Solstice Musings around the Web

Here are a few more Solstice-oriented blog posts for your reading pleasure:

• A Blessed Solstice -- Jason does a nice job of summarizing the basic Pagan views around observing the Solstice.
• The Reason for the Season [Redux] -- Hrafnkell brings his A-game to this well-researched piece on where the holiday season came from. Check out the "identity theft" angle he uses to great effect.
• Winter Solstice 2009 -- A heartbreaking and personal blog entry that shows just how hopeful this season can be even in the midst of personal crisis.

Whose Holiday Is This Anyway? [Redux]

We're knee-deep in the holiday season now -- Hanukkah has passed, the Winter Solstice is upon us, and Christmas is right down the stretch of this week -- so now seems like the right time to re-post a little something I wrote in 2004. This time around I have included links to "4000 Years of Christmas" and a video performance of Dar Williams' "The Christians and the Pagans." I have also changed "Chrismahanukwanzakah" to "Chrismahanukwanzakyule" as it better expresses my pluralist leanings. I hope you enjoy this holiday rewind...

Whose Holiday Is This Anyway? 

This is a response to the various and recent vents in my local paper about the current holiday season. Specifically, I want to address the memes of "Keeping the Christ in Christmas" and "Jesus is the reason for the season." Before I begin, however, I must point out that I love this holiday season, and I care not one whit whether someone wishes me Seasons Greetings, Happy Holidays, Joyous Yule, or any of the countless other phrases in use. I'll take them all in the spirit intended. I'll even return a cheery Merry Christmas in kind to someone who proffers it. That's right, I'm no Scrooge who thinks that "every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart" [A Christmas Carol]. 

Indianapolis Public Schools Censoring Pagan Content?

The Wild Hunt Blog, a respected source of Pagan news and commentary, directed me to this story. Like many public schools, the Indianapolis Public School system has employed web filters on school computers. Despite the known problems, this has become a fairly standard practice in schools. What is at issue here, however, is that "almost all of the most popular Internet filters block Pagan sites" [religioustolerance.org]. Refer to the Wild Hunt's reporting for the full story and a hopper full of background linking: The Wild Hunt » Indianapolis Public Schools Block the Pagans The Wild Hunt also raises an interesting question in the midst of all the cyber legalities: Did the school officials in question :put [this policy] place because [they were] "anti-atheist and anti-Pagan, or ... simply lazy"? I am willing to lean toward lazy in this case, but I'm just going by my gut. I have no evidence or reason to believe the school actively condemns expressions of spirituality. It is very likely just the side effect of a budgetary consideration.

Photo by RIUM+ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Thor's Day Reading: Antimatter Lightning

This has got to be the coolest thing I could post on a Thursday: Antimatter Lightning Discovered (On Earth!) According to The Daily Galaxy:

"The Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope was launched to examine the universe for the stupendously powerful processes that produce gamma ray bursts, from black hole jets to the effects of dark matter itself, only to find blasts coming from behind it. [Emphasis mine]

That means the lightning blasts (or "Terrestrial Gamma Flashes") were coming from Earth! Read The Daily Galaxy's summary and then surf on over to Science News for more details. Image from The Daily Galaxy

Veterans Day

Visit to United Flight 93 Memorial - Sept 11, 2009

Over on Flickr, I have an album of photos I took on my bus trip to the United Flight 93 crash site on September 11, 2009.

What's Wrong with "New Thought"?

"Heathenism by its very nature must be strongly against the mainline of the New Thought movement, which suggests that reality is what we think, as if there were no real world..."

So begins Siegfried Goodfellow's brief, but compelling, condemnation of the New Thought movement, most notably represented by A Course In Miracles, The Secret, as well as other popular abundance-oriented programs. It's worth a read, particularly if you embrace a grounded path such as Heathenry: Heathenism and New Thought : Not Compatible

Memorial Day: Hail the Fallen

Remember those who have served our country and paid the ultimate sacrifice. Check out the History Channel's write up on Memorial Day.

May our fallen soldiers find the peace they sought to protect.

Quotable | Civilized Phases

The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why, and Where phases. For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question 'How can we eat?' The second by the question 'Why do we eat?' And the third by the question 'Where shall we have lunch?'" -- Douglas Adams. 1981. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Photo credit: Ammit

(Separation of) Church & State for May 2009

The May 2009 edition of Church & State, the monthly publication from Americans United for Separation of Church and State, is now online. Top stories include:

• Special Delivery: Letters From AU’s Legal Department Solve Church-State Problems In Public Schools Without Going To Court
• A+ Arizona: State Supreme Court Flunks Voucher Subsidies For Religious And Other Private Schools
• Power Struggle: With James Dobson Inching Toward Retirement And Others Off The Scene, Many Wonder Who Will Fill The Religious Right’s Bully Pulpit
• Texas Two-Step: State School Board Takes One Step Forward On Science Standards – And Two Steps Back

Visit now: http://www.au.org/site/PageServer?pagename=cs_2009_05