My Magical Daughter
For those of you new to the blog, TheScott and I are currently fostering two girls, ages four and seven, with the hope of adopting them. I haven’t been doing much religious work with the girls, mostly because we’ve been trying to organize life as a new family and it hasn’t been an imperative. As...
Yule 2011 – A Look Inside a Heathen Holiday
For those unfamiliar with what a Yule celebration looks like in a Heathen household (well half-Heathen anyway, TheScott being of the Catholic persuasion), GG and I decided to share with you what we did this year. Due to all the December festivities, TheScott and I hosted a (very) late Yule celebration this year. Growing up...
Ancestor Veneration in Practice
As I wrote a couple weeks ago, ancestor veneration is a part of many faiths, including several branches of Paganism. Anyone can set an altar up, and for a lot of people, myself included, regularly renewing our connection to the past through the practice of ancestor veneration is not only comforting, but powerful. Ancestors are there...
The Power of an Oath
I consider myself a newbie to Heathenry and am trying to learn from others as I move towards Heathen practice. One way I learn from others is from email lists where like minded people (or sometimes unlike minded people) share experiences, knowledge and personal beliefs about a topic. The topic of oaths recently emerged on...
How the Princesses Spent Summer Solstice
As many of you know, Jax and I spent Summer Solstice, also known as Midsummer, in my back yard. It was just us princesses, so our observance was intimate and personal.* We shared and offered a meal with wine. It was a lovely affair and I was glad to share it with one of my...
My Plans for Summer Solstice Ritual
Next Tuesday is the Summer Solstice and I am planning a ritual, or as Heathens call it, a blót (pronounced bloat). This will not be my first ritual (not by a long shot), but it will be the first blót have planned on my own. Jax usually takes care of the planning and the direction...
Planning a Pagan Observance
Greetings Royal (and loyal) Readers! As you now, our Beltane celebration didn’t happen the way we wanted. Jax and I did break bread together on May 1st, but we did not ritual.* We firmly believe sharing time, wine, laughs and food (there must always be food!) is the best kind of “bare bones†observance of...
Symbel: A Great Ritual for a Mixed Religious Crowd
Symbel (or sumbel… one of the great things about studying an ancient faith is the non-standardized spelling!) is a Norse tradition that has been written about in various old works from Beowulf to Snorri’s sagas, with regional variations in the exact performance and significance thereof. The word itself most likely comes from an Old Norse...
The Inaugural Ancestor Chair
It was more than little surreal, standing in a circle with vampires, a pirate, a redneck, a carnival mistress, and all of them so serious. I was about to lead my first public ritual, and I was dressed as a waitress from a tv show. My long blonde hair – a wig – caught my...
A Chair for My Friends
While American memorials of the dead usually end with the funeral, many cultures around the world have an annual festival recognizing kith and kin who have passed before – like the Japanese Bon, the Korean Chuseok, or the Mexican Dia de los Muertos. Though there are limited instances of this practice in the U.S. (like the...
