Welcome to 2022, readers. Let’s start the year with the energy of this Oregon crow who befriended a class of fifth graders: [Education assistant Naomi] Imel said the bird wasn’t aggressive at all and seemed to love the kids. “It landed on some people’s heads,” she said. And, she added, it spoke. The bird could
January Links Roundup: As the Crow Flies Read More »
The time has come “to give a reason for the hope that is in me” (1 Peter 3:15). Since March 2021, I’ve been a Year One student at the Temple of Witchcraft. Co-founded in 1998 by Christopher Penczak, Steve Kenson, and Adam Sartwell, TOW offers online and in-person courses in magical training and personal development.
Happy (?) November, readers. My mood continues to be “living my best life in the end times”, hence the question mark. This post’s title references an article I will shortly mention, but also a realization that sometimes gives me hope and other times makes me feel more helpless than ever. I grew up thinking that
November Links Roundup: Inequality Isn’t Magic Read More »
So it’s a radiant early-autumn day and I’m walking downtown to get some fish tacos, listening to a Food4Thot podcast on my headphones, when I happen to smile at this woman’s little dog and she stops me to say that God nudged her to speak to me. Apparently I haven’t yet mastered the genial indifference
Evangelism as Microaggression Read More »
Happy (almost) autumn–the witching season! Self-described “normie Satanist” blogger Stephen Bradford Long followed a similar trajectory as mine, from anguished gay Christian to student of occultism and Tarot. In a provocative post from July, “The Satanic Practice of Learning from Demons”, he explains why he bothers to engage with authors like Jordan Peterson, notwithstanding the
September Links Roundup: Learning from Demons Read More »
We went to Salem. This Massachusetts coastal town has made a peculiar tourist industry out of the fact that it executed 19 people (and two dogs) on charges of witchcraft in 1692. Four others died in prison or under interrogation. All respect to Giles Corey, the crotchety octogenarian who let himself be pressed to death
Happy Spring! Six weeks into my program as a first-year student of the Temple of Witchcraft, I have communed with several trees, learned a lot about my inner struggle over manifesting my power, but so far failed to establish a meditation practice before the end of April. The Temple’s founder and head minister is Christopher
April Links Roundup: Making and Unmaking Read More »
As February is Black History Month, let’s start our links roundup with a nod to 20th-century African-American historian Edgar Toppin (1928-2004), who persuaded President Ford to institute this official commemoration in 1976. Never heard of him? Well, that shows why we need to teach more Black history! I discovered his story at the progressive politics
February Links Roundup: Exorcising America Read More »
Today being the Feast of the Baptism of Christ, I thought I’d share a poem on the topic by The Poet Spiel, inspired by the Renaissance artwork below. The second poem returns to a topic that Spiel and I both ruminate upon frequently, the complex feelings we have toward our abusive mothers. The Baptism re:
“The Baptism” and “Touching” by The Poet Spiel Read More »
Shortly after my post yesterday celebrating the Democrats’ Senate wins, white supremacist terrorists invaded the US Capitol to try to block certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. I’m with those who believe there’s more than simple incompetence behind the security failure. Fascism has made significant inroads in American police departments. Baptist minister Candace Simpson, who
January Links Roundup: Greetings from the Failed State Read More »