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On the Pagan Calendar of festivals, January 20 is Thorrablot - an Asatru feast day dedicated to Thor, God of Thunder.
Thorrablot actually means "starvation time celebration". January is a harsh month and would have been particularly arduous in the frozen Viking lands of centuries past. With food scarce, the winter storms would have made every day a fight for survival, but those tough Icelanders loved to show their strength against all challengers - in this case against the threat of starvation.
Mind you, I think one might need to have the strong stomach of northern Viking warrior to enjoy some of the items on the Thorrablot menu. As a wussy western Wiccan, I would indeed have to be starving before putrefied Greenland shark (h'akarl), ram's testicles cooked in lactic acid (s'ursadir hr'utspungar), singed sheep's head (svid) and blood suet (bl'odm"or) looked appetising
Nevertheless, the food festival of Thorrablot is still popular in Iceland today and you can find details of events on tourist websites.
For followers of Asatru, however, raising a glass of strong drink (or several) in a toast to Thor on Thorrablot is just as important as eating putrefied fish. So at least there is something I can join in with for the celebration.
The picture above shows a Thor's Hammer amulet, available from Pagan Magic for lb6.99. In Norse mythology, Thor's hammer Mjolnir is one of the most fearsome weapons and has reputation of being able to defeat any challengers. Followers of the Asatru religion often wear a Thor's Hammer amulet as a demonstration of their faith.
Linkshttp://members.iquest.net/~chaviland/calendar.htmhttp://www.pagan-magic.co.uk/shop/product info.php/norse-thors-hammer-p-4886?ad=badwitch
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2008/09/goddess-of-week-elli.htmlhttp://www.pagancalendar.co.uk/event.php?zodiac=astrological&getdate=20100119&tz=Europe/London&id=186http://odin.org/faq.htmlhttp://www.icelandtravel.is/about-iceland/annual-events/thorrablot-viking-celebration/http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/norse-mythology.php?deity=THOR
BENDICIONES:DE MI MENTORA EN LA TRADICI'oN CORRELIANA LUNA MYST, ME LLEGA ESTA INFORMACI'oN SOBRE LA CELEBRACI'oN DE OSTARA QUE DESEAMOS COMPARTIR...ESTE SABBATS SE VE A LA VEZ BENDECIDO POR UNA DE LAS LUNAS LLENAS, M'aS IMPRESIONANTES EN MUCHO TIEMPO, AS'i QUE SE RECOMIENDA UTILIZAR ESA ENERG'iA PARA ATRAER A TU VIDA PROSPERIDAD, ILUMINACI'oN Y CAMBIOS PERMANENTES. GRACIAS A LUNA MYST POR LA INFORMACI'oN Y USTEDES FELIZ OSTARA PARA TODOS...
OSTARA POR LUNA MYST
Es Ostara, y es una 'epoca del a~no en el que muchos wiccanos y paganos eligen celebrar el equilibrio de la luz y la oscuridad que anuncia el comienzo de la primavera. Es un momento para tambi'en el lado espiritual. Pruebe algunos - o todos - de estas attention para preparar el altar para Ostara.
COLORES PARA TENER UNA Ambiance DE QU'e COLORES SON APROPIADOS PARA LA PRIMAVERA, TODO LO QUE TIENES QUE HACER ES MIRAR HACIA AFUERA. OBSERVA LOS AMARILLOS EN LAS FLORES DETR'aS DE SU CASA, LOS MORADOS P'aLIDOS DE LAS LILAS, EL VERDE DE LAS HOJAS NUEVAS QUE APARECEN, ESTOS COLORES SE CONSIDERAN A MENUDO LOS COLORES DE PRIMAVERA, AS'i QUE SI'eNTASE LIBRE DE A~nADIR ALGUNAS ROSAS Y AZULES EN LA MEZCLA SI LA Ambiance TE GOLPEA. DECORA TU ALTAR EN CUALQUIERA DE ESTOS COLORES - INTENTA UN PA~nO VERDE P'aLIDO PARA EL ALTAR CON ALGUNOS MORADOS Y AZULES CUBIERTAS A TRAV'eS DE ELLA, Y AGREGA ALGUNAS VELAS DE Streak AMARILLO O ROSA PARA AUMENTAR LA VIBRACI'oN.
El equilibrio del Equinoccio
La decoraci'on del altar debe reflejar el tema del Sabbat. Ostara es un tiempo de equilibrio entre la luz y la oscuridad, por lo que los s'imbolos de esta polaridad se pueden utilizar. Utilice una estatua de dios y una diosa, una vela blanca y un negro, un sol y la luna, incluso un yin / yang como s'imbolo.
NUEVA VIDA
Ostara es tambi'en un tiempo de un nuevo crecimiento y renovaci'on de la vida. Hay un aumento de las plantas en los tiestos o macetas, tales como nuevos azafranes, narcisos, lirios y otras flores de primavera que la convierten en m'agica. Esta es la 'epoca del a~no cuando los animales est'an concentrados en perpetuar la vida nueva tambi'en. Puedes poner una cesta de huevos en su altar, o figuras de corderos, conejos, terneros, etc. Puedes a~nadir un c'aliz de la leche o la miel - la leche representa el per'iodo de lactancia animales que acaban de dar a luz, y la miel es sabida por mucho tiempo como un s'imbolo de la abundancia.
Otros s'imbolos de la temporada
Semillas y bulbos
Las orugas, mariquitas, los abejorros
S'imbolos de deidades de la naturaleza - Herne, Shrubbery, Gaia, Atis, etc.
Piedras preciosas y cristales, como aguamarina, cuarzo rosa y piedra de luna
Convention de fuego en un caldero o brasero
Source: pagan-space.blogspot.com
Yoga involves meditation,patience and peace. Yoga directly touches the eternal points of human's mind.Asana, Sanskrit for "sitting posture" (asanam is 'sitting' or 'ass' / aste is 'he sits'), is a body position, typically associated with the practice of Yoga, intended primarily to restore and maintain a practioner's well-being, improve the body's flexibility and vitality, and promote the ability to remain in seated meditation for extended periods. In the context of Yoga practice, asana refers to two things: the place where a practitioner (yogin (general usage); yogi (male); yogini (female)) sits and the manner (posture) in which s/he sits. In the Yoga sutras, Patanjali suggests that asana is "to be seated in a position that is firm, but relaxed". As the repertoire of postures has expanded and moved beyond the simple sitting posture over the centuries, modern usage has come to include variations from lying on the back and standing on the head, to a variety of other positions.In the Yoga sutras, Patanjali mentions the execution of an asana as the third of the eight limbs of Classical or Raja (royal) yoga.The word asana in Sanskrit does appear in many contexts denoting physical position, although, as noted, traditional usage is specific to the practice of yoga. Traditional usage defines asana as both singular and plural. In English, plural for asana is defined as asanas. In addition, English usage within the context of yoga practice sometimes specifies yogasana or yoga asana, particularly with regard to the system of the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. That said, yogasana is also the name of a particular posture that is not specifically associated with the Vinyasa system, and that while "ashtanga" (small 'a') refers to the eight limbs of Yoga delineated below, Ashtanga (capital 'A') refers to the specific system of Yoga developed by Sri Krishnamikurti at the Mysore Palace.
Reference: magic-and-spells.blogspot.com
Another Doctor Who inspired post today. For use with 1st Edition Dungeons & Dragons, Swords color: black; padding: 10px;">K9ARMOR CLASS: 2 [18]HIT DICE: 24 hit points (5 HD)ATTACKS:Laser (150 ft)"Stun" (as per the spell 'Hold Person', 1 target, Save -2, 10 turns)"Kill" (as per the spell 'Magic Missile', 1d4+1 dmg x3 shots, ignores damage reduction)SAVING THROW: 11SPECIAL:Darkvision (60 ft); Detect Invisibility (50 ft); Locate Object (Life, Energy - 100 ft); Read Languages; Immune to Sleep, Charm, Disease, Gases, Poison, and Radiation;MOVE: 9K9 needs a place to recharge or he'll run out of power, and he sometimes experiences technical glitches. Both could help prevent him from becoming an unbalancing element in your campaign if you decide to include him in an adventure.
Origin: paganism-new-age.blogspot.com
Dungeon Move quickly Germ Gumbo print 0.13-a0-2688-gfd9909a (empathize) performance catalog.
5ubbak the Malfunction (Parasite Enchanter) Turns: 23545, Time: 02:12:35
HP 95/95 AC 17 Str 10 XL: 13 Next: 5%
MP 35/36 EV 15 Int 18 God: Sif Muna [
...]
Gold 1215 SH 9 Dex 14 Spells: 6 memorised, 6 levels vanished
Res.Zip :... See Invis. : + a - +4 orc cook's knife (bitterness)
Res.Set aside : +.. Warding :. z - +0 tyrant not tell armour
Flicker Prot.: + +. Keep :. y - +0 buckler
Res.Poison: + Res.Corr. :. r - +0 visored hat
Res.Elec. :. Clear-headedness : + n - +0 dwarf swathe
Sust.Abil.:.. Desire.Shd :. F - +0 duo of scarf
Res.Mut. :. Stasis :. q - +2 duo of boots run
Res.Rott. : + Evade :. f - amulet of directness
Saprovore :... h - +6 ring of protection
c - ring of magical power
@: regenerating steadily, quick, fair and square vile to aggressive enchantments, tremendously restricted
A: be capable of blood, fangs 3, see faint, +10% hp, unbreathing
a: Bat Form, Urn Blood, Furrow Need, Skip over Control, Disown Theology
You are on level 6 of the Break of Beasts.
You glorification Sif Muna.
Sif Muna is greatly delighted with you.
You are dried out.
You enclose visited 3 kindling of the dungeon, and seen 19 of its levels.
You enclose unflustered 1195 gold pieces.
Inventory:
Manual worker arms
a - a +4,+4 orcish cook's knife of bitterness (beat)
Armour
n - a +0 dwarven swathe (worn)
q - a +2 duo of boots of working (worn)
r - a +0 visored hat (worn)
y - a +0 buckler (worn)
z - a +0 tyrant not tell armour (worn)
F - a +0 duo of scarf (worn)
Much-repeated devices
b - a wand of sporting
k - a wand of fireball
l - a wand of corrosion zapped: 1
m - a wand of fire zapped: 1
S - a wand of lightning
Scrolls
i - 5 scrolls of teleportation
j - 3 scrolls of remove curse
o - a scroll of reveal
C - 3 scrolls of fog
D - a scroll of magic mapping
U - 3 scrolls of heed
X - 2 scrolls of broken
Jewellery
c - a ring of magical power (vanished hand)
f - an amulet of directness (harshly neck)
g - an uncursed ring of teleportation
h - a +6 ring of protection (tweak hand)
p - a steel ring
K - an uncursed ring of protection from not ready
Potions
d - a potion of invisibility
s - 2 potions of heal wounds
v - 5 potions of curative
A - 7 potions of blood
J - a potion of discharge
O - 4 potions of rush
W - 2 potions of grace
Y - a potion of magic
Books
e - a book of Smoke
Spells Manner Upright
Mephitic Down Conjuration/Poison/Air 3
*Conjure Grill Conjuration/Fire 3
Deadly Down Conjuration/Poison/Air 6
Ear-piercing Down Conjuration/Ice/Air 6
Row of Sack Charms/Fire 7
Skills:
+ Upright 5.5 Fighting
+ Upright 11.2 Curt Blades
- Upright 0.7 Throwing
+ Upright 4.5 Armour
+ Upright 8.4 Running away
+ Upright 11.8 Conspiracy
- Upright 2.5 Shields
* Upright 6.7 Spellcasting
* Upright 0.2 Conjurations
* Upright 14.8 Hexes
- Upright 4.6 Ice Charisma
- Upright 4.1 Invocations
You enclose 6 spell levels vanished.
You know the successive spells:
Your Spells Manner Sway Disregard Upright Intend
a - Aura Hex ######. 1% 1 None
b - Ensorcelled Hibernat Hex/Ice #####. 1% 2 None
c - Error Hex ######.. 1% 3 ##.....
d - Enslavement Hex ######.. 1% 4 ####...
e - Invisibility Hex ######.. 6% 6 #######
f - Expensive Grill Conj/Fire #....... 38% 3 ##.....
Dungeon Sweeping statement and Upright Remarks
Branches:
Dungeon (12/27) Top (1/1) D:7 Orc (0/4) D:7
Break (6/8) D:12 Dilemma (0/5) Lair:4 Curve (0/5) Lair:5
Slime: Lair:6-8
Altars:
Ashenzari
Cheibriados
Elyvilon
Fedhas
Kikubaaqudgha
Makhleb
Nemelex Xobeh
Okawaru
Sif Muna
Trog
Vehumet
Xom
Yredelemnul
Zin
the Shimmering One
Pure Abilities, Strangeness & Mutations
You heal steadily.
You can be capable of blood from corpses.
You enclose razor-sharp teeth.*
You enclose supernaturally sober vision.
You can cope sans live.*
You are overwhelming (+10% HP).
Communication Write down
You enthusiasm the instant frog, and lug its blood!
You cope with significantly high-class. You cope with right less dried out.
You pierce the instant frog elegant a sieve!
You massacre the instant frog!
You see nearly a instant frog better part.
Use which ability? (? or * to list)
You start bottling blood from the instant frog better part.
You survive bottling blood from the better part.
You plug up bottling this corpse's blood.
A - 6 potions of blood (gained 1)
You see nearly a instant frog better part.
Use which ability? (? or * to list)
You can't do that.
New be foremost.
Use which ability? (? or * to list)
You start bottling blood from the instant frog better part.
You survive bottling blood from the better part.
You plug up bottling this corpse's blood.
A - 7 potions of blood (gained 1)
Bolt game and exit?
..##.......
....#.........
#.................
...... f....f #..........
.....##......##...........
.........P................
.............#............
............#..............
..............#.@..........
...............#..P.......#
.............#######...##.
............##...P#
............f# ###.#..#
...........f.#....#..#
##.......PP..####...##.
##.........#..##.....#
........#P#.#..ff...#
Current are no monsters in sight!
Subjugated Creatures
3 hydras
Nergalle (Lair:2)
3 awaken giants
A griffon (Lair:5)
3 elephants
A black mamba (Lair:2)
6 bristly frogs
A two-headed ogre (D:10)
3 komodo dragons
2 trolls
A polar backing (Lair:5)
2 slime creatures
A hydra dead body (D:8)
13 instant frogs
A basilisk (Lair:5)
26 yaks
A worldly (D:7)
2 wyverns
A charlatan (Lair:3)
3 hippogriffs
3 vampire mosquitoes (Lair:4)
2 eager ghosts
A necrophage (D:11)
2 manticores (D:8)
19 wolves
A participant ant (D:10)
5 orc warriors
3 ogres
5 phantoms
4 porcupines
3 black bears
3 sky beasts
2 mammoth goldfish (Lair:3)
4 centaurs
A warg (D:7)
Sigmund (D:2)
An ice beast (D:5)
8 crocodiles
11 mammoth frogs
A mammoth guzzle (Lair:2)
5 water moccasins
5 agate snails
A manticore dead body (D:12)
19 infected bees
4 wights (D:11)
5 ruby imps
2 monster beetles
2 big companion (Lair:3)
A quasit (D:7)
2 mammoth frog skeletons
7 hounds
5 iguanas
5 orc priests
12 orc wizards
5 hand over ants
3 scorpions
7 typical (Lair:3)
Ijyb (D:3)
A carry on (D:11)
A hand over ant piece of equipment (D:10)
6 gnolls
25 adders
4 mammoth mites
A mammoth centipede (Lair:4)
44 green vermin
6 worms
A mammoth eyeball (D:11)
5 mammoth geckos
2 oozes
36 orcs
24 bats
2 mammoth fleas
8 goblins
12 hobgoblins
18 jackals
15 kobolds
12 quokkas
3 rubber bullet pythons
7 mammoth newts
2 gnome zombies (D:7)
An orc piece of equipment (D:10)
16 vermin
A mildew (Lair:5)
499 creatures beaten.
Subjugated Creatures (vow kills)
An elephant (Lair:4)
A centaur (D:9)
2 orc priests
A rummage (D:11)
An orc wizard (D:9)
5 orcs
A gnome (D:7)
12 creatures beaten.
Subjugated Creatures (others)
A quokka (D:9)
2 fungi (Lair:3)
10 flora
13 creatures beaten.
Important Total: 524 creatures beaten
Currency
Border Mutual File
0 D:1 5ubbak, the Parasite Enchanter, began the ferret for the Orb.
0 D:1 Reached XP level 1. HP: 13/13 MP: 4/4
299 D:1 Reached aptitude level 5 in Hexes
299 D:1 Reached XP level 2. HP: 19/19 MP: 3/5
310 D:1 Bookish a level 2 spell: Ensorcelled Hibernation
827 D:2 Reached XP level 3. HP: 24/24 MP: 1/7
1354 D:2 Noticed Sigmund
1507 D:2 Reached XP level 4. HP: 30/30 MP: 3/8
1518 D:2 Bookish a level 3 spell: Error
2019 D:2 Killed Sigmund
2019 D:2 Reached aptitude level 1 in Ice Charisma
2019 D:2 Reached XP level 5. HP: 25/35 MP: 3/10
2037 D:2 Reached aptitude level 6 in Hexes
3123 D:3 Come into being an silky altar of Okawaru.
3124 D:3 Come into being a anyway golden altar of the Shimmering One.
3245 D:3 Noticed Ijyb
3265 D:3 Killed Ijyb
3265 D:3 Reached XP level 6. HP: 16/41 MP: 0/12
3776 D:4 Come into being a horrific altar of Trog.
3823 D:4 Got a gaudy robe
3830 D:4 Common the cursed -5 robe of Eleavew Acc+6 (You found it on level 4 of the Dungeon)
4356 D:5 Entered Upright 5 of the Dungeon
4735 D:5 Reached aptitude level 1 in Shields
4735 D:5 Reached aptitude level 7 in Hexes
5033 D:5 Reached XP level 7. HP: 46/46 MP: 11/14
5997 D:6 Got an ancient exchange
5998 D:6 Common the exchange of Portentousness freeze, Str-5 (You found it on level 6 of the Dungeon)
6041 D:6 Reached aptitude level 5 in Conspiracy
6244 D:6 Bookish a level 4 spell: Enslavement
6336 D:6 Reached aptitude level 8 in Hexes
6409 D:6 Reached aptitude level 5 in Curt Blades
6409 D:6 Reached XP level 8. HP: 52/52 MP: 10/17
7507 D:7 Come into being a flight of stairs to the Orcish Mines.
7648 D:7 Reached aptitude level 9 in Hexes
7815 D:7 Come into being a flight of stairs to the Ecumenical Top.
7825 Top Entered the Ecumenical Top
8008 Top Became a worshipper of Sif Muna the Loreminder
8062 D:7 Reached aptitude level 5 in Running away
9505 D:8 Reached XP level 9. HP: 44/57 MP: 13/19
9581 D:8 Reached aptitude level 1 in Fighting
9714 D:8 Reached aptitude level 10 in Hexes
9835 D:8 Come into being a snail-covered altar of Cheibriados.
9838 D:8 Come into being an ancient bone altar of Kikubaaqudgha.
10060 D:8 Got a horrific robe
10068 D:8 Common the cursed -5 robe of the Dragon Acc+4 Stlth++ (You found it on level 8 of the Dungeon)
10196 D:8 Acquired Sif Muna's better power
10642 D:9 Bookish a level 6 spell: Invisibility
10937 D:10 Entered Upright 10 of the Dungeon
10939 D:10 Reached aptitude level 1 in Invocations
11017 D:10 Reached XP level 10. HP: 66/66 MP: 12/21
11551 D:10 Reached aptitude level 11 in Hexes
11903 Top Gained mutation: You are overwhelming (+10% HP). [potion of able mutation]
12769 D:11 Got a collapsed robe
12778 D:11 Common the cursed -3 robe of the Urban Dex+3 Int+2 (You found it on level 11 of the Dungeon)
12920 D:11 Noticed a awaken mammoth
12938 D:11 Killed a awaken mammoth
12938 D:11 Acquired Sif Muna's immediate power
13149 D:11 Reached aptitude level 1 in Armour
13852 D:11 Noticed a awaken mammoth
14173 D:11 Killed a awaken mammoth
14173 D:11 Reached aptitude level 5 in Spellcasting
14489 D:12 Come into being a flight of stairs to the Break.
14503 D:12 Reached aptitude level 12 in Hexes
14503 D:12 Reached XP level 11. HP: 79/79 MP: 20/23
15472 D:12 Noticed a awaken mammoth
15502 D:12 Killed a awaken mammoth
15622 Lair:1 Entered Upright 1 of the Break of Beasts
16549 Lair:1 Paralysed by a potion of paralysis for 3 turns
17288 Lair:2 Reached aptitude level 10 in Conspiracy
17385 Lair:2 Noticed Nergalle
17405 Lair:2 Killed Nergalle
17405 Lair:2 Reached aptitude level 10 in Curt Blades
17405 Lair:2 Reached aptitude level 13 in Hexes
17958 Lair:3 Reached XP level 12. HP: 88/88 MP: 13/25
18221 Lair:1 Bookish a level 2 spell: Ensorcelled Hibernation
18283 Lair:3 Noticed a six-headed hydra
18310 Lair:3 Killed a six-headed hydra
19162 Lair:3 Common a +2 duo of boots of working (You found it on level 3 of the Break of Beasts)
19802 Lair:4 Reached aptitude level 5 in Fighting
19802 Lair:4 Reached aptitude level 14 in Hexes
20093 Lair:4 Come into being an silky altar of Okawaru.
20446 Lair:4 Come into being a flight of stairs to the Dilemma.
20771 Lair:5 Noticed a six-headed hydra
21661 Lair:5 Come into being a flight of stairs to the Curve Pit.
22239 Lair:5 Noticed an eight-headed hydra
22244 Lair:5 Killed an eight-headed hydra
22700 Lair:5 Killed a six-headed hydra
22926 Lair:5 Reached XP level 13. HP: 95/95 MP: 27/27
23507 Lair:6 Bookish a level 3 spell: Expensive Grill
Produce a result 1- 3 4- 6 7- 9 10-12 13-15 unconditional
+
+
+
+
+
++
Melee: Tooth 158 86 90 632 14 980
Curt sword 64 181 245
Powerless 1 1
Throw: Tooth 1 1
Cast: Aura 8 2 10
Ensorcelled Hiber 21 51 102 289 7 470
Error 17 49 87 153
Enslavement 7 16 23
Invok: Furrow Need 9 9
Skip over Control 2 2
Abil: Urn Blood 12 40 74 6 132
End Transformatio 4 9 1 14
Bat Form 4 9 1 14
Evoke: Force 1 5 5 11
Use: Blow up 2 3 8 18 3 34
Scroll 2 17 10 1 30
Stab: Snoozing 17 37 57 212 5 328
Unclear 4 18 27 49
Source: thelema-and-faith.blogspot.com
Shelter posted @ the Disbeliever Oasis
Unexceptionally I help to rail adjoining the Triune of Western religions: you can deduce which three, in the role of they are monolithic. And truth be told, the Far Eastern religions procure a bit of beauty for me, inasmuch as difficult to understand them from a Western issue of view is a conundrum in and of itself.
Seeing that really grinds my machinery about any religion from anywhere, is that the extent of them help to assistance people: whether it be non-believers, women and children, or even their own neighbors who procure a differing pounded as to what's what. I chanced corner to corner this article:
ON REPUBLIC DAY, Gaze THAT INDIA\'S Geological Cleft IS In the middle of TWO HINDUISMS
At what time a appointment in the role of 1950, India tries to influence the world (and itself) that it is confident a superpower, with an huge pageant that takes from beginning to end the grandest manner in India, the Rajpath in New Delhi. The Republic Day Mardi Gras celebrates India's nationhood with pompousness and get ready. This appointment, nevertheless, expound has been a agitation of calls to boycott the delegation. For the imaginative time, the Indian average class is disassociating itself from this hoopla. The barbaric Delhi bunch rape in December may shoulder been the on time, but, farther than that, expound is collective disrupt with law and order and the sponsor class.
The claim for a boycott started on convivial media. It was candidly labelled anti-national by traditionalists. Not unanticipated in a homeland riven down the average, but the blameworthiness coastal defenses are not Hindu-Muslim, class or sexual category based; the divergence is connecting two Hinduisms.
Hinduism is an odd religion. It works very well as a way of life but no longer works as a anticipation. It's too old, too dissolute, has stimulated too far from its raison d'^etre. For the elegant urban Indian, Hinduism is a cultural fairly than holy form. They appreciate all that's usefulness about the Hindu way of life: the festivals, the yield, the colourful mythology, civilized prototype music and lark. They may go prepared the motions of adulation on occasions but shoulder no real anticipation in their pantheon of gods and goddesses, some of whom are tremendously infrequent. Nor do they get a hold the proscriptions that shoulder crept here Hinduism from beginning to end the centuries. Practised thus, Hinduism is the supreme negligent and accommodating of religions.
But expound is the "other" Hinduism breathing in the appropriate towns and villages of India, a spiteful, religion that oppresses women and the "underneath castes". The dark side of India's financial burgeon is that the generally untutored adherents of this form of Hinduism are extreme here every boil of India. They are on a clang course with the accommodating middle-class Hindus of the cities. These habitually "exceptional caste" Hindu men of the surrounding area drop here the cities in droves, everyplace they find themselves disabused of their fondest beliefs, such as their reign from beginning to end women. That's so violence adjoining women - such as the fresh outrages that shoulder shaken India - be present. And the resurgent Hindu fundamentalist parties and publicity-hungry ostensible holy men join these zealots for their own ends.
This is a thread as old as religion itself. It is certainly agonizing and unmanageable in countries that over-respect holy beliefs and by some means find that the simple act of belief is description and carte blanche for the believers themselves. The fresh rape of a 23 appointment old individual who acceptably happened to be riding a bus previously 10 PM speaks to that. Was it deeply motivated? Possibility not, but the likelihood are good that the men complex in it were educated from childhood some patriarchal garbage that women were junior to men.
India has has some harsh ancient times occurrences of holy strength from beginning to end the centuries.
And to be life-threatening, the world hears some startling, weird holy facts from a homeland that has had cultivation for well from beginning to end 5,000 years. Such as a individual marrying a bend, a man sentenced to get hitched a dog, and a organization vote Hanuman in as a belong to of the company's boardroom (awful no judgment - from call back impartial).
Hinduism is acceptably as bad as any other religion - and in some ways poorer. There's acceptably enhanced to require from in the description of bad therapy.
Turnover the in that case post after that.
One of my summer projects is to attempt to write a study guide for Plutarch's "Life of Theseus". Even though we aren't done with school yet, I started on it because I was feeling a little off-kilter and, frankly, projects like these recharge me. At the end of a school year, no matter how good it has been {and this year fully qualifies as a "good" year}, I'm a little dry and empty. The end run always involves giving and going a little past Empty, if you know what I mean.
So Plutarch is one of the things filling me back up.
The first thing I did when I started this project was to look for a free, "readable", online copy of Thomas North's translation of this life.
Well.
That was easier said than done. A lot of the Google ebooks are fine for personal reading, but they are "scanned copies", not actual text documents, and when you try and resort to text identification software {as I did}, it gets a little tricky, especially if there are pullout quotes in the margins.
Which there were.
Oh, there were copies of Dryden's translation galore, and I did look at those, only to realize why it was that Charlotte Mason preferred North.
So I've been typing up my own copy of North. In the process, I've been reading it aloud to myself, as well as modernizing spelling {but not wording}, changing names to the modern version if possible {i.e., the Oracle at Delphi rather than Delphus}, adding annotations and paragraph breaks, and basically any other footwork that should be done prior to trying to write any lessons for it.
If I groaned a little at the commencement of this typing project, I have fully repented by now. I'm finding that the best way for me to become intimate with this work is exactly what I felt forced to do: type it, read it slowly and aloud, check to make sure I did it right. I'm getting a great first look at the "Life".
This summer I'll probably be chatting about Plutarch off and on because that is where my mind is going to be. This ties in to my why-fight-it philosophy of blogging.
What has been fascinating to me is that in this life, more than any of the others I've read {granted, I've only read four or five of them}, Plutarch is explaining his work as a historian. He tells us exactly who his sources are, and why he deems them credible {or not}. He admits that when we try and reconstruct the lives of very ancient persons, such as Theseus or his Roman counterpart Romulus, it is hard to know exactly what is true. So he gives the various versions he has discovered, and then speculates as to which version he likes best.
Today I felt like a light flipped on in my brain in regard to sociological and archaeologically evidence. In the past, I've thought of the latter as merely all the buildings being in the right place. For example, when we say there is "archaeological evidence" for the Bible--or that there is "not" archaeological evidence for some other religion's major work "ahem"--we mean {or at least "I" mean} that the cities, buildings, and monuments are "there". If the Bible says there was a big city somewhere, we find a big city there. Make sense?
Essentially, the geography is right.
But Plutarch is taking archaeological--and by extension sociological--evidence to a different level. Over and over again, Plutarch says things like:
...the names of the places which continue yet to this present day to witness it...After reading variations of this statement 37 times, it finally dawned on me that this was significant. {Quick I am not, apparently.} Why does this matter? Well, here is the exciting thing: this culture had a habit of naming a place--or a temple or an altar or what have you--after a major event. We see this sort of thing in the Old Testament over and over as well. The Israelites experience something of significance, and they build an altar or dig a well or what have you, and the "name" of the place tells us about what happened there. The unfortunate thing about the Israelites is that "sometimes "they did this while wandering in a desert in which they were lost, making those specific monuments very hard to find. But Plutarch is able to say in regard to Theseus, "Hey look: we know that this happened because the city named after this event is still with us, bearing that name, "even to this day"."
This is amazing! I suppose a thousand years from now, when someone is doubting whether George Washington was ever a real person, the existence of multiple cities named after him might provide a similar sort of evidence.
Similarly, there are semi-religious feasts that are produced as evidence. This is what I meant by "sociological" proof. Plutarch uses these feasts in the same way he uses architecture, even though they are technically intangible things and much more easily lost than entire cities. At the time Plutarch was writing, the people in these areas had feasts they had been celebrating for centuries. Sometimes, he offers two possible reasons for the feasts, and then explains logically which one is most probable. But the more important point he makes is that the feasts exist, therefore "something "happened.
It's sort of like how Hanukkah exists because something happened. Hanukkah does "not" exist because someone made up a fictional tale and thought it'd be fun to design a holiday around it.
Here's what I'm getting from this: the Greeks did "not" name their cities after, and by extension did "not" invent feasts celebrating, persons and events that "didn't "happen. That just wasn't done. It is because of this cultural practice that Plutarch can produce evidence of certain events in the life of Theseus, the founder of Athens.
The interesting thing to me is that a lot of tall tales grew up around the person of Theseus over the hundreds of years between when he lived and when Plutarch wrote history. As Plutarch is trying to sift out fact from fiction, these place names and feasts are considered huge evidence. If you read a child's story of Theseus, you will think it fiction, and for good reason. His life sounds outlandish, to say the least. And yet, Plutarch obviously believes that Theseus was a real person, and makes a valiant attempt to reconstruct his life.
This life particularly has the spice of faerie in it, which is to say that it is going to be great fun.
This ritual is a set of Gardnerian, Mischievous child, and traditional Wiccan sources, and is intended to be recycled as an initiation for former students of my training course in Austere Technologies of Witchcraft. All the same the ritual is powerful enough as it stands, I strongly proposal that it be chilly for populace who take been coagulate sincere training at least like to that which I employee, or much of the substance may be lost.
GUIDED Meditation(The following general feeling be read to all participants in the form of a guided meditation, earlier to the processional. It helps if the topmost part is read by a male speak and the split second part by a female speak. NOTE: All are nude; the grounds is in addition blindfolded.)Draw together the words of the Threefold Holy being, who of old was called Artemis, Astarte,Dianna, Aphrodite, Ceridwen, Isis, Arianrhod, Brigid, Aradia, and mass other names:Whenever you take detect of what on earth, taking into account in the month, and amplified it be in imitation of the moon is full, you shall regard in some secret place and dear the spirit of Me who is Sovereign of all the Mystic. She who would learn all sorcery yet has not won its deepest secrets, them I general feeling teach her, in truth, all things as yet unknown. And you shall be free from slavery, and as a sign that you be free you shall be open in your burial. Say, nosh-up, attempt, make music and love in My presence, for Get is the kick of the spirit and Get in addition is joy on earth. For My law is love unto all beings. Nor do I beg aught of outflow, for perceive, I am the mother of all things and My love is poured out upon the earth.PROCESSIONALThe Activate is not here to cogitate as the others encourage and comment the Greater Priest/ess during the Corner frontier and three epoch on, chanting:We all come from the Holy being,And to her we shall returnCastle in the sky a dropping off of rain,Beautiful to the sea. (restate)RAISING OF THE CornerGreater Priestess takes the Sword from the altar and traces a circle on the coveners. While he/she salary to the north, he/she kneels and salutes, saying,Greater PRIEST/ESSShower and well come, uninvolved Drive of the North. Advance to us your power and protection this night, that may be truth a true initiation, to justly bring to bear the power of Soil. So mote it be!ALL (envisioning a wall of dark-green light springing up from the circle): So mote it be!Greater Priestess advances to the east, kneels and salutes, saying:Greater PRIEST/ESSShower and well come, on the ball Drive of the East. Advance to us your power and protection that may be truth a true initiation, to justly bring to bear the power of Air. So mote it be!ALL: (envisioning a wall of lemon-yellow light springing up from the circle, within the wall of green) :So mote it be!Greater PRIEST/ESS advances to the south, kneels and salutes, saying:Shower and well come, convivial Drive of the South. Advance to us your power and protection that may be truth a true initiation, to justly bring to bear the power of Signal. So mote it be!ALL: (envisioning a wall of ruby light springing up from the circle, within the parapet of green and tawny) So mote it be!Greater PRIEST/ESS advances to the west, kneels and salutes, saying:Shower and well come, active Drive of the West. Advance to us your power and protection that may be truth a true initiation, to justly bring to bear the power of Wet. So mote it be!ALL: (envisioning a wall of dark sapphire light springing up from the circle, within the parapet of green, tawny, and red) So mote it be!Message OF EndGreater PRIEST/ESS:I insist upon the Horned God; I insist upon the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone; I insist upon the Drive of Soil, Air, Signal, and Water; I insist upon the Hosts of the Controlling Dead; and I insist every true Witch within this circle to film that we are current to consecrate as Vicar(ess) and Witch. The circle is cast!ALL: (envisioning the parapet of the circle lithe together overhead and flowing together under the confound to form a hemisphere of on the ball white light) So mote it be!THE InstructiveGreater PRIEST/ESS cuts a open in the circle, and near enough leads the Activate to bob at the edge via the open, after that balances the sword-point senior the Initiate's foundation (the Activate raises his or her hands to cooperation the spot).Greater PRIEST/ESSYou stand at the edge of a place that is amid the worlds, in the presence of the Gods and under the alert eye of the Controlling Limp. If you go any contemporary, you enter on a path that cannot be safely turned excursion via your death. Dash the expertise of the carving knife at your breast, and know this in your foundation - it would be amplified for you to scuttle yourself achieve something and dismayed out your life than to tone this circle with discomfort or guile in your foundation.INITIATE: I come with pure love and pure observance.Greater PRIEST/ESS lays down the sword, lifts the Activate to his or her feet, and kisses him or her.Greater PRIEST/ESS: And so are all topmost brought during the Corner.She after that leads the Activate to the altar and embezzle up the sword, re-draws the circle senior the entrance.Official group OF THE OATHSA person (other than the Greater Priest/ess and the Activate) begins a placid Aum and sustains it at some stage in the Five-fold Kiss and the Oaths of Origin.Greater PRIEST/ESS, administering the Five-fold Kiss:Divine are your feet, that take brought you to this place. Divine are your drink greedily, that shall bob at the altars ofthe Gods. Divine is your sex, minus which we may possibly not be. Divine is your breast, formed in aggressiveness and beauty. Divine are your maw, which shall speak the Seminar of Resolved. Are you coagulate to come the oath?INITIATE: I am.Greater PRIEST/ESS:Hence bob. (Takes the Initiate's Charge.) You who take from geological been called but now chase to become - do you voluntarily word yourself to the God and the Goddess?Activate sitting room his or her not here hand on the top of the lead and auspicious hand on the soles of the feet.All amid my two hands belongs to the Gods. So mote it be.ALL others put on a pedestal the intensity of the Aum precisely.Greater PRIEST/ESS:And do you give your word to call together voiceless all make somewhere your home things that prerequisite be set aside voiceless, and to charge that which is taught to you?INITIATE: I voluntarily give your word to call together voiceless all that prerequisite be set aside voiceless, and to charge that which is taught to me. So mote it be.ALL others put on a pedestal the intensity of the Aum a children bigger.Greater PRIEST/ESS: And by what bond do you give your word all of these things?INITIATE:All of these things I do give your word, by my mother's womb and my anticipation of extreme lives, worldly wise well that my Charge has been taken in the presence of the Controlling Ones. Want I go bankrupt wholly in my oaths, may my powers relinquish me, and may my own tools turn on top of me. So mote it be. So mote it be. So mote it be!ALL bellow quickly: SO MOTE IT BE!TRIGGERING OF THE TackleA person grabs the Activate fast and hoists him or her virtuously during the air (if optional), chanting the Initiate's new name senior and senior anew, as fast as optional, as they have available him or her three epoch fast on the circle. While they return to the starting spot, they set him or her down face-down and press him or her strongly during the deck.Gradually, the challenge relents to engaging massage. Throughout all of this they protect chanting the Initiate's new name, deteriorating off in intensity and second as the challenge relaxes.Greater PRIEST/ESS:Gossip that the hands that take touched you are the hands of love. Removes the Initiate's blindfold and helps him or her up. In the Burning Mature, in imitation of each associate of the Coven held the lives of the others in her hand, this would take been set aside, and recycled on top of you essential you consequence others. But in these happier epoch, love and observance remain standing, so come this (hands the Charge to the grounds), call together it or zero it, and be free to go or go to see as you hearten.FOLLOW-THROUGH AND EARTHING OF Have some bearing onGreater PRIEST/ESS hands the sword to the Activate, and leads him or her to the East, everywhere they whichever bob. The Activate salutes.Greater Priest/ess announces:Notion, ecstatic Drive of Wet - I bring via you, who has been consecrated as Priestess and Witch!Repeats at the South, West, and decisively North.ALL (including Greater Priest/ess and Activate) join up hands in the Corner.Greater PRIESTESSThank you Drive of the Controlling Limp, Drive of the Four Elements, and wonderful Noble and Lady for hallowing our circle. Go or go to see as you general feeling - our circle is deceased.ALL deck and spirit, after that maneuver the power of the Corner and return it to the Soil under their feet.Greater PRIEST/ESS (a long time ago a expected lull):Our fine rite draws to its end. Cheerful bunch up, unconcerned part, and unconcerned bunch up anew. Divine Be!ALL: Divine BE!Mistaken from Chisel Sumpter
