Naturalistic Paganism
Yule (the Winter Solstice) is right around the corner!
How are your celebration plans coming? With less than 4 weeks left before Yule (the Winter Solstice), I have to admit I’ve got only a little ready. For many of us, this is a big Sabbat, which takes a more preparation (and if you are buying gifts, the HP Gift List here might help). Whether it’s due to cultural inertia, or kid’s expectations, the importance of Stars and this Sabbat, or whatever, it’s a big deal in our family. We’ve are about to start the Solstice doors and decorating (right after Thanksgiving though because Thanksgiving is as late as possible this year, there are only 24 days between Thanksgiving and Solstice). If you have been doing your Winter Solstice traditions for years, if you are just starting your family and are currently building the traditions which will bring the Universe to your kids, or anything in between, I hope that the traditions and practices on this post are found to be useful, inspiring, or just comforting. One fun family activity you can do now is to make a gingerbread stonehenge (directions here).
Holiday Gift Ideas for Naturalistic Pagans, 2019
Like so many of us, our family is planning the gifts for Winter Solstice/the holidays. Those of us who celebrate the Winter Solstice have an even shorter time than most Americans for holiday planning and shopping, so I wanted to our annual Naturalistic Pagan Winter Solstice gift idea post out now. Here are some gift ideas to give or ask for! Of the items here, many will help your spiritual practice, enriching your daily life. Others will help you be understood by loved ones, or help you open a child’s eyes to our glorious Universe. Read More
Reclaiming the Cosmic in Holiday Rituals Webinar This Thursday (November 14th)!
The Last Mercury Transit until 2032 just started! Cloudy? You can see it happening online! [Stardust, Contemplating]
It’s common for us Pagans to be among those most aware of what the planet Mercury is doing, and while going retrograde happens every few months (~3 times a year) a Mercury transit (when Mercury “eclipses”* the Sun) is much, much more rare. Mercury is now blocking some tiny bit of the Sun’s light, which won’t happen again until 2032.
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The History of Sex: A new podcast by B. T. Newberg
What was it like to be a cunning woman during the witch trials of Renaissance Europe? Or a eunuch priest of Cybele in ancient Rome? Or a cross-dressing shaman in Siberia when Europeans first came knocking?
That’s the kind of thing we’ll be exploring in the new podcast The History of Sex.
Sex and gender issues lie at the core of the Neopagan movement, not to mention the pre-Christian Pagan religions that have inspired it. Anyone interested in these basic questions will find something rewarding to discover in this show.
For example, did you know the Nazis encouraged young women to bear a child out of wedlock for the Fatherland? Or that pre-contact Hawaii had no such thing as marriage? Or that ancient Romans had no concept of orientation, only a vague sense of “preference” for one sex or the other?
To whet your appetite, here are just a few of the episodes already out:
- What the Zombie Apocalypse Teaches Us About Sex: Hunter-gatherers and the Walking Dead
- The History of Gay Bars, Feat. Born Yesterday
- A Real-life Handmaid’s Tale: Sex in the Third Reich
We’ll have much more coming up in the following year, so be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get podcasts. You can also listen at our website: www.historyofsexpod.com.
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Pagan Coming Out Day – May 2nd
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