Mabon, 2018

Happy September, everyone.  I’m personally dreading it, as a number of personal deadlines are staring me in the face regarding my upcoming move.  The back-to-school ads and the appearance of Hallowe’en candy in the stores are harsh reminders that the change of season is coming.  The days are visibly getting shorter, the recent heat wave is being replaced by the chill winds of autumn.  And, gods willing, the wildfires will also subside.

In the words of Rick Hamouris’ classic “The Harvest”, “blindness and sight on the balance of the hour, only twice the circle brings” (though I always heard it as “balance inside”).  We seek the balance of darkness and light, and of our external and internal work, though with autumn, the dark/internal begins to ascend. As our outside activities begin to decrease, we may begin to become more reflective. With the beginning of the school year, we may choose to begin new studies or projects, or resume where we left off in the spring.   In the Craft, so often our Sabbats celebrate beginnings and endings, and with Mabon, even as we continue to celebrate the harvest, it’s also a time to celebrate the new beginnings the season brings.  Hope to see some of you at Calgary Pagan Pride Day!

September Events:

Note these events are listed for information purposes only; no endorsement should be necessarily implied. Dates and locations may be subject to change; see the source for details. If I’ve missed anyone and you’d like to add to this listing, please contact me. All times MDT.

Aug 24-Sep 1:  Calgary Pride Festival. http://www.calgarypride.ca/

Sep 1-2:  Canmore Highland Games at Centennial Park.  http://canmorehighlandgames.ca/

Sep 1, 9:00 am:  Calgary Highland Games at Calgary Rugby Union. http://calgaryhighlandgames.org/

Sep 2:  Celtic Tree-Month of Muin/Vine begins, according to Robert Graves.
Sep 2, 11:00 am:  Calgary Pride Parade.  https://www.calgarypride.ca/event/parade-2018/

Sep 2, 11:30 pm:  Rocky Horror Picture Show at Globe Cinema.  https://ticketf.ly/2Nsdbr2

Sep 3:  Labour Day.

Sep 8, 6:45 pm:  Calgary Cuddle Party at Scarboro Community Centre. https://bit.ly/2obhvQn

Sep 9, 12:01pm:  New Moon. Lunar Month of Muin/Vine begins.

Sep 19-23:  Beakerhead.  https://beakerhead.com/

Sep 22, 10:00 am:  Calgary Pagan Pride Day at Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Hall.   https://bit.ly/2P8ls3H

Sep 22, 7:54 pm:  Autumnal Equinox.

Sep 22, 10:00 pm:  Paranormal Investigation at Twin Cities Hotel, Longview, hosted by Ghost Hunt Alberta.  https://bit.ly/2NkJ5pl

Sep 24, 8:52 pm:  Full (Harvest) Moon.  

Sep 28, 6:30 pm:  Embodied Bliss: Tantric Cacao Journey into the Root Chakra, at Scarboro Community Centre.  https://bit.ly/2PfPlPL

Sep 29, 7:00 pm:  Calgary Heathens Meet and Greet.

Sep 30:  Celtic Tree-Month of Gort/Ivy begins, according to Robert Graves.

The Moral of The Story?

Happy Lughnasadh, everyone.  We celebrate the first fruits (though the apples on my tree aren’t quite ready for harvest yet).  In the British Traditions, it’s the celebration of the grain harvest as the embodiment of the green/grain god, who dies and is reborn with the agricultural cycle.  With the first harvest, the autumnal quarter of the year begins, the evening of the year.  In my own interwoven mythos, with the beginning of the harvest, the Goddess begins to show her Crone face, while the Oak King, in his role of Sage/Magus, trains his Holly Apprentice.  In the wheel of our lives, I think of this as the time of mastery and maturity.

As my personal downsizing saga begins to draw to a close, the moral of the story (actually, Margarian’s) is...  I get it. Particularly when we are younger, “as within, so without” means that we, particularly those of us who live on the fringe in various subcultures, surround ourselves with things which assert and reinforce our identities, which are beautiful, or useful, or bring us pleasure. Sometimes these are trophies and souvenirs of things we’ve attended or accomplished.  We live in a consumer society, where the credo is, “whoever dies with the most toys, wins”, and the media reinforces consumerism by celebrating famous collectors. “It will be valuable, someday,” is another motivation to keep things. But mental or physical illness, often associated with people on the fringe, can turn this into hoarding, and our beloved collections can become mere accumulations.  

The thing to remember is that every single item we own, down to teaspoons and push pins, brings with it an obligation. We have a relationship with each and every one of them, much in the same way as we have with our significant others, friends, and furbabies.  We have to take care of them, use them, honour them, pay attention to them. When we cease to do so, we neglect them, put them away in boxes or bags, and forget about them.  They’re there somewhere, and still reinforce who we are by their presence, but in a sense they’ve been left behind, and the only way we can still honour them is to find them a good home where someone else can see the value (beauty, usefulness, or joy) in them by donating or selling them.  And if they’ve reached the end of their life cycle (partially due to our own neglect), we must deal with our “dead” by composting, recycling, or burying them in the landfill.  In a pagan sense, these are all products of the Earth, our Mother, and by honouring our possessions throughout their life cycles, we honour the Earth itself.

August Events:

Note these events are listed for information purposes only; no endorsement should be necessarily implied. Dates and locations may be subject to change; see the source for details. If I’ve missed anyone and you’d like to add to this listing, please contact me. All times MDT.

Jul 31/Aug 1:  Traditional Lughnasadh, Lammas, Freysblot…

Aug 3-6:  Panfest 2018 at Pigeon Lake. http://panfest.ca/

Aug 4-5:  Days of Yore Medieval Festival at Rosebud Park, Didsbury. http://www.mountainviewartssociety.ca/daysyore/

Aug 4-6:  Canmore Folk Music Festival.  http://canmorefolkfestival.com/ http://canmorefolkfestival.com/

Aug 4, 10:00 am:  Inglewood Sunfest. https://www.inglewoodsunfest.ca/

Aug 5:  Celtic Tree-Month of Coll/Hazel begins, according to Robert Graves.

Aug 6:  Heritage Day (AB) and other Civic Holidays.

Aug 11-12:  Brooks Medieval Faire at Old Rodeo Grounds.  http://brooksfaire.com/index.php

Aug 11-12:  Peak of Perseids meteor shower.

Aug 11, 3:58 am:  New Moon. Lunar Month of Coll/Hazel begins.

Aug 11, 10:00 am:  Calgary New Age Market at Hillhurst-Sunnyside.

Aug 16-25:  GlobalFest Fireworks Festival at Elliston Park.  http://globalfest.ca/

Aug 24-Sep 3:  Calgary Pride Week. http://www.calgarypride.ca/

Aug 25, 1:00 pm:  Calgary Heathens Meet and Greet.

Aug 26, 5:56 am:  Full (Sturgeon or Corn) Moon.  

July, 2018

Happy belated Midsummer, everyone.  The Sun has reached the northernmost point on its stroll across the horizon, and is slowly making its return trip to the south.  In British Traditional witchcraft, the Oak and Holly Kings have had their semi-annual battle, with Holly triumphant and ruling the waning of the year.  In my personal annual mythology, the Goddess is in her Mother aspect, having given birth to the infant Holly child, while Oak takes on his King aspect through his fatherhood.

I’ve been having a very busy month, so no book reviews or ruminations this time.  Enjoy the warm weather while we’ve got it, and I’ll see you next month.

July Events:

Note these events are listed for information purposes only; no endorsement should be necessarily implied. Dates and locations may be subject to change; see the source for details. If I’ve missed anyone and you’d like to add to this listing, please contact me. All times MDT.

Jul 1:  Canada Day.

Jul 6-15:  Annual Ankh-Morpork “Rat-Onna-Stick Festival”, sponsored by “Cut-Me-Own-Throat” Dibbler.
Jul 8:  Celtic Tree-Month of Tinne/Holly begins, according to Robert Graves.
Jul 12, 8:48 pm:  New Moon. Lunar Month of Tinne/Holly begins.
Jul 14, 7:00 pm:  Paranormal Investigation at East Coulee School Museum near Drumheller, hosted by Ghost Hunt Alberta.  https://bit.ly/2KjyRIm 
Jul 20-22:  Paranormal Weekend at Nordegg, hosted by Ghost Hunt Alberta. https://bit.ly/2MyUMYD 
Jul 21, 10:30 am:  Cochrane Medieval Day hosted by Wardens of the Red Tower and Cochrane Public Library.  https://bit.ly/2yX4GRT 
Jul 25, 11:02 pm:  Mercury Retrograde to Aug 18.
Jul 26-29:  Calgary Folk Music Festival on Prince’s Island.  http://www.calgaryfolkfest.com/ 
Jul 27-29:  Vul-Con 2018 in Vulcan, with guests Tucker Smallwood, Rekha Sharma, and Stephanie Niznik.  https://www.vulcanconvention.com/ 
Jul 27, 2:20 pm:  Full (Buck or Blessing) Moon.  Lunar Eclipse not visible from Canada.
Jul 28, 1:00 pm:  Calgary Heathens Meet and Greet.
Jul 29, 6:00 pm:  Witchcraft Discussion/Education Group, sponsored by Calgary School of Informal Education.  https://bit.ly/2M9iE5T 
Jul 31/Aug 1:  Traditional Lughnasadh, Lammas, Freysblot…
Aug 3-6:  Panfest 2018 at Pigeon Lake.  http://panfest.ca/

Secret Games of the Gods - Nigel Pennick (Weiser, 1989)

My interest in board games began in my youth. Besides the Parker Brothers classics of Monopoly, Clue, and Careers, I also had a 100-game set that had checkers, snakes and ladders, Parcheesi, other race-type games, and some games that were variations using the same boards.  As I grew older and got into paganism, I also began to realize just how much of past culture was preserved in children’s schoolyard games, which are passed down over recess.  So I was interested when during my travels I came across Secret Games of the Gods: Ancient Ritual Systems in Board Games by Nigel Pennick (Samuel Weiser Inc., 1989, 1997).

The book starts strong, with a good explanation of geomancy, a system based on divining four rows of either one or two dots, producing one of sixteen figures, with a meaning ascribed to each.  In this, it’s related to the I Ching, but with more widespread use.  He then goes in to magical alphabets, looking at divinatory uses of Greek, runes (both Norse and Anglo-Saxon), and Ogham (though to my understanding, it was never originally used as such).  Pennick then goes into sacred geometry, of the significance of the centre and the four directions in a number of traditions, and how this relates to astrological charts, magic squares, labyrinth construction, city and fairground design, and game boards.

He looks at strategy games like Tic-Tac-Toe, and the Merels family of games, of which Nine Mens’ Morris is perhaps the most well-known.  He spends time on the Tafl family of games, where the king at the centre, with his surrounding army, defends it against the four armies at the perimeter. Note this is also similar to the Parcheesi or Ludo family of games, where competitors race their way around the board from the perimeter to the centre (a design also incorporated into modern games like Trivial Pursuit).  Pennick also talks about conventional war games like checkers and chess, including odd variations of chess on circular or larger boards, incorporating additional pieces with different types of moves.

Curiously, when Pennick starts talking about some of the older and somewhat more obscure games, his treatment becomes relatively rushed. He is no Hoyle, explaining details of game play, but only gives the briefest of overviews. The latter part of the book can only be a companion to other sources on the games themselves, and actual game play. 

Perhaps the most frustrating part of the book, at least in the edition I read, is the placement of the illustrations nowhere near the text to which they refer, leaving the reader to hunt back and forth.  Overall, it’s an interesting read, but not without its issues.  My rating: Three pentacles out of five.

June Events:

Note these events are listed for information purposes only; no endorsement should be necessarily implied. Dates and locations may be subject to change; see the source for details. If I’ve missed anyone and you’d like to add to this listing, please contact me. All times MDT.

Jun 1-3:  Silver Cove Grand Opening, 7004 Macleod Trail.

Jun 2-3:  Calgary Horror Con at Clarion Hotel.  http://horror-con.ca

Jun 3, 10:00 am:  Calgary Lilac Festival on 4 St. SW.  http://lilacfestival.net

Jun 4-10:  Canadian Environment Week.

Jun 5-7:  Mayor’s Environment Expo at City Hall.

Jun 8, 9:30 pm:  Paranormal Investigation at Rockyview Hotel, Cochrane, hosted by Ghost Hunt Alberta.  https://bit.ly/2kFbHwK

Jun 9-10:  Summer Skirmish 2018 at the Military Museums, 4520 Crowchild Trail SW.  Viking battle drills, SCA combat and archery demos, jousting, and more.  https://bit.ly/2kF6K7n

Jun 9:  Calgary New Age Market at Hillhurst-Sunnyside. https://www.facebook.com/events/164222287667362/

Jun 10:  Celtic Tree-Month of Duir/Oak begins, according to Robert Graves.

Jun 13, 1:43 pm:  New Moon. Lunar Month of Duir/Oak begins.

Jun 16, 10:00 pm:  Paranormal Investigation at Twin Cities Hotel, Longview, hosted by Ghost Hunt Alberta.  https://bit.ly/2LcjXzE

Jun 17:  Fathers’ Day.

Jun 21-25:  Freezer Burn:  Alberta Regional Burning Man Festival.  http://freezerburn.org

Jun 21, 4:07 am:  Summer Solstice.

Jun 21, 6:30 pm:  Free Summer Solstice Potluck at Fish Creek Park, sponsored by Wisewood Apothecary. https://www.facebook.com/events/168438290481185/

Jun 24, 6:00 pm:  Witchcraft Discussion/Education Group, hosted by Calgary School of Informal Education. https://bit.ly/2Joj4Hb

Jun 27, 10:53 pm:  Full (Strawberry or Strong Sun) Moon.

Jun 30, 7:00 pm:  Calgary Heathens Meet and Greet. 

Jul 1:  Canada Day.