Cat Chapin-Bishop’s blog post on “The Dark” justifies my desire to nap on a dark snowy afternoon.
Kink on Other Planets
Plain vanilla me, I have read none of the ten kinkiest science fiction books.
I give myself one point for knowing about the Gor series and knowing that there are people who like to act them out.
If you have read any of them, feel free to comment.
Learning on the Ground
This is what online “learning” cannot do.
A writer from the Guardian accompanies some British secondary students on a field trip to Glastonbury. (I happen to know the teacher.)
The object, for Jamison, is not to deconstruct the stories and myths of Glastonbury. “The point is for them to experience the story, but not say if it is true,” he says. “That is not what is important in [Religious Education]. I cannot say the Christian stories are authentic and the New Age worshippers and pagans are weirdos, especially as in the UK traditional religious groups are on the decline and people doing their own spiritual thing are on the increase.
Students have to learn that the place itself is a primary source.
Death by Self-Castration?
The bones of a priest of Cybele who lived in Roman Britain suggest that his career as a devotee of the goddess might have been short.
Experts in Roman religion believe that the Yorkshire cleric belonged to the officially sanctioned and important religious cult of a mother goddess called Cybele, who originated in Anatolia, present-day Turkey.
The cult was based on the great mother goddess and her toy-boy lover Attis who, guilt-ridden for having sexually betrayed her, went mad, castrated himself and, consequently, died.
The cult’s tradition dictated that its priests had similarly to mutilate themselves in painful solidarity with Attis, often using a piece of flint or a sharp fragment of pottery. Ritual clamps were then used to staunch the blood, but Cybelean priests often died in the process.
Has the worship of Cybele been revived? With better medical care? There could have been a temple in Trinidad, Colorado, among other places.
(Via Rogue Classicism.)
Galimaufry with "Season’s Greetings"
¶ The Bad Witch mulls the issue of Pagan Yuletide songs and greeting cards. But, please, no e-cards. Nothing says “I couldn’t be bothered” like an e-card.
¶ I am reading Keith Hartman’s The Gumshoe, the Witch, and the Virtual Corpse
¶ Don’t laugh, kids–this will be you some day. Rock stars of the 1960s and 1970s in their parents’ homes.
Shrine Haiku #1
Deer turds at the entrance
to the outdoor shrine —
that’s who’s worshiping?
Ce potiron extraordinaire
This pumpkin was grown at Country Roots Farm. Now M. has sliced and gutted it, and it is transformed into pie.
Happy Thanksgiving, the “most civilized holiday of them all.”
"Roots"
I found this video of “Roots” by the British folk-rock group Show of Hands at Rod Dreher’s blog, where there is more discussion and more videos. The lyrics are definitely “crunchy” with a loosely small-p pagan tone. I think I need to watch all the videos.
Is Yours a Boy Blog or a Girl Blog?
Now that you know your blog’s Meyers-Briggs personality type, what about its gender?
Web sites that apply an algorithm to determine whether text is “masculine” or “feminine” have been around for a little while. Gender Analyzer is still in beta-testing. Its results are not always accurate.
For instance, it shows my other blog as having a 69-percent chance of being written by a man. But this blog rated a 90-percent chance of being written by a woman.
Uh, no.
Another writing-gender analysis site that shows you its inner workings is Gender Genie. I have used it now and then as a fun exercise for my writing classes, and its results are usually accurate.
Have fun, and don’t take any of this too seriously, unless you really are trying to be something other than a dog.
Meyers-Briggs and Blogs
At some point I must have taken the Meyers-Briggs personality test, but I don’t remember the result. This blog, however, is ISTP – “The Mechanics,” according to a web site that runs a test on your writing.
The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.
My other blog, however, is ESTP – “The Doers.”
Go figure. (Via Mirabilis.)