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Parenting (Dec 26 2007 23:50 GMT) - story links: Parenting |
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- story links: Special Needs |
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Spiritual (Dec 26 2007 23:50 GMT) - story links: Spiritual |
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Pregnant (Dec 26 2007 23:50 GMT) - story links: Pregnant |
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Childbirth (Dec 26 2007 23:50 GMT) - story links: Childbirth |
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- story links: Trivia Games |
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Games (Dec 26 2007 23:50 GMT) - story links: Games |
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Tv Trivia (Dec 26 2007 23:50 GMT) - story links: Tv Trivia |
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- story links: Movie Trivia Game |
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Trivia (Dec 26 2007 23:50 GMT) - story links: Trivia |
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- I thought I was gonna struggle to get through this. The scene with the Easter Bunny, Mother Nature, Cupid, etc. The toy clone. The hokiest animatronic reindeer ever put on film, and that’s before you even get to the “ |
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- by Frederick Silver The first day after Christmas my true love and I had a fight And so I chopped the pear tree down and burned it just for spite Then with a single cartridge, I shot that blasted partridge My true love, my true love, my true love gave to me The second day after Christmas, I pulled on the old rubber gloves And very gently wrung the necks of both the turtle doves My true love, my true love, my true love gave to me The third day after Christmas, my mother caught the croup; I had to use the three French hens to make some chicken soup The four calling birds were a big mistake, for their language was obscene. The five gold rings were completely fake and they turned my fingers green |
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- by Fuzzywolf This is an article on what Wicca is not. In explaining what it is not, I will also so a great deal about what it is, but I assure you this is accidental. I will also say one thing about what Wicca is. It?s a word. |
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- Found out something interesting today. In the Russian republic of Mari El there exists an indigenous pagan tradition which is not a reconstruction. That is, the pagans of Mari El trace their practice in an unbroken line back to their ancestors, as the Christianization during the period of Ivan the Terrible (the 16th century) was only partial. Other European pagans are by necessity neo- and must reconstruct their system of beliefs and rituals from extant records and folk traditions. The Saami were pagan until the 18th century, and with that I had assumed that all pre-Christian traditions had died. |
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- by Selena Fox (1960) This a personal pledge is found on dozens locations on the Internet. It has been attributed to "Anon," and to many other authors. Often, it is shown without attributing the work to anyone. It seems to have been written by Selena Fox of Circle Sanctuary. She describes her personal Pagan spiritual path, including the use of spiritual energy to help others, of tolerance, avoidance of harm to others, Karma, the Three-fold Law, the Goddess and God within, etc. |
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Geomancy (Dec 26 2007 23:50 GMT) - Geomancy, from the eponymous ilm al-raml ("the science of sand"), is a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground, or how handfuls of dirt land when someone tosses them. The Arabic tradition consists of sketching sixteen random lines of dots in sand. In Africa one traditional form of geomancy consists of throwing handfuls of dirt in the air and observing how the dirt falls. In West Africa, geomancy involves a mouse as the agent of the earth spirit. In China, the diviner may enter a trance and make markings on the ground that are interpreted by an associate (often a young boy). |
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- Zoroastrians and other pagans, both claiming roles for their faiths in the Christmas tradition, say they won't stop fighting to have their holiday displays placed alongside nativity scenes in Ohio state parks. Efforts by both so far have been rejected by the administration of Gov. Ted Strickland, an ordained Methodist minister, who recently ordered Christian creches placed back in two state parks that had disallowed them because of religious concerns. The battle comes in a year that the Rev. Charles Nestor, an Assemblies of God minister in Lakeland, Fla. |
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- by Alin Dosoftei The ethnic names used by the contemporary branches of the Romani people are Rom/Chhavo, Kalo, Manush, Sinto. The common roots of all these branches are proved by the similarities of their culture and language. The fact that groups using one of these names live in remote geographical areas and employ in subsidiary also some of the other names indicates that initially the ancestors used concomitantly all these ethnic names, they did not employ an unique denomination. This situation lasted during the crystallization of the Romani ethnic group along the 12th century and probably some other centuries onwards. Then, after emigrating in all Europe and parts of Middle East, every local group began to use only one of the names as the main one, the others remaining secondary. |
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- ROME - The church where the tradition of celebrating Christmas on Dec. 25 may have begun was built near a pagan shrine as part of an effort to spread Christianity, a leading Italian scholar says. Italian archaeologists last month unveiled an underground grotto they think ancient Romans revered as the place where a wolf nursed Rome's legendary founder Romulus and his twin brother Remus. A few feet from the grotto, or "Lupercale," the Emperor Constantine built the Basilica of St. Anastasia, where some believe Christmas was first celebrated Dec. |
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- Astral projection (or astral travel) is an interpretation of out-of-body experiences (OBEs) achieved either awake or via lucid dreaming, deep meditation, or use of psychotropics. Proponents of astral projection maintain that their consciousness or soul has transferred into an astral body (or "double"), which moves en tandem with the physical body in a parallel world known as the astral plane. The concept of Astral projection has been around for thousands of years, dating back to ancient China. It is currently often associated with the New Age movement. There are two general schools of thought on the nature of astral projection; |
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- by Lynne Hayes John Charles Webb Jr. left a comment with a link to his site which postulates that the "star" of Bethlehem was not an astronomical event but was in fact an astrological alignment that occurred on March 2, 5 BC (-4). If you run a HELIOCENTRIC (most Western astrologers use a geocentric system that comes down to us from the ancient Greeks) chart for this date you will see this formation of the Seal of Solomon, later called the Star of David. The story of Jesus is of course that he was of the lineage of the Hebrew King David. This same configuration was present during the planetary alignment in 2003 that was called the "Harmonic Concordance". |
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- By Jane Meredith Adams Green is the new black. That would be the pearly green of absinthe, the legendary liquor said to have made Vincent van Gogh decide that cutting off his ear was an idea whose time had come. Ernest Hemingway called it "liquid alchemy," Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec supposedly carried a supply in a hollow cane and French poet Paul Verlaine cursed it as his ruin. On Friday, for the first time since 1912, U.S. |
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- by James Maas Our Assembly representatives want to rename Wisconsin's holiday tree in the capitol rotunda as the "Christmas tree." Not surprising, as Christians have adopted pagan holiday customs for millennia. It's a little more surprising that so many representatives have forgotten their heritage. Christmastime is actually a multi-cultural, multi-religious festival. It combines sun worship, polytheism, pagan nature religions, Christianity and other later myths and traditions. |
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- by Todd Huffman Did you notice the point at which Wicca became a world religion? There is a definite period when this religion started taking on adherents at a rapid rate. In the early 1990?s, this religion, which seemed destined to be little more than foot note in history, was suddenly exposed to a vast number of spiritual seekers. Wiccans kept their religion quiet in fear of persecution for forty years up to this point; |
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- by Carl Llewellyn Weschcke Advancing to higher levels of ritual magic with purpose and power requires an exaltation of consciousness?a spiritual transformation that becomes an antidote to the seeming banality of modern life. Based on Kabbalistic techniques, the teachings of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and a Hermetic tradition spanning nearly two thousand years, this innovative new work introduces the history of the Golden Dawn and its mythology, the Tree of Life, Deities, demons, rules for practicing magic, and components of effective ritual. It is essentially a comprehensive course of self-initiation, guiding you through the levels of the Golden Dawn system of ritual magic. Knowledgeable and true to tradition, it presents a well-grounded and modern step-by-step program toward spiritual attainment, providing a lucid gateway toward a more awakened state. |
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- by Jason Pitzl-Waters My semi-regular round-up of articles, essays, and opinions of note for discerning Pagans and Heathens. The National Post discusses the "trouble with Mary" (specifically her virgin birth), and archetypes of belief that collectively influence us.That quote, from psychologist Prof. Jordan Peterson, ties into his theory that belief is as "necessary as air and water" (and also echoes a point Pagans have been making during this time of year for ages). That everyone, no matter their philosophic orientation, holds onto core beliefs (because the universe "is far more complicated than we are smart") to steer them through life. |
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- by Patti Wigington So you?re Wiccan or Pagan and your spouse/partner/lover/significa other/fiancé is ... something else. Is there a way the two of you can manage to find balance? Or are you doomed to a lifetime of worrying whether every little disagreement will end with someone throwing out the ? |
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- By Kevin Woster ?We have eight different types of religion practiced here in the penitentiary right now, and close to 100 religious activities a week here in Sioux Falls,? lead cultural activities director Jennifer Wagner said. ?Right now those are Asatru, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, Native American and Wiccan.? |
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- Discover the meaning in your family's holiday traditions before they zap your holiday cheer. The Bink family holiday season would not be complete without the eggnog, the tinsel, and of course, the black velvet dress. Over the years, the dress became part of a ritual. Mary Pat, the youngest of the four daughters, inaugurated the tradition when she donned the same high school homecoming gown to four family holiday celebrations in a row. Her family came to expect the black dress every year after. |
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- by Patti Wigington Herbs have been used for thousands of years, both medicinally and ritually. Every herb has its own unique characteristics, and these properties are what makes the plant special. Subsequently, many Wiccans and Pagans use herbs as part of their regular ritual practice. Apple Blossoms Basil Chamomile Catnip Hyssop Heading Peppermint Rosemary Sage Thyme Tobacco Leaf Valerian |
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- Hurlers may have been built to mirror the stars. An amateur astronomer could have finally unravelled the mystery of the ancient Hurlers on Bodmin Moor. The three stone circles in Cornwall have been discovered to align perfectly with the constellation Orion. New research now suggests The Hurlers were built as a primitive calender which indicates the exact date of mid winter. Once a year at midnight on the winter solstice, they line up exactly with Orion's position in the night sky. |
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- by Jennifer Emick What's Festivus? Based on the real-life traditions of a television writer and immortalized on the Seinfeld show, the once imaginary holiday Festivus -tagline "A Festivus for the rest of us" -is now celebrated in earnest worldwide with feats of strength, the airing of grievances, and gathering around the shining simplicity of the Festivus Pole... While you're at it, you might listen to the Sounds of Festivus or gargle some Festivus Wine. |
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- By Gaither Stewart The well-preserved frescoes in Etruscan tombs depict magical religious lives of banquets, dancing, music and sex, filled with demons and deities and a morbid preoccupation with the hereafter. Their sacred books dealing with arcane rituals and accumulated knowledge constituted the so-called Etruscan Discipline, a unity of theory and practice about the interpretation of signs. Their deities were Jupiter, Juno, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Minerva, and their terrible God, Charun-Charon. The Etruscan alphabet no longer presents insuperable difficulties since it derives from the Greek. Still, the language itself is isolated among known languages. |
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