#morgan daimler

[lokavisi]

Not to mention that the Triple Goddess "archetype" reinforces gender roles/stereotypes and sometimes bioessentialism when placed in the "right" hands.

[samwisethewitch]

Book Review: Freya: Meeting the Norse Goddess of Magic by Morgan Daimler

I just finished a reread of this book and realized I've never talked about it on this blog, even though it ties into a lot of my content.

I've talked about my relationship with Freyja here before. She is the deity I have worked with most consistently in my personal practice, and she's been a strong presence in my life since I was a child. Even before I was interested in witchcraft or paganism, I was drawn to stories and images of Freyja.

Unfortunately, quality books about Freyja are hard to find in English. A lot of the wonderful work being done by Scandinavian scholars and heathens is only available in their native languages. A lot of English-language resources are either very academic and prohibitively expensive, or they are books about goddess worship more generally that only mention Freyja on a few pages. Freyja, Lady, Vanadis: An Introduction to the Goddess by Patricia M. Lafayllve is a pretty good beginner's resource, but it's only available in paperback, which can be a barrier for some readers.

All of this is to say, I was very excited when Morgan Daimler put out this book. I've talked about how much I love Daimler's work before on this blog -- I think they do really great research AND do a really good job of making all that information accessible for a beginner. I have several of Daimler's books on Norse and Irish deities, and all of them are resources I reference often in my practice.

This book follows a similar formula to Daimler's other books on deities, like Odin or the Morrigan. Daimler presents Freyja's mythology, folklore, associations, and relationships. There is also an entire chapter dedicated to Freyja's connection to seiðr, which explains what seiðr is and why it is important in a very straightforward way. There is also an entire chapter dedicated to connecting with Freyja as a modern worshiper.

I like that Daimler includes a section at the end of each chapter about their own experiences with Freyja. I also like that they talk about the importance of actually experiencing the gods and trusting our experiences. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that anything that doesn't match up with primary sources is wrong, and I like that Daimler takes time to shoot down that idea.

I also really like that Daimler does not tell you how to interpret the lore. Daimler presents a story, explains the different ways it could be interpreted, and leaves readers to make their own conclusions. This is a style of teaching I try to use in my own work, and I love seeing it done well here.

If you know next to nothing about Freyja, I think this book is an excellent place to start. Everything you need to make that initial connection is here.

Even as someone who has worked with Freyja for years and done lots of my own research, I found a few things I didn't know here. This book also gave me a new perspective on certain aspects of Freyja's lore. This is why it's always great to compare notes with other people.

If you're interested in connecting with Freyja or just learning more about her, I highly, highly recommend this book!

[lotusfeather-and-bone]

Signal boost time:

Sunday December 8, 2024, beginning 9:45am EST

"Fundraiser Tickets go on sale Nov 1st!

A full day of Online Workshops and more.

Proceeds go to 'BeLoved Asheville' for Hurricane Helene Relief of Western NC"

https://facebook.com/events/s/fulacht-na-mor-rioghna-cooking/1479556669421347/

________

As we all know, Hurricane Helene caused an extreme amount of damage to Asheville, NC and the surrounding area, damage that the residents weren't expecting or prepared for.

The Fulacht Na Mór Ríoghna fundraiser event is being held on Sunday Dec 8 to help raise funds for this community, with a whole slew of notable speakers throughout the day, including both Live and Pre-recorded sessions.

If you are interested and able to donate, I highly encourage it! We are all one witch/pagan community here, no matter where we live. Support Asheville and help them get back on their feet.

Fundraiser Hosts:

NC local, Sam "Bo" Thompson, magical blacksmith at Ravens Keep Forge, and author of "Metal Never Lies: An Introduction to Metal Magic", is a priest of the Morrígan and puts a great deal of energy into both his magical and smith craft while also teaching in his community. The magical items he forges for use in people's spiritual paths are beautiful, and he's an all around great guy. (His wife's tea shop, The Grove Teas and Botanical Gifts is one of my favorites as well!) You can follow Sam on Instagram @ravenskeepforge.

The Tuatha Dé Morrigan is a group that honors the Morrigan, the Irish goddess of battle and sovereignty. They host a yearly retreat for witches, pagans and anyone who is interested in learning more about this Goddess regardless of background or path, known as the Morrigan's Call Retreat.

[musingmelsuinesmelancholy]

culmination of the Pleiades

After nearly a full year of "stellar holy days" (I missed the acronychal rising) I am certain that this is the route I'm gunna take. I want to figure out the acronychal setting and helical setting, Morgan Daimler only gives four dates in her book. Very tentatively creating a narrative around the cycle of the seven sisters relating to my witch queen. I need more information and experience before I have anything concrete. I'd also like to learn more about Venus and start incorporating "Venusian holy days" into my ritual calendar. Venus's conjuncts the cluster very closely, .20 something degrees every 8 years. I think there's less close conjunctions every year too. Her journey from evening to morning star could, potentially, fit in nicely with the mythic narrative I have in mind. Interested in Orion, Sirius and Puppis (agro navis) too. Not too sure how or if they'll fit in yet.

SO frustrated with myself for missing the acronychal rise, I'll have an incomplete picture till next year haha. Completely agree with Daimler about this being a time of heightened otherworld activity. The Queen appearing less like a light emerging from the deep, as she felt during the helical rise in June. instead, she felt more like a Sovereign Queen, wise and mature, hung high in her rightful place. A light delighting in the inky indigo of the night. To quote Briar, loosely "at night the heavens drown"-this describes the feeling well. During the rite it felt like I had a hundred eyes on me, the wind picked up at rather interesting points during my rite. Very shrieky and musical sounding. Don't know if id describe it as a gate being opened as I don't believe there's a "veil".

Decided to celebrate Samonios on this night too; nothing too elaborate. Just prayers and offerings of homemade baked goods. Felt watched, perceived. Sometimes when I pray it's like speaking to air, this time it felt like there was a presence. Unsettling but I'll take it as a good sign. Though the gaulish calendar is a lunar one, holy days falling two new moons after the solstices/equinoxes (correct me if I'm wrong). Samonios would've fallen on nov 1st this year, if I'm not mistaken. I've celebrated it on the date corresponding with the Coligny Calendar too, had a similar but less intense experience.

"Yes, I do believe the Pleiades were celebrated as original markers for certain holy days- and world mythology does support this of course-but because of the drift in timing we can't just go back to that. The conjunction isn't in late March anymore it's in May; the heliacal rising isn't in May it's in June. That makes a significant difference when these aren't just static dates but also living traditions. The mythology and focuses that we do have for the oldest stories of the Pleiades don't work anymore when the timing has shifted so radically. We have to find the threads of old and hints of the significance this may have had for us in our own forms of historic paganism, and even back before into into the roots of the Neolithic and bronze ages, and then work those traces into a viable modern system." Morgan Daimler, Living Fairy.

[cozy-compendium]

“Freya” by Morgan Daimler (A Full Review) ✨✨✨

Rating: 5/5 stars.

-I like how Morgan Daimler separates her own experiences into their own paragraphs after stating the general unbiased and scholarly information.

-She does reference lots of sources, mostly scholars, but also the Eddas, Sagas, and physical historic evidence.

-Man does she love including Rudolf Simek’s hot takes on things. I had to look him up. But yeah. Keep that in mind. If you hate Simek you’ll probably get annoyed by all the siting of his works. I’m neutral cause I haven’t found problems so far with his opinions so it didn’t bother me.

-Love how Morgan Daimler gets into the details of theories like the Frigg = Freya theory (which I personally don’t subscribe to) and the Gullveig = Freya theory (which I actually do believe).

-You can tell Daimler put a ton of time making sure to carefully research, and also was in tune with the opinions of modern heathenry circles.

-It’s a short read, so great for my ADHD. And also it makes sense it’s short because the information that’s credible on Freya isn’t very much. So she didn’t waste pages trying to reach a word count. Concise! Very well written. Only one typo, and it’s easy to understand what Daimler meant by the context of the rest of the sentence!

-I give it 5/5 for all these reasons, but also as a devotee of Freya, it made me happy to see someone not portraying her through Wiccan tinted lenses.

[hedgewitchgarden]

Christmas Traditions, Paganism, and Some History

 Every year I see social media absolutely flooded with terrible misinformation about the 'pagan' origins of several Christmas traditions. I wrote about this in 2015, covering some of the main claims at the time but that was 8 years ago and its worth revisiting this one. There is a driving determination to claim that Christians stole absolutely everything from pagans which I think we need to seriously re-assess. History is rarely if ever so simple and as well we, as modern pagans, end up leaning into a victim narrative that is easily disproved and that doesn't help us. There are plenty of things to be legitimately angry with the Christian church(es) for but 'stealing' holidays and traditions from pagans isn't really one of them.

I do want to note before we dive into this and the angry comments begin that there are certainly some practices related to Christmas that do have older pagan roots, so I am not claiming that all things Christmas are not pagan, but on that same hand it doesn't mean that all things Christmas were originally pagan. As with most things its a blend, and that blend by and large occured organically over the centuries as converted people continued their own older traditions. While it is true that in some situations the Church did intentionally and with forethought co-opt pagan things - building churches on the sites of pagan temples being a prime example - in most cases with folk practices it was the people themselves who continued or adapted the traditions for themselves. This is a process called syncretization, which occurs when people try to combine or reconcile various, sometimes antithetical, beliefs or practices. A good example of this would the way that fairies were fit into Christian cosmology as beings who were between angles and demons. Usually the church authorities didn't support these practices or ideas and tried at various points to stamp them out as 'unchristian', efforts which by and large failed as people continued to follow the traditions anyway. 

I think we too often forget that the world we live in today isn't the world of 500, or 1,000, or 1,500 years ago. Christianity wasn't always the dominant religion - it began as a small religious sect in a pagan world, so its logical that pagan influences affected it. I think we also forget that not all practices and beliefs are ancient, humans innovate and create new things and beliefs and traditions. Its the nature of things.  Now hold onto your butts, history incoming....

Christmas trees - probably the most common claim I see is that Christmas trees were pagan. They were not. There is absolutely no evidence that any European pagan culture cut down trees in the winter and brought them inside to decorate. There is a longstanding practice of bringing in boughs of evergreens, holly, and ivy to represent life overcoming winter but that is a far different practice than Christmas trees, and one that has continued to co-exist alongside Christmas trees even through today.       One major argument I see supporting stolen Christmas trees is people citing Jerimiah 10:3 and 10:4: "3 For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. 4They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter." Now on the surface this may seem to possibly support the idea that the old testament (not Christianity btw this would have been written around the 5th century BCE) banned decorating trees brought into a home. However, the passage is being intentionally cherry picked out of context to create this illusion. It is actually banning the creation of idols which is clear if you look at the surrounding lines: "2 This is what the LORD says: "Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. 3For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. 4They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. 5Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good."     So if Christmas trees aren't pagan then where did they come from? The answer is 15th century Germany and what were originally called 'paradise trees', trees that were decorated outdoors in conjunction with paradise plays, in honor of the feast day of Adam and Eve on 24 December (Tikkanen, 2023; Waxman, 2020). The trees would be decorated with apples to represent the Tree of Knowledge in the garden of Eden, as part of the retelling of that story; later paradise tree decorations expanded to include tinsel, wafers, gingerbread, nuts, straw, and thread (Waxman, 2020). By the 17th century these paradise trees were being set up inside homes, decorations included candles, and they had come to be known as Weihnachtsbaum [Christmas trees] establishing the tree as we know if now (Tikkanen, 2023; Waxman, 2020). As Germans emigrated out to other places they brought the Christmas tree tradition with them, most notably spreading the practice to England in the late 18th and 19th centuries through the German spouses of King George III and Queen Victoria (Tikkanen, 2023).      Christmas trees have a very explicitly Christian backstory which isn't in any way pagan. They were outdoor church decorations celebrating a story from Genesis which eventually was taken indoors in people's homes. Its pretty straightforward. 

December 25th - There are several things that float around claiming that Christians intentionally placed Christmas on the winter solstice to co-opt pagan celebrations. The truth is, as usual, more nuanced than that.    Basically the dating of Christmas, aka Christ's birth, was based on two key factors: the belief that Jesus died on the same day he was conceived reflecting the idea that his life, like other saints and prophets, was 'perfect', and the idea that he died on the vernal equinox (Henry, 2021). If he died on March 25th, the Roman official equinox date*, then they logic went he must have been born nine months after that date on the solstice, December 25th** (Henry, 2021). This was all established during the 3rd and 4th centuries CE, so fairly long after Jesus' life but also fairly early in Christianity's existence, so while we might side eye the use of equinoxes and solstices to anchor these dates we have to also remember that the Christianity of that period was a product of its time and that solstices and equinoxes weren't understood as 'pagan' holidays but as significant cosmic events. The dating of Jesus birth in December wasn't based on any winter pagan holiday but on this idea that he died and was conceived on March 25th and ergo was born nine months from that date. The fact that it happened to be on the winter solstice just reinforced, for the people doing these calculations, that he was in fact hugely significant and a prophet. To quote Dr Andrew Mark Henry: "Though, rather than outright “stealing” between Christians and pagans, scholars see this as everyone (pagan, Christian, and otherwise) having a vested interest to link their god to a day already considered cosmologically important for half a millennium: the Winter Solstice." (Henry, 2021).    In other words, Christians didn't steal the date of Jess birth from pagans but arrived at the idea through their own calculations, however the fact it aligned with the winter solstice was a bonus that reinforced the idea there theory must be correct. 

Mistletoe - it has become absolutely ubiquitous to claim that kissing under the mistletoe is pagan, to the point that even generally reputable sources like the History Channel or Smithsonian include the allegedly Norse myth of Loki trying to kill Baldur with Mistletoe only to have Frigga cry over it, her tears turning to berries and reviving Baldur - which is of course not a Norse myth at all but a Victorian rewriting of the actual myth. In the story's non-Victorian version Baldur is killed when his brother Hodur throws a mistletoe dart at him, and Hel offers to release him if everything in the world cries for him, however one giantess (possibly Loki in disguise) refuses so he stays in Helheim.  A much less romantic mistletoe story to be sure.   The truth is that kissing under mistletoe as a folk practice began in 18th century England, being noted in print for the first time in 1784 in the lyrics to a song (Moon, 2018). There are no references to the practice prior to this in any text, including those that specifically included superstitions about the plant, nor does it appear in any songs before the 1784 example (Moon, 2018). Exactly how the practice originally began is a mystery but we can be certain of where it started and in what century, and there's no evidence that it was pagan or had any pagan influences. In point of fact it is likely that the later Victorian story of Frigg and the mistletoe was created at that time to explain the existing practice of kissing under it, not the other way around. 

Puritans Banned Christmas Because it Was Pagan - another thing that floats around as 'proof' of Christmas's pagan origins is the fact that puritans in New England banned the celebration in the 18th century. It is true that the puritans, a breakaway protestant sect that emphasized extreme piety, banned Christmas celebrations in 1659 because they said such celebrations distracted people from proper religious discipline and de-emphasized the holiness of every day, however it should also be noted that they banned all holidays, including Easter, for similar reasons (Tourgee, 2021). They didn't believe in celebrating any holiday and saw them as excuses for drunkenness and bad behaviour. In fact they directly called such holiday celebrations superstitions which offended God and related them to the popular Christianity they had left behind in Europe (Tourgee, 2021). It is also likely that the 'pagan' roots of Christmas decried by the sources were actually Catholic, as Catholics were and still are referred to as pagans by some protestant churches and groups who feel that veneration of Mary and saints, in particular, isn't a true Christian practice.    So basically, puritans did ban Christmas, not because it was pagan but because it was too much fun and might make people forget to seriously focus on God 24/7.  

Let's talk about this:

Since this particular meme is showing up everywhere this year I also want to note that while people in Western civilization like to assume the Christianity is the dominant force everywhere in everything, that is untrue. It is a major world religion, no doubt, but not the only one. So a meme claiming that Christmas is when 'all faiths' put aside their own beliefs to be pagan is not only grossly inaccurate but also quite frankly offensive to all the other non-Christian faiths out there who don't celebrate Christmas in any way. 

      There are many things we can and should be angry at the various flavours of Christianity for, including current issues from purity culture to abuse to LGBTQ persecution. But stealing traditions that are patently not stolen isn't on that list. Let's focus on fighting against the things we should care about and can do something about, and worry less about trying to create narratives that suggest everything Christians do was stolen from pagans, especially when its clear that these things were not. Maybe its easier to be angry at injustices that supposedly happened hundreds or thousands of years ago but we need to focus on what's happening now.

End Notes *this wasn't the actual equinox date but the date to was observed by Romans.  **again not the actual solstice but the official Roman celebration date. This is why we don't use the Julian calendar anymore. 

References

Henry, M., (2021) Twitter thread Retrieved from https://x.com/andrewmarkhenry/status/1465979583384195076?s=20 Moon, K., (2018) Why We Kiss Under the Mistletoe. Retrieved from https://time.com/5471873/mistletoe-kiss-christmas/  Bible references sourced from https://web.mit.edu/jywang/www/cef/Bible/NIV/NIV_Bible/JER+10.html#:~:text=For%20the%20customs%20of%20the,shapes%20it%20with%20his%20chisel.&text=They%20adorn%20it%20with%20silver,so%20it%20will%20not%20totter.  Tikkanen, A., (2023) How Did The Tradition of Christmas Trees Start? Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/story/how-did-the-tradition-of-christmas-trees-start#:~:text=Whether%20that%20tale%20is%20true,day%20of%20Adam%20and%20Eve.  Waxman, A., (2020) How Christmas Trees Became a Holiday Tradition. Retrieved form https://time.com/5736523/history-of-christmas-trees/  Folkard, P., (2015)  Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics Embracing the Myths, Traditions, Superstitions, and Folk-Lore of the Plant Kingdom Tougree, H., (2021) How the Puritans Banned Christmas. Retrieved from https://newengland.com/yankee/history/how-the-puritans-banned-christmas/ 

[blackcrowing]

Pagan Book Review - Irish Paganism: Reconstructing Irish Polytheism by Morgan Daimler

While I disagree personally on a few philosophically points this is an EXCELLENT introduction to the concept of Irish Reconstructionism for anyone interested in the path as well as offering additional reading in the appendix with short descriptions of what each book covers (which I always find to be a nice touch)

[strangetalkradio]

[rosemariecawkwell]

Review: Pagan Portals - 21st Century Fairy, by Morgan Daimler

Format: 104 pages, PaperbackPublished: February 1, 2023 by Moon BooksISBN: 9781803410463 (ISBN10: 1803410469) https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com/moon-books/our-books/pagan-portals-21st-century-fairy Blurb When people think of fairies they often picture beings who dwell in the wilderness, solidly anchored in the past. Yet the truth is that fairies are as present and active in the world today as…

[what-shitfuckery-is-this-ew]

BOYCOTTING FOR PALESTINE

The Official BDS Boycott Targets

Campaigns

Block the boat: End maritime arms transfer to Israel

Ban Apartheid Israel from Sports (FIFA, Olympics)

CAF get off Israel's train: Boycott CAF

Greenwashing Apartheid

Israeli Spyware

Military Embargo

Farming Injustice

Consumer Boycotts - a complete boycott of these brands

Cisco

Axa

Puma

Carrefour

HP

Siemens

Chevron

Intel

Caltex

Israeli produce

Re/max

Ahava

Texaco

Sodastream

Intel

Organic Boycott Targets - boycotts not initiated by BDS but still complete boycott of these brands

Disney

Macdonald's

Dominos

Papa Johns

Burger King

Pizza Hut

Wix

Divestments and exclusion - pressure governments, institutions, investment funds, city councils, etc. to exclude from procurement contracts and investments and to divest from these

Elbit Systems

CAF

Volvo

CAT

Barclays

JCB

HD Hyundai

TKH Security

HikVision

Pressure - boycotts when reasonable alternatives exist, as well as lobbying, peaceful disruptions, and social media pressure.

Google

Amazon

AirBnb

Booking.Com

Expedia

Teva

Here are some companies that strongly support Israel (but are not Boycott targets). There is no ethical consumption under capitalism and boycotting is a political strategy - not a moral one. If you did try to boycott every supporter of Israel you would struggle to survive because every major company supports Israel (as a result of attempting to keep the US economy afloat), that being said, the ones that are being boycotted by masses and not already on the organic boycott list are coloured red.

5 Star Chocolate

7Days

7Up

Apple

Arsenal FC

ALDO

Arket

Axe

Accenture

Ariel

Adidas

ActionIQ

Aquafina

Amika

AccuWeather

Activia

Adobe

Aesop

Azrieli Group

American Eagle

Amway Corp

Axel Springer

American Airlines

American Express

Atlassian

AdeS

Aquarius

Ayataka

Audi

Barqs

Bain & Company

Bayer

Bank Leumi

Bank Hapoalim

BCG (Boston Consulting Group)

Biotherm

Bershka

Bloomberg

BMW

Boeing

Booz Allen Hamilton

Burberry

Bath & Body Works

Bosch

Bristol Myers Squibb

Capri Holdings

Costa

Carita Paris

CareTrust REIT

Caterpillar

Coach

Cappy

Caudalie

CeraVe

Check Point Software Technologies

Cerelac

Chanel

Chapman and Cutler

Channel

Cheerios

Cheetos

Chevron

Chips Ahoy!

Christina Aguilera

Citi Bank

Codral

Cosco

Canada Dry

Citi

Clal Insurance Enterprises

Clean & Clear

Clearblue

Clinique

Champion

Club Social

Coca Cola

Coffee Mate

Colgate

Comcast

Compass

Caesars

Conde Nast

Cooley LLP

Costco

Côte d’Or

Crest

CV Starr

CyberArk Software

Cytokinetics

Crayola

Cra Z Art

Daimler

Dr Pepper

Del Valle

Daim

Doctor Pepper

Dasani

Doritos

Daz

Dior

Dell

Deloitte

Delta Air Lines

Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Telekom

DHL Group

David Off

Disney

DLA Piper

Domestos

Domino’s

Douglas Elliman

Downy

Duane Morris LLP

Dreft Baby Detergent & Laundry Products

Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream

eBay

Edelman

Eli Lilly

Evian

Empyrean

Ericsson

Endeavor

EPAM Systems

Estee Lauder

Elbit Systems

EY

Forbes

Facebook

Fairlife

Fanta

First International Bank of Israel

Fiverr

Funyuns

Fuze

Fox News

Fritos

Fox Corp

Gatorade

Gamida Cell

GE

Glamglow

General Catalyst

General Motors

Georgia

Gold Peak

Genesys

Goldman Sachs

Grandma’s Cookies

Garnier

Guess

Greenberg Traurig

Guerlain

Givenchy

H&M

Hadiklaim

Huggies

Hanes

HSBC

Head & Shoulders

Hersheys

Herbert Smith Freehills

Hewlett Packard

Hasbro

Hyundai

Henkel

Harel Insurance Investment & Financial Services

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

HubSpot

Huntsman Corp

IBM

Innocent

Insight Partners

Inditex Group

IT Cosmetics

Instacart

Intermedia

Interpublic Group

Instagram

ICL Group

Intuit

Jazwares

Jefferies

John Lewis

JP Morgan Chase

Jaguar

Johnson & Johnson

JPMorgan

Kenon Holdings

Kate Spade

Kirks’

Kinley Water

KKR

KFC

KKW Cosmetics

Kurkure

Keebler

Kolynos

Kaufland

Kevita

Knorr

KPMG

Lemonade

Lidl

Loblaws

Levi Strauss

Louis Vuitton

Life Water

Levi’s

Levi’s Strauss

LinkedIn

Land Rover

L’Oréal

Lego

Levissima

Live Nation Entertainment

Lufthansa

La Roche-Posay

Lipton

Major League Baseball

Manpower Group

Marriott

Marsh McLennan

Maison Francis Kurkdjian

Mastercard

Mattel

Minute Maid

Monster

Monki

Mainz FC

Mellow Yellow

Mountain Dew

Migdal Insurance

Marks & Spencer

Mirinda

McDermott Will & Emery

Motorola

McKinsey

Merck

Michael Kors

Mizrahi Tefahot Bank

Merck KGaA

Micheal Kors

Milkybar

Maybelline

Mount Franklin

Meta

MeUndies

Mattle

Microsoft

Munchies

Miranda

Morgan Lewis

Moroccanoil

Morgan Stanley

MRC

Nasdaq

Naughty Dog

Nivea

Next

NOS

Nabisco

Nutter Butter

No Frills

National Basketball Association

National Geographic

Nintendo

New Balance

Nutella

Newtons

NVIDIA

Netflix

Nescafe

Nestle

Nesquick

Nike

Nussbeisser

Oreo

Oral B

Old spice

Oysho

Omeprazole

Oceanspray

Opodo

P&G (Procter and Gamble)

Pampers

Pull & Bear

Pepsi

Pfizer

Popeyes

Parker Pens

Philadelphia Cream Cheese

Pizza Hut

Powerade

Purina

Phoenix Holdings

Propel

Ponds

Pure Leaf Green Tea

Power Action Wipes

PwC

Prada

Perry Ellis

Prada Eyewear

Pringles

Payoneer

Procter & Gamble

Purelife

Pureology

Quaker Oats

Reddit

Royal Bank of Canada

Ruffles

Revlon

Ralph Lauren

Ritz

Rolls Royce

Royal

S.Pellegrino

Sabra Hummus

Sabre

Sony

SAP

Simply

Smart Water

Sprite

Schwabe

Shell

Soda Stream

Siemens

StreamElements

Schweppes

Sunsilk

Signal

Skittles

Smart Food

Sobe

Smarties

Sephora

Sam’s Club

Superbus

Samsung

Sodastream

Sunkist

Scotiabank

Sour Patch Kids

Starbucks

Sadaf

Stride

Subway

Tang

Tate’s Bake Shop

The Body Shop

Tesco

Twitch

The Ordinary

Tim Hortons

Tostitos

Timberland

Topo Chico

Tapestry

Tropicana

Tommy Hilfiger

Tommy Hilfiger Toiletries

Turbos

Tom Ford

Taco Bell

Triscuit

TUC

Twix

Tottenham Hotspurs

Twisties

Tripadvisor

Uber

Uber Eats

Urban Decay

Upfield

Unilever

Vicks

Victoria’s Secret

V8

Vaseline

Vitaminwater

Volkswagen

Volvo

Walmart

Wegmans

WhatsApp

Waitrose

Woolworths

Wheat Thins

Walkers

Warner Brothers

Warner Chilcot

Warner Music

Wells Fargo

Winston & Strawn

WingStreet

Wissotzky Tea

WWE

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[lotusfeather-and-bone]

"The Morrigan to me, if I were going to describe her in a personal sense, is a force of incitement and empowerment. She can be supportive, but she also pushes me to achieve. She can be caring, but she doesn't let me slack or give excuses. She can be gentle, but she can also be brutal, harsh, and push me past what I thought was my limit so that I realize that I am stronger and braver than I realized. She can be nurturing, but she nurtures my potential by driving me to acheive and pushing me to excel. She will will to stand up and defend me only until the moment I can do it for myself, and she will be urging me the entire time to stand up. She does not chase away my nightmares, but teaches me to face them. That is who she is to me."

~Morgan Daimler, Pagan Portals - Raven Goddess

[cozy-compendium]

TO BE READ (but unlikely anytime soon cause I’m having trouble finishing my current reads). 💀

[hedgewitchgarden]

Annually, discussions about Saint Patrick resurface, often clouded by misconceptions and exaggerations. In this article, Morgan Daimler takes us on a journey to unravel the myths surrounding this historical figure, shedding light on the truth behind the tales.

Join us as we sort through some of the most common fallacies surrounding St.Patrick and the role he plays in Irish History. [You can find out more about Irish History and the events that shaped it here]

A Guest Post by Morgan Daimler

Every March the pagan community, without fail, sees a surge in conversations and diatribes on saint Patrick, usually rooted in the ideas that Patrick was a maniac who wiped out the druids (represented by snakes), destroyed Irish paganism, and singlehandedly converted the entire island.

Every year I work to try to dispel these modern myths about Patrick, Druids, snakes, and conversion in Ireland. Lora O’Brien and I even have a class on the subject to help people sort out the modern propaganda from the history. So, let’s dive into the cliff notes version of what’s really going on here, one issue at a time. 

Saint Patrick vs the Druids

Did saint Patrick destroy the Druids in Ireland?

This is probably the thing that I hear the most often about saint Patrick, leaning into the Christian propaganda of the 7th and 12th centuries which positioned Patrick as the champion of Christianity in Ireland. In reality the druids survived well after Patrick’s 5th century lifetime.

Druids, as a class, are included in the 7th and 8th century laws tracts and although their role had been diminished from their pre-christian prominence they did still exist and still had a role within society (Kelly, 1988). There is even an 8th century hymn calling on god’s protection against “the magic of women, blacksmiths, and druids” (Kelly, 1988). So we can say quite definitively that Patrick didn’t wipe out the Druids.

Snake symbolism

Are Snakes a symbol for Druids in the stories? One of saint Patrick’s most well-known miracles involves him ridding Ireland of snakes, an easy miracle to claim since Ireland hadn’t had snakes since before the last ice age.

Many pagans firmly believe that the snakes in Patrick’s story are actually a metaphor for the druids. This idea is very widespread in the pagan community, but is coming from one source in the 1911 book ‘Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries’ (page 444) where a man speculates that a certain lough is where saint Patrick had a final confrontation with the Druids and drove them out, and that he assumes the druids and snakes were the same because the lough is also where local folklore says the snakes were driven out.

However, there are no earlier sources suggesting this and it is quite clear that the snakes in the older stories were meant to be literal snakes. This was simply a way to explain why the animal didn’t exist on the island. 

Paganism Oppressor?

Did Patrick destroy Irish paganism and convert the Irish, in its entirety, to Christianity? This idea is coming from some extreme views that claim Patrick committed genocide against the Druids, effectively destroying the pagan priesthood and Irish paganism with it and forcing conversion by the sword.

Now, beyond the fact we’ve already addressed Patrick vs the Druids above it must be noted that the process of converting the culture to Christianity in Ireland wasn’t something that happened quickly, nor was any single person responsible for it, and it didn’t happen with violence but with slow cultural change.

It is true that Christians have worked hard to make Patrick the face of conversion in Ireland in the 1500 years since his death, but Patrick himself in his Confessio very clearly stated that he didn’t know if he’d had any significant impact in Ireland and faced a lot of pushback from the pagans for his work.

The Truth behind the Myth

It must also be noted that Patrick was not the first Christian in Ireland, nor the most significant during his lifetime – that would probably be Palladius. Ultimately Patrick seems to have little effect on Irish paganism during his life, and only took on the reputation as a mass converter hundreds of years after his death. 

Saint Patrick is a figure who has taken on an oddly massive role in paganism as a kind of anti-pagan boogieman, a figure that can be pointed to as all that is terrible in Christian evangelism and can be embraced by those who prefer to consider themselves tragic victims of a cultural change that occurred more than a millennia ago.

He is, in reality, someone who should be insignificant to history yet who, thanks to amazing church PR, looms large over modern Catholicism and paganism both. The Patrick that most people think they know never existed, he is the product of legends turned into myths.

And perhaps, as pagans, it’s time we let go of our hatred of that mythological figure and see past it to the truth – to the persistence and survival of Irish paganism. Perhaps its time we stop giving Patrick power and take our own power back instead.

Maybe it’s time to stop feeding energy into a Christian narrative about Patrick and his life that is not only false but actively harmful to us.

References:

Evans Wentz, W., (1911) Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries

Kelly, F., (1988) A Guide to Early Irish Law

Saint Patrick (n.d.) Saint Patrick’s Confessio http://www.cin.org/patrick.html 

[blackcrowing]

I'm reading Morgan Daimler's Irish Paganism: Reconstructing Irish Polytheism and thought their key aspects of reconstructionism where interesting and highlighted something for me that has been bothering me for a while.

The aspects are as such

1. Study

2. Discernment

3. Language

4. Practice

5. The Living Culture

Each of these has a description of what they mean and a reasoning for why it it important EXCEPT the living culture part. There is no given explanation for why this is important to reconstructionism, and my argument is because its not.

That's not to say you CAN'T learn about, enjoy or otherwise participate in current Irish culture but it is absolutely NOT nessicary for reconstructionism. Personally, I think its this aspect of Native speakers that makes them feel like they are inherently superior to any other reconstructionist. They live and breathe living culture and because of their own assumed importance of it in reconstructionism they must be a more reliable source for other reconstructionist subjects than ANYONE else ever could be (despite that person possibly having actually researched more than them)

[grimalkinsquill]

Out of genuine curiosity and potential delight to see what adding this to the fire of this question would do:

Many Christian theologies previously sorted fae into types of demons (which is where the imagery of fae/elves/pixies/etc. with pointed ears comes from; visual shorthand borrowed from paintings of demons, who had such ears specifically to dehumanize them via animal comparisons), saying they were akin to fallen angels of a very specific sort, just like demons.

So another potential (because all of this isn't to discount or dismiss the original answer given, it is simply to fuel the fires of potential silly debate) angle to consider this from: while the pop said only human babies can get into heaven and thus fae can't be baptized, can fae be affected by anti-demon rituals or other similar things or is it simply funny to pretend they are, on an individual-by-individual basis?

been trying to think up benign but controversial statements or questions regarding the fae, akin to “is a hotdog a sandwich”. so far i’ve come up with “can fairy rings be other shapes”, “which court would win the great british bake off”, and “all gnomes are hung as fuck”.