Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
What does magic mean in the context of connectivity and a general lack of hierarchies and selves? What is religion for a whole Earth? What is paganism, the path of the land? I have been chewing on these and similar questions for decades. So far I have not found any answers in print. Mostly I… Continue reading The Daily: 25 February 25
February First Fruits & Quirinalia To highlight just how different the seasonal cycle is depending on latitude, mid-February, the last ides period of the ritual year in Rome, was a festival of the first-fruit offerings. While here in Vermont we are barely thinking about the growing season, never mind able to see actual earth, during… Continue reading The Daily: 16 February 2025
Like many people, I find the American version of Valentine’s Day and the saccharine and monochromatic view of love it promotes to be repulsive. In my younger days I assumed the whole farce was invented by the greeting card and gifting industry, along with the rise of all manner of fake holidays intended to get… Continue reading The Daily: 14 February 2025
It is the middle of February. Time to address that age-old question plaguing the minds of men: What do women want? I once tried to explain to someone why I no longer read John Michael Greer. It wasn't the fussiness revealed in that name nor the association with deeply disturbing organizations like the Freemasons. Nor… Continue reading The Daily: 11 February 2025
Today is St Brigid's Eve. Brigid (also Bride, Brighid, Breeshey, Ffraid, Britgantia or Bridget) was a goddess with unusually broad distribution throughout the lands of Celtic-language peoples. Along with Lugh (who was not her consort, nor even related...), she seems to have been the principal idea of deity for these peoples, and because both are… Continue reading The Daily: 31 January 2025
The Feast of St Brigid, or Imbolg, is an ancient holiday that falls on 1 February, midway between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox. Brigid’s Feast Day is said to be set to this date at her request so that her day would precede the Marian Feast of the Purification of the Virgin, or… Continue reading The Daily: 30 January 2025
I have been on Starhawk's Earth Activism weblist for, I think, as long as she's had it. I've followed her writings for my entire adult life. The Spiral Dance, her influential first book (and, to my mind, still her best) was published in 1979, not far from 50 years ago. (How's that for making you… Continue reading The Daily: 21 January 2025
It is Epiphany, 6 January, the close of the Christmas season and the beginning of mundane time, a shift to Imbolg and the hope of spring — after we, hopefully, survive the worst of the winter weather. This is the date the Catholic Church assigned to the arrival of the Magi and also, later, the… Continue reading The Daily: 6 January 2025
Today is the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Christ-child, the savior deity of the Christian faith. Today is also the birthday of Mithras the cult deity of the Roman legions, who began his existence as a sun god, the Unconquered Sun, Sol Invictus, of which the emperor was the earthly avatar. Today… Continue reading The Daily: 25 December 2024
There are many ways to divide up the year. We all use several different calendars — one based on months, one based on seasons, perhaps a school calendar or a business calendar. Some cultures emphasize the moon, with varying degrees of correspondence to the solar year. Some cultures don't bother with a framework and base… Continue reading The Daily: 24 December 24
By My Solitary Hearth 