Pagan Voices New Year’s Edition!

Pagan Voices is a spotlight on recent quotations from figures within the Pagan community. These voices may appear in the burgeoning Pagan media or a mainstream outlet, but all showcase our wisdom, thought processes, and evolution in the public eye. Is there a Pagan voice or artist you’d like to see highlighted? Contact us with a link to the story, post, audio, or image.

To begin 2017, polyanimist Aldrin shares a prayer to Janus in Tagalog:

Pagbati sa Iyo ng may galak at tuwa,

O Haring Tarangkahan na may dalawang mukha;

isang pakanan at isang pakaliwa,

Poon ng mga pintuan, mula langit hanggang lupa.
O Haring Tarangkahan, buksan Mo ang daan:

sa Taong ito’y nawa’y walang humadlang

sa pagtupad sa mga tungkulin na sa ami’y nakalaan;

biyaya’t pagpapala nawa’y maging katuparan.
O Poong nagbabantay sa bawat simulain,

nawa’y sa unang pag-awit at panimulang panalangin

ay buksan Mo ang daan sa lahat ng kariwasaan;

kasaganahan, kagandahan at kasiyahan.
At sa pagsilang ng bagong umaga ito,

isilang nawa sa aming mga diwa at puso

ang isang bagong pag-asa at bagong ngiti

isang bagong lakas na hindi mapapawi.
Nawa’y sa Taong ito at sa mga darating pa

ay maging matagumpay at maligaya

ang pagkamit sa aming mabubuting mithiin,

malaya sa balakid at suliranin.
O Haring Tarangkahang tagapagbukas ng Daan:

nawa’y sa susunod na Ika’y aming awitan

ay mas higit pa ang aming tuwa’t kasiyahan

sa pag-awit sa Iyong matamis na pangalan.

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Galina Krasskova has decided that 2017 will for her be the year of the agon, or contest, with a different deity featured each month:

“I very much hope that 2017 brings health, joy, and wealth to us all. Let it be a year of happiness and success. I pray that the good, immortal Gods block misfortune and malintent from entering our homes and our lives this year. May They bless us with all good things throughout the year, even in the midst of our challenges. […] I want to start this year with something creative, fun, and that emphasizes the love and devotion we have for our Gods. […] January’s deity of choice for me is Hermes. He’s awesome and I think it fitting to start the year with a Hermes agon. So those of you who are interested, submit your art (photos of), prayers/poems to krasskova at gmail.com.”

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Wyrd Dottir writes about how Heathen Yule tends to end with the conventional year:

“It’s the last big party to celebrate a new year, celebrate the passing of the darkest (and in theory coldest of times) and to look forward to the lengthening days and warming temperatures. Of all the nights of Yule, this night seems to be the one most closely associated with the custom of wassailing, which embodies in part the customs around caroling as well. Wassail, Hail, Heilsa, are all different versions of the same root word across a few different languages, which essentially relates to health, prosperity and luck, and was used prominently as a type of salutation. Not only would you use the word to greet someone, but the greeting also had the implication that you wished them good health. During the yuletide there is a specific type of beverage, that of wassail that was imbibed. This drink would vary by household but it was meant to be alcoholic, with some fruit juices in it and other seasonings to help fortify all who imbibed it for the year ahead.”

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Sable Aradia also shared a ritual for the new year:

“I like to look at the holiday season as a liminal time. The change from the old year to the new year is not on the Pagan Sabbat calendar, but it’s still a magical time that we have rituals for in our culture (and other cultures also share in this; the turn of the year, for example, is big in Asia and in North American-Asian communities). Here’s a little non-tradition-specific ritual to acknowledge the change with some of our North American customs but also throw in a Pagan sense of the sacred.”

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Harita Meenee reveals some of the ways that pomegranates are connected to celebrations of the calendar’s change:

“Another Greek custom survived up to modern times: on New Year’s Day a pomegranate was sometimes broken in front of the house door in order to ensure abundance, health and good luck for the whole year. The breaking of a pomegranate in front of the house door could also be performed at other times. For example, it was used in some places of Greece at the first of September, as a magical means to avert death. It was believed that on this day Kharos, the personification of death (akin to the ancient Charon), determined who was going to die during the year. The breaking of the pomegranate was also used in the past by newlyweds, probably to ensure the couple’s fertility. It can be traced as far back as the Homeric times.”

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John Michael Greer looks back at his predictions for 2016, and found that one long-shot out of four did indeed come to pass:

“At the beginning of 2016, I also made four specific predictions, which I admitted at the time were long shots. One of those, specific prediction #3, was that the most likely outcome of the 2016 presidential election would be the inauguration of Donald Trump as President in January 2017. I don’t think I need to say much about that, as it’s already been discussed here at length. The only thing I’d like to point out here is that much of the Democratic party seems to be fixated on finding someone or something to blame for the debacle, other than the stark incompetence of the Clinton campaign and the failure of Democrats generally to pay attention to anything outside the self-referential echo chambers of affluent liberal opinion. If they keep it up, it’s pretty much a given that Trump will win reelection in 2020.”

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Byron Ballard chose to find joy among the many sorrows of 2016:

“For some of us it was a year of wonders, of miracles, of resurrections. Perhaps it is because I am a Monkey and it is a Monkey year. Perhaps it is because I turned sixty, and that magic and frightening number seemed to liberate me from past constrictions. Perhaps because I traveled to so many fascinating places and met – and fell in love with – so many extraordinary people. Perhaps it is all of that, plus the memories of moonlit walks, transforming affections and friends who held me upright as I wept.”

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That’s all for now. Please remember to share blogs and blog posts of interest!

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