#Polytheistic Monasticism

[blackcrowing]

Book Review of 'Polytheistic Monasticism: Voices from Pagan Cloisters'

I wasn't entirely sure what I was expecting when I picked up this book but... generally I was expecting... more.

I don't feel like I learned much from reading this book, aside from prehaps that (unsurprisingly) those being called to deeper devotional practices in the Pagan/Polytheistic world are mostly being offered options based firmly in Western traditions. While I was sure that inspiration for such a movement would draw from monastic Christian traditions I had hoped to see it also drawing from antiquities temple traditions and, more modern, Eastern traditions where temples for worship are often maintained by monks/nuns and in this way monistaries and temples are one in the same.

Aside from getting a feel for the current climate and areas of inspiration that seem to be present inside this community... I don't feel like I learned... much of anything... most of the essays felt... a bit like advertisements to me... and most didn't feel particularly helpful to one interested in the path or particularly insightful in anyway.

To be honest this felt like a book that was created mearly to mark the phenomenon and offer a screenshot of it for the purposes of third-party study as opposed to a tool for someone genuinely seeking information about what this kind of calling might look like in their own lives.

[mannazandwyrd]

A modern pagan prayer bracelet or meditation aid, suitable for broom-closeted devotional polytheists:

Start with your base bracelet. This can be a leather or slicone strap or a silver charm bracelet - whatever you already have or suits your budget.

Choose European-style big-hole slider beads for your bracelet (or a smaller hole if your base bracelet will allow), in colours that you associate with your deity/deities, in a number that’s sacred in your tradition.

Beard/hair beads and artisan lampwork made for SCA / historical reconstruction purposes work nicely. Support the artisans doing that work, and check out Etsy’s vintage section and your local vintage stores and antique malls (I like smoke-cleansing and repurposing vintage finds because it has a smaller environmental footprint than buying new). The silver charms from the 50s-80s may need an adapter bead to dangle from a newer bracelet, and major manufacturers (Trollbeads, Pandora, every chain jewelry store) have made and are making sterling beads in every theme imaginable. Semi-precious gemstone beads are also available.

Then write (or adapt) a meditative chant to go with the beads. A list of your deities’ aspects/names/heiti can be a good place to start. Different chants for different purposes are worth exploring, and you don’t need to do them out loud. Put the chant(s) and the cleansed bracelet on your altar and ask your deities to consecrate them.

I’m hanging with the Norse, so I snagged a vintage foxtail-chain bracelet (Trollbeads), and went through my Viking-and-earlier-replica bead stash looking for ones with 4mm holes. I chose nine lamp-worked glass beads and a few sterling ones; it’s a work in progress. I’m going to keep my eye on Trollbeads, too, because as a Danish company they have a number of beads directly inspired by Norse mythology (and even a Mjolnir bead).

In the photo: Lampwork mostly by Grimfrost, LykosLeather, and VikingsHagedisen - my fancy replica beads from other vendors have a smaller hole (through my own lack of foresight) so will stay on my necklace-slash-brooch-chain. Sterling is all vintage, and the beads with a gold stripe in them are vintage Trollbeads but still mostly available on their website. Some of these will become Yule gifts.

In my UPG, Loki is using my energy centres (chakras in reiki and yoga) as part of teaching me energy and trancework, so my nine glass beads currently are: black, red, orange, yellow, green, sky blue, sapphire blue, purple, white. Kurt Hoogstraat’s “On Contemporary Seiðr” talks about this syncretic practice a bit; I am including the ‘earth root’ and ‘soul star’ centres in my version, and thinking of it as my Bifröst bracelet. It doesn’t hurt that at a glance people think it’s a gay pride thing (everyone I know knows I’m momma bear to a trans teen).

The photo also includes some other options I’m playing with based on what I currently have at hand. I also have repurposed my childhood sterling charm bracelet, reusing the chain for beads (it needs a new clasp) and the charms for sortilege divination purposes, with the help of some sterling split-rings and skinny Thai hill-tribe silver spacers.

What I like about this idea is that it’s so versatile: it can read as whatever gender feels best for you, it can be simple or maximalist, casual or dressy, work-appropriate or wildly artsy, and as subtle and stealth as you need it to be. Because charm bracelets of various kinds have been around for decades, you can do it on whatever budget you have, or ask to be gifted one from that place in the mall. Childrens’ plastic letter-block beads and pony beads can be used, if it suits you and your deity (a certain trickster I know would be delighted with that). You can swap out the beads as you go.

[theflytingfox]

Can a Lokean be a Monk? Part Deux!

I am currently reading "The Monk Within" by Beverly Lanzetta.

Very early on in the book I came across this quote:

"Often, the monk is a person whose inner nature balks at the norm, who lives in protest to what convention finds significant or meaningful, and who dedicates his or her life to the pursuit. For this reason, the monastic person is often a spiritual revolutionary—not at peace with what fuels and inspires mainstream society."

This makes my Lokean heart sing!

I have never been one to follow the crowd. Even at an early age, I just never fit in. In hindsight it is probably one of the reasons Loki found me.

When I pray to him, one of the epithets I use is "God of Outcasts". There is a comfort in that, that Loki not only appreciates but encourages the unique and different.

So, when I read the quote above, it really made me feel like not only is a Monastic practice possible with Loki, it actually makes perfect sense with this definition!

Anything that challenges the established norm is a chaos most welcome indeed.

[elizatungusnakur]

Sometimes I write.

[jadenordicnun]

A fledgling nun's thoughts on self care

When you adopt the path of a monastic life, it comes with a duty to serve all things. To make everything around you better for the sake of others, and to serve whatever high powers you may believe in.

However, it is almost, if not fully, as important to "serve yourself." This does not mean to serve only yourself, to reject the world around you and only focus on the self. But, you must ensure that you are well taken care of and in the right physical, mental, and emotional state for this sort of lifestyle.

Keep yourself and your space clean, sleep consistently, eat wholesome foods, stay hydrated. They all seem mundane, yet they couldn't be any more important to monasticism. Only when you are taking care of yourself can you begin to think about taking care of the world around you. Gods guide you.

[asklepiean]

I keep rereading Polytheistic Monasticism and while I have... opinions (mainly negative) about the book itself, I think it might be a useful read for someone

[7serendipities]

Review: John Beckett’s Course on Pagan Monasticism as a Solitary Practitioner

I enrolled in John Beckett’s Course 7 at Under the Ancient Oaks on Pagan Monasticism as a Solitary Practitioner because after taking his one-hour class on the same topic at Mystic South back in July, I decided I needed to explore the monastic path more deeply. Now having finished the course and done some reflection and processing and discernment, I’m left with a feeling that roles of monastics/contemplatives and priests overlap considerably, especially the roles of Gods-facing temple priests (rather than a congregation-facing minister priests), which I have considered my calling for a few years now.

Part of my purpose is to (eventually) establish a retreat center that reflects a space in the Otherworlds where I am in service. It’s a bit like a temple and a bit like a hospital and a bit like a spa hotel, and I call it the Waystation. In this world, I envision a space nestled in the woods that hosts workshops, rituals, and retreats, serving the local pagan community. This kind of a space may also make a good space for an annual gathering of contemplatives, who otherwise live most of the time out in the world, as solitary monastics. More than being a monastic myself, I feel called to create and hold space for pagan monastics. In this, I’m not unlike Janet Munin, the editor of the book that served as the class text, “Polytheistic Monasticism: Voices from Pagan Cloisters”, who says she began working on the volume as she was exploring the path for herself, and then came to realize that the path was not her own calling, but writing about it was.

Both Beckett’s course and the book itself were helpful as I created a new structure for my practice, in this time of personal transition. I’ve been figuring out a new schedule for myself since the tail end of August, when the Acorn Sprout started full-time kindergarten. With a little more time on my hands, I needed a new organizational system to keep myself on track, and to keep myself from getting overwhelmed to the point of paralysis with everything I now had time to do that needed to get done. I needed a way to help myself prioritize, and the homework for the second module was to come up with a schedule or calendar for cycles of repetitive practice: daily, weekly, etc. So now I have foci for each day of the week (for my practice but also for my personal life) and hopefully this new schedule will also keep me blogging more regularly! In addition, I’ve adjusted my liturgical calendar to be monthly instead of just the eight neopagan holy days, and October is now the month of Na Morrigna.

As for the class itself, Beckett presents information in an accessible way that also invites deeper contemplation (as per usual). If you’ve enjoyed other classes of his and think this one sounds interesting, you won’t be disappointed! I think the interviews Beckett recorded with some of the authors were probably the most valuable parts of the course, for me; he asked them some of the same questions I would have, and they had enough time to really elaborate in ways it would have been hard to include in the book.

My new week is as follows: Monday: Order and Organization Tuesday: Divination and Trancework Wednesday: Study and Writing Thursday: Cleansing and Household Concerns Friday: Divination and Trancework Saturday: Nature Sprits and Ancestors Sunday: Fair Folk and Gods

I could have read the book on my own and gotten some good ideas out of it, but I don’t think I would have gotten as much as I did without the format of the class. The structure and time delay for the each module, coupled with the reflective homework and the paired readings, really gave me a good scaffold to lay it all out and examine it more closely. And there was plenty of additional material comparing and contrasting the Benedictine (in a monastery) and Jesuit (out in the world) approaches, and information on various other traditions. The module about what our monastery jobs might be was particularly memorable to me, because the list Beckett gave of possible jobs for those without a physical monastery to upkeep read like a list of my hobbies: academic study, reading, writing, teaching, doing magic, crafting, gardening… Little wonder I’d found the path intriguing, I suppose!

Regarding the book itself (which I suppose I should also briefly review), some of the essays were more relevant to me than others, but that’s how it usually is with edited volumes. Chapter 4, “Called by the Spirits but not to the Priesthood” by Kimberly Kirner was perhaps the most relevant to me — and I came to the opposite conclusion, though for some of the same reasons, as Kirner was mostly contrasting monasticism with ministration. Kirner was also one of the authors that Beckett interviewed, and that helped clarify a few of her points. Chapter 8, “Of Hearth and Shadow: A Contemplative Norse Polytheist and a Fledgling Animist Abbey” by Danica Swanson also really helped me reflect on what I mean by “retreat space” when I say I feel a calling to create one, and I think following the development of the Black Stone Sanctuary will help me plan my own sanctuary as I move forward down my (now clarified) path.

TL;DR: I enjoyed this course and the book, and if either interest you, you should check them out!

[dailytafsirofquran]

Tafsir Ibn Kathir: Surah Al-Ma’idah Ayah 82-86

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

5:82 Verily, you will find the strongest among men in enmity to the believers the Jews and those who commit Shirk,

and you will find the nearest in love to the believers those who say: "We are Christians.'' That is because among them are priests and monks, and they are not proud.

5:83 And when they listen to what has been sent down to the Messenger, you see their eyes overflowing with tears because of the truth they have recognized.

They say: "Our Lord! We believe; so write us down among the witnesses.''

5:84 "And why should we not believe in Allah and in that which has come to us of the truth And we wish that our Lord will admit us along with the righteous people.''

5:85 So because of what they said, Allah awarded them with Gardens under which rivers flow, they will abide therein forever. Such is the reward of good-doers.

5:86 But those who disbelieved and belied Our Ayat, they shall be the dwellers of Hell.

The Reason Behind Revealing these Ayat

Sa`id bin Jubayr, As-Suddi and others said that;

these Ayat were revealed concerning a delegation that An-Najashi (King of Ethiopia) sent to the Prophet in order to hear his words and observe his qualities.

When the delegation met with the Prophet and he recited the Qur'an to them, they embraced Islam, cried and were humbled. Then they returned to An-Najashi and told him what happened.

Ata bin Abi Rabah commented,

"They were Ethiopians who embraced Islam when the Muslims who migrated to Ethiopia resided among them.''

Qatadah said,

"They were some followers of the religion of `Isa, son of Maryam, who when they saw Muslims and heard the Qur'an, they became Muslims without hesitation.''

Ibn Jarir said that;

these Ayat were revealed concerning some people who fit this description, whether they were from Ethiopia or otherwise.

Allah said,

Verily, you will find the strongest among men in enmity to the believers the Jews and those who commit Shirk,

This describes the Jews, since their disbelief is that of rebellion, defiance, opposing the truth, belittling other, people and degrading the scholars. This is why the Jews - may Allah's continued curses descend on them until the Day of Resurrection - killed many of their Prophets and tried to kill the Messenger of Allah several times, as well as, performing magic spells against him and poisoning him. They also incited their likes among the polytheists against the Prophet.

Allah's statement,

and you will find the nearest in love to the believers those who say: "We are Christians.''

refers to those who call themselves Christians, who follow the religion of the Messiah and the teachings of his Injil. These people are generally more tolerant of Islam and its people, because of the mercy and kindness that their hearts acquired through part of the Messiah's religion. In another Ayah, Allah said;

And We ordained in the hearts of those who followed him, compassion, mercy, and monasticism... (57:27)

In their book is the saying; "He who strikes you on the right cheek, then turn the left cheek for him.''

And fighting was prohibited in their creed, and this is why Allah said,

That is because among them are Qissisin (priests) and Ruhban (monks), and they are not proud.

This means that among them are Qissisin (priests).

The word Ruhban refers to one dedicated to worship.

Allah said,

That is because among them are priests and monks, and they are not proud.

This describes them with knowledge, worship and humbleness, along with following the truth and fairness.

And when they listen to what has been sent down to the Messenger, you see their eyes overflowing with tears because of the truth they have recognized.

This refers to the good news that they have about the advent of Muhammad.

They say: "Our Lord! We believe; so write us down among the witnesses.''

who testify to the truth and believe in it.

"And why should we not believe in Allah and in that which has come to us of the truth And We wish that our

Lord will admit us (in Paradise) along with the righteous people.''

Such sect of Christians are those mentioned in Allah's statement,

And there are, certainly, among the People of the Scripture, those who believe in Allah and in that which has been revealed to you, and in that which has been revealed to them, humbling themselves before Allah. (3:199)

Those to whom We gave the Scripture before it, they believe in it (the Qur'an). And when it is recited to them, they say, "We believe in it. Verily, it is the truth from our Lord. Indeed even before it we were Muslims.'' (28:52-53) until, )28:55( ''We seek not the ignorant"

This is why Allah said here,

So because of what they said, Allah awarded them...

rewarding them for embracing the faith and recognizing and believing in the truth.

Gardens under which rivers flow (in Paradise), they will abide therein forever.

and they will never be removed from it, for they will dwell and remain in it forever and ever,

Such is the reward of good-doers.

who follow the truth and obey it wherever, whenever and with whomever they find it.

Allah then describes the condition of the miserable.

But those who disbelieved and belied Our Ayat, defied and opposed them,

they shall be the dwellers of the (Hell) Fire.

For they are the people of the Fire who will enter and reside in it (eternally).

[apenitentialprayer]

The Cult of the Saints: An Outline

The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity, by Peter Brown.

Chapter 1: The Holy and the Grave

1. The cult of the saints, as articulated by late-antique Christianity, redefined metaphysical borders that had been widely accepted in the Mediterranean world. First, Judaism and Christianity’s joint belief on the resurrection of the dead challenged the prevalent idea that the invisible soul was the only part of the human being whose fate was of importance (x). Second, it broke down the structure of contrast between the world of divinity and the world of the dead. 2. The cult of the saints was an aspect of the Christian faith that was disturbing to both pagan and Jewish thinkers; not only was the clear divide between the sacred and the dead blurred, but Christian practice often placed the devotee in direct contact with the bodies of the deceased saint. (x) 3. This cult had “caused a visible shift in the balance of importance accorded to the areas of the living and the areas of the dead.” By the sixth century, many bishops in western Europe drew their power not from the basilicas in which they resided, but from their relationships with the tombs of saints existing within their territory. These tombs often became pilgrimage sites, and centers of power in their own right. These tombs were public spaces, and religious ceremonies were often performed near them. 4. This shifting of importance from the interior of the walled town to the cemetery that existed outside the wall was part of a larger Christian process; Christians often rejected traditional centers of Roman society in favor of places traditionally considered outside the pale of Roman social life; consider the rise of monasticism and the phenomenon of hermit-ascetics in the inhospitable deserts as a parallel development. 5. Jews and Muslims also performed pilgrimages to sacred graves, but never to the extent that Christians did. Christians outside of western Europe heavily emphasized visiting the graves of the righteous dead, but the bishops of these regions never had their power so thoroughly tied to saint-shrines as western European bishops did. 6. Exploring this topic in an academic setting has in some ways been blunted by the two-tier “popular religion” model. This model, articulated by Hume in his Natural History of Religion, expresses religious thought to be in a cyclical state of flux, shifting between the superstitious impulse towards polytheism and an Enlightened recognition of monotheism. Later authors specifically cited the cult of the saints as an expression of this polytheistic impulse. 7. Modern scholars are often saddled with the preconceptions of the Enlightenment thinkers; the cult of the saints is thus written off as an embarrassing phenomenon, a leftover from a time in which pagans accepted a Christianized overlay on top of their traditional practices. 8. There are serious deficiencies in this model; first, it treats ‘popular religion’ as a faceless, static force, a constant threat of “degeneration” into polytheism that only has historical significance when it influences the practices of the intellectual elite. Second, by defining ‘popular religion’ against the ‘proper’ religion of the elite, popular religion is condemned to an inferior status in which it is defined by how it fails to live up to the ideals of an ‘elite’ religion. Third, it fails to take into account that the elite embraced and likewise influenced beliefs and practices traditionally identified as “vulgar.” Fourth, by treating popular religion as a static force, this model limits antiquarian scholars to looking at continuities in religious practice in a period where nearly every aspect of society was changing.

[mothersofthecross]

There’s a longstanding tendency in contemporary Pagan/polytheist religions to reject everything that can possibly be associated with monotheism (particularly, in the West, Christianity). There is, of course, plenty of justification for this attitude, whether in historical grievances such as forced conversion and cultural genocide, or more personal and familial wounds. But taken too far it can lead to the rejection of basic tools of religious practice. There are Pagans who dismiss the very idea of prayer, who proudly declare they never kneel to their gods, who react with horror to the suggestion that sacrifice may be a necessary part of spiritual growth (the very first time I came across the idea of Pagan monasticism, it was a question on a forum whether anyone had heard of such a thing, and while there were a couple of polite replies, most of them were variations on “no one had better ask me to give up sex, hur hur!”). It bears remembering that the early Christians were not shy about co-opting the useful parts of the ancient paganisms for their own use, whether it be building churches on the sites of former temples or swiping a god or two and turning Them into saints, and, given that Christianity has two millennia of tradition to winnow through, it seems wasteful to dismiss all of their technology of the sacred out of hand.

Munin, Janet, Polytheistic Monasticism

[delciaalim-blog]

Exam 2 Review

Rome + Christianity

- Roman are polytheistic seen in Livy

- Don’t sacrifice to the emperor, seen as Treason = don’t wish emperor wealth = wish him dead

-Emperor is a god in roman (close to egypt) very important a public religion

IBN AL AHIR

- Written in 1220- mongol conquered part of kingdom - but city of Baghdad won't be conquered until 1258

- reliability - some stories are from other people (sources are other people),but not sure if they were eye witness or just repeating rumours or testimonial ( can't tell) ? gotta use possibly and perhaps instead of assuming.

-Talks about mongols brutality but he might exaggerate? Seems like, his tone suggested he might be exaggerating as it’s not confirmed

Checking Reliability

- Mongols are supportive of trade? Peaceful? Like author’s background is important. (context!) 

-Sometimes they are too distant to understand the mongols. Depends on their purpose.

Themes

 Trade

Gender roles

Religion

Impact of conquest

Religious influence

Justice

Unification

New worlds / interactions with cultures

Community vs individual

Social and political structure

Leadership

Justice

Rise and fall of empires

Sura 4

Orphans 

1. Contextual mhd is an orphan that might shape the concern

2. Text that is interested in protecting people who are least powerful in society , recognition of these part of society are neglected eg, women, orphans

Movement from mecca to medina

In mecca muslim community experiences rapid growth

Message is attractive, central piece of mhd’s teaching is that there is only one god

Difficulty, ruling tribe’s wealth depends on pilgrimage and trade, the kaba, consist varieties of religions and they profited. But if everyone think there's only one god, the ruling family was threatened of the decline of wealth, they started to put economic and physical pressure on the muslims. They won't trade with them, got violence against muslim. So mhd goes to medina for safer passage.

Early teachings

Islam as continuation specifically of christianity and judaism so is not polytheistic. Start to get islam is diff from christianity and judaism, the rest becomes more “wrong”

Islam is continuation and correction to christianity and judaism, continuation that it maintains the monotheism and adhere to most of the story that hold close to christians and judaism, believe jesus as prophets, but conflict against isaac instead of ismail,  

Context for st francis

Christianity st francis that most of europe in power structure is christianity (homogeneous), monasticism - retreat from society but also preservation of text as francis is going to ask monks to further engage in society, create a religious order than is based in urban idea, want to change their mindset. Keep small community of obedience, chastity but instead, be intimately engaged in society, do works for the poor. Argue that his background as a merchant’s son (clothe trader) wealthy and newly rich, living the good life but christianity is embedded in his believes.

Middle ages in the feudal system - hierarchy like poor and rich, society ont have upward mobility or shift in classes. No social safety net therefore he is worried about the poor.

Element of the text explain what he did what he did.

Francis - gave up everything because it makes him happy, freedom from material goods = happy, people who follow him finds great joy in them, give them admirable to work out their faith, very literal

Franciseans 1. Monk and nuns( taking franciscan vows live in poverty, simplicity)  2. Delay order (?) Take vow of charity eg, nobles form an organisation to pay dowries or funerals for poor , influence of religion

[blackcrowing]

Blackcrowing's Master Reading List

I have created a dropbox with pdfs I have gathered over the years, I have done my best to only allow access to documents which I found openly available through sites like JSTOR, Archive.org, or other educational resources with papers available for download.

That being said I ALSO recommend (I obviously have not read all of these but they are either in my library or I intend to add them)

📚 Celtic/Irish Pagan Books

The Morrighan: Meeting the Great Queens, Morgan Daimler

Raven Goddess: Going Deeper with the Morríghan, Morgan Daimler

Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom, Erynn Rowan Laurie

Irish Paganism: Reconstructing Irish Polytheism, Morgan Daimler

Celtic Cosmology and the Otherworld: Myths, Orgins, Sovereignty and Liminality, Sharon Paice MacLeod

Celtic Myth and Religion, Sharon Paice MacLeod

A Guide to Ogam Divination, Marissa Hegarty (I'm leaving this on my list because I want to support independent authors. However, if you have already read Weaving Word Wisdom this book is unlikely to further enhance your understanding of ogam in a divination capacity)

The Book of the Great Queen, Morpheus Ravenna

Litany of The Morrígna, Morpheus Ravenna

Celtic Visions, Caitlín Matthews

Harp, Club & Calderon, Edited by Lora O'Brien and Morpheus Ravenna

Celtic Cosmology: Perspectives from Ireland and Scotland, Edited by Jacqueline Borsje and others

Polytheistic Monasticism: Voices from Pagan Cloisters, Edited by Janet Munin

📚 Celtic/Irish Academic Books

Early Medieval Ireland 400-1200, Dáibhí Ó Cróinín

The Sacred Isle, Dáithi Ó hÓgáin

The Ancient Celts, Berry Cunliffe

The Celtic World, Berry Cunliffe

Irish Kingship and Seccession, Bart Jaski

Early Irish Farming, Fergus Kelly

Studies in Irish Mythology, Grigory Bondarnko

Prehistoric Archaeology of Ireland, John Waddell

Archeology and Celtic Myth, John Waddell

Understanding the Celtic Religion: Revisiting the Past, Edited by Katja Ritari and Alexandria Bergholm

A Guide to Ogam, Damian McManus

Cesar's Druids: an Ancient Priesthood, Miranda Aldhouse Green

Animals in Celtic Life and Myth, Miranda Aldhouse Green

The Gods of the Celts, Miranda Green

The Celtic World, Edited by Miranda J Green

Myth and History in Celtic and Scandinavian Tradition, Edited by Emily Lyle

Ancient Irish Tales, Edited by Tom P Cross and Clark Haris Slover

Cattle Lords and Clansmen, Nerys Patterson

Celtic Heritage, Alwyn and Brinley Rees

Ireland's Immortals, Mark Williams

The Origins of the Irish, J. P. Mallory

In Search of the Irish Dreamtime, J. P. Mallory

The Táin, Thomas Kinsella translation

The Sutton Hoo Sceptre and the Roots of Celtic Kingship Theory, Michael J. Enright

Celtic Warfare, Giola Canestrelli

Pagan Celtic Ireland, Barry Raftery

The Year in Ireland, Kevin Danaher

Irish Customs and Beliefs, Kevin Danaher

Cult of the Sacred Center, Proinsais Mac Cana

Mythical Ireland: New Light on the Ancient Past, Anthony Murphy

Early Medieval Ireland AD 400-1100, Aidan O'Sullivan and others

The Festival of Lughnasa, Máire MacNeill

Curse of Ireland, Cecily Gillgan

📚 Indo-European Books (Mostly Academic and linguistic)

Dictionary of Indo-European Concepts and Society, Emily Benveniste

A Dictionary of Selected Synonyms in the Principle Indo-European Languages, Carl Darling Buck

The Horse, the Wheel and Language, David W. Anthony

Comparative Indo-European Linguistics, Robert S.P. Beekes

In Search of the Indo-Europeans, J.P. Mallory

Indo-European Mythology and Religion, Alexander Jacob

Some of these books had low print runs and therefore can be difficult to find and very expensive... SOME of those books can be found online with the help of friends... 🏴‍☠️

library genesis might be a great place to start... hint hint...

[mannazandwyrd]

I am jumping in on @elizatungusnakur ‘s brilliant Seven Days of Lokabrenna devotional blogging exercise. I like that it’s easier to manage than a full month, although my 7 posts may not be on consecutive days, and I love that it’ll be like playing tag with my mutuals. For me, living at Latitude 52(ish) above the equator, I am guesstimating that Sirius A & B pop above the horizon of the Canadian prairies around August 23rd this year (2022), although it may in fact be a couple of days earlier depending on the calculators’ accuracy. It’s much earlier for Mexico and the United States, and later for those parts of Europe north of the British Isles. I have no idea how Sirius moves through the sky for the Southern Hemisphere. But it’ll be like the blog version of a relay race as various Norse pagans who interact with Loki and his friends and family join in the fun. I like the mental image of us passing the baton to each other.

I also like the wide open format, that you’re not guided with or limited by daily prompts. At first, I thought I might do seven posts about the runes, or seven days of the devotional fibre art I am making using various techniques. But I think instead my topic may vary from day to day.

Today’s topic: pagan monasticism.

Mutuals who are on Discord with me (heyyy gang) know this topic has been much on my mind lately; a few of us have read the essay collection edited by Janet Munin, we discussed it in our book club, and two of us are currently in John Beckett’s course on the topic. (Those essays vary in quality but all provide food for thought on what a devotional polytheist’s practice could be. I’d recommend the course for anyone who processes information through audiovisuals better, or who hopes to plug into a community of like-minded people, but so far it hasn’t offered many ideas beyond the book.) For the past couple of months I have been writing and refining my plans for how my version of inclusive norse heathen monasticism might work in practical terms. When I checked in with Loki by divination, he was insistent that this should be my first topic.

Many modern Catholic and Orthodox monasteries in North America have downsized from large campuses to a single house shared by a handful of monks or nuns, not so different to how the (fascinating) medieval Beguines lived. That downsizing made me think about how a pagan monk or nun - or a group of two or three - could convert a typical urban or suburban home into a live/work space, and then combine their devotional/contemplative work as an artist or writer with teaching workshops or facilitating retreats on their areas of expertise. I'm not yet at a life stage or level of expertise where I can do this myself, being married with teen kids and elderly parents and in-laws who could need caregivers, but my husband and I will likely in the next decade or so be empty-nesters with spare bedrooms, so I plan to work toward that goal and level of expertise.

This idea seems like an easy-to-reproduce and versatile way to create small-scale pagan sanctuaries, so I am sharing it here. Some of you may be able to adapt it to suit your own practices.

In my case, my suburban-retrofit mini-monastery will be Roasted Heart Fibre Arts Studio & Sanctuary, a contemplative space that offers a full suite of fibre artists’ tools, workshops on fibre arts (and related disciplines like seidr), and a stacked library of reference materials. The arts can help keep it going, and residencies could require the visiting artists to teach a workshop and/or create a body of work. Alternatively, visiting artists could be advanced students looking for mentorship in skills the permanent residents teach. The space could also be a community hub for events and daytime workshops. In my personal practice, I’d like to pair my textile art with work to mitigate the climate crisis’ effects (the focus of much of my volunteer work already), and to develop pagan monasticism and theology.

As an aspiring polytheist monastic, I strive to embody my deities’ values. I can live my life as an example, and I can be my deities’ hands in this realm, in addition to offering them my head and heart.

This, I think, is my answer to John Beckett's question, "What about monasticism calls to you?" I'm already a devotional polytheist and deity-partnered with an evolving lifetime vow, so using what abilities I have to help my pragmatic, opportunist, loving deities do work that needs doing, in service to communities of various types (local and nonlocal, human and other-than-human) — it feels like a logical next step to studying lore, runes, and seidr in my role as a vitki-trainee for my local kindred. It’ll allow me to continue to deepen my spiritual practice while integrating devotional textile art and fibre magic seamlessly into my artistic practice.

For accountability and mutual support I will share my to do list here:

1. Mundane before magical: I need to declutter my home and my life in preparation for this next phase, and years living in the same home with children means lots of accumulated stuff to sort and donate. I think I’ll take a Konmari approach to it, which will help me strengthen some animist thought patterns too. Knowing my long-term goal should make this process easier - but it’s an ongoing elephantine task to tackle one bite at a time.

2. Study and practice. I am in the process of getting certified as a textile arts instructor in my primary technique (hand-hooked rug making, like many textile arts, emerged from the Arts & Crafts movement with a guild-based training and mentorship model). I am also at beginner level in other techniques I want to incorporate into my artistic and devotional practices. I need to set aside a little time each day for handwork.

3. Study and contemplate and practice. My current focus is still the runes, but soon I will be finished version 1.3 of the rune card project and able to shift my focus to reading all the books and academic articles I have been collecting on seidr. I am also assisting my gothi with updating study circle notes, participating in a couple of local and online study circles, and reading books on lore. I need to set aside time each week for reading, writing. and integrating new (to me) information into my practice.

4. Prayer and meditation and connecting with Deity. Right now, almost three years into my path, the Gods are never far from my thoughts, and all my meals and daily activities are offered to Them in one way or another, but I don’t have a particularly disciplined day-to-day schedule — so I need to develop and gradually add to that. The beginning of my kids’ schoolyear seems like a good time to work on adding new habits. The seasonal rhythm of worship is already part of my practice, as I have from the outset tried to build a bioregional and garden-witchery version of a Nordic wheel of the year for myself, and I now have local community in addition to online community to do ritual with. But I would like to deepen that, too.

5. Developing a simple pagan monastic habit / wardrobe. I have experimented with slow fashion and wearing a capsule wardrobe previously, so as I declutter my closet I will be drawing on that experience (I recommend Project 3/33 to anyone wanting to give a capsule wardrobe a go.). I already have some ideas about this: modern, pragmatic, unisex, partially handmade from zero-waste sewing patterns, in natural fibres, with inspiration from the past. As an artist, the utility of workwear and artists’ smocks with deep pockets is appealing; this could be adapted from a medieval tunic, or the tunics already in my closet. As a protester, I am aware that sometimes you need to blend into a crowd in solidarity rather than stand out, so clothing reflecting that modern reality seems necessary, and I already live in t-shirts and jeans. For ritual, I am working on a modern version of a Skaldenhamn hood for cool days, and a hand-dyed linen duster coat of a type popular among textile artists but reminiscent of the Vendel-period klappenrock riding coat.

If you’re interested in following along as I explore a polytheist monastic path, I will be tagging all my posts on it with #monkposting as well as tags already in use by the community.

XO Eira

[theflytingfox]

Can a Lokean be a Monk?

I will be using this blog to share my experiences of trying to follow a Monastic calling with Loki as my Patron deity.

The first series of posts will explore Monastic ideology and how it correlates to practice as a Lokean.

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Can a Lokean be a Monk? This is a question I ponder quite often and I still don't have an answer. Truth be told, I am not sure I ever will.

In my research and experience though, I think it is possible but I believe the landscape of Lokean Monasticism will look quite different than a more traditional Monastic calling and even amongst other Pagans and Polytheists.

For one, there is a great deal of importance placed on asceticism within Christian and Buddhist Monastic traditions and that is something that I feel Loki would not require. In fact, in my UPG, it is very much the opposite. Obviously he doesn't want us to move towards gluttony or excessiveness, but he does want us to engage fully in the experience of life and living. We don't have to deprive ourselves to be closer to him or to deepen our spirituality.

If asceticism is necessary to Monasticism, then a Lokean would probably not follow or be called to a Monastic path, but with the ever changing landscape of pagan Monasticism and polytheistic Monasticism, we are the trail blazers here and can ascribe our own definitions of what Monasticism means to us.

At the end of the day, it is just words. What really matters is what we do and what is in our hearts. If we follow our truth, the title is irrelevant.

[theflytingfox]

New Deck - Diablo Sanctuary Tarot

So, here it is - the new Diablo Sanctuary Tarot deck! This deck is nothing like anything I own but I absolutely love it. The imagery is stunning, and even though the cards are ginormous, it works. A reading with this deck makes a statement for sure!

I always try to incorporate divination into my Monastic Routine. I rotate between several oracle decks for a daily message from Loki and also from Bendigeidfran.

I find it is a useful way of maintaining a connection and communicating, especially when one doesn't have any "clair" senses to rely on.

I am not sure where this deck will fit into my practice just yet, but I get a really good energy from it and I am excited to get to know it better.

[jadenordicnun]

Hello, everyone! My name is Jade. Over the past year, I have been learning about polytheistic monastic practices, and had an interest in it multiple years beforehand.

I am developing my own practice, and while I could simply make it strictly my own and leave it at that, I wanted to contribute something much larger to the world around me. For months now, I have been slowly adding bits and pieces to a currently unnamed monastic tradition that I hope can one day serve to be a symbol of compassion and peace in an oftentimes chaotic world.

It is here that I will be making blog posts. They will include my thoughts, pieces of wisdom, theories, and more.

Here’s to the start of something beautiful!