Massive 2015 Year-End Link Dump! Something for Everyone!

This is a Druid knife. It says so.

Some of the links that I saved that never turned into blog posts . . .

• The Internet loves quizes, so “What Kind of Witch Would You Be?” (answer: hearth witch). I always suspect that the answer is based on just one question, while the others are there just for fluff and decoration.

• I saved this link from the Forest Door blog because I liked this thought:

This is, indeed, one of the roots of many problems in modern polytheism – people being unwilling to wait and let things naturally evolve. My biggest concern here isn’t the specific examples of mis-assignment (though they do exist, and are indicative of a serious lack of understanding in some cases). It is the fact that these folks are sitting around trying to artificially assign gods to places and things as if it’s just a game, or at best an intellectual exercise.

Local cultus is the new kale.

Is a knife named for Druids meant for Druids? (Echoes of allegations of human sacrifice?) Just what does “Druid” mean here?

• I did like John Halstead’s post on “the tyranny of structurelessness.” See also “Reclaiming.” See also “The Theology of Consensus.”

• Turn off the computer and play a 1,600-year-old Viking war game.

• From last July, a Washington Post story on Asatruar in the Army.

A photography book of modern British folklore. Not an oxymoron.

• More photography: “Earth Magic – Photographer Rik Garrett Talks About Witchcraft.”

What if witches hadn’t changed that much since medieval times and were still fairly close to the popular imagery conveyed by their early enemies during the classical witchhunts?

• So you’re a Pagan? Here are ten ways to show respect for your elders. It’s the Pagan way.

• Philosophy should teach you how to live. “Why I Teach Plato to Plumbers.” Also, it’s Pagan.

• Reviewing a book on Greek and Roman animal sacrifice, which was, after all, the chief ritual back in the days when Paganism was the religion of the community.

• Was it the bells? Morris dancers attacked by dogs.

• Camille Paglia’s definition of “Pagan” is not mine, but she still kicks ass. Also, “Everything’s Awesome, and Camille Paglia Is Unhappy!”

• Embiggen thy word-hoard! Visit the Historical Thesaurus of Engish.

• But if you really want to go down the 15th-century rabbit hole, follow The Great Vowel Shift.

The New Yorker covers psychedelic therapy. To learn more, follow and donate to the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. Also: “How Psychedelics Are Helping Cancer Patients Fend Off Despair.”

Looking good for an academic interview.

A review from last year of Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll.

• From the Chronicle of Higher Education: “How to Be Intoxicated.” Not surprisingly, Dionyus figures in more than does binge-drinking.

• Apparently the Yakuza, the Nipponese Mob, planned to call off Halloween due to a gang war. So how did that work out?

4 thoughts on “Massive 2015 Year-End Link Dump! Something for Everyone!

  1. Great post! Thanks for the links.

    “Was it the bells? Morris dancers attacked by dogs.” Dogs always bark at me because I always wear a hat due to sun glare giving me migraines. The dogs seem to think something threatening has landed on my head (flying saucer perhaps?)

  2. A knife maker naming knives is sorta like a craft brewer naming beers–more catchy and trade right protecting than historically reliable. These days naming goods sold in our markets has to set off the particular class of good–brand the class. The knives that actual historic Druids used were probably one-offs from some blacksmith’s forge, not mass-produced items that are pretty much interchangable.

    Kudos to the knife maker for matching knife designs to hand sizes.

    I’ll add that my time working in circles and such has given me a keen appreciation of knives, and I have several that I use–a bunch steel knives of various sizes (some pricy; others small, easy to transport, and inexpensive; a couple obsidian blades; all of modern making). Most of them not folders. I have come to prefer tools adapted to my work style and world view over historic artifacts that may carry their past along with them.

  3. Seems like Season of the Witch did for music what Gary Lachman’s A Dark Muse did for literature.

  4. Seems like Season of the Witch did for music what Gary Lachman’s A Dark Muse did for literature.

    After reading the blog entry about Local Cultus, I have to wonder why modern pagans seem so enamored of wanting to import gods from Europe. What about the local spirits who have been in the Americas for nearly 14,000 years? Why are they being neglected???? Granted it’s difficult to discover which gods the Natives worshiped and how, although in the case of some gods there is recorded information and maybe that’s even irrelevant. Nevertheless, those entities still are in the land itself perhaps waiting to be “awakened” by those willing to pay attention and listen.

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