Buzz Coil: Nov. '09

A look at some posts of interest from our blogroll and beyond:

Amused Grace: Two Oct. 30 Samhain-related posts from Thalia Took: In "Remembering the Ancestors at Samhain," she recalls one of her ancestors who was burned at the stake for hereticism; and in "The Veil," Thalia tells how she shut off her sensitivity to thinning veils and "ghosts’ while living in a "haunted" house.

Driving Audhumla: Two posts from Victoria Slind-Flor, both with wonderful pics. On Nov. 1, her post "We’re the coven that makes stuff," is about the altar cloth Victoria’s coven made for this Samhain, and the candles they decorated for Dia de los Muertos. Her Nov 9 post, "The Season of Marigolds," tells about (and shows) the colorful Dia de los Muertos festival in an Oakland neighborhood.

Dirt Worship: Starhawk’s Nov.2 post, "The Spiral Dance - A Beautiful Night," is an account of Reclaiming’s 30th Anniversary Spiral Dance this Samhain with a whirly pic plus links to more pics, videos, and to some of the other people involved.

The Village Witch: In her blog in the Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times, Byron Ballard has written a number of posts this month about how her experiece of Samhain this year has extended into November. And if you peruse these posts carefully, you might a catch a glimpse of her in a new hat (hint: Nov. 14).

Daily Kos: Glad to see that blogger Tara the Antisocial Social Worker has posted another diary in her series on Goddess spirituality and political activism. For a good while the series, "How a Woman Becomes a Goddess," combining myths of various goddesses with socio-political issues, was a regular Wednesday feature. It has now understandably become a sometime thing and I'm grateful when one appears. In her Nov. 4 diary, Tara associates Samhain/Hallowmas and the mythology of the Morrigan with confronting fears, including Tara's fear that in the U. S. "hate is being deliberately stirred" and that this stirring-up "creates monsters in order to have an excuse to attack them." And then she goes into specifics. This and previous diaries in this remarkable series can be found here.

Chess, Goddess and Everything: In a Nov. 31 post, "Beautiful Images of the Center of the Milky Way Galaxy," blogger Jan responds to recent pics of our cosmic neighborhood . With 1 pic and links to more pics and a video.

Evoking the Goddess: In his Nov. 19 post, "Beings are relatives not resources," blogger Paul mulls over the different ways Christianity and Paganism relate to science and nature, and the difficulties of living in ways that are consistent with our ideals. Here’s some of his thinking:

The Goddess spirit has no problem working with nature - accepting, refining and perfecting all she has to offer. This is science at its best. The Goddess spirit cannot accept violence against nature and will always seek to honour and tend our relatives in this world. It will accept with gratitude all that she gives whilst bearing in mind that our children's children will also long for a fair share of natural resources.

Mary Magdalene Within: In a Nov. 15 post, "Goddess was in Her House," Joan Norton writes about an experience she had in HerChurch (a Lutheran church in San Francisco that holds weekly Goddess rosary services), about the relationship of Mary Magdalene and Jesus, and a disconcerting visit to another SF church. (You may have to scroll down what appears to be a blank page to get to the post–at least I did.)

Gorgon Resurfaces Here’s how blogger LaughingMedusa begins her Oct. 31 post, "More to Life":

I woke up with this thought today: There must be more to life than just “purity codes.” Meaning that most patriarchal religions are systems of beliefs that are meant to make your world smaller. Rather than embrace life, these religions constrict it, bind it, put it under rule.

She goes on to tell about the openness that she now seeks in her spiritual path.

Hecate: Blogger Hecate, in her Nov. 21 post, "Merry Fcking Holiday," responds to a Chicago Sun Times article that treats Paganism less then equitably when discussing winter holidays of various religions. With comments on The Gap commercial that includes Pagans. Hecate's Nov. 17 post, "Cherche de l'argent," maintains that a new study suggesting that most women don't need yearly mammograms may have been influenced by insurance companies.

Views from Cyberhenge: PhaedraB is posting updates about Isaac Bonewits’ cancer treatments. The most recent (when I visited) is a Nov. 11 post, "Adventures in Oncology."

Pagan Godspell: Blogger Sara Ruby’s Nov. 12, "Voice and Morning Light," is one of the posts that show this poetic blogger at her best. In it, she tells why she "tries to avoid the news now on a consistent basis," but "cannot avoid it all." She writes:

So I count on two things in the morning.
Music, and the morning light. Music is religion. Spirit, the wind, the sound of water, shout. Music is religion and I don’t know a single person who wouldn’t agree when it came down to brass tacks. And poetry, matched to music and drawn forth by a human voice trained like an instrument, a bell, a trumpet…well, coupled with the morning light and the rush of birds in the trees, I know of no better church

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