Hawthorne's Blog (130)

Welcome Autumn!

Autumn brings about subtle changes in all of us. Our consciousness begins to shift from the more actively mental to the more psychically receptive state appropriate for the Dark Half of the year. So, this week in honor of Autumn I want to talk about The Stars of Autumn.

And, who are the Stars of Autumn? Firstly, the Great Goddess Herself. I have for you The Charge of the Autumn Goddess. And along with that we'll talk a bit about some of the Astrological forces…

Farewell, O Sun; ever-returning Light, The Hidden God, who ever yet remains.

He now departs to the Land of Youth, through the Gates of Death,

to dwell enthroned, as the Horned Leader of the Hosts of Air!

Yet, as He stands unseen without the Circle, so dweleth He within the Secret Seed;

-the Seed of New-reaped grain, the Seed of Flesh;

Hidden in Earth, the marvelous Seed of Stars.

In Him is Life, and Life is the Light of Man. That which was Never Born, Never…

This week on The Spiral Dance, let's give a welcome to the month of September! Of course the main feature of September is the Equinox, which is coming up in a couple of weeks. And we'll have our Mabon show at that time.

Meanwhile, let's talk about the Roman festival which was known as the Ludi Romani, which occured in September.

And I also want to talk about the Roman Goddess, Pomona. Pomona was the Roman goddess of orchards and fruit trees, and thus She is closely associated…

Labor Day is a good time to think about how we as Pagans relate to work.   



But, to do that, we first need to understand how the larger society relates to work, and we have to understand how all of this has come about over the ages.



So, let's examine that Sacred Cow known as the Protestant Work Ethic.  Has every society always thought that Work was all that great?  Or was it actually something to be avoided?



And then, what about Ethics in general.  Since the Work…

This week, we speak of Fate - Your fate, and my fate. WHAT IS TO BECOME OF US?? Do the stars know? Would they tell if they did? Just what do we mean by "Fate"? Do we mean a belief that there is a fixed natural order to the cosmos? Or does it have something to do with Destiny? And, who are all those old women, and what are they weaving? And, if you think you could rely on that old Rule of Three, think again! Finally, I want to share a poem from the 19th century that continues to be quoted…

This week on The Spiral Dance is Bread. Bread is important to the sabbat of Lammas because Lammas is a time of the first Harvest, and it's associations with Grain, and thus Bread. In fact Bread, and the cultivation of wheat is believed to be at the foundation of Human Settlements, and thus, society and our beleif systems.

So, how do you like your bread? Freshly baked with some melting butter? Maybe toasted with your favorite jam? Is there a particular kind of bread you favor? This…

This week on The Spiral Dance is our annual celebration of Lammas! Also called Loughnasaud, it's one of the major cross-quarter sabbats. Lammas is a time of the first Harvest, and is sacred to the God Lough. We'll talk about the traditions and myths associated with Lammas from over the centuries and around the world right up until Now.

One tradition is it's associations with Grain. From the European Corn Dolly to the Rice Mother, honoring staple products like grain and corn is a…

Happy Thor's Day! This week on the Spiral Dance every day is Thor's Day as we celebrate the Norse God, Thor!

First we take a look at how and where Thor's stories have played an important role in History.

Then, we look at one of Thor's most important roles - Thor at Ragnorak

Then, I will share with you Thrym's Lay, from the Poetic Edda

And, from modern times we have the poem, "The Challenge of Thor", by Henry Wadsworth…

So, have you gotten away on a vacation yet? The Summer Time is a time for getting lost. So our theme for this week's show is Sacred Travel. But then, Sacred Travel means different things to different people, and that's a very good place to start our conversation; the different kinds of Sacred Travel.

Now, if you want to bring the Sacred into your VayKay, then you have to think of different spells to do for different purposes, and you have to time your get-away for when it is most…

My guest this week is Diana L Paxson. A well-known leader in the Pagan community since the 1970's, Diana Paxson has written numerous books, traveled and taught classes around the world and served as Elder in many Pagan traditions. She joins us to talk about her new book, "The Way of the Oracle; Recovering the Practices of the Past to Find Answers for Today". Pagan Writer Michelle Belanger calls "The Way of the Oracle" "a fascinating journey into the oracular tradition: personal, profound and…