Samhain - The Morrigan ©2005-2007 staticgirl at deviantART

Last night I had a very intense meditation. Part of it took me to the Underworld - a place with which I have become very familiar over the past couple of years! - where I met the Morrighan - another very familiar occurrence. She handed me a sword and I found myself with black faery wings (she gave these to me the first time we met) and wearing warrior garb. She said to me: "REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE!"

To explain the significance of all of this would require recounting numerous shamanic journeys and meditative experiences wherein I have appeared before the Morrighan, frolicked with my crow sisters, flown on black faery wings, wielded a magickal sword, met Pictish warrior tribesmen, and been blessed by my Fortrenn ancestors. But one thing that I believe was being made abundantly clear is that I have a duty to remember those from whom I come and the blessings and protection that I have received from a very powerful goddess. The Morrighan teaches women to find their own strength and one of her many roles is as protectress of her kin. She comes to those of us who need her.

Who am I? A chosen daughter of the Morrighan. A strong, fierce, capable woman. A force to be reckoned with. Sometimes I forget these things. Not any more!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 7:10 PM | Comments (4)

Kali is a wonderful Goddess to call upon when we need to banish something that has ceased to be good for us, to give us the ability to awaken to new possibilities and new opportunities.

According to ancient Hindu tradition, Kali is the mother of us all. Kali is often depicted as a bloodthirsty harbinger of destruction, but this is so that through death we can experience the wonder of rebirth. When our lives seem as though they are out of control, this is Kali telling us that we have not chosen the right path. Through Kali's strength, we are forced out of complacency and fear to find the right path for ourselves.

Kali has unwavering judgment, strong willpower and penetrative insight. She also characterises how we feel about our attachments to people and possessions, and how we react when we are threatened with losing them. Don't be afraid to shed - Kali offers you the strength to rid your life of excess baggage, to confront the forces that threaten you, to destroy the elements of destruction in your life. Once this is done, you can celebrate new life!

I am the End ©2006-2007 Solkeera at deviantART

Kali comes to hurl your life onto a new path that will ultimately prove to be more fulfilling than your current path. The following affirmations will remind you of Kali's gift and help you to manifest that which is truly for your highest good.

• My new life path reveals itself to me
• I say goodbye to destructive influences
• There are rainbows in every rainfall
• I am awake to my life's calling
• I welcome Kali's strength & recuperative powers
• I trust the Universe to provide
• It's OK to release my juicy anger
• I can say "no" to negative influences

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 10:32 PM | Comments (2)

Yes, it's St. Patrick's Day. Living in Boston, it's kind of hard to avoid it, and unless you like to drink green beer or Guiness, smashed in an overcrowded bar with a bunch of drunken guys pretending to be Irish, it's the perfect day to stay in with a DVD and a nice pinot noir. Obviously I'm not Catholic and I'm not Irish, I'm Scottish (well, I'm actually descended from the Scoti who left Ireland around the first century CE and settled in a land that came to bear their name, one of whom married a Pictish princess and had a son who became the first king of Scotland, but that's a long story). I'm also the smartass who thought it was funny to wear orange to school on St. Patrick's Day. Needless to say, I did not grow up here or I probably wouldn't have survived to be writing this.

Anne Johnson is Scottish too and today, in her post No Green Please, We're Celtic, she gives us a terrific interview with Mannanán Mac Lir, Celtic God of the Sea. In it, Mannanán suggests that we join him in solidarity against those nasty Irish priests who ran out the ancient Celtic Gods by wearing the tartan of our Clan.

MacAlpine Ancient tartan

Here's mine. I found some badass designers of modern kilts. I'll get one made for next year. (I know, girls aren't supposed to wear kilts. I don't care, I think they're cool, and since I don't live in Scotland I doubt the kilt police are going to come after me.)

But more about Mannanán Mac Lir. I'm ashamed to admit that before Anne introduced me to him I didn't know anything about him. Bad Celtic fairy witch!

Who is Mannanán Mac Lir? He is a father, lover, sage and gatekeeper. He is often seen as a psychopomp, and considered to have strong connections to the Otherworld islands of the dead, the weather, and the mists between the worlds. He is usually counted as one of the Tuatha Dé Danann, although most scholars consider him to be of an older race of deities. Among a number of romantic associations with other Goddesses, he is said to have been married to Fand, who was a Fairy Queen, and was father or step-father to many known figures throughout Celtic mythology, including Lugh.

As an ancient God who can aid those in need of guidance, protection, wisdom and magick, Mannanán Mac Lir can be a powerful ally and is known to be accessible to those who seek him. In addition to being associated with the ocean, mists and stormy weather, he also is associated with astral protection, psychic abilities and magickal knowledge. Apparently, he's also great fun just to hang out with. Mannanán is often invoked in Spring Equinox and Midsummer rituals, but his feast day is November 10th. The Temple of Manannan Mac Lir has samples of rituals to work with Mannanán Mac Lir, as well as a great number of mythological and artistic references.

According to Wikipedia:

Manannán has strong ties to the Isle of Man, where he is referenced in a traditional ballad as having been the nation's first ruler. On Midsummer, the Manx people offer bundles of reeds, meadow grasses and yellow flowers to Manannán in a ritual "paying of the rent", accompanied with prayers for his aid and protection in seafaring and fishing. He is also believed to have been a magician who could make an illusory fleet from sedge or pea shells in order to discourage would-be invaders.

According to the Book of Fermoy, a Manuscript of the 14th to the 15th century, "he was a pagan, a lawgiver among the Tuatha Dé Danann, and a necromancer possessed of power to envelope himself and others in a mist, so that they could not be seen by their enemies." It was by this method that he was said to protect the Isle of Man from discovery.

Manannán was associated with a "cauldron of regeneration". This is seen in the tale of Cormac mac Airt, among other tales. Here, he appeared at Cormac's ramparts in the guise of a warrior who told him he came from a land where old age, sickness, death, decay, and falsehood were unknown (the Otherworld was also known as the "Land of Youth" or the "Land of the Living").

As guardian of the Blessed Isles as well as Mag Mell he also has strong associations with Emhain Abhlach, the Isle of Apple Trees, where the magical silver apple branch is found. To the Celts, the Blessed Isles that lie beyond the sea are the gateways to the Otherworlds, where the soul journeys to after death. Manannán is the guardian of these gateways between the worlds. He is the Ferryman, who comes to transport the souls of the dead through the veils.

Thanks, Anne, for introducing me to Manannán Mac Lir. I think I'll pay him a visit. I've always had a thing for father figures.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 1:23 PM | Comments (0)

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 3:05 PM | Comments (2)

Sometimes you read something and the cognitive dissonance is enough to make you want to bang your head in frustration. When we have a blog, we get to rant. Bjorngrímnir at Expanding Inward writes about a new spying device being developed by the US Department of Defense. They're calling it ISIS.

From recent news coverage:

Several companies have begun design work on a prototype airship that could hover at an altitude near space where it would be able to track ground and aerial targets for up to a year at a time. Whether the program, known as Integrated Sensor Is Structure, or ISIS, moves beyond the design stage anytime soon, however, will depend on the final version of the 2007 defense budget.

The U.S. House of Representatives funded the full $16.3 million request for the effort in its version of the 2007 Defense Appropriations Act, which passed the House in June. The Senate Appropriations Committee, however, has recommended denying the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s entire $16.3 million budget request for the program in 2007. The bill is currently awaiting a vote on the Senate floor.

If the program does go forward, the airship will feature a radar sensor of “unprecedented proportions,” according to a Pentagon document.

DARPA’s 2007 budget justification materials, which are posted on the agency’s Web site, describe ISIS as a sensor capable of conducting surveillance and tracking hundreds of time-critical targets in both urban and rural environments.

Isis is the feminine archetype for creation - the goddess of fertility and motherhood. Isis was, for almost 3,500 years, the principle Goddess of Egypt. She was the wife and sister of Osiris and the mother of Horus, and the personification of the faithful wife and devoted mother. Isis is the Mistress of The Words of Power and the Goddess of Nature. She is the embodiment of nature and magick.

Isis is the most important goddess in Egyptian mythology, who evolved from a local goddess in the Nile Delta to a cosmic goddess all over the whole ancient world. The cult of Isis eventually spread outside Egypt throughout the Middle East and Europe, with temples dedicated to her built as far away as the British Isles. Pockets of her worship remained in Christian Europe as late as the 6th century. Isis' name is still a beloved name among modern coptic Egyptians and many modern Wiccans and Pagans are devoted followers.

In the Book of the Dead, Isis was described as She who gives birth to heaven and earth, knows the orphan, knows the widow, seeks justice for the poor, and shelter for the weak.

It strikes me as incredibly perverse and profane that a weapon created by the US government for the intended purpose of spying on its own citizens - the same US government that has demonstrated time and again its contempt and lack of compassion for the poor and the weak, for anyone who is not white, rich, male and Christian - would be named after the ultimate mother, the ultimate symbol of care and nurturing.

Continue reading "ISIS"

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 10:10 AM | Comments (1)

I love the internets. This morning I found this photo in SFGate.com's Day in Pictures:

Images of the thunder (left) and wind gods drawn by 17th-century Japanese artist Sotatsu Tawaraya are depicted on paddy fields growing four varieties of rice in the village of Inakadate, Japan.

An inseparable pair, Fujin (on the right) is the god of wind, and Raijin (on the left) is a the god of thunder, who are thought to live above the clouds. Fujin is usually depicted as a muscled man with a big cloth sack, which is filled with numerous winds. When he opens his sack, a blast of wind blows. Raijin is usually depicted as a muscled man with a series of drums around him, with which he made the rumbling of thunder.

Legend says that the two gods were originally evil demons who opposed Buddha, so Buddha ordered his army of heaven to capture them. After a severe battle between the demons and 33 gods, Fujin and Raijin were finally captured. They have been working for heaven ever since.

Apparently, these two are expected to make an appearance in Boston today.

While googling to find out who these dudes are, I came across this post by Pink Tentacle, who explains about the rice:

The different colors consist of different varieties of rice — the green areas are tsugaru-roman (the local variety), while the purple, yellow and red areas consist of so-called kodaimai, or ancient strains of rice. Mid-August is reportedly the best time to view the rice field.

Read Yomiuri's full post for more art-related info about Fujin and Raijin.

The rest of his site his pretty cool too. Personally, I think the AMOEBA (Advanced Multiple Organized Experimental Basin) he blogs about could be particularly cool for scrying, no?

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:53 AM | Comments (0)

There is a great thread going on over at Street Prophets called What do you call the Deity and why?. It is a terrific multi-faith discussion on Deity and I wholeheartedly encourage you to check it out. Many of the site's prominent pagans have given their two cents, but it's wonderful and fascinating to see such a diverse community come together to participate - and have so much fun - on this topic.

I wanted to share two of my favorite comments from the thread.

This devotional offered by Keir:

O cosmic Birther of all radiance and vibration! Soften the ground of my being and carve out a space within me where your Presence can abide. Fill me with your creativity so that I may be empowered to bear the fruit of your mission. Let each of our actions bear fruit in accordance with our desire. Endow me with the wisdom to produce and share what each being needs to grow and flourish. Untie the tangled threads of destiny that bind me, as I release others from the entanglement of past mistakes. Do not let me be seduced by that which would divert me from my true purpose, but illuminate the opportunities of the present moment. For you are the ground and the fruitful vision, the birth-power and fulfillment, as all is gathered and made whole once again. So Mote it Be...

This description of the Great Mother by Quotefiend:

I see a big woman, with strength of arm and leg, large breasts, a mass of riotous long, curly hair that has all colors in it, and has a life of its own, skin the color of burnished copper, a big smile, and twinkling eyes that are very deep green. She wears a flowing garment made of spidersilk, that shifts in color with the seasons. Her smile lights up the world. Plants grow where She walks. Birds attend Her. Stars sing of Her. She cradles me in her arms--and with her cloak of starlit skies, She will carry me safely at my death.

You can just see her, can't you?

Brightest blessings and warm wishes for a safe and happy weekend.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:47 AM | Comments (1)

To put this post in some context I'll start by saying that it is essentially a cross-post from a blog I read a lot, Street Prophets. A writer who is one of the stronger representatives of pagan religions on that site had written a diary, Stages of Neopagan Reactions to Christians. Although the site is predominantly Christian, people of many faiths share stories and information about their religions so that we can all learn about each other's faiths and build a stronger sense of community and participation. For those of you unfamiliar with Street Prophets, it's a site run by a very cool pastor friend of mine, the purpose of which is to bring together people of faith who care about what's going on in our country (politically, for the most part). This site has become a tremendous community of great people and I count many of them as my friends.

I took offense at one of the commenters who said that information being presented on the history of goddess religions in a class he took on religious identity was "very strange" and was taking the position that it was all bunk. He went on to say:

Fact is, there has been rather a lot of nonsense put out there, I call it neo-feminist pseudo-history. And I haven't a lot of patience with people that are simply making this stuff up out of whole cloth.

I don't know exactly what was presented to him in his class, so I can't make any comments on the validity of the information being taught. However, there is much historical basis for acknowledging goddess worship as among the earliest religions.

Here is a good overview provided by ReligiousTolerance.org.

To add further historical perspective on goddess religions and the persecution of their adherents, here is an excerpt from the introduction to a scholarly work on the history of goddess worship When God Was a Woman by Merlin Stone:

In prehistoric and early historic periods of human development, religions existed in which people revered their supreme creator as female. The Great Goddess - the Divine Ancestress - had been worshipped from the beginnings of the Neolithic periods of 7000 BC until the closing of the last Goddess temples, about AD 500. Some authorities would extend Goddess worship as far into the past as the Upper Paleolithic Age of about 25,000 BC. Yet events of the Bible, which we are generally taught to think of as taking place "in the beginning of time," actually occurred in historic periods. Abraham, first prophet of the Hebrew-Christian god Yahweh, more familiarly known as Jehovah, is believed by most Bible scholars to have lived no earlier than 1800 BC and possibly as late as 1550 BC. Most significant is the realization that for thousands of years both religions existed simultaneously - among closely neighboring peoples. Archaeological, mythological and historical evidence all reveal that the female religion, far from naturally fading away, was the victim of centuries of continual persecution and suppression by the advocates of the newer religions which held male deities as supreme.

The reason that you would have been told that "goddess worshippers" were persecuted during the burning times is that the Christians were burning at the stake those people they viewed as a threat to their authority and those whom they believed to be witches. It was usually women practicing the old ways who were believed to be witches and therefore a large proportion of people who were persecuted during the burning times were women.

Traditionally, it was women who were skilled in how to use herbs to cure, were midwifes and practiced many other things that were construed as magic. In fact many people of Wiccan and other pagan faiths view the folk magic traditions practiced by the healers and mystics of early European peoples as the basis for their faith.

The commentor at Street Prophets remembered being told that Glastonbury Tor was the oldest religious artifact and believed this to be "bizarrely untrue." As far as Glastonbury Tor is concerned, I don't know enough about it even to speculate, but just a cursory glance at this website about it suggests that in the context of early pre-Christian religions there is enough evidence to suggest that it certainly is an archeologically important site, whether it is the oldest religious artifact or not. (In fact, I found it to be so interesting that I am planning to write a post on it later.)

It is not "neo-feminist pseudo history" to talk about the persecution of women throughout history because there is no disputing that fact. And it seems to me that the commenter missed the point entirely of the discussion of early goddess-worshipping cultures. On a site like Street Prophets, where the whole point is learning about and celebrating each other's religions in the contect of coming together as a community of people who care about what's happening in our world, I found the comments offensive.

On a site like Blogickal, I couldn't resist sharing my proud moment of righteous indignation!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 9:16 AM | Comments (1)

What is your definition of the divine, if you believe in divinity at all? (Do you adhere to a god/goddess, one spirit, many deities, etc)

To quote myself on this topic:

Right now, for me, deities are the energy of the universe manifesting as beings who hold domain over certain aspects of life. I want to embrace an eclectic pantheon of gods and goddesses to support me in my magickal arts. I believe that Ganesh, as the remover of obstacles, has guided me and helped through some difficult periods over the past couple of years. I invoke him a lot. Brigid, as the goddess of creativity, seems to have been guiding me throughout my whole life, as I am a creative person and feel that part of myself to be one of the most important parts of my personality and character. As I get further into my magickal studies, I'm feeling more and more drawn to her.

Brigid has actually taken a more active role in my spiritual life since I wrote this in September. She came to me in a meditation about my magickal name and told me to take hers (I'm using Bride, the Scottish spelling, as a second name). Again more recently, she came to me in meditation and told me that I should study her and be sure to attend ritual at Imbolc.

If deities are embodiments of universal energy and as such are representatives of the divine spirit, then I also believe that the divine can live in other things, be they objects, places or experiences.

Thank you to Witches Weekly for the Q&A.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 10:52 AM | Comments (1)

We woke up Thanksgiving morning to a covering of snow on the ground and a light but lovely snowfall that lasted most of the day. It was my first snow of the season since I had missed the October freaky snowstorm in New England thanks to my weekend in San Francisco. I was enchanted and immediately wondered if there was a goddess of snow.

A Google search for "snow goddess" yielded a number of links to two: the Tibetan Snow Goddess and Poliahu, the Hawaiian goddess of snow-capped mountains. Surely, I thought, there are more. So I searched for "winter goddess" and of course found the Viking goddesses Freya, Skadi and Holda (who is a manifestation of Freya but has some legends that seem unique to her, at least from what I read).

There also are Celtic winter goddesses. Beira, the Queen of Winter, and a variety of Caillagh, who are particular to various places, especially in Scotland, are all variations of the same old woman who brings winter storms and keeps spring from coming. Imbolc marks Brigid's triumph over these winter spirits and the return of spring.

I did find references to any number of other winter-time spirits, fairies and elementals from around the world. These ranged from nature spirits to characters who bring gifts throughout the holiday season. We could dedicate a whole site to them alone!

I would be surprised if there weren't other winter goddesses and I'd love to read about them if anyone has stories or links. For those I found, I've collected the stories here:

Continue reading "Snow and Winter Goddesses"

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 1:10 AM | Comments (2)