Image credit: Pixabay
RHINEBECK, N.Y. – In mid-July, award-winning author Rachel Pollack announced on Facebook that she had again been diagnosed with lymphoma. Pollack was diagnosed six years ago with advanced Hodgkin’s lymphoma and underwent aggressive chemotherapy treatments. After the second set of treatments, she was finally considered to be cancer-free.
She stated that while her current diagnosis is lymphoma, it is not Hodgkin’s but a completely different variant of lymphoma. According to her post, she was scheduled to begin chemotherapy the following week.
Yesterday, a number of Witches and Pagans posted urgent requests for healing energy due to Pollack currently being in the intensive care unit at Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck.
Pollack has penned dozens of books, both fiction and non-fiction is a tarot historian and deck designer. She may be best known within Pagan circles for her seminal work Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom: A Tarot Journey to Self-Awareness. An updated version of that book was released in 2019.
Her work as a sci-fi/fantasy author has been recognized and celebrated by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) when she won the Nebula award in 1994, and the Arthur C. Clarke Award for best science fiction novel in 1989.
Her work on the comic book Doom Patrol from 1993-1995 is celebrated by many of her fans for addressing transgender issues, sexuality, and even menstruation–topics rarely if ever covered in comics during that time.
The Wild Hunt is holding a kind and healing thought for Pollack’s recovery and renewed health.
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Iberian peninsula – Image credit: Tony Rotondas – CC BY-SA 3.0
HUELVA, Spain – A new discovery of a site, La Torre-La Janera, containing a large number of megalithic stones on the Iberian peninsula may be one of the largest ever discovered in Europe. The site is within the province of Huelva and situated near the Guadiana River and the southern border with Portugal.
The 1,500-acre site was slated to become an avocado plantation but an archaeological survey ordered by regional authorities prior to approving the permit for the stated land use revealed over 500 standing stones of varying sizes and shapes.
José Antonio Linares, a researcher at Huelva University and one of the project’s three directors said, “This is the biggest and most diverse collection of standing stones grouped together in the Iberian peninsula. It is a major megalithic site in Europe.”
In addition to the standing stones researchers have identified a range of other types of stones: dolmens (two or more standing stones topped with a large, flat capstone), coffin-like stone boxes called cists, mounds, and alignments where upright standing stones are arranged along a shared axis.
Primitiva Bueno, co-director and pre-history professor at Alcalá University told The Guardian, “Finding alignments and dolmens on one site is not very common. Here you find everything all together–alignments, cromlechs [stone circles] and dolmens–and that is very striking.”
Researchers estimate that the oldest stones on the site might have been erected possibly as far back as 5500 B.C.E. According to reports, the majority of the stones were situated on two separate hilltops and grouped into circles that would have allowed for viewing of sunrises or other celestial events on solstices and equinoxes.
Excavation work at La Torre-La Janera is expected to be ongoing until 2026 but according to Bueno, part of the site will allow visitors between the work ending this year and when work resumes next season.
Announcements:
- Ar nDraiocht Fein: A Druid Fellowship announced yesterday that their newest Senior Priest, Rev. Melissa Ashton was elevated to the position at the Summerland Festival Main Rite over the weekend. ArchDruid Rev. Jean ‘Drum’ Pagano along with two other Senior Priests conducted the elevation.
In other news:
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- National Black Cat Appreciation Day was last Wednesday, August 17. Not to be confused with National Black Cat Day which occurs on October 27 each year. Thanks to centuries-old misinformation and superstitions black cats are often harder to place in forever homes and more likely to fall victim to abuse. National Black Cat days were created to help change how they are perceived. Cats that are solid black are not one single breed instead the coloration is found within 22 separate breeds of domestic cats. Studies also indicate that black cats are more likely to be male rather than female. While cats, particularly those that were black, were demonized in the middle ages by church authorities, a number of cultures throughout history have valued and even accorded special favors to felines. The Egyptians have been credited with breeding programs that helped to establish the wide prevalence of cats in ancient Europe and Asia, though they were not the only culture to domesticate felines, as evidenced by a find in Cypress in 2017. The feline was a welcome companion on many ships since they were able to reduce the number of vermin, especially the ships that carried grain. This is also very likely how they managed to travel to virtually every continent in the world.
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- According to an article on Salon.com food and drink that is aligned with astrology has become a bit of a trend as of late. In recent years there have been a number of new cookbooks and drink mixology recipe books have been published. Now in addition to trendy eateries offering astrologically-themed beverages and foods, even mainstream fast food giants like McDonald’s and Del Taco ran Mercury Retrograde specials. Organic candy maker, Amborella Organics, began offering lollipops for each sun sign that have become very popular. If the trend continues, who knows what other astrology-themed products might appear–12 new Ben & Jerry’s flavors? One can only hope.
Last week, the Australian band, Seawitch fronted by Fiona Horne released the first single, “Witches Forever” from their new album, “Well of Spells” which is scheduled to be released on October 21.
Horne, who is a practicing Witch and has penned over a dozen books, described the new release as, “‘Witches Forever’ is a song about resilience, courage, and survival. Witches were the original healers and spiritual guides – the world needs her Witches now more than ever.”
The footage for the video was shot during a live performance at the Winter Solstice “Witches Ball” which took place at The Rechabite in Perth. The video was produced and edited by Simple Ben Films.
Tarot of the week by Star Bustamonte
Deck: Runic Tarot, by Jack Sephiroth, Allen Dempster, and Jaymi Elford, published by Lo Scarabeo.Card: Queen of Horns (Cups)
Empathy and the ability to connect emotionally with others is likely to dominate the week. There is also an emphasis on maintaining a balance while allowing emotions to be guided by intuition.
Conversely, allowing emotions to run completely unchecked has the potential for creating instability, a mental state of victimhood, and erratic behavior.
Decks generously provided by Asheville Pagan Supply.
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