Yvonne Aburrow's Blog, page 54

Books I’ve read in September

I’ve now surpassed my rather modest goal of reading 30 books this year. I used to read a lot more books when I was travelling to work on the bus.

This month I’ve re-read Empire of Bones by Liz Williams, and read Pagan Magic of the Northern Tradition by Nigel Pennick, The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth, and started The Book of English Magic by Philip Carr-Gomm and Richard Heygate.

Empire of Bones by Liz Williams

I think this is about the third or fourth time I’ve read this book. It’s so original and...

Books I’ve read in August

Books I’ve read in August.

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

This was just as good as the first part of the trilogy. I was quickly absorbed once again in medieval Russia and the adventures of Vasya. The chyerti and the magic of Russia are very well described in this book, and the author clearly knows a lot about Russian folklore and culture, and the transition from ancient Paganism to Christianity. It’s heart-tending as the old ways fade, and with them, the land spirits. Although I th...

Instinctive Witchcraft

Many years ago, Steve Wilson gave a talk entitled Archaic Witchcraft. One of the things he said was to remember how you imagined witchcraft would be when you were a kid. What thrilled you about the idea? What did you imagine that witches did? And then he suggested creating a Witchcraft to fulfill those childhood dreams. He proposed calling it Archaic Witchcraft. I suppose it could also be called Instinctive Witchcraft.

It would look different to different people, because everyone probably ha...

Notable and quotable 17

Some recent posts that I have enjoyed.

Atheopagan practice and mental illness

Mental health issues and ritual can be combined, and indeed have been for thousands of years, as Mark Green points out:

People have been addressing their mental illnesses through ritual practices that support their self-esteem, their optimism, and their sense of beauty in living for thousands of years. Today, benefiting from the accumulated wisdom and technical knowledge about how to create effective rituals from a...

Books I’ve read in July

It’s so nice having a “to be read” pile to choose from. I feel like I haven’t had that for ages. Not in physical form anyway; and you can’t see a TBR pile on a Kindle.

Becoming Mrs Lewis, by Patti Callahan

I started reading Becoming Mrs Lewis by Patti Callahan, the story of Joy Davidman and CS Lewis on 30 June and finished it on 1 July. It’s totally marvellous and unputdownable. Luminous prose. Thanks to Kat Coffin for the recommendation. All Inklings fans should read it. It really made it c...

Water, water everywhere

I am currently sitting beside Lake Erie (Erielhonan), or in Ojibwe, Waabishkiigoo-gichigami (Neutrals’ Sea), or Aanikegamaa-gichigami (Chain of Lakes Sea).

Lake Erie is one of the largest bodies of fresh water in the world. The surface area of the Great Lakes is about the same as the surface area of the British Isles (a statistic I’ve often quoted to impress the sheer size of Canada upon my fellow English people).

Despite Canada (1) possessing the largest body of fresh water in the world, a s...

Poem: The Earth Child

The Earth Child by Gerald Gould

Out of the veins of the world comes the blood of me;
The heart that beats in my side is the heart of the sea;
The hills have known me of old, and they do not forget;
Long ago was I friends with the wind; I am friends with it yet.

The hills are grey, they are strange; they breed desire
Of a tune that the feet may march to and not tire;
For always up in the distance the thin roads wind.
And passing out of sight, they pass not out of mind.

I am glad when morning a...

Polytheism in Wicca

I’m still seeing people assuming that all Wiccans are duotheists. In my experience, this is simply not the case.

Wiccans can be polytheist, animist, pantheist, monist, duotheist, atheist/archetypalist, or “all of the above depending on the day”. That’s why we need a theologically inclusive practice.

Most Pagans believe that the divine is, or deities are, immanent in the world; and that includes most Wiccans.

This theological diversity works in ritual settings as long as everyone can “transla...

Being nonbinary

Many people seem to assume that nonbinary means that someone looks androgynous or even slightly masculine-presenting. It’s a bit more complicated than that. Then there’s the people who think it’s all nonsense, which is pretty depressing.

I am not sure if I am genderqueer, gender-fluid, or nonbinary. My assigned gender is female, so this post is written from that point of view. If your assigned gender is male and you’re nonbinary, it’s perfectly fine to have days when you present as masculine...

Spiritual Books for Kids

Do you ever wonder how to introduce your kids to spirituality without pushing it on them? Of course, they’ll quite probably discover it for themselves, but maybe they won’t mind a helping hand.

A repost of a blogpost from 2016: Books for kids.