Small Devotions: A Blessing for Reading

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I find it’s easy to fall into being so caught up in the rush of daily life that I miss opportunities for small devotions. I’ve been working on slowing down (no, really, I have—there’s nothing like a set of week-old abdominal incisions from surgery to make one discover the benefits of moving at a stately […]

Shab-e-Yalda: Observing the Winter Solstice with Poetry and Pomegranates

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If you are looking for new ideas to mark the Winter Solstice, this article by Elmira Jafari about Shab-e-Yalda (also called “Shab-e-Chelleh”) has some inspiration! The festival was adopted by the Persians from the Babylonians, and is celebrated in modern times in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan as well. In addition to keeping a fire […]

Heathen Carols for the Winter Holiday

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One of the things I loved most about Christmas as a child was the music—singing while making holiday treats, bundling up and going caroling with neighbors, and yes, even the school Christmas Concert, with all of us kids hyped up on sugar and singing with varying degrees of attention to our choir teacher’s direction. As […]

UPG Is a Reconstructionist Practice

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UPG = Unverified Personal Gnosis. If you are not familiar with this term, or why some people have issues around UPG vs. Historical Lore, I recommend this article by John Beckett and this article from The Rational Heathen as background. I spend a fair amount of time on Academia.edu, a wonderful trove of well-researched, well-considered […]

Sigyn, Pain, and Grief—and Healing

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As the Mourning Mother, Sigyn understands your pain when you grieve. She understands your rage at the unfairness of life, and she understands your desire to strike back, and your impotent fury that there is no real way to do so. Sigyn reminds you to feel your pain, to weep your tears, to let your […]

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