kestril
Weekly Tarot: Queen of Wands
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| Vanessa Tarot |
"The essence of fire behaving as water, such as a rainbow: The natural embodiment of passion and sensuality, who is always the center of attention. One who reflects the desires and ambitions of others, and ignites them. A radiantly vital person, cocky and charismatic, who sees what she wants and goes after it." ~ Facade
The Queen of Wands radiates a passion for life- but not in the way most of us think of a passionate (read emotional) person. She's upbeat, cheerful, and displays a quiet kind of confidence in herself. Resiliency is her middle name- she lets nothing get her down. She sets her goal and makes it happen. The message this week is to stay focused. Remember, this is an "own it" kind of year. Those obstacles are made to be destroyed. You can do this, and this Queen is here to help.
The Shameless Plug
This week's plug is for the amazing work of Danielle Supplicki at Heartroot Studio. If you haven't seen her work, you are in for a major treat!! I'm going to share some of my personal favorites, but please do go visit. If you find something you like, Danni has graciously given a special offer just for our Sunday Stew Readers! If you order this week, use the code PAGAN10 and you'll get 10% off your order!
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| Gaia Limited Edition |
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| Joy |
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| Clavelon |
And, here is a picture of the lovely artist herself, Danielle Supplicki:
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| Danni (one of my fav people) |
You can also read more at the Heartroot Studio Blog! Once you've finished perusing the shop, come back and let us know which one you like best!
That's it for this week's Stew! Mull. Digest. Enjoy!!
The Sunday Stew is a weekly news and entertainment e-publication created as a service to the Pagan community. Articles posted are copyrighted to their authors and all opinions are expressly those of each contributor (not necessarily that of the blog owner). Feedback and suggestions are always welcome, as are submissions (although there is no implied nor explicit guarantee of publication). For more information, please contact Kallan atkallan.kennedy@gmail.com.