Pagan Book Reviewers Wanted!!!!!

 

Ok Pagans, here’s your chance!

If you fall under the umbrella of Paganism and love to read fiction– then this may be the thing for you!!!!

 

1. We need readers who love fiction and can write an honest review.

 

If you are interested then please contact either

Rie McGaha  riesreviews@yahoo.com 

or

C.H. Scarlett belovedisis@directv.net

 

The Pagan & Pen NEED Book Reviewers!!!! Whoosh, we have so many books!!!!

So come on…what are you waiting for?????

Pagan Holiday for November 8th, 2009

Sunday is the day of the Sun God

Hellios, Apollo, Ogmios, Mithras or Phoebe: The Sun Goddess

 

November 8th is the Roman “Mania”

&

Welsh–Gwynn ap Nudd

 

 

Mania is 1 of 3 occurrences which happens during a Roman year. It’s when the Manes (deified spirits of the dead) rise into the world of the living.

Many Roman cities had a deep pit, also called a Mundus. The entrance to the Mundus was sealed with a stone. The pit was believed to be a tunnel that led to the underworld. When the Manes returned to the Land of the Living, they would use the tunnel. So on the day of Mania, the stone would be removed. Then, things were left for the Manes…sacrifices of wine, warm milk, honey, and the blood of black animals.

 

 

Today is also Gwynn ap Nudd—celebrated by the Welsh. On this day, the lord of the Fairy world would open the gate to our world. The door or Gate is believed to be located in Glastonbury Tor, Britain. The Lord of the Underworld, named Gwynn ap Nudd, comes to lead the spirits into Annwn.

Pagan Holiday for November 7th, 2009

 

Saturday: Seatere, Seater, Saturn, and Loki—trickster of the Norse Culture

 

November 7th is the celebration of Hekate (ek-ah-tay)

 

 

In the evening of the 7th of November, Ancient Greece would hold a celebration for their Goddess Hekate by lighting bonfires and so forth.

 

Hekate is the Goddess of the Night & Underworld but also of love and passion which is often invoked in the dark.

Pagan Holiday for Nov. 6th 2009

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Friday represents Friggs, or Venus, the Goddess of love & transformation

Today is

the celebration of the Babylonian Goddess Tiamat’s birth

&

the Observance of the Djed Pillars of Egypt

*
*
*

A little about Tiamat

Tiamat is the Babylonian Goddess of creation. Her name means ‘the sea’ and she is the Goddess of the primordial ocean. It is said that Tiamat brought order when there was nothing but chaos (before creation).

Tiamat also gave birth to the Grandparents of Enki –God of the Sea & Anu—God of the Sky.

Enki discovered a horrible plot by Anu, who planned to destroy and kill all of the other Gods. So Enki murdered Anu in an attempt to stop him.

Tiamat seemed to lose her mind over this. She created legions of Supernatural Warriors. Some were half man, half scorpion, some were even half storms—just to name a couple.  By Tiamat’s anger, they set out to destroy Enki but it didn’t work.  When Enki destroyed the last of them, he then attacked Tiamat, slicing her in half and killing her. From there he stole the Tablets of Destiny that are said to hold the decrees of the Elder Gods and the forces of the universe.

The stories of Tiamat vary and unfortunately change throughout man. For instance, I have read where Tiamat is murdered by Marduk and then by her blood, he creates the Heavens, Earth and the first man.  So here are a few links to begin your research if you would like, and then you can decide for yourself.

 

Wikipedia

Babylonian Creation Myth—very good page

In some Myths, Tiamat was a Dragon

*

*

*

The Observance of the Djed Pillars

Egypt

Today we celebrate the raising of the Djed pillars. If you have been to Egypt or have studied their history, you can easily see that these pillars are everywhere. They also seem to predate pre-dynastic times.

According to the very famous and highly misunderstood Book of the Dead, these pillars symbolize Osiris’s backbone. That’s according to Budge who wrote The Book of the Dead, though.

They look like an upright column with 3 or 4 cross members—by what I gather as it is raised, then such is the case with Osiris.

For More Images

However, the Djed Pillars did not always stand for Osiris. In the beginning they stood for fertility and Egyptians would tie grain at the top.

I can certainly see how that would have been adapted into the Osiris’s myths then. Did Isis not raise Osiris in order to conceive from him a child, an heir of Egypt? Horus.

 

 

 

Here are some awesome links if you would like to further your research.

The Concept of the Djed Symbol (with illustrations)

Osiris Djed (illustrations)

Wikipedia

Well folks, I hope you enjoyed today’s Pagan Days at the Pagan & the Pen. Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for more!

& thanks to the links above and Pagan Daybook!

Excerpt from “Samhain’s Embrace” by Jesse Fox

I wanted to share an excerpt from my newest story published by Dark Roast Press!

Samhain's Embrace

TITLE: Samhain’s Embrace

AUTHOR: Jesse Fox

AUTHOR URL: http://jessefox1968.wordpress.com/

PUBLISHER: Dark Roast Press http://darkroastpress.com

E-MAIL: jesse_fox2008@peoplepc.com

MY SPACE: http://www.myspace.com/jesse_fox2008

TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/FoxTracks

RELEASE DATE: October 31, 2009

URL TO THE BUYING PAGE: http://darkroastpress.com/samhain.php

RATING: Adult

WARNINGS: There are explicit M/M Sexual Situations in this novella.

BLURB:

What is loss to the human heart?

A spirit of nature, misunderstood and forgotten by modern man, when drawn out on the one night he roams the darkness freely, seeks to understand the meaning of loss and ease a young man’s pain.

Bran Conleth is a man broken by the ultimate loss – death. Desperate to summon his deceased lover he chooses the one night when the veil between the land of the living and the land of the dead is at its thinnest. Instead of his lover, he calls forth the embodiment of the night – Samhain.

Together they share one incredible journey that will teach Samhain about human loss and Bran that there is life after death.

EXCERPT:

Samhain sent out a silent thank you to the Goddess that the young man had brushed off the faint movement as nothing more than a draft. His unseen eyes followed as Bran lifted the silver athame, and then reached beneath the altar to retrieve a simple wooden box, the top engraved with a pentacle. He stood and moved across the room to where the circle was and Samhain could not pull his gaze from the long line of the young man’s naked back. Few witches still performed sky clad in this day and age, not that it was significant one way or the other, although he did find the human form– male and female–quite enticing.

His gaze mapped out each inch of the young man’s body with precise glances, his wide shoulders, narrow waist, and hips, and the soft swell of his ass that led into long muscled legs. That he found himself drawn to this child of magic was no surprise to him. Samhain understood intimately the grief that surrounded him in a miasma of pain. Death was his bread and butter, so to speak, and although humans found it terrifying and unspeakable, he appreciated it for the beauty it led to. Humans didn’t understand that life sometimes, more often than not, was far more unspeakable. Death was a part of nature, a release from the bitterness of an existence that did not always allow true happiness. This man, though, had found happiness in life, and Samhain understood his bitterness towards death.

Remaining invisible, he glided from his hiding place and approached the man who had knelt within the circle, laying out items from the box. There was a lidded bowl of salt, a censer with incense, a piece of lava rock, and a lidded bowl of water. He settled each item at the appropriate point of the compass, removed the lids from the bowls and returned to the box to pull out a small medallion and a box of matches. The care with which he went about this ritual fascinated Samhain, for he hadn’t truly seen such faith in the old ways in a very long time. Yes, there were witches in this day and age, but over the years, the rituals watered down, lost to the mists of time, and to see this man show such belief and care was heartening.

Finally, the man stood, went to the northern point, and began pacing the circle, pausing to light each candle, and lastly the incense. The flames swelled and danced as he lit the incense and turned to face the mirror. Lowering his body to the floor, he settled his gaze on his reflection, with a look of determination in his eyes.

Samhain drifted along the perimeter, curiosity driving him on even when his instincts told him he should stop this ritual. It was clear now that the man was seeking to call forth a spirit and that was the reason Samhain was here. He was the guardian of the gate between the land of the living and the land of the dead and in his long existence, he’d never seen one of these rituals end well. He lifted his head and focused on the mirror as the man began to chant softly, the incense rising to swirl around his head.

Who am I to deny him the closure he needs? Samhain thought.

You are the guardian of the door, a faint voice whispered in reminder, the one of four whom we have given the power of life and death.

He sighed softly, his breath caressing the bare skin of the man in the circle. Yes, he thought, but will denying him be the right thing to do?

What Are You Thankful For?

I AM THANKFUL FOR…

The day my car broke down and I didn’t have the money to fix it.

Now I skipped work  because I couldn’t get there…and I haven’t had a day off in years. The kids are at school and the husband is at work, so hot damn! Now I don’t have to run errands after work because well…my car is broke. Now I don’t have to sit in traffic or have to deal with that aggravation because I am sitting at home…all by myself… watching a movie…in absolute peace!

The day the cable got turned off because I couldn’t pay the bill.

Now all the kids have ran outside for once because there is nothing to do inside.  That also means I don’t have to watch any of the boring shows that my husband insists on because my husband actually ran outside after the kids did and that means I get to read a book for once in peace.

Now I am able to remember the joy and blessing of absolute silence….something I haven’t know in bloody years!

 

The day my electricity got turned off.

Now I don’t have to remember turning the lights off when I leave a room. Now I don’t have to yell at my kids because they never turn the lights off. Now, if I sit real still in the dark…my kids and husband can’t find me!

 

The day my husband ran away with another woman.

Now my monster in laws can take a flying hike.

Now I can spread out in the bed and don’t have to be crammed to my one side.

Now I can watch what I want to on TV.

Now I can go out and do whatever I want.

Now I don’t have to do his laundry, cook his supper, smell him, clean around him, and more importantly…now I don’t have to waste 3 minutes of everyday faking it.

 

The day I didn’t have enough money for groceries.

Now I have lost enough weight to fit into my super skinny jeans again. I haven’t been able to do that in years. Which meant that the super sexy hottie that lives in the apartment across the hall SAW me in my super skinny jeans. Now we are dating and I don’t have to worry about groceries because he cooks for me every night at his place. And because the sex is out of this freakin’ world…I haven’t gained the weight back and now I have a whole closet full of super skinny jeans!

 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving Everyone and remember!!!!

No matter what happens…no matter how bad it is…there is always something positive that will come from it. We just have to find it.

Soooooooooooooooo….what are YOU thankful for?

 

Paganism & Thanksgiving

We all know the story of the Pilgrims and how the first American Thanksgiving came about. What we do not learn or may not know–what the Elementary Schools do not include in their Plays & Skits–is more about the Native Americans & Pagans that influenced Thanksgiving.

For instance, did you know that the tribe of Native Americans that had their meal with the Pilgrims was called Wampanoag? And did you know that they held celebrations and gave thanks to Kiehtan, the Creator ? Not only did they believe that their most precious crop of corn was a blessing from him, but they also gave thanks to many of their other Spirits for the other foods they ate.

Before Thanksgiving was made a holiday in the year of 1861, settlers had already brought their traditions to America—all influenced by Pagans. After all, Thanksgiving is all about giving thanks and harvest…correct?

Celebrating and giving thanks for a Harvest can be seen throughout history in many cultures.

Just to name a few…

*Ancient Rome gave thanks to Ceres, Goddess of the Harvests.

*Ancient Greeks honored Demeter

*Celtic Pagans and Angelo Saxon’s had huge celebrations–Lughnasadh and Mabon. These were to honor the first and second harvest blessed upon them by their Goddess and God.

Lughnasadh marked the beginning of the harvest season, the Harvest of Grain (Bread), the ripening of first fruits (usually berries), and was traditionally a time of community gatherings, market festivals, horse races and reunions with distant family and friends. Wikipedia

Mabon, (pronounced MAY-bun, MAY-bone, MAH-boon, or MAH-bawn) is the Autumn Equinox. The Autumn Equinox divides the day and night equally, and we all take a moment to pay our respects to the impending dark. We also give thanks to the waning sunlight, as we store our harvest of this year’s crops. The Druids call this celebration, Mea’n Fo’mhair, and honor the The Green Man, the God of the Forest, by offering libations to trees. Offerings of ciders, wines, herbs and fertilizer are appropriate at this time. Wiccans celebrate the aging Goddess as she passes from Mother to Crone, and her consort the God as he prepares for death and re-birth. Resource

Now what could some of the things you’re eating on Thanksgiving symbolized?

(For all Our Kitchen Witches Out there!!!!)

Turkey-- Native Americans–symbolized the Mother Earth and a shared Harvest.

Apples–Celts–rebirth, healing and youth

Pumpkins--Native American– was symbolic of personalized power (in some cultures) and symbolized the sun.

Wishing you a Merry Pagan Thanksgiving!

Resources (if not listed above with quotes)

Pagan Symbolism (in regards to Thanksgiving)

Wikipedia Thanksgiving

Pagan Roots (in regards to Thanksgiving)

Pagan Holiday for Nov. 5th, 2009

Thursday represents Thunor or Thor–the god of thunder and agriculture

On the 5th of November, Pagans Celebrate:

Ancient Rome–Nones of November

England–Guy Fawkes (See story below)

1605 –A group of disillusioned Catholics conspired to set off 36 barrels of gunpowder in an attempt to detonate the House of Parliament’s. Their goal was to kill King James I but alas, they failed.

One of the Conspirators became concerned that innocent people would be killed, so off he rushed to tell the King. But when the cellar was flooded by the King’s men…another conspirator was caught–Guy Fawkes.

Even though after checking the Gunpowder and discovering it was so old that it would have harmed nothing anyway, the attempt to kill the King spooked everyone so much that for 4 centuries after, that same cellar was searched on the day before Parliament was to open.

Afterwards, England remembered Guy Fawkes on that day by burning bonfires all over England.

Now, what does this have to do with Pagans since the assassination was an attempt by Catholics?

On the day that the fires burn for Guy Fawkes, Pagans had been burning their bonfires to banish or rid of the spirits of the previous year. They created Effigies or images out of woven straw and or grain. These were lit and the smoke was used to cleanse the spirits away.

It’s believed that Pagans, in order to protect themselves and their rituals, adapted, blended, and merged under the veil of Guy Fawkes and the celebrations done for him.

In other words, since everyone else was burning Effigies and bonfires anyway for him…then who would notice a bunch of Pagans doing what they have always done?

Something to think about.

Courtesy of The Pagan & the Pen!

Resources: Pagan Daybook

The Moon’s Song – update

Well, it’s up to 92K words on but I’ve still not got the end. It’s elusive, I know but I don’t know, a definite feel of “stalking” … very appropriate *g*.

This story, “The Moon’s Song” has taken me all sorts of places I hadn’t thought of going with it, some deep stuff, but it’s also a romance as well as a mystery and I’m extremely fond of the characters. One of the lead males, Tristan, had become rather wet and this didn’t suit me (or him!) so this morning was devoted to some reclamation work on him. He tells me being a ghost and without clear memory is very difficult … I can believe it *g*.

The male lead has evolved considerably during the writing. I thought he would but some of the ways have been surprising. He turns out to have a lot of nouse with regard to magical stuff even without having much experience. I need to explain and expand this some more … bother! That means more words to write *g*.

The heroine is good, very bolshy at times and feisty but I like that. She has to learn some heavy stuff about control and she manages it too. Like all of us she forgets at times and goes back to ancient habits then has to turn about and do it properly. New habits are always hard to learn.

I’m very pleased with the story. It’s far deeper than I expected when I began it, yet has a lightness to it that makes it easy to read – or so my test readers tell me *g*. I love that about writing, how it takes you on a journey, you don’t know where you’re going properly at the beginning although you start out with a general idea and a plot-line. But you can’t stay rigid with that, you have to be flexible and take some apparent side-turnings – they usually lead you to incredibly interesting places. Not always, of course. I followed one for a while with this story and, although it is good, it’s not for this book. I’ve cut it out and stored it away for somewhere else. There’s a whole folder full of this stuff, clippings for the future. All witters have them.

So … I’m hoping to have found the end by the end of the week – say Sunday. will keep you all posted.

• Picture is of Nectan’s Kieve which features in the story.

Sarah Head – interview

I first met Sarah Head years ago (seven, give or take) through local Druid gatherings. She brought stories to read at rituals, lovely, lyrical creations. Then one day online she mentioned having written something darker and more erotic than usual. I leapt in, keen to read and have been a serious fan of her work ever since. I’ve edited for her on a few occasions as well. I pounced on her this week for an interview…

Bryn: Soooo… can you give us some sense of how your paganism and your writing relate to each other?

Sarah: Hi Bryn. Your question made me smile. If it weren’t for my writing, I would probably not have started down the Pagan path. I met my first writing partner, Sorcha MacAonghais, in 1995 and we began playing with a tale about an 8^th Century Cornish healer and her Highland Lover. Sorcha is a Pagan and through our discussions and my research, I realised the Pagan way of thinking was very much like coming home. Our first book together, The Strongest Magick, very much reflects wiccan ritual although the story highlights the struggle between the old and new ways in 5^th century Arthurian Britain. At the time, I was attending a house moot led by a wiccan priestess, but later I moved to join a Druid Grove and now feel more comfortable with the Druid path.

All my stories have an element which reflects my personal inner learning. It has often been through online role play that I have sought answers to questions I could not understand any other way. The role plays have then found their way into stories. Some of them, like the end of “The Lady and the Bull” and the beginning of “The Bear and the Ivy Lady”, have helped me make sense of particular times of celebration – in these instances, Lughnasadh and Beltane.

 I’ve also used experiences from ritual, shamanic work or guided visualisations to create other stories to illustrate the season. These have then been shared to offer others either a simple pleasure in the story, or an opportunity to grasp a deeper understanding of their own. Even a simple love story like “Closing the Circle” contains major Pagan elements and, to me, shows how erotic scenes can be used as a form of communication both with a partner and deities.

 Bryn: Are there any pagan authors you particularly like to read?

Sarah: I enjoy Emma Restell Orr’s books very much. They are very easy to dip into and make me think.  Starhawk’s Spiral Dance helped me in the initial stages but I didn’t think her two novels were as good as her non-fiction.

 Bryn: I know you do a lot of work with herbs. Have you written (or would you consider writing) any non-fiction in that regard?

 Sarah: Yes, I write articles for the Herb Society website and Mercian News regularly, as well as for my blog, Tales of a Kitchen Herbwife. I’m also in the stages of planning a book about  UK herbs for beginners to be possibly titled “Hedgerow, Field and Copse”.

 Herb Society http://www.herbsociety.org.uk/

Tales of a Kitchen Herbwife http://kitchenherbwife.blogspot.com/

 Bryn: Some of your tales are more fantastical than others. How do you find the process of balancing magical experience with the wilder elements – like shape shifting?

Sarah: What I always strive for is to make any “magical experience” as sensible and real as I can.  In 2000, I started to train as an energy healer and was fortunate to be able to feel different kinds of energy with my hands. We are taught to attune to the energy source through visualisation. This is very simple and means that the flow of energy can be turned on and off like water in a tap. I have tried to incorporate this kind of energy work in my stories.

I’ve never favoured the type of magic where you wave a wand or chant a spell and there’s a huge flash of lightening and your enemy is transformed into a toad. It doesn’t work like that, but whatever you can visualise in your mind, can become a reality. If it feels real within my imagination, I can incorporate it into my story.

 I have often wondered what it would be like to be a tree, to experience the changes of the season, to see what is helpful or dangerous from a completely different point of view. When Sorcha and I were playing with characters from the Sidhe, they were very much part of the creative process. Magic was an integral part of their being, so if they decided to live for a time as a patch of turf, then they could do so. Role playing that character meant I could experience it too and then use that knowledge to write about someone becoming ivy in “The Bear and the Ivy Lady”.

Shapeshifting cats, like Miranda and Paul in “The Dark Mistress” were an extension of playing with vampires, like Dusan and Alyssa in “Dusan’s Awakening”. Vampires, to me, are not about cold-bloodied parasites who want to live forever, it’s much more about women achieving a sexual maturity where they have freedom of action without normal societal restrictions. The blood they use has to be a gift, offered freely, never taken.

 The cats are much more complex. They began as an exciting role play with a new writing partner. He enabled me to explore different roles within a D/s framework. Put simply, I have always wanted a tail. It’s so helpful in expressing a wide range of emotions without words. To imagine being both a cat and a woman at the same time gave a totally new dimension to the characters. From that one short story has grown a whole society of shape-changing cats where females are totally dominant, except when they reach puberty when they go through a submissive phase to enable them to learn how to use their formidable physical prowess safely. I’m hoping their story, Tales of the House of Rohke, will be finished in the not too distant future.

 To buy

 As Sarah Head

The Strongest Magick http://www.loveyoudivine.com/index.php?main_page=document_product_info&cPath=28&products_id=309 (with Sorcha MacAonghais)

The Lady and the Bull http://www.loveyoudivine.com/index.php?main_page=document_product_info&cPath=28&products_id=458

The Bear and the Ivy Lady http://www.loveyoudivine.com/index.php?main_page=document_product_info&cPath=28&products_id=459

At Home and Away http://www.romancedivine.com/SarahHead.html (poetry)

 As Jeanette Stevens

Closing the Circle http://www.loveyoudivine.com/index.php?main_page=document_product_info&cPath=28&products_id=269

From Both Sides of Darkness http://www.loveyoudivine.com/index.php?main_page=document_product_info&cPath=28&products_id=21

Malachi’s Task http://www.loveyoudivine.com/index.php?main_page=document_product_info&cPath=28&products_id=457

 All books are available for Kindle readers from Amazon.com. ‘From Both Sides of Darkness’ and ‘At Home and Away’ are available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk as paperbacks.

 Blog: Mercian Muse http://mercianmuse.blogspot.com/