“Moonlight is sculpture; sunlight is painting.”

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

Tags: lyrics & guest content & good earth & seasons & Scotland & children & land & Circles & coastline & sun & rain & stars & heavens & love & Lady & England & Ireland & Wales & Flanders & mysteries & plowing & sowing & reaping & harvest & Alan Bell & Lord & Gwen Zak Moore & world & Spring & winter & Moon & sunlight

Tags: coding & lexicon

Tags: calendars & Twelvetide & waxing moon & word of the day

Who am I to judge what happens between someone else and the Divine?

Tags: Nathaniel Hawthorne & moonlight & sunlight & sculpture & painting

Tags: calendars & Twelvetide & Holy Innocents Day & waxing moon

A great seasonal song

Tags: calendars & Twelvetide & Day of the Apostle John & waxing moon

❝Pardon, I don't think anyone is capable of judging what is and is not a "real" religion. I can't tell you how many times certain Christians have told me that my faith isn't real.

Pauline Christianity is something completely different that what Yeshua Ben Yosef preached. Gnostic Christianity is something completely different yet again. Which is true? Who knows? Who am I to judge what happens between someone else and the Divine?

I think these are the wrong questions. Christians are much nicer when they aren't the only game around. From what little I've seen, the same applies to Muslims.

I think what matters is how we treat others, especially others who do not share our faith and culture. Ramming it down other's throat by force will cause resentment. That's where some monotheists go wrong. It's not that they have the True Faith™, its that no other faith can be allowed. Because of their Greater Understanding and enlightenment, they can break society's rule for the Greater Good. Thou shalt not dissent.

Climate change alarmists stole the game lock, stock, and barrel. It's common for some of the radical feminists too. If anything, I think it indicates a weakness in the argument. Their faith isn't strong enough, they can't convince others, so it must be forced.

Getting back to Christianity, how much would history have changed if Constantine hadn't made it the state faith? How would it have developed if it had stayed one faith among many? How much of the Official® was really about politics and controlling the populace?

Could it be that control is really the issue?❞

NeoNotes are the selected comments that I made on other boards, in email, or in response to articles where I could not respond directly.

Tags: cross posted & Christian & Christianity & Christians & Christian bash & Gnostic Christianity & Constantine & ugh-politics & Muslims & thou shalt not dissent & enlightenment & radical feminists & climate change alarmists & Yeshua Ben Yosef & Pauline Christianity

Tags: Twelvetide & Boxing Day & St. Stephen's Day & Hunting of the Wrens & waxing moon & calendars

“Good men don’t need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many.”

— Doctor Who, A Good Man Goes to War

Tags: video & guest content & music & Dar Williams & lyrics & Christmas & Pagan & Christians & winter solstice

❝Unfortunately sometimes polyamory is a convenient label for questionable behavior. A healthy poly relationship is long term based on mutual respect. It's not an excuse to sleep with as many people as possible.❞

— NeoWayland

Tags: maxims & polyamory

Calendar & geekery

Tags: calendars & waxing moon & Christmas & Twelvetide & Christmastide

I miss my companions.

Tags: Doctor Who & morality & good man

Tags: calendars & Advent & Mercury retrograde & waxing moon & transistor & Saturnalia

❝Every moral absolute I’ve ever encountered depends on cultural or religious assumptions that probably aren’t shared by all people present.❞

— NeoWayland, as a rule, absolutes don’t

Tags: Advent & webmaster & coding & Mercury retrograde & waxing moon & Starwell & Ursids meteor shower & Saturnalia & calendars

A pagan take on a holiday classic.

Tags: companion & nekkid pagans & dealing with loss

Good morning on this the shortest day.

Tags: perception & resonance & imperfect & imprecise & subjective & aura & lexicon

A pagan take on a still another holiday classic.

Tags: lyrics & guest content & winter solstice & anonymous

Calendar and personal ramble

Tags: calendars & Advent & Cario & Egypt & Mercury retrograde & waxing moon & Starwell & Ursids meteor shower & Saturnalia & Yule & winter solstice

Just out of sight.

Tags: moral absolute & maxims & lexicon & absolutes

“Magic exists. Who can doubt it, when there are rainbows and wildflowers, the music of the wind and the silence of the stars? Anyone who has loved has been touched by magic. It is such a simple and such an extraordinary part of the lives we live.”

— Nora Roberts

Tags: EarthPorn reddit & photo & guest content & sunset & Iceland & cliff

I like the composition and how it suggests a magickal landscape.

Tags: lyrics & guest content & winter solstice & anonymous

The calendar and some site information.

Tags: today & Advent & family & typewritten & Special Elite & Starwell & Courier & lexicon & sticky note & American Typewriter & grandfather & Mercury retrograde & Saturnalia & waxing moon

A pagan take on a still another holiday classic.

Tags: Nora Roberts & magick & rainbows & wildflowers & music & wind & silence & stars & loved

❝You have to enjoy the peanut butter sandwiches. You never know where your next one is coming from.❞
     — from the private journal of NeoWayland, 14Jan2013

Tags: Glacier National Park & St. Mary's Lake & Moon & sunrise & photo

Entries for the calendar.

Tags: today & Advent & Mercury retrograde & Saturnalia & waxing moon & calendars & Corporate Clone & moon phase & astronomical events & solstice & equinox & midpoint & WebTree & fire festival & Solar Festivals & Jewish & computer & McFiach & astrology

A pagan take on a still another holiday classic.

Tags: Blake Taylor-Mixon & lyrics & guest content & winter solstice

Gods, there are times I love the planet of ours.

Tags: calendars & today & Saturnalia & Advent & Mercury retrograde & Court of Shadows & waxing moon

“ ”OF COURSE the Puritans banned Christmas.”

Tags: lyrics & guest content & winter solstice & anonymous

My mother's family arrived in Arizona from Louisiana

Tags: Antoine de Saint-Exupery & desert & beautiful & well

❝I'm not allowed to share her story while she still lives, but my mother was amazing.❞

Tags: EarthPorn reddit & Oregon & photo & guest content & coast

It's from my neck of the desert.

Tags: Saturnalia & Adam Ruins Everything & Pagan & Christmas & Christian & calendars

A pagan take on another holiday classic.

Tags: calendars & Arizona & Louisiana & mother & 1950 & grandmother & family & picture & highway sign

Corrected web address

Tags: photo & guest content & clouds & snow & red sandstone & Utah

A man who truly touched lives

Tags: lyrics & guest content & winter solstice & Ellen Reed

Where to find out what's happening.

Tags: mom & hidden thirteen & dealing with loss & journal & companion & passing & esoterica & Pagan Vigil & solstice & Dad & songs & maxims & sabbats & winter solstice

❝Faith and religion don't stay in the nice neat boxes and cabinets we make for them. Syncretism happens, even if it offends the True Believer™.❞

— NeoWayland

Tags: Neil deGrasse Tyson & science & art & somebody else & van Gogh & Beethoven & Juliaki & create

“If that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find without.”

— Doreen Valiente

Tags: photo & guest content & Monument Valley & clouds

❝That which is known but not told.❞

— NeoWayland

Tags: lyrics & guest content & anonymous & winter solstice

A pagan take on a holiday classic.

Tags: maxims & known & told

Yes, it really does look like that sometimes.

Tags: maxims & faith & religion & syncretism

❝The question is not which religion or belief set is mainstream, authentic, or even legitimate. Define your faith in those terms and you concede the war.❞

— NeoWayland, Faith worthy of freedom

Tags: Doreen Valiente & seek & within & without

“The desert is natural; when you are out there, you can get in tune with your environment, something you lose when you live in the city.”

— Robyn Davidson

Tags: lyrics & Yvonne Aburrow & winter solstice & guest content

These older blog entries have been reformatted and entered into the current directories

Tags: photo & guest content & Sedona & snowy & EarthPorn reddit

I'd be remiss if I didn't put up a link.

Tags: maxims & religion & mainstream & authentic & legitimate & faith & concede

Very striking.

Tags: Robyn Davidson & desert & natural & environment & city

An amazing shot

Tags: 3rd Yearnings

My time has not been my own.

Tags: Terence P Ward & The Wild Hunt & depression & link

“Magic's just science that we don't understand yet.”

— Arthur C. Clarke

Tags: EarthPorn reddit & Encinitas & California & tide pools & sunset & guest content & photo

Yep, that's the Grand Canyon.

Tags: Norway & winter & twilight & Ramsjøhytta & EarthPorn reddit & guest content & photo

When someone starts talking about THE truth, it's to exclude the thoughts and ideas they find uncomfortable.

Tags: mom & fireplace & vigil & companion & Christian & journal & dealing with loss

Neo got kidnapped

Tags: magick & science & understand & Arthur C. Clarke

Dealing with life - updated

Tags: maxims & victimhood & human & trusted

It isn't as far as you think

Tags: maxims & difficult & truth & must be told

Unexpected and delightful

Tags: Grand Canyon & composite & lightning & photo manipulation

What makes the so many modern pagans fluffy? And why don't they seem to want more?

Tags: discipline & victimhood & master & maxims

“Freedom from the Known is death, and then you are living.”

— Jiddu Krishnamurti

Tags: maxims & truth & relative & approximation & useful fiction & artificial construct & untruth

“Back to the basics' works if you chose the right basics. (We could debate that.)”

— Chas Clifton, Rhetoric: It’s “Classical” Because It Works

Tags: maxims & debate & secret guilty pleasures

Enjoy!

Tags: maxims & truth & thought & idea

❝We create our own mythology. We draw our history through that myth. We anchor our dreams in that history.

But so do all the people around us…❞

— NeoWayland, Skeins

Tags: maxims & friends & worst impluses

“The moon does not fight. It attacks no one. It does not worry. It does not try to crush others. It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently influences. What other body could pull an entire ocean from shore to shore? The moon is faithful to its nature and its power is never diminished.”

— Ming-Dao Deng, Everyday Tao: Living with Balance and Harmony

Tags: Moon & fighting & influence & faithful & power & Ming-Dao Deng

❝Your will may be an 880 pound gorilla, but it doesn't matter if you don't have your own heart behind it. That is where the power is.

The heart is where the miracles are.❞

— NeoWayland, Snap out of it!

Tags: maxims & will & heart & power & miracles

“Freedom from the Known is death, and then you are living.”

— Jiddu Krishnamurti

Tags: Jiddu Krishnamurti & Freedom & known & death & living

❝We humans were born with a spark of the Divine. We spend our lives trying to pass that on.

Sometimes we succeed.❞

— NeoWayland, Magick in the modern world

Tags: Chas S. Clifton & basics

❝Never piss off your friends, sometimes they save you from your own worst impulses.❞

— NeoWayland, Snap out of it!

Tags: wisdom & polytheism & Ελευθέριος

❝My feelings were irrelevant, I told him. My personal beliefs mean that The Lady Always Chooses. She was in a monogamous marriage to his dad. And that is where it stood. What he suggested wasn't even a possibility because her honor was more important to me than my own.❞

— NeoWayland, Bittersweet honor

Tags: maxims & The Lady Always Chooses & monogamous & marriage & honor

“The day has eyes; the night has ears.”

— Scottish proverb

Tags: maxims & mythology & history & dreams

❝The Wheel turns and the World touches me.❞

— NeoWayland, Migration noise

Tags: maxims & victimhood & help

❝We humans were born with a spark of the Divine. We spend our lives trying to pass that on.

Sometimes we succeed.❞

— NeoWayland, Magick in the modern world

Tags: maxims & human & Divine & pass it on

“Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.”

— Mark Twain

Tags: maxims & beliefs & faith & live & let live & freedom to choose & Christian

“Power has to be shared. It is the key to survival.”

— Andromeda TV series

Tags: Scottish & day & night

These older blog entries have been reformatted and entered into the current directories

Tags: maxims & Wheel & world

Tags: 3rd Yearnings

“Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.”

— Mark Twain

Tags: Mark Twain & Moon & dark side

A great discussion on what initiation is and what it is for, touching on whether self-initiation is valid

Tags: Juliaki & life & spirit & will

Another conversation with Juliaki

Tags: legend & maxims

(laughing too much to say anything important right now)

Tags: 3rd Yearnings

These older blog entries have been reformatted and entered into the current directories

Tags: reformating & Im chat & mom & Christmas tree & sunrise & journal

Just pointing out one of my favorite coyote sites

Tags: 3rd Yearnings

For all of the evidence of Christian bigotry, there's tolerance and pluralism right there beside it.

Tags: free market & choice & steampunk aesthetic & style & competition & Pagans & monotheism & niche market

Sometimes when you're feeling down, one of the best things you can do is do for others.

Tags: know & need & where & who & maxims

Lately when my mind turns to politics

Tags: journal & Pagan Vigil & mom & hermit

“I am the roar of the ocean. I am a powerful ox. I am a hawk on a cliff. I am a salmon in pools. I am a lake in a plain.”

— from the Song of Amergin

Tags: maxims & virtue & manifest & journal

❝I draw my strength from the ancient well and the dark and secret places.❞
     — Affirmation of NeoWayland

Tags: Richard Baxter & unity & necessary & liberty & unnecessary & charity

❝The virtue is in the manifestation, not the doctrine.❞

— from the private journal of NeoWayland, 16Oct2012

Tags: maxims & iPod Touch

❝Ah, Lady Moon, the kiss of your light works wonders.❞

— NeoWayland

Tags: The Illuminatus! Trilogy & Law of Fives & structure of the universe & perception & maxims

❝We define the labels, the labels should not define us.❞
     — from the private journal of NeoWayland, 07Nov2012

Tags: maxims & labels & journal

It's hard to find energy so I can do things.

Tags: Christian & Christians & Christianity & bigotry & tolerance & pluralism & Ethic of Reciprocity & Golden Rule & Western Civilization & cross posted & Ro3 & rule of three

Moore put a Decalogue monument in court. At night. With very few people knowing until the next day. Moore is on record as saying that man's law is under God's law. That is not something you want to hear a judge say, especially when you don't share his religion.

Tags: mom & eggnog French toast & yard

Listen children to a story
That was written long ago
'Bout a kingdom on a mountain
And the valley folk below

On the mountain was a treasure
Buried deep beneath a stone
And the valley people swore
They'd have it for their very own

Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of Heaven
You can justify it in the end

There won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the Judgment Day
On the bloody morning after who
One tin soldier rides away

So the people of the valley
Sent a message up the hill
Asking for the buried treasure
Tons of gold for which they'd kill

Came an answer from the kingdom
With our brothers we will share
All the secrets of our mountain
An' all the riches buried there

Now the valley cried in anger
"Mount your horses, draw your sword"
And they killed the mountain people
So they won their just reward

Now they stood beside the treasure
On the mountain dark and red
Turn the stone and which beneath it
"Peace on Earth" was all it said

Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of Heaven
You can justify it in the end

There won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the Judgment Day
On the bloody morning after who
One tin soldier rides away

Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of Heaven
You can justify it in the end

There won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the Judgment Day
On the bloody morning after who
One tin soldier rides away
words and music by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter

Tags: ugh-politics & morality & lyrics & Dennis Lambert & Brian Potter

It's hard to find energy so I can do things.

Today I was up at three a.m. The insomnia wasn't the only reason. I needed to do a pass through in the kitchen. The dishes were piled up, the floor needed sweeping and mopping. The pest control guy was coming at eight. Usually he comes on the last Friday in the month, but this month that's the day after Thanksgiving.

I've been watching the wind and breeze this morning. It's the first breezy day around here in a while. I wonder how many leaves will be left. I live in the high desert, but here in town it doesn't always look it. It's suburban.

My raven friend wants his blueberries. He gets raspberries today.

I'm still working on updating the site. I don't have much energy to spare. I'm thinking I'll get back to regular blogging after the first of the year.

The politics is getting to me. But there is one song that brings it all home. So I'm going to post the lyrics.

Tags: insomnia & pest control & Raven & blueberries & raspberries

❝We can't let our faiths and our creeds control how we touch other people. Faith is between you and the Divine. But we're measured by how we touch the lives of other humans.❞
     — NeoWayland, Journal 07Jul2017

Tags: maxims & Moon & kiss & wonders

Still, I missed some things.

Tags: Roy Moore & Decalogue & freedom of religion & public space & cross posted & ugh-politics

A song that helped me recently

Tags: maxims & believe & validate & Those Who Want To Be Noticed

I'm the only one who has a key anymore.

Tags: maxims & common sense & paganism

“Personal’s not the same as important. People just think it is.”

— Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies

Tags: companion & The Lament & clean up the code & clean house & yard & dealing with loss

I'm going to have to take some time.

Tags: lyrics & Rick Springfield & sky & gods

I'm a sucker for a lady with a guitar.

Tags: personal & important

When Goya painted this around 1800, the Catholic Church had banned the display of artistic nudes.

Tags: companion & dealing with loss

“In which Mike teaches you about the creation of the universe, with sex. This week we're talking about creations stories from Egypt, West Africa, Greece, China, and Persia that have a lot in common with human sexual reproduction. And also some castration and puking, to boot. We've got your cosmic eggs, right here!”

Tags: video & guest content & Nina Paley & God-Mother & sacredblasphemies & rights

“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.”

— John Muir

Tags: guest content & casual nudes & nude & guitar & photo

Lately when my articles have been good enough, I've experimented with posting links at reddit. The response has been a little mixed.

Tags: guest content & painting & nude & Francisco de Goya & vintage nudes

Tags: guest content & video & Crash Course & mythology & Mike Rugnetta & Egypt & West Africa & Greece & China & Persia & castration & puking & cosmic egg

“Though often considered 'supernatural,' magic actually operates within a traditional view of the universe, complete with a recognizable set of natural laws.”

— Jay Kinney from “Magic: What is It?”, Gnosis № 2, Spring-Summer 1986

Tags: meme & John Muir & paths & dirt

>

This site never had that many visitors, I never planned for that. Even though I think some of my stuff is pretty good, I held back from putting it out on display. I had a couple of bad years and I stopped blogging. These days my regular readers don't comment very much.

I'm a solitary, Most of my celebrations and rituals are done alone. It's not that I want to, it's just that my established group experience hasn't been very positive. One thing this means is that if my gods aren't chiming in, the only voice I'm hearing is mine. This isn't good. We need our ideas tested by those we trust but may not agree with. So if I want to grow, I have to share what I've learned. Since I work mostly with words and spell-forms in those words, I can't take something to the festival and spread it out.

But I forget. Not everyone has the same tools in their mental toolbox that I do. Sometimes the tools are called different names. Sometimes the toolbox is organized differently. And because I'm used to the things I do and the way I do things, I don't always notice when the tools are worn out and don't quite do the job I expect. I make excuses, I put off trying something new.

Lately when my articles have been good enough, I've experimented with posting links at reddit. The response has been a little mixed.

Part of the problem is my old friend, the symbol mismatch. What I see as practicing paganism today isn't necessarily what the rest of the World sees as paganism. I'm talking about gardening, I'm talking about nudging people just a little more towards truth. I'm talking about greeting the sun with nothing but a pendent. Or taking a quiet moon bath in my backyard. It's not fantastic, it's not romantic, it's not mysterious. It's not highly visible. It's not special. It's not meeting at a festival with like-minded people dressed up in costumes ritual garb. It's just me. It's also going to be Tuesday's article.

My in-town companion still isn't doing well. I've been trying to convince her to go to the hospital. I've been checking on her when I can, but she thinks I'm around too much. Helicopter hovering was how I think she put it.

The garden is still giving stuff. Tomatoes, delicious.

Mom is about the same, although she's resenting the control I have over her life. That's a good thing, but very frustrating for the both of us. She turned 75 this month. It's hard to see her moving with a walker, but at least she's moving. And she still has her compassion and her sense of humor. One day after she has passed, I am going to tell her story.

If anything I'm seeing more politics in paganism now. And it's not even clean politics, if there is such a thing. This is people who have been whipped up to a frenzy and told that if they kill the scapegoat, their deepest heart's desire will be granted for by the Forces of History. Pah.

So I think I need to do something special come Redmark. I need to think about that.

Well, there's a tunafish sandwich that does not yet exist, but is still calling my name.

Tags: paganism & thinking & companion & Redmark & garden & mom & journal

I love the sky and the trees.

Tags: Jay Kinney & Gnosis magazine & magick & natural laws

Okay, that was embarrassing.

Tags: maxims & plan & absolute certainty & higher selves & gods & allies & 3%

❝On some issues I run deeper than granite and more certain than dawn.❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: Peter S. Beagle & sacrifice & magick

“How anyone cannot see that Nature is God is amazing to me: that they's rather worship something that can only exist, really, in their own minds.”

— Alice Walker

Tags: maxims & chants & ancient well & dark and secret places

Sex, nudity, nature. All in all very pagan.

Tags: picture & EarthPorn reddit & eclipse & composite

I'd say early 1960s by the hairstyles and the dress.

Tags: Gaia & Nature & nudes & pregnant & fertility

“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”

— Friedrich Nietzsche

Tags: guest content & painting & David FeBland

“We’re not naked, we’re skyclad!”

— Kelley Armstrong, Dime Store Magic

Tags: veritas & engram & Robot & Ed Catmull & Amy Wallace & truth & honesty & candor & Mecha Sad Bear Kaiju

❝What I carry is what I use.❞

— NeoWayland's Pennyworth iPod Touch engraving, 19Nov2012

Tags: maxims & faiths & creeds & touch & Divine

This looks like an admirable lady.

Tags: eclipse & insomnia & Pagan Vigil & natural cycles

That library shelf says a reader lives there.

Tags: maxims & granite & dawn

❝I am certainly against Nazism, supremacist groups, and misogyny. I just think they SHOULD be heard, if for no other reason than they can be laughed off the stage.

As loudly and as enthusiastically as we can.”

— NeoWayland

Tags: guest content & photo & casual nudes & nude

❝If you look hard enough for a given pattern, you'll almost always find it somewhere. The "Law of Fives" isn't about the structure of the universe, it's about your perception of the structure of the universe.❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: guest content & photo & vintage nudes

one

two

three

four

five

six

Tags: guest content & video & Crash Course & mythology & Mike Rugnetta & Coyote & Raven

“Mike Rugnetta continues to teach you about Tricksters in myth, and this time we're headed to the Americas. Coyote and Raven appear in stories from many Native American groups, and more often than not, they're tricky. They're also often kind of, well, nasty. Not to get too judgy. But we do a lot of talking about poop in this episode. I'm just saying. We also talk about Tricksters as creators, as Coyote creates constellations, and Raven creates some rivers.”

Tags: meme & Friedrich Nietzsche & your way & my way & right way

“Unity in things Necessary, Liberty in things Unnecessary, and Charity in all.”

— Richard Baxter

Tags: cross posted & ugh-politics & Charlottesville & free speech & violence & morality

❝We define the labels, the labels should not define us.❞
     — from the private journal of NeoWayland, 07Nov2012

Tags: picture & meme & Alice Walker & Nature & God & minds

“Nobody ever got smart reading just one book.”

Tags: nude & photo & guest content & lady & tree stump

So I've learned to do small pleasures.

Tags: maxims & gifts from the gods & can't hoard & pass it on

“Pagans aren't people of the book, we're people of the library.”

— Steve Posch

Tags: vintage nudes & photo & guest content & guitar & hippies

I’m a naturist in both senses of the word. Life doesn’t always need clothes. I admire the human body. I hope you can too.

Tags: casual nudes & nude & photo & guest content

I think I'm spending more time trying to sleep than actually sleeping.

Tags: guest content & video & Crash Course & mythology & Mike Rugnetta & Hermes & Loki & Trickster archetype & Greek culture & Norse myth & cattle rustling & cook outs & luthiery & joke haircuts & Gullinbursti the Battle Swine

Tags: memes & Bible

“If you're sure I love you, you can raise your hand to me & I'll roll over for petting. But if not, expect that hand to be bitten off.”

— Maggie McNeill

Tags: Isaac Bonewits & sincerity & competence

❝I have no higher authority. I have to persuade.❞

— NeoWayland

Tags: Harvestpoint & semi-hermit & body language & small groups & large groups & Summergate & Wintergate & hair of the bear & recipies & calendars & lexicon & Raven & blueberries & journal & wheel of the year & solar year & cornbread

“Focus on the primary text, not secondary literature.”

— Peter Adamson

Tags: Peter Adamson & Rules for History of Philosophy & things & complicated

“Respect texts about texts.”

— Peter Adamson

Tags: Peter Adamson & Rules for History of Philosophy & jargon

“He who cannot blast cannot bless.”

— Gwydion Pendderwen

Tags: Z Budapest & old mind & old ones & collective unconscious & many lives & senses & divine eternal parts & parts of the brain & ignored

“Power is scary. And scared people are very very dangerous.”

— Cholla, Who Cannot Hex Cannot Heal, Witch Eye

Tags: Song of Amergin & roar & ocean & ox & hawk & cliff & salmon & pool & lake & plain

❝When I finally did hear the voice of the Divine, it was female. And She was more than a bit put out that it had taken so long to get my attention. I did hear a male Divine voice too, but that was later.❞
     — NeoWayland, Why are you Pagan?

Tags: Kelley Armstrong & skyclad & naked & nekkid pagans

“He who cannot blast cannot bless.”

— Gwydion Pendderwen

Tags: Gwydion Pendderwen & bless & blast

Okay, this is staged.

Tags: Cholla & Witch Eye & power & scary & dangerous

I'd say she's a child of the sun.

Tags: maxims & voice of the Divine

It's inspired.

Tags: maxims & dreams & Journey & Story & faith & trust

❝There are things I can't change. There are things I shouldn't change. And there are things I might change.❞
     — NeoWayland, Pure

Tags: guest content & picture & sex magick & nudity & nudes

“Be broadminded about what counts as “philosophy”.”

— Peter Adamson

Tags: Peter Adamson & Rules for History of Philosophy & essentialize

I love good space pictures.

Tags: Lady Liberty & photo & guest content & nudity

Tags: Pagans & people of the book & people of the library

Tags: simple vs complex & techniques. & Zed Shaw & iron rule & silver rule & golden rule & necessary needed & deserved & secret of life & successful & tested & mastery & 4PM & Ro3 & rule of three

“Take religion seriously.”

— Peter Adamson

Tags: Peter Adamson & Rules for History of Philosophy & primary & text & secondary literature

Don't laugh…

Tags: guest content & picnic & vintage nudes & nudity & 1970s & photo

I love pictures of Lady Liberty.

Tags: guest content & photo & casual nudes & nudity

“Take metaphors seriously.”

— Peter Adamson

Tags: Peter Adamson & Rules for History of Philosophy & respect & text

❝You should beware the politician who wraps himself in faith and the minister who wraps himself with the flag.❞
     — from the private journal of NeoWayland, 01Mar2002

Tags: guest content & video & Crash Course & mythology & Mike Rugnetta & void & nothing & creation & Genesis & eternal god & near East & Abramic & order & chaos & water & light & darkness & death & mud & sea & unknowable & word & human & dominion & speech & Mayan & Kono & Big Bang

Not strictly pagan, but I love the imagery.

Tags: meme & picture & Nature & guest content

My companion pointed out to me last night that I've never shown a a picture of my raven pendant on the site.

Tags: insomnia & companion & play & Mom & calendars & Evernote & digital binder & Pangere

“Think about the audience.”

— Peter Adamson

Tags: Peter Adamson & Rules for History of Philosophy & broadminded & what counts

❝You should beware the politician who wraps himself in faith and the minister who wraps himself with the flag.❞
     — from the private journal of NeoWayland, 01Mar2002

Tags: maxims & politician & minister & flag & journal

“Think critically.”

— Peter Adamson

Tags: Peter Adamson & Rules for History of Philosophy & religion & seriously

“The Law of Attraction is the Law of Creation. Everything that’s coming into your life ... you are attracting into your life, as above, so below, As within, so without. Create your life through your thoughts.”

— anonymous

Tags: Maggie McNeill & love & petting & bitten off

“For most of us, our bodies have become storage vaults for undigested impressions, for impressions too charged or painful to confront.”

— Dennis Lewis from “The Further Reaches of Self-Observation”, Gnosis № 29, Fall 1993

Tags: maxims & Christian & Christianity & culture & good & righteous & faiths & Senate & ceremonial & fasces & The Magnificent Seven & remake

Sharing a cup of coffee in the morning.

Tags: Law of Attraction & Law of Creation & Laws of Magick & as above so below & as within so without

I like this lady's attitude.

Tags: Julian Clary & personal & Pagan & religion & spiritual

Yes, this one is overtly sexual.

Tags: Gnosis magazine & 1993 & Dennis Lewis & impressions & self-observation

“I've found a more personal, pagan kind of religion to satisfy the spiritual side of things.”

— Julian Clary

Tags: Raven & pendants & malachite bear pendant & medicine shield bear pendant & waxing moon & sanctum & photo

“Silence is not louder than words.”

— Peter Adamson

Tags: Peter Adamson & Rules for History of Philosophy & metaphor & seriously

It looks fun, doesn't it?

Tags: Alice & Looking Glass & otherwhere

Notice how the emphasis on bulk lines hints strongly at both motion and emotion.

Tags: Milky Way & Mojave Desert & space & EarthPorn reddit & photo

Now, should I reject Bonewits and all he stood for because he and I didn't agree?

Tags: maxims & change

Now, should I reject Bonewits and all he stood for because he and I didn't agree?

Tags: Isaac Bonewits & Margot Adler & ABCDEF & Drawing Down the Moon & Spells for Democracy & ugh-politics & Z Budapest & Asatru & question & Authority Figure™

“Learn the terminology.”

— Peter Adamson

Tags: Peter Adamson & Rules for History of Philosophy & audience

Growing up in the desert, you appreciate a good rain.

Tags: casual nudes & riverbed & photo

I’m a naturist in both senses of the word. Life doesn’t always need clothes. I admire the human body. I hope you can too.

Tags: Karel Tondl & 1933 & nudes & picture & vintage nudes

“Read the whole text.”

— Peter Adamson

Tags: Peter Adamson & Rules for History of Philosophy & think & criticism

I let my ego off the chain last weekend. It was a vain and foolish thing to do. And it had consequences.

Tags: guest content & video & Crash Course & mythology & Mike Rugnetta & interpetations

❝You know the problem with these massive conspiracy theories are that there are never enough conspirators and never enough victims.❞

Tags: memes & guest content & Pagan & practices & worshipping & going outside & sitting still & shutting up & listening & picture & AmericanCeltic

Not strictly casual, but it is striking

Tags: maxims & ecology & environmentalism & science & connections & interrelationships & trade-offs & survive & thrive

“Ask yourself why they care.”

— Peter Adamson

Tags: Peter Adamson & Rules for History of Philosophy & silence & louder & words

“I don’t believe in objectivity, but I do believe deeply in fairness.”

— Margot Adler

Tags: Margot Adler & objectivity & believe & fairness

❝Get someone out of the light pollution of major cities and let them marvel at the real Milky Way and the Moon. Let them lie out under the stars and feel the Earth move under them.

But then I am just a tiny bit biased.❞

— NeoWayland

Tags: Margot Adler & monotheism & ugh-politics & psychology & ideology & one-crop economies & spiritual realm

Margot Adler • Before passing day

Lived 16Apr1946 to 28July2014 (68)
American author, journalist, lecturer, Wiccan priestess and radio journalist

“The spiritual world is not unlike the natural world: only diversity will save it.”

— Margot Adler

Tags: Margot Adler & 2014 & author & journalist & lecturer & Wiccan & radio journalist & natural world & spiritual world & diversity & calendars & wyrd calendar

The union of elements

Tags: maxims & pagan & polytheistic & pantheistic & animism & label

“Learn some dates.”

— Peter Adamson

Tags: Peter Adamson & Rules for History of Philosophy & terminology

❝Remember where the exits are. Be willing to walk away.❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: Margot Adler & The Wild Hunt & life cycle & seed & sprout & grow & mature & decay

An old glamour shot

Tags: Angus & Lao Tzu & e•friend & wisdom & knowledge

“Take "minor" figures seriously.”

— Peter Adamson

Tags: Peter Adamson & Rules for History of Philosophy & reading & text

❝Always do what you promise. Try to do more than you promise.❞
     — NeoWayland, Quick notes to a new seeker

Tags: rain & wind & Arizona & patio & ravens & tuna sandwich

“As a pagan, I've found that 99% of my practices and worshiping consists of just going outside, sitting still, shutting up, and listening.”

— AmericanCeltic

Tags: ego & victimhood & ugh-politics & pseudo-mysticism & spiritual war & Christians & paganism & comparative religion scholars & jargon & babble & occult & sources & eyewitnesses & primary documents & shadow borders & research & practitioner & historian & philosopher & truth & experience & left-hand path & survival trait & full ego power & today & lesson learned

“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon-instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.”

— Dale Carnegie

Tags: morality & conspiracy & conspirators & victims & sacrifices & babies & grandparents & neighbors & employers & pregnancy & mother & father & doctor & nurse & empathy & editor & publisher & police & mastermind & Satanist & magick & fabulist & credulous & blood libel

“Respect the context.”

— Peter Adamson

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”

— Roald Dahl

Tags: monotheism & Judaism & Akhenaton & Atenism & Egypt & Semitic & polytheism & influence & Christianity & scholarship & culture & trade & immigration & tolerance & other & usury & sin & economic activity & merchant class & royalty & loans & math & writing & religious text & amateur historian & bibliophiles & Pagan

“We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.”

— Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Tags: maxims & promise

“Suspect the text.”

— Peter Adamson

Tags: Peter Adamson & Rules for History of Philosophy & dates

“This week, Mike introduces you to Tricksters, starting with Anansi, the West African trickster god who is also sometimes a spider. Tricksters are, well, tricky. They're wise and foolish, they're promiscuous and amoral, but in a lot of ways, they're good guys. We'll also talk about the occasionally tricky Hercules and Atlas, and touch on more recent tricksters like B'rer Rabbit.”

Tags: maxims & exits & walk away

Messy, very sexy, and Female.

Tags: vintage nudes & nude & pre-1940s & glamour shot & photo

The air is still humid from last night's never-storm. No rain, but plenty of lightning and thunder around midnight.

Tags: casual nudes & nude & photo & guest content

As something suitable for the ages, the websites work as they are. As something that I can update and tweak, I need programs to manage.

Tags: guest content & Crash Course & Mike Rugnetta & mythology & video & Trickster archetype & Anansi & Hercules & Atlas & B'rer Rabbit & wise & foolish & promiscuous & amoral & good guys

❝Pardon, but Judaism wasn't the original monotheism. Akhenaton introduced Atenism in Egypt, which may have influenced the development of Semitic polytheism into monotheistic Judaism.❞

Tags: memes & spiritual journey & human journey & picture & guest content & Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

I had a bit of a scare this week. My blogging program developed a bit of glitch for a while. The idea of having to rebuild five websites and all the connections did not thrill me. This is the fourth major version of the site and it has been tweaked and tweaked again.

When I first started Technopagan Yearnings, I was coding things by hand and I loved arranging HTML modularly. I started using Lifli’s iBlog when I gave TPY and Pagan Vigil their own domains. Since then, Lifli went out of business and I started using RealMac RapidWeaver. I've upgraded from version 5 to version 6 and apparently I should have upgraded to 7.

Things change. As something suitable for the ages, the websites work as they are. As something that I can update and tweak, I need programs to manage. Using something dynamically is different from an unchanging text set in stone. Things change. A good lesson, but I wasn't ready to hear it at 10 p.m. on a Tuesday night after a day of frustration trying to fix the program. I had just gotten my new rhythm in blogging. I didn't want to spend months reconstructing the sites.

I managed a quick trip to Gallup on Wednesday. If you've never been, Gallup is sometimes called the "Heart of Indian Country." There's a lot to see and do there. I was meeting a friend that I hadn't seen in years. He had made a small necklace with red coral. I'm giving it to my companion tomorrow. The red will look excellent on her skin tone.

Speaking of changes, for the first time since the new cable company came to town, I've no cable TV signal and no internet. So as I type this I can't preview and I've no idea when I will be able to post. Hopefully today.

One of my issues with this site and P•V has been providing enough content. That's why I've scaled back the original content and moved this site more to "a slice of life." P•V is now mostly headlines and news clippings. I can't give daily original articles, not and maintain some kind of sanity. Paganism on the web is getting more and more wrapped up with politics and the Great Anti-Trump Crusade. I'm seeing first hand just how poisonous and destructive that is. Not that I support Trump, but removing a legally elected president for no credible reason. This obsession isn't healthy, and it's making some of my pagan friends unravel.

My garden is producing well. Like I've said before, they aren't really your vegetables until you give them away.

Mom is still getting along. She and I are having our disagreements. The other day when I checked on her, we got into discussion on if she should leave things on the stove cooking while she is in the other room. She has ruined one skillet. Bless her heart, when she doesn't see something, she's more likely to forget about it. I want her to be independent for as long as she can, but there are some things I don't think will ever really come back.

Well how about that. I just put in the tag for "Mom" and I thought I would double check the other entries because it came up "mom" instead of "Mom." It seems I use the word "moment" a lot. I didn't realize how much I did.

I suppose I should go do a fast pass through the kitchen and load the dishwasher. Then maybe some breakfast. Then a shower and shave. And then maybe I'll have internet.

Tags: Mom & caregiver & pagan Vigil & webmaster & Gallup & companion & slice of life & ugh-politics & garden & journal

“Respect the text.”

— Peter Adamson

Tags: Peter Adamson & Rules for History of Philosophy & minor figures & seriously

“It's possible for the same idea to appear independently more than once.”

— Peter Adamson

Tags: Peter Adamson & respect & context & Rules for History of Philosophy

❝I don't call myself an environmentalist any more. Environmentalism is a political movement masking itself as a moral and possibly religious crusade. Ecology is an actual science that studies the connections, interrelationships, and trade-offs that different organisms make to survive and thrive.❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: Dale Carnegie & human nature & put off living & horizon & rose garden & horizon

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”

— Roald Dahl

Tags: Roald Dahl & magick & world & greatest secrets & unlikely places

Alex Sanders • deceased birthday

Lived 06Jun1926 to 30Apr1988 (58)
Self-proclaimed "King of Witches," founder of the Alexanderian tradition of witchcraft. Plagiarist and publicity addict.

Tags: Bruce Lee & 1973 & author & cultural icon & filmmaker & martial artist & philosopher & calendars

From the file name, I think this is God and Goddess, a surrealistic psychedelic drawing by Darkmoondollie. And yes, that is their spelling of psychedelic.

I love how this piece implies wood and motion in the union of Male and Female. Too many times we forget that magick is about movement and the union of elements. The artist has a fine eye and a really nice touch.

Tags: surrealistic & psychedelic & gods & Darkmoondollie

I’m a naturist in both senses of the word. Life doesn’t always need clothes. I admire the human body. I hope you can too.

Tags: painting & Gaia & nudity

❝I know that when you borrow from another culture you should honor those elements.❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: never-storm & lightning storms

Yes, sometimes you can taste the Moonlight in the predawn. It's full of promise and hope and wonder, with the ever so slight tartness of regret.

Tags: Peter Adamson & suspect & text & Rules for History of Philosophy

“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.”

— George Washington Carver

Tags: maxims & connections

This gentleman is about as casual as you can get.

Tags: Peter Adamson & respect & text & Rules for History of Philosophy

“Things are always more complicated than you think.”

— Peter Adamson

Tags: maxims & can do & willing to do & price

❝Know yourself. Know what you can do. Know what you're willing to do. Know the price you're willing to pay.❞
     — NeoWayland, Quick notes to a new seeker

Tags: clipping & Brigit Katz & Smithsonian Magazine & Atlas Obsura & Transcribing Faith & The Wild Hunt & the Newberry

❝Make it better today. Keep polishing.❞
     — NeoWayland, Quick notes to a new seeker

Tags: clipping & Stoic & Stoicism & virtue & self-control & Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

“Beware of jargon.”

— Peter Adamson

❝I know that when you borrow from another culture you should honor those elements.❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: maxims & borrow & culture & honor & elements

She did have a flair for nudes though.

Tags: Peter Adamson & idea & appear independently & Rules for History of Philosophy

The rock formation caught my eye.

Tags: casual nudes & nudity & gentleman & hat & sandals & bag & photo

There's something very renewing about greeting the sun at dawn dressed in nothing but a pendant.

Tags: vintage nudes & picture & nudes & Bathers on the Beach & Marie Auguste Emile Rene Menard

From the hairstyle of the brunette lady on the right, I'm guessing that it happened in the late 1960s.

Tags: Thursday & dawn & Wednesday & rain showers & Moon & malachite bear pendant & fun & Sage of Greater Pagan Wisdom & slice of life & Pagan & quotes & picture & maxims & false modesty & service of truth & creative & tweaking & passions & positive & Wildman & journal

“Don't essentialize.”

— Peter Adamson

Tags: Jiddu Krishnamurti & I do not know & humility & no arrogance of knowledge & self-assertive answer & field of the known & inquiry

My high desert has been absolutely gorgeous.

Tags: maxims & worthy & choice & easy

❝You don't build communities by excluding people you don't like.❞
     — NeoWayland, Solitary

Tags: George Carlin & wolves & Moon & howls

❝The worthy choices are never the easy ones.❞

— NeoWayland

Tags: John Muir & climb & mountains & Nature & flow & sunshine & trees & wind & storms & autumn leaves

❝I think too many people are in religion for the politics.❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: George Washington Carver & Nature & Divine & broadcasting

❝You don't build communities by excluding people you don't like.❞
     — NeoWayland, Solitary

Tags: ugh-politics & community & excluding & maxims

From the hairstyle of the brunette lady on the right, I'm guessing that it happened in the late 1960s.

Tags: ring dance & nudity & vintage nudes & photo

❝Everything is connected. Nobody sees all the connections. There's always stuff you don't know.❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: EarthPorn reddit & Old Man of Storr & Isle of Skye & Scotland & photo

“There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.”

— George Carlin

Tags: lyrics & Circles & Alan Bell & Windmills & Gwen Zak & Ann Cass & Isaac Bonewits & summer & harvest & pagan & daily rituals & sun & Moon & pendants & roof & clouds & stars & world & universe & secret of life & hermit

“Over the years however I have noticed a disheartening trend in the community. And that trend is what I refer to as political assumption. What I mean is that what seems like a large degree of practitioners of the Wicca faith and other similar earth based religious belief systems automatically pigeon hole everyone else in the faith as being politically a democrat or of some other left leaning ideology. Many attacks have been directed at me over the years for my right leaning political beliefs by many people who know me very little or not at all. Well, I actually do lean politically right; however, I consider myself a right leaning Independent.

>snip<

I have been personally attacked en mass on a number of occasions to the point of people screen copying my personal opinions, taking them from other conversations and importing them to their social justice warrior sites, and then trying to get people to gang up on me for my deeply held (conservative) pagan viewpoints. Some going so far as to sending my viewpoints directly to well known individuals in the magickal community to show them how much of an "evil" person I am. I do equally find it a cowardly thing to do when I have the strongest feeling that these social justice warrior types could not muster the courage to say this stuff to my face under the fear that they would receive a serious beat down.”

— Douglas Helvie, On Preconceived Pagan/Wiccan Political Affiliations

Tags: ugh-politics & clipping & Douglas Helvie & magickal community & social justice warrior types

Exactly who does this threaten?

Tags: maxims & religion & ugh-politics

This one is unusual because of the setting.

Tags: maxims & heavy elements & stars & lighter elements & nuclear reactions & ancient & sunlight & starlight & Elder Relatives

It's not overwhelming, it just seems like it.

Tags: casual nudes & nudity & nursing & photo

I was coming off a long time of being militantly solitary and I relished the fellowship I finally allowed myself.

Tags: vintage nudes & nudity & forest & photo

Inside looking out.

Tags: journal & moonbathing & Mom & caregiver & high desert & sky & Earth & tomato & sharing & the Gardener & companion & homemade peach ice cream & pendants

❝Gods make you stretch.❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: maxims & Divine & woman & people & honorable & passionate & reasoning

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it and live up to it.”

— from the Kalama Sutta

Tags: Kalama Sutta & believe & heard & handed down & spoken & rumored & Holy Scriptures & Teachers & elders & wise men & observation & analysis & reason & benefit

I'm typing this on my patio and one of my neighbor's pigeons is giving me the eye.

Tags: Scott Cunningham & Diety & forgiveness & planet

“A spiritual organization with a hierarchical structure can convey only the consciousness of estrangement, regardless of what teachings or deep inspirations are at its root.The structure itself reinforces the idea that some people are inherently more worthy than others.”

— Starhawk

Tags: maxims & Pagan & choice & born

“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.”

— Frank Lloyd Wright

Tags: picture & Yggdrasil & Odin & eye

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”

— Albert Einstein

Tags: Dweller issues & picture

❝I look for the Divine in every woman I meet. Can you think of a better way to find people who are honorable, passionate and reasoning at the same time?❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: morality & patriotism & honor & Old Breed & Bill Whittle & you are not alone & virtue & Albert Jay Nock

❝The only faiths worthy of freedom are those freely chosen.❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: maxims & wonders & history & marvels & miracles

❝The Story is not the Journey.❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: maxims & Story is Not the Journey

“We are not on this planet to ask forgiveness of our deities.”

— Scott Cunningham

Tags: maxims & gods & stretch

❝Today is the Age of Wonders, the most amazing time in human history, with marvels and miracles far beyond any other time.❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: Nature & study & love & fail & Frank Lloyd Wright

“Allowing harm to continue unchecked is not 'harming none'. Rather, it harms everyone.”

— Doreen Valiente

Tags: casual nudes & nude & ocean & photo

“Film Review: Eugene Brave Rock Speaks Blackfoot to Wonder Woman in DC’s Best Film Ever”

Tags: vintage nudes & respect & nude & women of color & posture & jewelry & pubic hair & photo

❝How do you explain a Journey without moving into a Story? I am not sure you can.❞
     — NeoWayland, Blessed Journeys

Tags: maxims & faiths & worthy & freedom & choice

❝The Story is not the Journey.❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: nature & understand & everything & Albert Einstein

“The virtue of paganism was strength; the virtue of Christianity is obedience.”

— Augustus Hare

Tags: maxims & Story is Not the Journey & Story & Journey

Tags: Mom & the Gardener & yard & flowers & apple trees & worms & grandfather & pigeon & ravens & journal

“If Christ himself were alive, one thing he would not be would be is a Christian.”

— Mark Twain

Tags: Augustus Hare & virtue & paganism & strength & Christianity & obedience

I used this picture before in my post on bolines.

Tags: Starhawk & spiritual organization & hierarchy & estrangement & teachings & inspirational & structure & more worthy

Imagine the ocean's touch.

Tags: Gnosis magazine & Jay Kinney & winter & 1987 & 1988 & secret teachings & secret societies & inner realities

The picture treats her with respect.

Tags: Mark Twain & Christ & Christian

“All Women are Goddess and deserve to be Cherished, unless they prove otherwise.”

— NeoWayland

“All Men are God and deserve to be Adored, unless they prove otherwise.”

— Juliaki

Tags: boline & photo & nudity

Stewart Farrar * deceased birthday

Lived 28Jun1916 to 07Feb2000 (83)
Witch, author, novelist. May have encouraged the sexual initiation of minor girls.

Tags: maxims & light pollution & cities & Milky Way & Moon & Earth & stars

I can almost picture a cauldron there.

Tags: painting & summer & fairy & Maggie McNeill & blogger & sex worker & libertarian & Pagan

“I don’t believe in objectivity, but I do believe deeply in fairness.”

— Margot Adler

Tags: maxims & men & women & cherished & adored & prove otherwise & Juliaki

“They might add that monotheism is a political and psychological ideology as well as a religious one, and that the old economic lesson that one-crop economies generally fare poorly also applies to the spiritual realm.”

— Margot Adler

Tags: Doreen Valiente & harming none & harms everyone

I’m a naturist in both senses of the word. Life doesn’t always need clothes. I admire the human body. I hope you can too.

Tags: picture & forest god & nudity & homosexuality & homoeroticism & taboo & unacceptable & Real Men™ & sexy women & mutual masturbation & shame & sexuality & Man's Man & Iron John & phallus

Stewart Farrar * deceased birthday

Lived 28Jun1916 to 07Feb2000 (83)
Witch, author, novelist. May have encouraged the sexual initiation of minor girls.

Tags: calendars & wyrd calendar & Stewart Farrar & 1916 & Wicca

I really like the lines and the flow of color on this one.

Tags: companion & patio & night sky & Public Pagan & cycles & Earth & sky & high desert & lawn & neighbors & waterfall shower & Moon & choice & trust

Sunbathing with friends is even better.

Tags: calendars & wyrd calendar & 1956 & Scott Cunningham & Disneyfication & Wicca

Film Review: Eugene Brave Rock Speaks Blackfoot to Wonder Woman in DC’s Best Film Ever

❝I woke up this Saturday morning to see a 9:15 a.m. showing of the DC Comics and Warner Brothers feature Wonder Woman, starring Gal Gadot as the fearless Amazonian heroine. I was thrilled that Native American actor Eugene Brave Rock, an actor and stuntman that ran a stunt ‘boot camp’ on The Revenant with numerous other Hollywood credits under his belt, would be appearing in the film.

What I didn’t expect was to be overcome with emotion when Eugene Brave Rock’s character ‘Chief’ met Wonder Woman, who was spectacularly portrayed by Gal Gadot. Why? His first words to her were in Blackfoot. Even better, he introduced himself as Napi, the Blackfoot demi-god who is known as a trickster and a storyteller.

Congratulations, Indian country. We all get to share a secret moment in the Wonder Woman movie. If you speak Blackfoot, the magic will surely be tenfold.❞
     — Vincent Schilling, Indian Country Today

Tags: Indian Country Today & Vincent Schilling & DC Comics & Warner Brothers & Wonder Woman & Gal Gadot & Eugene Brave Rock & Blackfoot & Napi & Trickster archetype & storyteller

I love watching ladies sunbathing in the summer. It's purely sexual.

Tags: casual nudes & photo & sunbathing & friends & nudes

“Holy places are dark places. It is life and strength, not knowledge and words, that we get in them. Holy wisdom is not clear and thin like water, but thick and dark like blood.”

— C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces

Tags: vintage nudes & photo & multiracial & nudes

We should enjoy our skins.

Tags: maxims & spectacle & Proper Causes & Monday morning & neighbors & good human & decent neighbor & Pagan & Proper Cause

I’m a naturist in both senses of the word. Life doesn’t always need clothes. I admire the human body. I hope you can too.

Tags: cauldron & ladies & photo & Pagan & ritual & naked & nude

This Forest God is definately a Man's Man.

Tags: sunbathing & wondering & climax & philosophy & Divine & notebook & share & Pagan Vigil & Isaiah's Job & companion & garden & tomato & spinach & zucchini & journal

“If you don't question what a book or Authority Figure™ tells you, you aren't doing your part.“

— NeoWayland, How to convince me you're a poseur before I've finished the first page of the preface of your book

Tags: C.S. Lewis & holy places & dark places & life & strength & knowledge & words & holy & wisdom & words & water & blood

❝As a rule, absolutes don't.❞

— NeoWayland, as a rule, absolutes don’t

Tags: Gnosis magazine & 1987 & Jay Kinney & penetration & darkness & gods & one's self & All & relinquish & religion & heresy & path & Spring & summer

It is a very boy thing to do.

Tags: painting & picture & 1901 & Victor Borisov-Musatov & myth & Daphnis and Chloe & vintage nudes & symbolism & realism & nudity & post-impressionism

❝Modern American pagans are especially bad, we tend to celebrate some of our worse nutcases as gifts from the gods.❞

— NeoWayland, Depression and the Modern Pagan

Tags: maxims & book & authority figure & question

❝Why does your enlightenment demand that I sacrifice?❞

— NeoWayland

Tags: maxims & American & Pagan & nutcases & gifts from the gods

❝Acknowledge but do not celebrate.❞

— NeoWayland, acknowledge but not celebrate

Tags: Gnosis magazine & 1994 & Peter Lamborn Wilson & science & religion & battle & wrestling match & choas & eros & Earth & night & fall & hypnotized marks

❝Gods and magick have always lived in technology.❞

— NeoWayland

Tags: maxims & weird & wyrd

❝Our Dieties aren't suspended in “once upon a time,” they transcend us. They inspire us. They tantalize us.❞
     — NeoWayland, Anachronism

Tags: maxims & acknowledge & celebrate & morality

❝Magick is the essence of change and evolution. But you choose the direction.❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: maxims & enlightenment & sacrifice

❝Weirdness for the sake of wyrdness is not enough.❞

— NeoWayland, Depression and the Modern Pagan

Tags: maxims & absolutes & morality

❝Gods and magick have always lived in technology.❞

— NeoWayland

Tags: gods & the magick & technology & maxims

❝Our Dieties aren't suspended in “once upon a time,” they transcend us. They inspire us. They tantalize us.❞
     — NeoWayland, Anachronism

Tags: Diety & once upon a time & transcend & inspire & tantalize & maxims

A lesser known Greek myth set on the isle of Lesbos

Tags: magick & essence & change & evolution & maxims

❝Invoke science as an unquestionable authority and someone will show the truth behind the curtain. That’s the nature of science.❞

— NeoWayland

Tags: Richard Smoley & 1992 & winter & Gnosis magazine & dreams & Australian aborigines & Dreamtime & dream world

There's nothing like feeling the fire's warmth on your naked skin.

Tags: Howard Gardner & 1983 & multiple intelligences & gnostic intelligence & godmask

“We are starstuff, we are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out. As we have both learned, sometimes the universe requires a change of perspective.”

— Delen in Babylon Five

Tags: Divine & technology & technopagan & magick & maxims

“Empirical Meets Spiritual: the Intersection of Science and Paganism”

Tags: Victor Borisov-Musatov & picture & vintage nudes & nudity & dog & boy & painting & symbolism & realism & post-impressionism

Lotan often used the southwestern desert and Arizona in particular.

Tags: casual nudes & picnic & reading & photo & naked & nude

That book has her attention.

Tags: Babylon Five & starstuff & universe & manifest & perspective & change & anthropic principle

And that raises the first philosophical question. What exactly is that something beyond?

Tags: science & invoke & unquestionable authority & truth & behind the curtain & maxims

If we're not recognizing and honoring the cycles, what are we doing?

Tags: calendars & wyrd calendar & 1884 & Gerald Gardner & Wicca

Alex Sanders • deceased birthday

Lived 06Jun1926 to 30Apr1988 (58)
Self-proclaimed "King of Witches," founder of the Alexanderian tradition of witchcraft. Plagiarist and publicity addict.

Tags: calendars & wyrd calendar & 1926 & Alex Sanders & Alexanderian & King of Witches

Tags: Wild Hunt Blog & science + technology & magick & nanotech

“To divide anything into what should be and what is, is the most deceptive way of dealing with life.”

— Jiddu Krishnamurti

Tags: picture & vintage nudes & Three Graces & surrealist & Arizona & Lotan Lotan & Salvador Dali & painting & 1966 & nudity

❝But we are the Blessed, the God-touched, the ones who walk between the worlds. I honor my Gods as Elder Relatives, not as saviors or rulers of my soul. It's the difference between fear and love.❞

— NeoWayland, Of gods and men

Tags: photo & casual nudes & nude & fireplace & naked & fire

Freedom 7

Alan Shepard - First American in Space - 05May1961

Tags: faith & American judge & Peter McWilliams & ugh-politics & law

“Soldiers March. Warriors Dance.

Soldiers Act. Warriors Choose.”

— Kerr Cuhulain

Tags: hiatus

Paganism has it's benefits.

Tags: Jiddu Krishnamurti & divide & life & should be & what is & deceptive & dealing & life

But there is no one place where everything thrives.

Tags: the Blessed & God-touched & walk between the worlds & Elder Relatives & saviors & rulers & fear vs. love & maxims

That's not a ballpoint pen she's holding.

Tags: soldiers & warrors & march & dance & act & choose & Kerr Cuhulain

“However heroic the virtues of the saint may be, the scoundrel has a bit of the hero in him too.”

— Richard Smoley from “Choose Your Saints Wisely”, Gnosis № 24, Summer 1992

Tags: Yosemite & EarthPorn reddit & clouds & photo

Eakins explored nudes in much of his work.

Tags: nude & photo & fire & picture & paganism & naked

“I'm taking my dreams back. You can share them if you want. But don't buy into this sacrifice "for the greater good."”

— NeoWayland, Why does your enlightenment demand that I sacrifice?

Tags: saguaro cactus & pinõn pine & juniper & scrub cypress & Ponderosa pine & volcanic ash & lightning storms & bats & cities & rural settings & small towns & high desert & Sonoran desert & Carlsbad caverns & sheer difference & experience & wisdom & biology & ecology & religion & ugh-politics & economics & live & let live & natural cycles

Just look at those amazing clouds.

Tags: casual nudes & bath & photo & nude & naked & ballpoint & fountain pen & candle & hot tea

I made a tiny piece of the planet something that it wasn't before.

Tags: vintage nudes & photo & 1884 & Thomas Eakins & swimming & nudity & painting

“We can make things better tomorrow. But not if we limit ourselves today.

Raise your eyes above your feet.

Raise your eyes above the horizon.

Raise your eyes to the STARS.

That's where we need to be.

I'm taking my dreams back. You can share them if you want. But don't buy into this sacrifice "for the greater good."”

— NeoWayland, Why does your enlightenment demand that I sacrifice?

Tags: dreams & stars & horizon & maxims

“However heroic the virtues of the saint may be, the scoundrel has a bit of the hero in him too.”

— Richard Smoley from “Choose Your Saints Wisely”, Gnosis № 24, Summer 1992

Tags: Gnosis magazine & 1992 & summer & Richard Smoley & virtue & saint & scoundrel & hero

❝Do I think I can change the universe? I already have. Can I make it better? Maybe.❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: change the universe & make it better & maxims

Last night I wrapped myself in the blanket and spent a long time watching the flames in my small fire.

Tags: Zenna Henderson & author & hurting & help & love & calendars

❝Do I think I can change the universe? I already have. Can I make it better? Maybe.❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: the Gardener & family & mom & flowers & manifest & vegetables & soil & ugh-politics & sunrise & birdsong & garden & community

“The Christian fear of the pagan outlook has damaged the whole consciousness of man.”

— D. H. Lawrence

Tags: nude & outdoor ritual area & naked & photo

“Pagan temples are timeworn forests, secluded gardens, sun-kissed seashores and emerald pastures.”

— Amelia Dashwood

Tags: Beltaine & picture & art & nudity & Great Rite & Doreen Valiente & Christian

“There is an arc there: a vector. It tells a story of steadily increasing individual choice about religious belief and expression, and as a result, steadily decreasing subscription to old religious systems that clash with both modern values and humanity's growing body of accumulated knowledge.”

— Mark Green, Is Paganism Dying?

Tags: Mark Green & individual & institution & choice & paganism & religious belief & arc & vector & knowledge

She's just doing everyday things

Tags: Robert Heinlein & author & calendars & philosopher & libertarian

I'm guessing that this is 1930s European…

Tags: garden & nude & naked & photo & casual nudes

I wonder what she's thinking.

Tags: vintage nudes & nude & archery & photo & naked & nudity

Despite the rumors, the Great Rite doesn't happen all that often.

Tags: casual nudes & swimming & photo & nude & naked

“Everyone would like to behave like a pagan, with everyone else behaving like a Christian.”

— Albert Camus

Tags: casual nudes & vintage nudes & naturist & slice of life

Summergate isn't exactly Beltaine, but it's reasonably close.

Tags: calendars & sky calendar & space & science + technology

No, these aren't people I know.

Tags: ecology & global warming & climate change & fire & garden & ugh-politics & journal & wheel of the year & solar year

While these won't be necessarily pagan, they help show that life doesn't need clothing.

Tags: Beltaine & Summergate & summer & equinox & solstice & midpoint & stars & firepit & Fire Festivals & wheel of the year & solar year

There is a cave there, a Mystery promising wonders.

Tags: Albert Camus & Pagan & Christian & behavior

Now there are a thousand and thirteen pat answers to that question, but that day it got me thinking.

Tags: D. H. Lawrence & Christian & fear & pagan & outlook

My views on the pillow talk problem have been professionally validated.

Tags: Amelia Dashwood & timeworn forests & secluded gardens & sun-kissed seashores & emerald pastures

Before the dawn and the kiss of the sun

Tags: Yggdrasil & female & yoni & metaphor & womb & picture & art & digital image

Bolines can be fancy, but I think they sum up what can be wrong with today's paganism. It's about the flair rather than the practicallity.

This pocket knife is very similar to the one I carry. It's simple, inexpensive, and doubles as an athamé and a boline. It blends in and raises no questions. I can carry it easily in my pocket as I hike or tramp.

You don't always have to work with the fancy stuff. The best symbol of a thing is the thing.

Tags: boline & pocket knife & photo & art & nudity

Bolines can be fancy…

Tags: assumptions & awareness & perspective & truth

This is one of those articles I'm not sure if I should be publishing.

Tags: intimacy & desire & slice of life & love