Issoire Lynx

(from: www.religioustolerance.org/winter_solstice.htm)

Note:
For the first time, thanks to a clear sky and the efforts of many individuals, the 2007 Winter Solstice illumination at the passage tomb at Newgrange in Ireland was broadcast live on the Internet. The 60 minute broadcast has been archived and is available at: www.heritageireland.ie/ The passage and chamber at Newgrange was illuminated by the rising sun on 2007-DEC-21 between 08:57 and 09:15 GMT.

Overview:
Religious folk worldwide observe many seasonal days of celebration during the month of December. Most are religious holy days, and are linked in some way to the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. On that day, due to the earth's tilt on its axis, the daytime hours are at a minimum in the Northern hemisphere, and night time is at a maximum. (In the southern hemisphere, the summer solstice is celebrated in December, when the night time is at a minimum and the daytime is at a maximum. We will assume that the reader lives in the Northern hemisphere for the rest of this essay.)

People view other religions in various ways, and thus treat the celebrations of other faiths differently:
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Years ago I met Tony on AOL. Every year on Christmas he would read William Burroughs' The Junky's Christmas. Because I liked the story, and the tradition, I began posting it in my journal on Christmas eve as well. Here we are again on this most magical of nights, and I hope everyone - new friends and old ones, the pampered and the strung-out, the faithful and all the rest of us - are having a wonderful, miracle-filled time.

2010 is the year that I am going to seriously pursue my writing as a holy vocation, and I'm getting an early start on that. I just submitted two new poems - one about Hermes and Dionysos to Eternal Haunted Summer and the other about Dionysos and the Labyrinth to the Circle Sanctuary Magazine. I wonder if they'll get accepted. They were both in very different styles, the Circle piece much more personal than the other. While only one of those is a potentially paying gig, it'll be nice to get my name out there since I'm working on building up my resume.

Over the next week or so I'm going to compile a list of Pagan publications and other magazines that might potentially be interested in my stuff so that I can begin shopping my work around. (If anyone has any recommendations I'd love to hear them!) This is going to require some hardcore dedication and a complete reevaluation of how I approach the craft of writing, but honestly I can't imagine myself doing anything else even close to as rewarding as this. I've been talking about it for years, and yet only ever put in a half-hearted effort in the past. Things are different now. I'm committed. I'm excited. And I'm going to do this.

(all lyrics written 1992 by Jacob Williamson)

I'm Dreaming of a White Werewolf
(Sung to the tune of "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas")

The Pack's arriving, the moon is high,
The Alpha male's come to play,
but why do I have to stay
With ebony, tan or grey?
Though many fine wolves are near,
There's but one werewolf I want here...

I'm dreaming of a white werewolf,
Just like the one I used to know--
With fur, soft and pale,
A proud, noble tail,
And eyes with a strange blue glow...

I'm dreaming of a white werewolf,
With every passing full moon night.
Though the pack hierarchy is tight,
May the pelt of the next lone wolf
Be white.

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(From: //ilovewerewolves.com/)

Do werewolves celebrate Christmas?
Werewolves have a human side to them, and do not lose that when they find out they are werewolves. Many still celebrate the holidays and traditions they grew up on when they were humans. If when they were only human they celebrated Christmas, then they are likely to celebrate the holiday when they are werewolves as well. But if they didn’t believe in Christmas at all, then they still don’t believe in Christmas. In other words, being a werewolf does not necessarily effect what holidays you celebrate.

Christmas Werewolf Superstitions
Humans on the other hand are very superstitous about werewolves and Christmas. Some human cultures believe they are more likely to spot werewolves around holidays like Christmas. One good example of this is the country of Romania which has a custom called Colinde, or Colinda which are traditional Romanian Christmas carols. This Romanian custom is a big event, where groups gather and are led by a leader door to door singing Christmas Carols. Colinde used to be a ritual themed around things like hunts and animals, and ocassionally involved dressing up as animals. Original superstitions surrounding this ritual included the belief in werewolves (vârcolac).

Romania is not the only country that has superstitions surrounding werewolves and christmas. Other countries like Russia and Italy also have folklore which says that humans born on Christmas Eve are likely to become werewolves.

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(From: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B06E7DC1731E733A25750C2A9649D946797D6CF)

The "Twelve Days of Christmas"; The Terrors of the Long Dark Nights---The Wild Huntsman and the Werewolves---"The Madonna of the Heathen North" Who Breaks, the Evil Spells
By Maud Going
December 23, 1906, Sunday

ONCE there were giants on earth, valiant in work and play. Our heroic forefathers rose before the sun, well-nigh garroted themselves with fearful neckwear, and breakfasted on beef and ale. Our intrepid foremothers, after a strenuous day spent in superintending the spinning, weaving, baking, brewing, and candlemaking of a complex household and the training of a dozen children, could lace themselves into appalling corsets and dance till cock-crow. [ END OF FIRST PARAGRAPH ] (download the full article in PDF format at the website. It's cool in its antiquated style.)

ArrrrrOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooo!

So, for a while now I've been talking about this grand article I intend to write about Dionysian Sacred Kingship. At this point I'm thinking I may just have too much to say to do a single article, and instead may try to put together a book exploring this and related themes. However, since I won't be tackling that for a while, I figured I'd go ahead and share the notes I've cobbled together, which should give you a rough idea of what I mean by this. You can find them loosely organized in the previous three entries.

Basically, the general thesis of my argument runs as follows: In ancient times the role of the King was essentially twofold: on the one hand, the King was viewed as the defender and arbiter of the community’s laws and a promoter of its culture and civilization. Secondly, and more importantly, Kingship was a sacred, priestly office which had responsibility for the proper performance of certain ancient rites connected with the fertility of the land and ensuring the blessings of the gods for the populace. Naturally, Kingship was early on connected with the god Dionysos who was both a culture-bringer and a deity of vegetation and fertility. Many myths highlight Dionysos’ relationship with assorted monarchs, both favorably and antagonistically. (Interestingly, after the dramatic plays ceased to tell the story of Dionysos exclusively, the tragic hero was almost always a King.) Later on the King was even viewed as the earthly embodiment or representative of the god Dionysos. This aspect was especially prominent for the Hellenistic Kings and the Ptolemies in particular, who frequently represented themselves as the ‘Neos Dionysos’ and modeled their Kingship on his mythical precedents. I also intend to explore how the King, like many Dionysian figures, is essentially an outsider figure, and when we consider the excesses to which they are prone these are almost always the inverse blessings of the god.

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The fasces emblem explained
“Scilurus on his death-bed, being about to leave eighty sons surviving, offered a bundle of darts to each of them, and bade them break them. When all refused, drawing out one by one, he easily broke them; thus teaching them that, if they held together, they would continue strong, but if they fell out and were divided, they would become weak.” – Plutarch, Sayings of the Kings and Commanders 174f

My last post reminds me of a promise I made to a dear friend. He asked how I kept abreast of current archaeological and historical findings, and I mentioned that I follow a long list of interesting blogs which I promised to share. So here goes:

AWOL - The Ancient World Online
Bread and Circuses
Classics in contemporary culture
Egypt then and now
Higgaion
Ketuvim
Letters from Hardscrabble Creek
Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean
rogueclassicism
Talking Pyramids: Ancient Egyptian Pyramids
Thoughts on Antiquity
What's New at LacusCurtius & Livius
What's New in Papyrology
The Wild Hunt

There's also a number of great religious, magical, and philosophical blogs that I follow (as well as some comic book and pop culture ones) but these are essentially the more educational ones.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? I'm always on the lookout for something neat.

This may be of interest to some of the folks on my f-list.

I have AWOL on my Google Reader, which is a compendium of open source and public journals having to do with the ancient world, and one of their latest posts was about e-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies. Just skimming the topics, it seems like there's a lot of good stuff there.

The editors of Eternal Haunted Summer have requested that I pass this on. I am an obliging sort, so here goes:

The debut issue of Eternal Haunted Summer, an ezine dedicated to Pagan poetry, short fiction and reviews, has launched. :) This first issue includes pieces from both new and established authors, with poems and stories celebrating Aphrodite, Apollo, El, Hermes, Herne, Kali, Odin, Skadhi and many others.

Please spread the word, and many thanks to those who contributed. :)

http://www.eternalhauntedsummer.com

I had a very peculiar dream this morning. It was long and detailed and so I shall only share the more outstanding elements of it with you, dear readers.

Basically, it began in the home of King Agamemnon, where I was a noble at the court. I seduced Queen Klytaimnēstra (who apparently resembles a statuesque Nordic supermodel, go figure) and convinced her to kill her husband. We made love right there, next to the body and covered in his flowing blood. Afterwards we ran off and apparently found some way to gain immortality, because the second part of the dream took place centuries later in contemporary New York.

News had just reached us of the death of Biggie Smalls, which we and a cabal of our close associates had arranged. To celebrate, the cabal - consisting of Nas, Jay-Z, Sean "P-Diddy" Combs, Kenye West, Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans, and Lil Kim - all proceeded to have an orgy. In slow and excruciating detail.

It was at this point that I awoke, horrified. Note that I wasn't the least bothered by the mixture of bloody and erotic imagery, or even the thought that I was capable of orchestrating the deaths of two powerful and influential men. No, far from it. But the idea of having an orgy with the likes of them - and that such things exist somewhere deep inside my brain - put me in a cold sweat.

© Copyright 2002 Montague Whitsel, All Rights Reserved.

Synopsis: The Winter Solstice has long been associated with ghosts and sprits in Pagan as well as Christian Traditions. “Christmas” has its ghosts, as does the Yule; when there are spirits behind every door and in every closet as well as dancing in the flames of candles and hearth-fires. What are these spirits and who are these ghosts, and why are mortals haunted in the tides of Winter’s Solstice? In this article we will explore these questions, becoming acquainted with some of the more traditional Yuletide ghosts in Celtic traditions as well as reclaiming one of the more well-known spirit entities in our secular western “December Holiday” celebrations.

We are all familiar with ‘Christmas’ ghost stories – from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare before Christmas.” I have often been asked, though, why there should be ghosts and hauntings at this time of the year when many people want to be focused on family, the return home (either actual or in their imaginations) and deeper quests for personal and spiritual renewal. “Isn’t Samhain (31 October) the night of haunting?”

One answer – at least from the perspective of Celtic mysticism & mythology – is simple, and has to do with the nature of the Winter Solstice (21 December). This festival – called Alban Arthuan in Druidic traditions – has long been thought of as a time of death & rebirth when Nature’s innate powers and our own souls are renewed. This event – which marks the moment in the spiral of earthen time when the Old Sun dies (at dusk on the 21st of December) and when the Sun of the New Year is born (at dawn on the 22nd of December) – frames the longest night of the year. The birth of New Sun is thought to revivify the aura of the Earth in mystical ways, giving a new ‘lease on life’ to spirits and souls of the dead.

As such, Yule is probably the second most haunted time of the Celtic year, Samhain being the first. The haunting begins in early December, as if in anticipation of the rebirth of the Sun’s powers. Spirits become more animated in the days leading up to Alban Arthuan (from the 6th to the 20th of December). As practitioners of earth-based spiritualities light fires in their hearths and decorate their huts of dwelling for the advent of New Sun, spirits and the deer come near, communing with us as we prepare ourselves for the death of Old Sun. These spirit-visitants gather with us near fires in the hearth and around the Yule Tree. They haunt us in the glow of the Yule’s festivities.
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I just read that the motto of the library of Alexandria was psukhēs iatreion, "a place of healing for the soul."

I like that.

This is pretty cool. Around 27 million years ago creatures that were basically a cross between an elephant and a rhinoceros roamed Egypt, Ethiopia and other parts of the Middle East. Scientists named them Arsinoitherium after ... you guessed it ... Arsinoe Philadelphos! You can read about it here.

erl_queen and I will be going out mumming twice during the holiday season. First with gallows_queen on Christmas eve, and then alone on New Year's. (You can see erl_queen's wonderful post about her plans for it here, including some great pics that inspired the creation of her new costume.) Well, I've been thinking a lot about this and to get in the proper mood I decided to write the following:

Confession of a Dionysian Mummer
I roam where midnight Zagreus roams,
through the maze of empty streets
and homes still with slumbering souls inside.
No other mortal dares venture forth at this late hour,
but I am hardly alone on my desolate way.
The wind whips through skeletal trees made barren by winter's harshness,
and in the distance I hear the awful cry of crows,
shredding the night's silence like a veil torn in two.
Strange things lurk in the shadows,
misshapen and wild-eyed.
The thirsty dead and spirits of the land long forgot,
loosed to revel on this eve
that's stretched across the old and new years,
yet belongs fully to neither.
Dangerous are they,
and eager to snatch the unwary,
dragging them down beneath the loamy soil
never to be heard from again.
All this is true, yet I have no fear
for on this night I am one of them.
I wear a mask of crude animal pelts to conceal my face,
and tattered clothes like a revenant's worm-eaten shroud.
Around my waist are strung noisy bells,
and I beat an old drum and sing a drunken song
taught to me by the ancestors.
My steps are fleet as I dance through the streets,
and the frenzy of Lusios drives me on to unknown places.
Tonight I am a creature of the hunt;
not human, but a wild beast in feigned man-shape
or so it would seem to any unfortunate who strayed across my path.
But I howl and I growl and I stamp my boots
to make sure that that won't happen -
for who would dare approach such a mad thing as I?
This roaming with the ghosts and elder gods
is a rite primordial and full of deep magic.
I could try to explain to you why we do it
and have done it since the dawn of time,
but if you don't already know
and feel it down in your bones and soul,
you never will,
and better by far for you to hide
safe in your snug little bed on this night.
And pray, o gentle man,
that the spirits don't find their way into your dreams,
riding upon the frightful steeds of Nyx,
lest you fail to wake and greet the glorious morn
of our new year.

Three lovely quotes by Plato about poetic inspiration and something else

"The poet is a light and winged and sacred thing, unable to create poetry unless he is first inspired by the god and out of his wits, with no reason in him any longer." - Plato, Ion 534b

"He who arrives at the doors of poetry without the madness of the Muses, thinking that he can be a good poet thanks solely to his skill, remains incomplete, and the poetry of the sane poet is eclipsed by that of the mad." - Plato, Phaedrus 245a

"When a poet takes his seat on the tripod of the Muse, he cannot control his thoughts. He's like a fountain where the water is allowed to gush forth unchecked." - Plato, Laws 4.719c

Since this is the year that I have committed myself to writing as a holy vocation, these quotes are strongly upon my mind.

And here's a final quote, also dear to my heart, but not by Plato.

"Bacchus, by you I swear, I shall bear your boldness. Lead on, begin the revel. You are a god: govern a mortal heart. Born in the flame you love the flame love has; and again bring me, your suppliant, in bonds. Really you are deceitful and unbearable: while you bid me hide your mysteries, you would now bring mine to light." - Meleager, Palatine Anthology 12.119