Pagan Community Notes

Pagan Community Notes: Solar Cross helps, solstice in Iceland, conference season begins and more

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During the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, members of Solar Cross Temple took some time out to offer assistance and comfort to others within the Portland community. Hosted by Direct Action Alliance and Rose City Black Guards, the event brought people together to support “those most in need.” The two groups invited people “to come out to [Battleship Memorial Park] and support each other in the best way we know how, by helping.” They offered hot meals, and were collecting living essentials and clothing to give to the houseless.  The gathering was held between 12-3pm, which happened to be the scheduled time of another event: Patriot Prayer rally. In the Facebook event invitation, DAA and RCBG said, “They are trying to hide their hate fueled fascist ideology behind a banner of Jesus and religiousness.

Hounds

Unleash the Hounds (link roundup)

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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. 

For those readers following the Dakota pipeline story, the Standing Rock Sioux were handed their first legal victory June 14. Judge James Boasberg “said that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to perform an adequate study of the pipeline’s environmental consequences when it first approved its construction.” However, that is not the end of the struggle. The court did not stop construction altogether, but rather paused it until a proper study was done and could be evaluated.

Paganism

Column: a Fruitful Darkness

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Beloved American poet Mary Oliver once wrote, “Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.”[1]

Darkness has prevailed in the Western hemisphere; autumn mourns the loss the sun whom no doubt returns triumphant in spring. Where once temples illumined, now there may only enough oil for one night of eight. Others too have readied themselves for a long journey at the mid hour of night. That story goes: wise men saw a star in the east and followed.

Pagan Community Notes

Pagan Community Notes: Winter Solstice arrives; Toy Drive success; U.S. electoral college and more!

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GATLINBURG, Tenn. — Tuatha Dea band member Tesea Dawson ended up raising $4,660 for her “Gatlinburg Wildfires Christmas Fund.” She launched the campaign in the days after fires destroyed her home town, and hundreds of people were left with no home, and the children with no toys. Dawson spent the weekend shopping for new toys and other related needs to give to the local families most affected by the fires. She wanted the children to, at the very least, still receive holiday presents.

Living

Happy Summer Solstice

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TWH – For many people around the world, this weekend marks the celebration of the Summer Solstice, also known as Midsummer or Litha. It is at this time that the Northern Hemisphere is tilted closest to the sun. The astrological date for this year’s solstice is June 20, 22:34 UTC (or 6:34 pm ET). In honor of the abundance of daylight and sunshine, communities have long used bonfires, music, dancing, and outdoor festivals as traditional features of both religious rituals and secular celebrations. In some modern Pagan practices, it is believed that this holiday represents the highest ascendancy of masculine divinity. At the same time, our friends in the Southern Hemisphere are experiencing the exact opposite.