Yvonne Aburrow's Blog, page 5

Reblog: Reclaiming Narnia

This article is too good and too interesting for it to be lost so I have retrieved it from the Wayback Machine.

Reclaiming Narnia: Walking Trees, Talking Beasts, Divine Waters

By Jonathan Woolley (2015)

Originally published at Gods and Radicals.

I – Radical Voices from the Lantern Waste – Opinions That Won’t Be Chronicled by Prof. Lewis.

“Narnia is a realm dominated by one voice – the roaring caterwauling of Aslan of the East. He has cried out many times in our history, drowni...

A book cover is a front door

Do you judge books by their cover design? It’s very hard not to. Books are colour-coded these days. Pastel colours suggest a light beach read. Especially if the cover art is an actual painting of a beach. Pagan books are definitely colour coded. Green implies Nature, Pagan themes, Druidry, and perhaps creativity. Blue has recently become a popular colour for books on witchcraft—so much so that I wrote an Instagram post about it. Purple is also a good colour, implying spirituality and depth. Blac...

What does virtue mean to you?

What does virtue mean to you? What are the virtues that your spiritual tradition teaches?

Heathenry has nine noble virtues (the list varies slightly from one tradition to another). The Wiccan text, “The Charge of the Goddess”, mentions eight virtues. Religio Romana has a list of many virtues. Buddhism has eight virtues. In many cultures and religions, hospitality is a sacred concept (a virtue), and both the host and the guest have obligations in the relationship. Kindness is a virtue in every...

What does merry mean to you?

What does MERRY mean to you? Let me know in the comments.

“Pagan spirituality is earthy and pleasure-loving, so merriment and mirth are important components of it. We must be able to laugh at ourselves and especially at the powerful and the pompous.” — Yvonne Aburrow

Pagan Roots: Reclaiming concepts of the sacred will be published by 1000Volt Press in January 2025 and available from all online stores.

Contemporary Paganism has sought to recover some concepts that were lost or rejec...

What does sovereignty mean to you?

What does sovereignty mean to you? Let me know in the comments.

“A sovereign life is a life filled with intention, instead of reaction. A sovereign life is one where you know your own self, the light and the shadow, the good and the bad, and you work with that intentionally in order to be your best self at that moment. A sovereign life is one where you see where you fit in: in your community, your ecosystem, your family, all your relationships. It is where you can contribute for the benefit ...

What does tradition mean to you?

What does “tradition” mean to you? Let me know in the comments.

Traditional practices function to bring groups together by acting out their shared values, commemorating previous generations, acting out their mythology and stories, and reinforcing group identity.

Traditional practices (such as marriage) function to make a connection between the individual and the tribe. When you get married, you affirm the relationship with your partner in front of your tribe (family and friends) and your d...

What does “faith” mean to you?

What does faith mean to you?

Here’s my favourite definition, by Alan Watts:

“Faith is a state of openness or trust. To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float. And the attitude of faith is the very opposite of clinging to belief, of holding on. In other words, a person who is fanatic in matters of religion, and clings to certain ideas about the nature of God and th...

The Fallow Sisters

This is a wonderful series of books by Liz Williams. The books are set in Somerset, London, and the various Otherworlds that intersect with Britain. The main characters are the four Fallow sisters, who are very interesting. The books are magical and very evocative of the landscape. The author has lived in that area for many years so she really knows the landscape well. I also really enjoyed how the main characters were women.

Book 1: Comet Weather

I absolutely love the Behenian stars, ...

Books I’ve read so far this year

You can see all my reviews of the books I’ve read this year on my personal Goodreads page. Don’t forget to follow my Goodreads author profile while you’re there.

The pentagram

The pentagram is an ancient symbol, used around the world to represent things that come in groups of five (the five senses, the five elements in Chinese symbolism, four elements plus spirit in the West, the five joys of Mary, the five wounds of Christ, five knightly virtues, and so on).

The upright pentagram ⛤

The upright pentagram is used by Wiccans and other witches. In Wicca it can represent the four elements plus spirit, or the Goddess, as well as other things. In the Feri and Recl...