Posts Tagged ‘Imbolc’

Happy Imbolc!

Saturday, February 2nd, 2013

“I’d sit with the men, the women of God, there by the lake of beer, we’d be drinking good health forever, and every drop would be a prayer.” – Saint Brigid’s Prayer

Thanks for stopping by!

Lisa


Corn Doll

Monday, January 30th, 2012

How to make a corn doll for your altar, this is the doll I made for Lughnasadh.

Next time you’re having corn for dinner, keep your husks. Be sure to dry them in the sun for one to three days. If you’re using dried-out husks, soak them for a couple of hours to soften. (There is no special preparation if using fresh husks).

Materials:

  • Corn husks (Available in grocery store)
  • Scissors
  • Pipe cleaners
  • Twine or string
  • Cotton Balls

Instructions:

Fold a husk in half, place two or three cotton balls in the middle. Twist the husk, tying it with string to make a head. There should be a bit of husk in the front and back, below the head, to create a torso.

Make a pair of arms for your doll. There are a couple of ways to do this. I decided to cut and husk in 3 pieces and braid, tying the ends to make hands. Slip the arms between the husks that form the torso, then add a cotton ball to plump the torso (insert a few pipe cleaners into torso to keep standing) tie off at the waist.

Arrange a few husks around the doll’s waist, (overlapping them) then tie in place with twine. After you’ve tied the waist, trim the hem of the skirt so it’s even. You can add a shawl (see 1st pic) and let the doll dry completely.

Once your doll has dried, you can leave her plain or give her a face and some hair. (use hair form husks or yarn)

Be creative and have fun with it! You can add clothing, an apron, bead-work, etc!

I hope this was helpful, feel free to email me with any questions.

Lisa

News & Submissions 1/24/2012

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

News:

Call for PNG to repeal sorcery act after West Sepik deaths
Papua New Guinea’s Constitutional and Law Reform Commission says it wants the Sorcery Act repealed by the end of this year.

Last year, the Commission released a review of the Act, after an increase in the number of false accusations of sorcery were slammed by human rights groups.

But it’s making headlines again as six people accused of sorcery or witchcraft were killed in West Sepik Province by people who had taken the law into their own hands. Read full story from radioaustralia.net.au

Magic Mushrooms Could Treat Depression
After a psychedelic trip on magic mushrooms, people often describe the experience as mind-expanding, consciousness altering, emotionally insightful and even spiritually transcendent. Now, scientists have peered into the brains of people tripping on psilocybin — the active ingredient in mushrooms — and their results revealed a few surprises.

Instead of opening lines of communication between sensory-oriented regions of the brain, psilocybin appears to shut down activity in two key areas of the brain that regulate our sense of self and integrate our sense of awareness with our sense of the present. Read full story from discovery.com

Hunt for pagan cross ‘banished’ by priest
IT’S a mystery that involves an over-zealous priest, fairies and a missing pagan cross.

Now an archaeological dig hopes to find out just what happened to a granite cross which vanished 60 years ago.

Legend has it that a Catholic priest ordered it to be removed from the front of St Patrick’s Church in Wicklow town because of its explicit carvings.

Other rumours say local residents had complained it attracted fairies.

Some residents, though, believe the cross may have been buried in the church grounds by Fr Matthew Blake, now deceased, because he disliked the carvings of nude women on it. Read full story from independent.ie

Paranormal:

UFO spotted in Devon
Gary McDermott snapped the glowing red object, with bright flashing lights, after stopping his car to photograph a low-flying helicopter in Plymouth.

The disc-shaped UFO flashed across the sky – just as he was taking the picture – before it disappeared into the night at 9pm on Sunday.

Mr McDermott, who was working night shifts on the city’s famous Royal Albert Bridge, said: “I just couldn’t believe what I had just seen.

“It must have been a UFO – and I cannot believe I am saying that because I don’t believe in them usually. I am always sceptical.

“But this was definitely not a normal aircraft. It was red, the shape they say UFO aircraft is, and had two bright lights coming out of it. Read full story from telegraph.co.uk

Whittington Hospital: Is this the ghostly image of a boy who died centuries ago?
This is the mysterious image which ghost hunter Leonard Low says proves that something paranormal lies beneath the Whittington Hospital in Highgate.

The father of two was visiting a friend who was having surgery in the Archway Road hospital when he was told by nurses of “a strange presence” in the 19th Century arches deep underground.

Armed with his camera and accompanied by a curious Whittington administrator, he descended down to the basement to investigate the paranormal tales. Read full story from london24.com

Pictures: Oldest Dinosaur Nests Found in South Africa
The oldest known dinosaur nests have been found at the same South African park where scientists previously unearthed the oldest known dinosaur embryo (pictured), a new study says.

Paleontologists recently found ten nests—each containing up to 34 tightly clustered eggs—in a nearly vertical cliff in Golden Gate Highlands National Park. Both the nests and the previously discovered embryo date back 190 million years. Read full story from nationalgeographic.com

Media:

The Rise and Fall of the ‘C’ word (Celts)
Currently, the term ‘Celtic’, and its variations, is alternatively loved of loathed by archaeologists, historians, the general public and the media. Why is this? What has happened to the way the word is defined that causes disparity? How did this word mean previously rational archaeologists such as John Collis, Simon James and the Megaws spentd years arguing about the use of ‘Celtic’ as an archaeoligical term? Read full story from heritagedaily.com

Blogspot:

Feel free to leave comments regarding the articles posted.

If you’re interested in guest blogging or would like to submit an article or event, contact me at pagansworld.org@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by! Well wishes to you all, have a great day!

Lisa

News & Submissions 1/17/2012

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

News:

Witchcraft trial hears how tortured boy drowned
A teenage boy allegedly tortured and killed because his attackers believed he was practising witchcraft struggled to get out of the bath where he was drowned but had no strength left, a court has heard.

The Old Bailey watched video footage of police interviews with the brother of 15-year-old Kristy Bamu – who cannot be named for legal reasons – carried out the day after Kristy was allegedly killed by Eric Bikubi and Magalie Bamu, both 28, because they believed he was a sorcerer.

Kristy was found dead in the bathroom of a blood-covered flat in Forest Gate, east London, on Christmas Day 2010. He had 101 injuries and was covered in deep cuts and bruising allegedly administered by an “armoury” of weapons. Read full story from guardian.co.uk

Shakespeare and Native American Authors Among Those Banned from Tucson Schools
As part of its compliance with a state ban on ethnic studies, the Tucson Unified School District has banned its Mexican American Studies program and a number of books including The Tempest by William Shakespeare and Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years, which includes pieces by various Native American authors including Suzan Shown Harjo, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Joseph Bruchac, Leslie Marmon Silko and Winona LaDuke.

“By ordering teachers to remove Rethinking Columbus, the Tucson school district has shown tremendous disrespect for teachers and students,” said the book’s editor Bill Bigelow. “It offers teaching strategies and readings that teachers can use to help students think about the perspectives that are too often silenced in the traditional curriculum.” Read full story from indiancountrytodaymedianetwork

Thindwa’s ASH launches fight against recognition of witchcraft
BLANTYRE: The Association for Secular Humanism (ASH) says it has formed a task force to ensure that Malawi  “continues not to recognise witchcraft despite some quarter’s desire that our law should be reviewed to recognise witchcraft.”

In a statement made available to MaraPost, ASH said it  “considers any moves calling for recognition of witchcraft as retrogressive and unconstitutional and not in line with modern and democratic principles.” Read full story from maravipost.com

Science/Environment:

Lost Charles Darwin fossils rediscovered in cabinet
A “treasure trove” of fossils – including some collected by Charles Darwin – has been re-discovered in an old cabinet.

The fossils, lost for some 165 years, were found by chance in the vaults of the British Geological Survey HQ near Keyworth, UK.

They have now been photographed and are available to the public through a new online museum exhibit released today. Read full story from bbc.co.uk

Incredible New View of Eagle Nebula’s ‘Pillars of Creation’
The European Space Agency’s Herschel space telescope has captured this gorgeous new view of the famed Eagle Nebula.

The Eagle Nebula, located 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Serpens, is visible as a fuzzy red spot to backyard astronomers with a modest telescope.

In 1995, NASA’s Hubble space telescope captured a famous image of one region within the Eagle Nebula: a star-forming cluster named NGC6611, known as the “Pillars of Creation.” Light and heat from young stars carved out the iconic pillars, which are each several trillion miles long. Read full story from wired.com

One Of World’s Oldest Cypress Trees, ‘The Senator,’ Burns In Florida
Investigators are now saying arson was not the likely cause of a fire that on Monday destroyed a cypress tree in Central Florida that was an estimated 3,500 years old — making it perhaps the oldest such tree in the nation and one of the oldest in the world.

Known as “The Senator,” the tree that once stood 165 feet tall (before a hurricane lopped off about 45 feet in 1925) was more likely brought down by a fire that had been smoldering inside it — without being detected — since a lightning strike about a week ago, investigators say. Read full story from npr.com

Media:

Q&A with Joe Berlinger, Director of West Memphis Three Documentary
In 1993 acclaimed director Joe Berlinger arrived in West Memphis, Arkansas, a community still in shock after three eight-year-old boys disappeared, then were found dead in a nearby ravine. Facing a public that was both enraged and afraid, police scrambled to make an arrest. Soon three local teens—Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley—found themselves in court, accused of the murders.

With no physical evidence linking the teens to the crime, prosecutors pointed to their black clothing and interest in heavy metal music, indications, they said, that the teens had formed a devil-worshipping cult and, inspired by the full moon, murdered the boys as a sacrifice to evil spirits. Read full story from huffingtonpost.com

SOPA: What’s It All About? A Video Explanation (Source: IndianCountryTodayMediaNetwork)

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

End of The World 2012 – Has The Time Come To Repent? (source: YouTube – TreVelocita)

Blogspot:

Feel free to leave comments regarding the articles posted.

If you’re interested in guest blogging or would like to submit an article or event, contact me at pagansworld.org@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by! Well wishes to you all, have a great day!

Lisa

News & Submissions 1/10/2012

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

Arts & Entertainment:

Warner Bros. to adapt ‘Discovery of Witches’
David Auburn is looking for witches and vampires and has come on to adapt Deborah Harkness’ “A Discovery of Witches” for Warner Bros. and producers Denise Di Novi and Allison Greenspan.

Studio acquired the property last summer. Story centers on a reluctant witch and a 1,500-year-old vampire. The witch — a direct descendant of the first woman executed in the Salem Witch trials — accidentally unlocks an enchanted manuscript and finds herself in a race to prevent an interspecies war.

David Auburn is looking for witches and vampires and has come on to adapt Deborah Harkness’ “A Discovery of Witches” for Warner Bros. and producers Denise Di Novi and Allison Greenspan.Studio acquired the property last summer. Story centers on a reluctant witch and a 1,500-year-old vampire. The witch — a direct descendant of the first woman executed in the Salem Witch trials — accidentally unlocks an enchanted manuscript and finds herself in a race to prevent an interspecies war. Read full story from varitey.com

Racing the Rez Documentary Reaches KickStarter Goal!
On New Year’s Eve we posted a story about the incredible documentary Racing the Rez, which was $11,215 shy of of the $15,000 at the time.  A scant nine days later, director Brian Truglio and his team have reached their goal.  There are still three days of fundraising left for the film team to help build up their outreach program.  We reached out to Brian to see how he was feeling, and what comes next.  Here was his response:

The money, of course is, important, and the reason the KickStarter campaign exists, but I’m most blown away by all the support and excitement around the project.  The running community is really something special and unique.  Having Christopher McDougall‘s support means the world to me, it’s unbelievable that a writer and runner who is one of my heroes is supporting Racing the Rez.” Read full story from indiancounrytodaymedianetwork.com

Health:

How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body
On a cold Saturday in early 2009, Glenn Black, a yoga teacher of nearly four decades, whose devoted clientele includes a number of celebrities and prominent gurus, was giving a master class at Sankalpah Yoga in Manhattan. Black is, in many ways, a classic yogi: he studied in Pune, India, at the institute founded by the legendary B. K. S. Iyengar, and spent years in solitude and meditation. He now lives in Rhinebeck, N.Y., and often teaches at the nearby Omega Institute, a New Age emporium spread over nearly 200 acres of woods and gardens. He is known for his rigor and his down-to-earth style. But this was not why I sought him out: Black, I’d been told, was the person to speak with if you wanted to know not about the virtues of yoga but rather about the damage it could do. Many of his regular clients came to him for bodywork or rehabilitation following yoga injuries. This was the situation I found myself in. In my 30s, I had somehow managed to rupture a disk in my lower back and found I could prevent bouts of pain with a selection of yoga postures and abdominal exercises. Then, in 2007, while doing the extended-side-angle pose, a posture hailed as a cure for many diseases, my back gave way. With it went my belief, naïve in retrospect, that yoga was a source only of healing and never harm. Read full story from nytimes.com

News:

Muslim group’s anti-gay leaflet was hate crime, court told
A group of Muslim men publicly distributed a leaflet calling for gay people to be given the death sentence, a court has heard.The pamphlet was entitled The Death Penalty? and showed an image of a mannequin hanging from a noose. It said sodomy was a sin that led to hell, that it used to be punished by hanging, and that people practising and allowing homosexuality would suffer, the court was told.

Five men – Ihjaz Ali, 42, Mehboob Hussain, 45, Umar Javed, 38, Razwan Javed, 27, and Kabir Ahmed, 28, all of Derby – are alleged to have handed out the document outside and near the Jamia mosque in in the city in July 2010, and to have put it through people’s letterboxes in the neighbourhood.

They are accused of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation, in the first prosecution of its kind since legislation came into force in March 2010. They deny the charges. Read full story from guardian.co.uk

Sister weeps at ‘witch’ death trial
A young woman broke down in court as she recalled events which led to her teenage brother being tortured to death in east London for being a “witch”.Kelly Bamu, 21, wept as she came face-to-face with her sister Magalie, and her partner Eric Bikubi, both 28, who are accused of killing Kristy, 15.

He was found drowned in a bath at the couple’s flat in Forest Gate on Christmas Day 2010 after being tortured when he was accused of witchcraft by Magalie and Bikubi. The couple deny murder and assaulting Kelly and a younger sister, who were also accused of influencing another child of the family with witchcraft.

The prosecution says Kristy and his two brothers and two sisters were beaten and terrorised for four days. The Old Bailey was told Kristy was tortured with “an armoury of weapons” and had 101 injuries before being placed in the bath of water where he “begged to die”. Read full story from google.com

Media:

Christians Have the Right to Bully Gay Kids (Source: YouTube – OnKneesforjesus4)

Blogspot:

Feel free to leave comments regarding the articles posted.

If you’re interested in guest blogging or would like to submit an article or event, contact me at pagansworld.org@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by! Well wishes to you all, have a great day!

Lisa

Happy Imbolc!

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

“I’d sit with the men, the women of God, There by the lake of beer, We’d be drinking good health forever, And every drop would be a prayer.” – Saint Brigid’s Prayer

Have a Blessed Imbolc!

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

How to make a Brigid’s Cross