Column: On Masks

As I settle into the house I find myself living most of my life in that space, surrounded by my allies. Hermes near the door, gathering small bright things like a magpie. Athena by the window, firm and steady and unexpected, watching with her grey eyes. The Good Neighbors at the threshold, honey in their cups and hawthorne close to hand.

Palmyran goddess recreated for U.N. exhibit

NEW YORK –A replica statue of a goddess sometimes equated with Athena, destroyed in Palmyra in 2015, is the centerpiece of an exhibit on display at the United Nations headquarters. While the destruction of that historic Syrian city by members of Daesh led to near-universal outrage, the display of this and other reproductions is not without controversy of its own. When Daesh troops occupied Palmyra, they set about on a systematic destruction of all traces of that city’s Pagan history. They accomplished this with brutal efficiency, using hammers and explosives to accomplish the task, which was carried out in August 2015. Violence was also part of formula; Khaled al-Asaad, head of antiquities there, hid many valuables and died rather than disclose where they were.

Unleash the Hounds! (link roundup)

There are lots of articles and essays of interest to modern Pagans and Heathens out there, more than our team can write about in depth in any given week. Therefore, the Wild Hunt must unleash the hounds in order to round them all up. 

The Iceland Monitor has reported that the long-awaited Ásatrú temple in Öskjuhlíð in Reykjavik will be completed by summer 2018. The article states that this information was confirmed with the Ásatrú organization’s head chieftain Hilmar Örn Himarsson. The construction proved to be more difficult than planned; however, the work is ongoing. The United National Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has added to its “Memory of the World” registry 130 Roman curse tablets that “bear messages from the Roman occupants of Bath seeking revenge from a goddess.”  They are the “only artefacts from Roman Britain,” reports UNESCO.