Danaan

Archive for the ‘Featured’ Category

Hellenic (Greek) & Roman religion

My past post on the Hellenic pagan organization Ellinais has generated enough interest that I decided to provide information and links to Hellenic (and some Roman) religion and culture websites. The organizations listed tend to be based in Greece or Rome, though I'm sure there are others elsewhere. Enjoy, and let me know if there are other resources I should add.
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Seeing white animals

http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301531h.html

I keep on seeing stories about white animals, and thought I should look up the recent sightings. Like many people I assumed these white or albino animals are pretty rare, and that they have different meanings in various belief systems. Little did I know. There are people positing new significance to these animals. And it turns out that I shared some misconceptions about the rarity of white animals. So down a path- from online videos, science of albinos, white buffaloes, white squirrel colonies, to pagan beliefs- I went. Continue reading →

Animal sacrifice in the news...

Sacrifice of a young boar, Greece, 510 BC–500 BC.

In ancient times (Greece and Egypt come to mind) ritual slaughter and animal sacrifice was one and the same. And while many religions have changed practice and now have different offerings to diety there still are traditions that perform ritual animal sacrifice. A series of recent news articles about animal sacrifice in the US (about Theodists, Orthodox Jews, Santeria) led me to look into this issue, with some interesting tangents along the way (Tongans in Texas, kashrut and halal dietary laws, and Supreme Court cases). Continue reading →

The Earth's hum

The Blue Marble, Visible Earth- NASA

The planet emanates a constant rumble far below the limits of human hearing. Discovered in 1998 this low level "hum" was thought to perhaps be caused by disturbances in the ocean or atmosphere. Scientists now suggest that the Earth’s hum is caused not by earthquakes or atmospheric turbulence, but by ocean waves colliding with the seafloor. It will be interesting to see if there are other factors that are also involved with the hum. (The idea of the Earth humming or singing is not so new to many spiritual traditions.) Here are some articles about the 'hum', earth 'singing', moon hums, and earth "hiss"! Continue reading →

Bee memories

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nikonvscanon/ / CC BY 2.0

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My grandfather kept bees for nearly 70 years, and I wish he was alive to ask about the current colony collapses. He started by keeping wild bees in the Oklahoma Territory/Texas area in the early 1900's, and said the European bees were much 'nicer'. (To translate from frontier 'speak'- they didn't sting as much as the wild bees. While it's possible, I 've no doubt he would have recommended against keeping wild bees in hives based on his experiences!)

Grandfather Frank did say honey bee colonies collapsed sometimes for no apparent reason, and on a somewhat regular basis; he would get new queens and start over when this happened. Continue reading →

Earth's magnetic field & animals research

earth-magnetic-field-480x351

There's been a whole slew of research showing that animals can sense or use the earth's magnetic fields as an internal compass. (When do they find out humans can sometimes sense these fields also?) Keep on reading to see some of this research. Continue reading →

Druid groups

Many people when first drawn to druidry lack a knowledge of active druid groups. Here is general information on some druid organizations active in the United States, for both revival/traditional and reformed/reconstructionist groups.

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