I’m Anti-Consumerist, Not Anti-Capitalist
Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfactions, our ego satisfactions, in consumption… We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced, and discarded at an ever increasing pace. We need to have people...
Too Pre-Occupied to Occupy: What You Can Do Now
Like many people, I was fascinated by the Occupy Wallstreet movement as it branched out into cities across the world. The Occupy movement was by far the finest resurrection of fighting “The Man” I have seen to date. The “We are the 99%” slogan captured my imagination and compelled me to think about my behavior...
Hamingja – The Embodiment of Luck
The Norse embodied the idea of personal luck in a spirit called a hamingja. (It’s pronounced HA-ming-yah; thanks to Alda Villiljós for the correct pronunciation!) Each person has their own hamingja following them around, and just like some people have stronger muscles than others, some people’s hamingjas are stronger than others. Nobody’s hamingja wishes them...
The Secret to Staying Young
The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.” – Lucille Ball (1911 – 1989) I ❤ Lucy. She was a real trail blazer. And I concur with her sentiment on the topic of age. ;-) I try to be honest most of the time. And sometimes I am too...
Procrastination — A Very Long Four-letter Word
We all have things we are good at, skills that over time have bubbled to the top of the champagne glass that is life. For example, I’m pretty good at creative thinking; I’m an idea man (if you will). I’m also good at organizing (events, meetings, papers, rooms, etc). And I when I finally sit...
The Power of a Targeted Campaign: What Pagans Can Learn from the SOPA Blackout
Whether you agree with the proposed legislation or not, the online protest was impressive. The bills I’m referring to are the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). In case you were on vacation (somewhere exotic, I hope!), the protest happened Wednesday and involved sites voluntarily blacking out their content...
Obama’s Signing of NDAA is a Challenge to My Constitution
I ❤ Obama. No. I used to ❤ Obama. My political constitution is wavering. By most metrics, I am a liberal. I want equal rights and opportunities for all regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, politics or sexual orientation, and I believe the government should be able to intervene to enforce this equality. I don’t...
How I Became a Pagan Old Fart
I just did it, that thing I said I would never do. A n00b asked a question,* and I got all puffed-up-affronted like a Pagan Old Fart (POF). I didn’t say it, but I have to admit, my initial response to their (numerous) queries was, “Um… get a book.” What happened?? How did I come...
Repatriation (Return) of Ancient Remains: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Yesterday brought a momentous event to Peru. After nearly 100 years, the skeletal remains of 177 different Incans taken from Machu Pichu were returned. The remains were taken by an American explorer from Yale and then held at the university’s Peabody Museum. After years of failed diplomacy and ineffectual international legal action, Peru was granted...
Star Trek’s Seven Life Lessons: How do the Pagan Princesses Measure Up?
Earlier this week, David Borgenicht wrote an article in the Huffington Post called “7 Life Lessons You Can Learn from ‘Star Trek’.” Is it just me, or can his surname be translated into “Night of the Borg” in English?* [Hmm....admittedly, this colors my reading of his article.] Like David Borgenicht, I too am a Trekkie....
Forgiveness May be a Virtue Among Pagans But It Is Not a Pagan Edict
I have pondered forgiveness from a Pagan perspective for several years because holding a grudge is a family trait I have to resist. I started thinking about it again last week when I outed myself as leaving an oath unfulfilled.* I find myself in a position of having to either set things right or make...
A Good, Wholesome Pagan Girl
I’ve noticed we don’t get defined this way a lot. Pagans get defaulted to “mysterious” or “rebellious” or even “tech-savvy” but not “wholesome.” I think this is a real shame. Why? Because I’m a good, wholesome Pagan girl. In fact, I think there are a lot of good, wholesome people out there who are not...
