Yvonne Aburrow's Blog, page 47

Fear and Bigotry

Excellent article by Diane Morrison in response to that transphobic article by JK Rowling.

Fear does not justify bigotry. Trans rights are human rights. This article deconstructs the arguments J.K. Rowling set forth in her opinion piece.

Fear and Bigotry:

Solidarity with Black Lives Matter

There have now been hundreds of Black people killed by police in the USA. The militarization of the police has continued and expanded since the Ferguson protests over the killing of Michael Brown.

I have mainly been posting about the protests on my Instagram and Twitter accounts.

Black people are much more likely to be killed by the police in the USA than white people. Compare the percentage of Black people in the population (12.6%) with the percentage of police shooting victims (about 40%). Ho...

Books I read in May

Alternate timeline with magic; discovery of 3000 year old giant robot parts on Earth. Other alien robots arrive and very bad things start happening.

The Herald of Day by Nancy Northcott

I enjoyed the world-building in this, and the Richard III stuff. The plot got a little stalled in the middle, and I wasn’t too sure about the sections in the world of the dead, but there are some really interesting ideas in this book. My criticism would be that there are no PoC and no LGBT people (both of them ...

Frederic Lamond, 1931 – 2020

Frederic Lamond, 1931 — 24 May 2020.

Very sad news. I first met Fred in the 1990s and I have many happy memories of him. I also have all of his books. We had great conversations about Wicca and other things and he told me stories about the early days of Wicca. Usually this was around the campfire. I have lit a candle for him. I was also on several mailing lists with him (in the era before Facebook). We wrote a piece together on secrecy in the Craft, which is included in my book (with credit to h...

The Tree

There’s a tree just up the road that I can see out of the study window, and I often take photos of it, so I now have a portrait of it all year round. My series of photos is not quite as in-depth as this one by eirikso, but it’s nice.

2018

10 October, 2018 at 8:56 am

17 October 2018 at 9:36 am

25 October 2018 at 11:03 am

6 November 2018 at 11:31 am

13 November 2018 at 7:28 am

16 November 2018 at 7:35 am

2019

12 February 2019 at 9:56 am

13 February 2019 at 12:18pm

11 May 2019 at 6:35 pm

5 July 20...

Theatre and ritual

Theatre and ritual are intimately connected. Indeed, theatre has its origins in ritual, and both have some of the same functions. They are both cathartic and transformational, but there are also some significant differences.

My ex-husband, who studied both theatre and the archaeology of ritual spaces, first pointed out to me some of the differences between theatre and ritual.

The fourth wall

In theatre, there is a fourth wall. The proscenium arch of the theatre is seen as a sort of...

Dandelion syrup

Inspired by Jacqueline Durban (Radical Honeybee on Twitter and Instagram), I decided to make dandelion syrup. Two cups of dandelions will make about half a jar of syrup.

If, like me, youre British, and your reaction to measuring in cups is how much is a cup? (in North America all the measuring jugs have cups marked on them) a cup is about 8 fluid ounces or 240 ml.

Yesterday I gathered about a cup and a half of dandelions from the back garden (even though there hasnt been as much traffic due...

Theatres are sacred

Theatres are sacred. They were first formalized in Ancient Greece, but doubtless sacred drama is as old as ritual. Its from the ancient polytheistic Greeks that we have written dramas, comedy, tragedy, and theatrical concepts like the chorus, catharsis and the deus ex machina.

So the loss of places to perform live theatre should be of concern to Pagans. Its just come to my attention that the theatre in the city where I grew up is closing because of the pandemic. And theres a petition to save...

The Blue Flower

I love flowers. I love them in all the different shapes and sizes and colours, the way their petals are sculpted from within and without by the wind and the rain and the nutrients in the soil.

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The poet Novalis, and other Romantics, wrote of a mysterious blue flower that was unattainable. CS Lewis picked up on Novalis blue flower and ran with it, focusing on the way it represents the beauty of Nature, which was always somehow unreachable, and therefore creates a longing (Sehnsucht) for...

My Magical Thing

As mentioned in Notable and Quotable 22, Julian Vayne is doing a series of interviews in which magical practitioners share the story of one of their magical things.

You can view my contribution to the series on YouTube.

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