Buzz Coil: May '11

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

Hecate: In a beautiful May 24 post, "In My Bones, I Am a Witch" blogger Hecate explains what Witchcraft is to her, including that it

honors that part of women that is also divine

and that it helped her heal from "Catholicism’s solitary emphasis on male images and versions of divinity and priesthood."

Katrina’s Joy: Katrina Messenger’s May 16 post, "Identity (Crisis) Stage Two" tells how she has been

struggling with what to call myself over the last couple of years.

After a few years of identifying herself as a "shaman and mystic" she has most recently been using "wiccan mystic." But she is now again reassessing. She has a long list of her identities, as do many of us, and she shares hers with us in her post. Which should she choose? Or should she choose any?

Goddess in a Teapot: Carolyn L. Boyd ‘s May 1 post, "The Royal Wedding, Disco Balls, and The Goddess of the Land," links the most recent British royal wedding to the Goddess of the Land tradition.

Full Circle: Blogger Sia shares her "Thoughts On Pagan Coming Out Day." in her May 2 post, which begins:

I am going to say something I know will not be popular.

I’m not so sure of that. The post is illustrated with Max Dashu’s poster, "Power Female Icons." When I look at the poster surrounded by Sia's words, I get the feeling that those goddesses are looking on at least with understanding, and maybe even approval.

Broomstick Chronicles: Macha NightMare/Aline O’Brien’s May 13 post describes the "Interfaith Day of Prayer" breakfast that the Marin Interfaith Council presents every year on a date near that of the National Day of Prayer breakfast. Macha points out that the latter is "exclusively Christian." In contrast the Marin County, California, event has been including speakers and participants from many different religions. This year is the first year that a representative of an "Earth-based" group has been one of the event’s three speakers. (no it wasn’t Macha, who is the only Pagan member of the Council.)

COG Reports: Macha/Aline’s post also appears in this blog on May 13, along with Earth-based speaker Don Frew’s remarks to the Marin group, under the heading, "CoG Interfaith Rep. at Marin Interfaith Council Prayer Breakfast. "

A Crone Speaks Out: In her April 25 post, Cathryn Platine tells us "Why the Legal Battle of Maetreum of Cybele Over Property Tax Exemption is of Vital Importance to all Pagans." A Maetreum priestess, Cathryn relates the court case to "the culture war being waged across all of American right now" and explains the Cybeline Religion’s "long, verifiable history."

The Village Witch: Byron Ballard’s May 22 post in the Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times, "I Have Returned, so they say" promises a report on the Pagan Unity Gathering she attended this month. At this writing she had not yet posted her report, but you might want to check there to see if it's been posted since I wrote this.

The Wild Hunt: In his May 22 post, "Using Tragedy as a Bludgeon," Jason Pitzl-Waters comments on the coverage by a Canadian newspaper of a crime in the state of Washington. The newspaper article, Jason says, conflates New Age with Paganism and presents both in a negative light.

UPDATE, May 28:
House of Inanna: After a long absence from blogging, today Idris has posted his objections to the term, "The divine feminine" , prompted by my April 4 post about the video "Dear Woman," on which he also just commented. Part of his approach is from insights into the relevance of the sex act(s), which frankly hadn't occurred to me before. Both his comment on my post and his own blog post are well worth reading (his blog post has more about sex).

Did we miss an item you think is important? We’d like to know about it, so please leave it as a comment.