 |
|
 Radio1 - The Body
Provided By: RadioDirect
Composer: Jaiya
Title: The Bear
Radio2 - The Mind
Radio3 - The Soul
|
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
-- Anon
|
· Using Witchvox – a walkthrough
(Sep 02, 2009)
· Nutritionist Stephen Heuer Arrested in FDA Raid
(Jan 19, 2009)
· Spelling it like it isn't
(Aug 09, 2008)
· Funding the pagans
(Mar 08, 2008)
· Giuliani gets Robertson Endorsement
(Nov 12, 2007)
· The Dangers Of Feminism
(Aug 30, 2007)
· The secrets behind crazy airfare prices
(Aug 27, 2007)
· Petition To Rename Stretch Of 401 'Highway Of Heroes'
(Aug 24, 2007)
· Mummified Toronto child a newborn boy
(Jul 27, 2007)
· Quick Summer Meals without all the heat!
(Jul 18, 2007)
|
|
|
 Topic: History, Legend & Myth
The new items published under this topic are as follows.
|
|
See all
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
A History of Anglo-Saxon Wedding Customs
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted by: Makarios on Thursday, March 11, 2010 - 04:00 PM
33 Reads
By Arden Ranger
Something old,
Something new,
Something borrowed,
something blue
and a sixpence for her shoe.
<snip> Stag Parties
The Stag or Bachelor party had its beginnings with the ancient Spartans. Spartan soldiers would hold a great feast for their comrades who were about to be married the night before the wedding. There he would bid goodbye to his bachelorhood and swear unending allegiance to his comrades in arms. Knowing ancient history, I have to believe that these gatherings, like the ones that every modern bride fears, involved more than a little sex. For to the ancient Greeks, only a man could truly enjoy sex. Women were not capable of the higher emotions involved and were only for providing heirs.
Engagements
The modern engagement is rooted in the Medieval customs of publishing the banns and handfasting. The handfasting ceremony usually took place when the couple was very young, often many years before the actual wedding. It was this ceremony, not the wedding, that produced the exchange of vows which are now part of the Anglican wedding ceremony (where the couple vows to marry and be faithful). This was also time for bride price and dowry to be exchanged. The ceremony was sealed with a drink and a kiss. (Wet bargains were considered more binding than dry ones; if the kiss did not take place, and the parties later decided to back out, they both had to return any betrothal gifts. If the kiss did take place the man had to return all but the woman only half). This custom of keeping engagment gifts, specifically the ring, was recently shot down in the Kansas Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Parrish vs Heiman. The judge declared that an engagement ring was a conditional gift, the condition being the wedding. Therefore, the woman had to return the ring even though it was the man who had broken off the engagement. In the 1300s the Archbishop of Canterbury decreed that all weddings should be preceded by the reading of the banns for three consecutive Lord’s days (holidays). Banns are a public declaration of a couples intent to wed, like today’s engagement announcement that is published in the newspaper.
Read the complete article: Handfasting Info
Comments? 
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gwyddbwyll, a Chess-type game from ancient epics
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted by: Makarios on Monday, March 08, 2010 - 02:00 PM
115 Reads
Considered a “lost Game”, Fidchell appears in several ancient Irish epics and chronicles. Under the name of Gwyddbwyll it also appears in the Welsh Mabinogion and seems to have been held in peculiar reverence throughout the British Isles.
The playing of Fidchell was essentially a royal pursuit, restricted to the nobility and druids, as they often prove their noble rank by showing they can play the game. Also that the boards were sometimes, despite the game’s name, made of gold or silver and set with precious stones; and that it was believed that sometimes the game could magically play by itself.
Besides being an intellectual pastime for the nobility, Fidchell had a prophetic dimension, echoes of which linger in the Mabinogion account of King Arthur’s game with Owein in the midst of battle.
Read the complete article: Irish Genealogy Blog
Comments?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Flowers for a Period Wedding
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted by: Makarios on Sunday, March 07, 2010 - 02:00 PM
159 Reads
By Sarah Dressler
Plants and flowers have been used to decorate weddings since at least the time of the ancient Greeks. In many ancient cultures, the Greeks included, paid homage to the gifts of nature by incorporating them into all of their celebrations. Brides from the earliest records wore a crown of flowers upon her head. This circlet of flowers is seen in cultures from all over the world have been a part of wedding attire since weddings have been celebrated.
With the advent of the British Navy bringing treasures to honor Queen Elizabeth more then gold and coffee reached England. This was the dawning of the plant hunters. With each ship that entered the British ports new plants were introduced to the English. Ever since the countryside became a place of relative peace and people no longer needed to live within protective town walls gardens grew. Life was still hard, by modern standards, but the pleasure garden came into its own during this period. Landowners set aside areas simply to plant for beauty and pleasure. This timed well with the influx of plant materials. Weddings bore witness to this new trend in gardening, as nosegays were being made up with roses, dianthus, foxgloves, and even daffodils.
Read the complete article: Handfasting Info
Comments?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Banshee
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted by: Makarios on Sunday, March 07, 2010 - 12:00 PM
150 Reads
By Kathryn Cranston
The banshee, from the Irish bean sídhe meaning “faerie woman” or “woman of the faerie mounds,” is a troublesome being when it comes to classification. Although it would seem the banshee should clearly be classified as a faerie based on the meaning of the name alone, it isn’t that simple, although the banshee is clearly of the same “Other World” to which the faeries belong.
The origin of the banshee may be the Morrigan herself, a triple Goddess and one of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Banshees have been called a “Badbh,” the death and battle aspect of the Morrigan, and legends say if a warrior heard the Morrigan’s song, he was destined to die in battle. The Morrigan was also said to wash the entrails of those about to die in a stream and to choose only the loveliest maidens to become banshees.
Read the complete article: Pagan Pages
Comments?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Straight From the Horse's Mane
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted by: Copperwoman on Friday, March 05, 2010 - 05:00 PM
190 Reads
 by Patrick Harpur
Horses across the country have been found with plaits in their manes. Everyone from horse thieves to Pagan witches has been blamed, but might the real culprits be familiar figures from fairy lore?
<snip>Sergeant John Bleasdale of Bridport threw his hat into the ring: “The fact that we have experienced plaiting in October coincides with Pagan rituals,” he is quoted in the Marshwood Vale as saying. “I would also stress that we have not had any horses reported stolen as yet, and therefore this would support the Pagan theory.” PC Tim Poole, quoted on the Isle of Man website, is more hesitant: “There doesn’t seem to be any pattern, but we’d love to get to the bottom of it.” He adds that he has had ‘intelligence’ from the Avon and Somerset police that mane-plaiting is a gypsy trick which, says PC Poole – clearly a fair man – “it may or may not have been.” He then plays his ace: “But we have some very good information from a warlock that this is part of white magic ritual and is to do with ‘knot magick’… the fact that this rash of plaiting coincides with one of their ceremonial times of year adds weight to the theory.” As with ‘panics’ down the ages, all the usual suspects are present and correct: people who are ordinary, but hoaxers or ‘thieves’; people who are outsiders, such as gypsies; people who are extraordinary, such as witches or ‘Satanists’. The next step is supernatural – I expect to hear of funny lights hovering over fields where plaiting has taken place.
Read the complete article: Fortean Times
Comments?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hexes and Their History
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted by: Makarios on Thursday, March 04, 2010 - 02:00 PM
170 Reads
By Lady Steele
With the exception of love and money spells, nothing fascinates like a mean, wicked spell. Magick power used so benevolently to draw health, wealth, stability, love and fertility can also be used as aggressive, punishing conduits of frustration, anger, and resentment toward others, hence the hex. These spells define why some fear magick.
These are not socially respectable spells, to say the least. Lest you take them to represent the state of modern magick, let me emphatically add that in the current cultural climate of twenty-first-century witchcraft, hexes, curses, and other malevolent spells are incredibly depasse. Modern Wicca passionately emphasizes the three-fold law: as you reap, so you shall sow. Whatever magickal intention and energy you put forth will come back to you at least three times over, if not seven, nine or twenty-one times. Many modern Wiccan hesitate before casting a reasonably innocuous love or employment spell on the off-chance that the other part’s free will might be compromised. In that context spells that deliberately attempt to cause someone strife, misery and unhappiness are perceived as abhorrent indeed.
These are the spells that have earned magick its evil reputation—or are they?
Read the complete article: The Witching Hour Approaches
Comments?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Did Haitians Ever Make a Pact with the Devil?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted by: Copperwoman on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 - 11:00 AM
185 Reads
by Catherine Beyer
There is absolutely no evidence that a group of Haitian revolutionaries performed a ceremony directed toward the Devil, much less making a pact with such a being for success in their revolution. On January 13, 2010, in the wake of a massive earthquake in Haiti, Christian Evangelist Pat Robertson publicly stated that 200 years ago Haitians "got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, 'We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.' True story. And so, the devil said, 'OK, it's a deal.'" Robertson continued by stating that Haiti has been "cursed by one thing after the other" since this pact was formed.
Origin of the Rumor - The rumor refers back to a purported ceremony held at Bois Caiman in 1791 on the eve of a major uprising. The actual ceremony was a Vodou ceremony dedicated to Petro lwa, which are destructive and angry spirits who originated in the rage of brutally treated Haitian slaves. Vodou was a powerful revolutionary force. The white colonists were eager to demonize anything associated with Vodou, and even black leaders who rose to prominence after the successful rebellion subjugated Vodou both to gain credibility among white nations and to keep people away from the potentially revolutionary forces that simmered at Vodou ceremonies.
Read the complete article: About
Comments?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Could Coventry be named after water goddess?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted by: Copperwoman on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 - 09:00 AM
185 Reads
COVENTRY could be named after a water goddess, according to ex-pat David Fletcher, now living in Australia. Coventry kid David, aged 64, has been researching the link between the city’s name and the Celtic water goddess Coventina.
While it’s not a new idea that the name may come from Coventina, David believes Lady Godiva’s famous ride was connected to the goddess and also influenced the name of the city. David, who grew up in Coventry but now lives in Clarinda South, Victoria, said: “Is it possible that Lady Godiva’s ride owes much to the real source of the name Coventry? "The name is almost certainly not derived from Coffa’s tree or from Convent tree as some assert. “The ‘try’ part of the name has no connection with an arboreal asset but probably arises from the use of ‘try’ as a place to lie, or an assembly point (from which the word ‘tryst’ is also obtained.” He believes the goddess Coventina is almost certainly the Lady of the Lake Sir Thomas Malory writes about in his Arthurian stories.
Read the complete article: Coventry Telegraph
Comments?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mermaids in Myth and Art
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted by: Copperwoman on Saturday, February 27, 2010 - 05:00 PM
277 Reads
 By Gail-Nina Anderson
Like angels, mermaids belong to that category of beings we might just hope to see, though almost certainly we haven’t and won’t. Still, we recognise them at once, a familiar image in our culture if not our experience. Unlike angels, however, mermaids don’t exist within a theological framework that “explains” them. There’s no mermaid dogma, nor even a central text setting out quite what they are. Appropriate to their ambiguous nature, mermaids are slippery creatures, at home in a surprising range of contexts, from the oral traditions of folklore to the most officially approved manifestations of high art. It’s impossible to track a consistent path down which our idea of the mermaid has developed – her natural element is, after all, far more fluid than any graph or wall-chart. Fish-people are probably an imaginative inevitability. We have populated the sea, as the sky, with creatures recognisably like ourselves yet also different because of the element they swim in. And we can add to this a trait that, as mythologies across the world attest, seems basic to the human imagination – we create the unknown from the familiar, envisaging hybrid creatures whose morphology offers a potent combination of recognisable parts.
Read the complete article: Fortean Times
Comments?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dark Green - Some Disturbing Thoughts about Faeries
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted by: Makarios on Saturday, February 27, 2010 - 12:00 PM
281 Reads
By Jeremy Harte
The sleep of reason produces monsters; inversions, caricatures of what we know to be right and sensible. Sometimes the fancies of the night seem more substantial than the sober thoughts of daytime. The dreams of a folklorist are especially subject to this kind of inversion. Consider two magazine pieces published by that Victorian litterateur, Grant Allen of Haslemere. One is a serious contribution to folklore scholarship, while the other is its dark parody. But the night-time version is far more revealing. It says a great deal about the mind of its author; but it also tells us something about a hidden strand in twentieth-century paganism.
Novelist, freethinker and evolutionary theorist, Allen was much in tune with the spirit of his times, and had mastered an easy style which could be turned to most themes. In a piece for the Cornhill Magazine he addressed the subject of fairies. It was very curious that the English peasantry should believe with such tenacity in creatures who did not exist; at least, as far as he was concerned they did not exist. What could have inspired the idea of fairies? They were a little people, who used flint arrowheads and dreaded iron. That suggested Stone Age man, about whom so much had recently been discovered. They were to be met with in grassy hillocks, the ancient burial mounds of that people. So fairies were the ghosts of Neolithic man, dimly remembered and feared by subsequent races. QED, thought Grant Allen, or at least the rational side of him did.
Read the complete article: White Dragon
Comments?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Truth About Eggs
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted by: Copperwoman on Friday, February 26, 2010 - 05:00 PM
291 Reads
by Levana Lindentree
Consider the egg: warm in your hand from the hen, or cold out of the refrigerator: its shell, very slightly rough, calciferous, ranging thicker to thinner, white to brown: its weight, its shape, its perfection.
The Great Goddess of darkness, Mother Night, Persephone, brought forth the World Egg in the beginning, mirrored now in the Moon. Then the world was one: warm, glowing, a single unsplit thing. It rocked gently; a crack appeared, and the multifarious world was born.
One half of the shell rose to become heaven; the other fell for earth. The first deity emerging was bisexual Eros, blinking his golden eyelashes. Or so said the Greek Orphics, followers of Orpheus, Dionysos' son, in whose mystery religion we all had multiple lives and strove ascetically to pull ourselves from the wheel of life.
Read the complete article: Widdershins
Note: ...as the Wheel turns, Oestara/Spring is just around the bend!
Comments?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Meaning of Colours Across Cultures
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted by: Makarios on Friday, February 26, 2010 - 08:00 AM
227 Reads
By Deborah Swallow
Cross-cultural differences in colour meanings are sometimes the least of our worries when communicating internationally. I have just finished off an article which is to appear in the next edition of Winning EDGE magazine for the Insitute of Sales and Marketing. In it, I caution marketers to know their target audience as different cultures ascribe various meanings to colours. How easy is it to convey the wrong meaning by getting colour choice wrong?
White in the west symbolises brides, angels, good guys versus funerals and death in the East; black in the West symbolises death, funerals and bad guys versus a colour for young boys in China and restoring balance in Chakra energy (Indian medicine). Then I went on a hunt to find out more. This is what I found out…
I have given the most common meaning ascribed to colours by the Anglo-Saxon cultures: U.S., U.K., New Zealand, Australia, then listed other information that I have unearthed.
Read the complete article: Deborah Swallow
Comments?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
by VICTORIA LEGGETT
A tiny silver badge of a boar has allowed scientists to finally pinpoint the precise spot where they believe Richard III was killed by Henry Tudor's troops, bringing an end to more than 500 years of feverish debate among archaeologists and academics.
