Monthly Archives: January 2015

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PWN 2015.1.3: Controversy in the Pagan World

The Pagan Weekly News for thursday 29 January 2015 found RevKess and KaliSara trying to tackle the general theme of Controversy in the Pagan World. Not an easy task. They began with a brief conversation about political conroversies in the United States and moved on talking about the stolen and desecrated statue of Manannan mac Lir in Ireland before moving into talk about #BlackLivesMatter and the Covenant of the Goddess missteps in addressing that theme.

Links

POLITICS

MANANNAN mac LIR

#BLACKLIVESMATTER & COVENANT of the GODDESS

  • Covenant of the Goddess and other Pagan organizations release statements on racism in November and December of 2014, in response to repeated reports of police brutality and excessive force.
  • Peter Dybing, writing on his personal blog Pagan in Paradise, issued a social indictment of CoG. That post has since been removed from his site. An earlier post on the topic of #BlackLivesMatter and the CoG statement cane be found here.
  • CoG issued a revised statement pending consensus vote in August 2015.
  • Peter Dybing writes again on the issue of minorities in Paganism.
  • Coverage from The Wild Hunt
  • Torn Coyle writes about racism
  • Shauna Aura Knight writes about racism in Paganism
  • Shauna Aura Knight, on PaganActivist.com, admits she is a racist

TWO EVENTS on the SAME DAY in the SAME REIGION

OTHER PAGAN NEWS

MUSIC

  1. Heartbeat – Warrior Within
  2. Celia – Song for Manannan – digital single
  3. Wendy Rule – Creator Destroyer – The Wolf Sky
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MMM: Play List for 25 January 2015

This week on the Mess we didn’t have a set theme. We just kind of threw music at the players and waited to see what stuck. Murf did have a small collection of music on her master, but other wise it was just a messy Mess. All fun and games, of course.

Thank you to *K8 for typing up the play list. Phil made any necessary corrections to spelling.

  1. Direction Song – Kellianna – Elemental          
  2. Communication – Rupam Sarmah – Omkara-The Sound of Divine Love
  3. Foggy Bridges – Erik Scott – Spirits
  4. Whirlwind – Timothy Wenzel – Summon the Wind
  5. Sunshower – Terra Guitarra – Firelight
  6. Journey – Neil Tatar & David Darling – Where Did the Time Go
  7. Circle Song – Wendy Rule – Deity
  8. The Coming of the Tuatha de Dannan – Spiral Dance –
  9. Glastonbury Tor – Waterboys – Dream Harder
  10. Two Bums – Rosalie Sorrels –
  11. Gentlemen of Distinction in the Army – Sally Rogers & Claudia Schmidt –
  12. Pi Day Song – Danny Brit –
  13. Absolutely Bonkers – Three Weird Sisters –
  14. The Garlic Waltz – Sally Rogers & Claudia Schmidt –
  15. Cheshire Kitten – SJ Tucker – Mischief
  16. Armageddon Polka – John Mitchel –
  17. Pagan Polka – Sona –
  18. Children’s Totem Chant – Spiral Rhythm –
  19. Don’t Go Drinking With Hobbits – Marc Gunn -Don’t Go Drinking with Hobbits
  20. Wreck of the Modern Pagan – Murphey’s Midnight Rounders – Swede Hollow
  21. Pagan Girl – Emerald Rose – Bending Tradition
  22. The Man with the Weird Beard – Heather Bishop – Belly Button
  23. Children of the Earth – Shining Wheel Pagan Chorus – Chants of Balance
  24. Earth Warrior – Omnia – Earth Warrior
  25. Goddess Walking – Mama Gina – Solitaire

Michele was unable to sit in with us, but she did call to say hello. The creu of the Mess looks forward to her joining them again in the studio.

KZUM is gearing up for their 37th birthday celebration. To do so they are opening up their donation page for the Spring Donation Drive 5 February – 12 February 2015. All donations are tax deductible. You can donate in advance of the drive by visiting the KZUM website and clicking on the Donate button or you can do so during the Drive. You can also call the station any time there is a live DJ at the boards or during normal business hours. Both through the site and the phone you can list your favorite shows or share any other comments you have for the station. Stay tuned to our FB page for details on our special premiums or check the KZUM site for normal donation premiums.

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PMP: Mama Gina, Follow Your Passion

RevKess and KaliSara were joined by singer, songwriter Mama Gina. Gina hails from Florida, his a wife and mother. After taking a break from her musical passions to raise her son and help support her family, she left her career as a paralegal to pursue her passion for music. And follow that passion she has. With the release of her third CD only weeks away she sat on her front porch to visit and share her music with the listeners of PMPChannel.

Mama Gina

Mama Gina

Gina last visited with RevKess in August 2013 on an episode of Musica Pagani. That was right around the release of The Undertaker’s Daughter, her second CD.  Since then she has officially said goodbye to her full time job with benefits and embraced her new career as a professional Pagan musician, full time. She’s toured the lower Eastern United States to perform her music for audiences of Pagans, new agers, and the like. This year, after the release of her third CD, Solitaire, she plans to tour into the Midwest, going as far West as Iowa and Missouri. She plans to go all the way to the West Coast by the end of 2016, sharing her music, her joy, and her laughter and tears along the way.

Mama Gina was kind enough to share some cuts from her upcoming CD release with RevKess in advance of the show. The three she sent were beautiful and he is looking forward to hearing the rest of the album. Gina’s sister and her son have both joined her in the recording studio to help lay down tracks. Jeremy Lembo from Didges Christ Super Drum also set down a couple of didgeridoo tracks for inclusion on the CD.

Gina has shared stage time with musicians like Ginger Das, SJ Tucker, and in her early years of rocking it out she even shared the stage with the legendary rock band Nazareth. When asked who she would like to share the stage with in the future she replied that the list is too long for an interview, but she would love to spend more time with Ginger Das and Sooj, Wendy Rule and that she’d be thrilled (and too nervous) to sing with Damh the Bard. And of course, to check something off her bucket list, Tuatha Dea asked her to join them on stage for a couple of songs during one of their concerts.

Music
  1. Flicker and Flame (the Firefly Song) – Goddess Kiss’d
  2. Goddess Walking – Solitaire
  3. The PSG Son – Goddess Kiss’d
  4. Selah – Solitaire
  5. Coyote’s Tattoo – The Undertaker’s Daughter
  6. Weed – Solitaire

As soon as RevKess receives the full length CD from Mama Gina he will be doing a review of the music on his blog site, RevKess Reviews. You can read earlier music reviews of Mama Gina’s music there as well. Along with her website, you can find her music through ReverbNation and purchase her CDs through CDBaby. Digital downloads can be purchased through iTunes and Amazon.

 

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PWN: 2015 State of the Union and more

RevKess and KaliSara discuss the 2015 State of the Union Address from President Barack Obama. On  Tuesday 20 January 2015, President Obama delivered his annual State of the Union Address to Congress and the nation, indeed to the world. It was televised and streamed live on the internet, video recording and audio are available on various websites. RevKess watched the live stream from the White House YouTube channel. You can read the full transcript and listen to the audio through NPR. You can also read and hear Sen. Joni Ernst’s official GOP response on NPR. If you wish to fact check the State of the Union, visit this site.

Though Obama addressed many issues and plans for the administration moving into the next year or so, KaliSara and RevKess only addressed a handful of them. In just under an hour, Obama talks about many issues that are important to both the Pagan community and the citizens of the United States. In a two hour broadcast, your hosts only had time to discuss a few of them.

  • Minimum Wage

    NYTimes.com – Click to Enlarge

  • Housing
  • Health Care – including daycare expense
  • Net Neutrality
  • Community College for 2 years
  • First SOTU reference to Civil Rights for the gay, lesbian, AND bisexual, AND transgender community in the United States
  • Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa)
  • Some of the 2016 Presidential contenders respond to SOTU

RevKess was personally pleased to hear the inclusion of both bisexuals and transgender citizens when Obama addressed civil rights for all. As KaliSara sarcastically said (with humor, not derision), “He thinks they’re human!” Previous Presidents may have mentioned gays and lesbians, but this the first time a sitting President has included bisexuals and transgender people in such an important speech.

Other News

Many news stories of interest to the Pagan community were left out of this week’s edition due to time constraints. Tune in next week for more news and views for the Pagan minded.

MUSIC
  1. Chronilus – The Wild in Me – Threshold
  2. Celia – Mysterious Shaman – Shaman Journey
  3. Tuatha Dea (feat. Damh the Bard) – Irish Handfasting – The Tribe
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PMP: Back to the Basics, What Good is It?

RevKess and KaliSara go back to the basics with an episode about Old Wives’/Wise Tales and other subjects. What’s so special about ritual/magickal tools? Why do some use caraway seeds to protect against thievery? What’s so lucky about a four leaf clover?

Your hosts have tackled the basics many times throughout the five and half years they have been broadcasting. This time they delve a little bit more deeply into the topic of correspondences. Throughout the show you will hear about how various herbs, stones, candles, and other things can correspond to each other and for certain uses. They also talk about how some of those correspondences may have come into common use.

A discussion of correspondences:

These and thousands more can be found in tables of correspondence on the internet, in books, perhaps in your own Book of Shadows or grimoire. RevKess mentions two books during the show that he refers to often when needing correspondences. Scott Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs and Luisah Teish’s Jamabalaya: The Natural Woman’s Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals. Herman Slater’s Magickal Formulary was also mentioned in brief.

There is a poem that almost all modern Pagans are familiar with, it is the closest to “doctrine” that Wiccans have. The Wiccan Rede contains a list of correspondences for nine sacred woods.

Nine woods in the Cauldron go, burn them fast and burn them slow.
Birch in the fire goes to represent what the Lady knows.

Oak in the forest towers with might, in the fire it brings the God’s
insight. Rowan is a tree of power causing life and magick to flower.

Willows at the waterside stand ready to help us to the Summerland.
Hawthorn is burned to purify and to draw faerie to your eye.

Hazel-the tree of wisdom and learning adds its strength to the bright fire burning.
White are the flowers of Apple tree that brings us fruits of fertility.

Grapes grow upon the vine giving us both joy and wine.
Fir does mark the evergreen to represent immortality seen.

Elder is the Lady’s tree burn it not or cursed you’ll be.

These same woods are held sacred or special by most everyone in modern Paganism

MUISC

  1. Damh the Bard – Land, Sky and Sea – Cauldron Born
  2. Kari Tauring – How Do We Honor You – A New Yuletide Celebration
  3. Wendy Rule – Dark Wings -The Wolf Sky
  4. Mama Gina – Selah – Solitaire
  5. Dale Bacon – Zombie Gerbil Apocalypse – unreleased single
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PWN: KaliSara joins the show

After an unfortunate hiatus, Pagan-Musings Podcast Channel is pleased to announce the return of the Pagan Weekly News. Zaracon’s health has prevented him from devoting any time to podcasting right now, so KaliSara has volunteered to fill his seat for PWN. Everyone at PMPChannel hopes to hear Zaracon return to the internet airwaves very soon. On her debut edition of PWN the hosts discuss many issues that have some bearing on the Pagan community.

Your hosts spent a good deal of time talking about Charlie Hebdo and freedom of speech/expression. On Thursday 15 January 2015 RevKess published an article on PaganActivist.com giving his opinion on the shootings and how people should realize that freedoms have consequences. You can read that article here, read his addendum in comments on that page.

In advance of the 2015 State o the Union Address they dwelt a good portion of the show on some of the topics that President Obama will discuss in his address.

  • Net Neutrality
  • Community College
  • Racial Tensions
  • Housing
  • Minimum Wage

KaliSara  and RevKess also discussed news items that have a direct bearing on the Pagan community, especially in the United States.

Mention was also made on upcoming events such as PantheaCon and the Between the Worlds conference. As well as music and book news.

  • Alex Bledsoe announced that at least three more books are in the offing for Tufa Tales
  • Mama Gina is scheduled to release her third CD in February – tune in on Sunday 25 January at 7pm Central to hear an interview with Gina about her musical career and her newest CD release on the Pagan-Musings Podcast with RevKess and KaliSara
  • Celia is working on a children’s story CD
Music
  1. Crow Women – In the Fire – Crow Goddess
  2. Damh the Bard – Sons and Daughters of Robin Hood – Antlered Crown and Standing Stone
  3. Crow Women – Healing Circle Song – Crow Goddess
  4. Mama Gina – Waking Panther – digital single
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PMP: Mike Nichols

RevKess and Kalisara were thrilled to present for their listening audience a visit with Mike Nichols, one of the first Pagan broadcasters in the United States. He is also the author of The Witches’ Sabbats and the website of the same name. He’s been teaching, writing, lecturing, and more since 1970. Last year he even provided a link to the audio from his Pagan broadcast in 1973 to help celebrate the 20th anniversary of Murphy’s Magic Mess on KZUM in Lincoln, NE – the world’s longest running Pagan content radio program.

From the author listing at Acorn Guild Press: “Mike Nichols is the celebrated author of The Witches’ Sabbats book and www.WitchesSabbats.com—the ultimate Mike Nichols Photoresources on Pagan holidays and related writings—and a contributing author to Creating Circles & Ceremonies. Mike has been a featured speaker on National Public Radio, Spiral Dance Radio, and Eclectic Pagan Podcast (episodes 16 and 22) on iTunes. He does extensive online teaching and writing, occasionally guest lectures at Pagan festivals, and performs in a Pagan band called Spellbound.

“A pioneer in the American neo-Pagan movement, Nichols taught classes in Witchcraft for twenty years continuously, from 1970 to 1989, in Columbia and Kansas City, Missouri, through the Communiversity and at his bookstore, The Magick Lantern. He was also the editor of The Lantern’s Light , the store’s in-house publication. A founding member of the Coven of New Gwynedd, Nichols was the first Wiccan representative on the Kansas City Interfaith Council.

“Nichols is a lifelong student of the Craft and, after years of research, writing, and teaching, he still considers himself a student. He received his BA from the University of Missouri, with a double major in communications and psychology (specializing in parapsychology). He has done graduate work in the field of library and information science.”

RevKess had prepared a list of topics for Mike to give an idea of what was to be discussed. They stayed to the list, but in a rather circuitous manner, skipping around and going back to things from time to time. KaliSara remained quiet for most of the conversation, keeping herself busy in the chat rooms.

Mike is clearly a fount of knowledge when it comes to the history of Paganism and its varied history. Admitting that he’s not read many current publications, he nonetheless has vast amounts of information at hand in his library and on his website. With tomes ranging from the early writings of the modern movement back to the heyday of “secret societies” and 19th Century spiritualism, he indicated that his most inspirational reads while maturing on his path were the collected works of such notable figures as Madame Blavatsky and others from that time period.

Throughout the conversation the listener can get some insight into how how earlier leaders in the modern movement gained their knowledge and shared their information with others. From the publication of such magazines as Green Egg and the in-house newsletters of local new age and metaphysical shoppes to the correspondence between Pagans after meeting at local and regional events.

The listener can also get an idea of how some of the early essays and articles from that time period later became published works, specifically Mike Nichols’ own essays and articles that would become the book The Witches’ Sabbats. Ellen Cannon Reed, a spiritual mentor to RevKess through her own published works, was the first to ask Mike to have his essays and articles on the Sabbats compiled into one volume. Some years after her passing the book had gone out of print and the owners of Acorn Guild Press approached him to have the book rereleased under their imprint. Today the articles and essays can be found in the book as well as much of that same content on his website. Though he does agree with the idea of copyright in regards to certain published works, he also feels that his articles and essays should be available for free, and much of that content is available through his site. There is some information in the book not found on the site and vice versa. RevKess has most of the articles and essays on the Sabbats printed out from a dot matrix printer and in one of many volumes of his BOS.

Nichols continues to work on articles and essays that are of interest to him, and he hopes to others. A recent essay on atheism and nature religions can be found both on his site and via WitchVox. Many other articles on other topics, including a filmography of witchy tastes, can be found at his site.

Music and other Audio

  1. Gaia Consort – Every Sacred Thing
  2. KOPN Beltane 1973 – Mike Nichols broadcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qg8zlrblDo
  3. Bell Book and Canto – Orpheus’s Song – Songs of the goddess: A Pagan Music Compilation
  4. David Pendragon – Spiral Dance – Book of Shadows

Other Links of Interest

 

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MMM: Set List for 1/11/15

ad bannerMurf, *K8, Michelle and Phil were all around the table this morning for the second 2015 edition of Murphy’s Magic Mess on KZUM in Lincoln, NE. With a hodge podge of New Age, Pagan, and fun music and stories they shared their laughter, their time, and their joy with the listeners.

A note to those who were listening, Yes by Bone Poets Orchestra did not actually play during the two hour time slot, it instead was the launch song for Lavender Hill as the musicians are a poly family and that fits right in with the general theme of LavHill on KZUM.

  1. Deity – Wendy Rule -Deity
  2. Patterns Of Sun and Shade – Kathryn Kaye – Patterns of Sun and Shade
  3. Last Dance – Neil Tatar & David Darling – Where Did the Time Go
  4. Tesla’s Dream – Timothy Wenzel – Summon the Wind
  5. Other Planets – Erik Scott – Spirits
  6. Ys – Alan Stivell – Renaissance of the Celtic Harp
  7. King of the Faeries – Aine Minogue – The Twilight Realm
  8. Fairies Last Song – Waterboys – Appointment with Mr. Yeats
  9. Grey the Day – Betsy Tinney – Release the Cello
  10. In Our Place – Carmen Rubino – Aquarian Dream
  11. Two Monks – Jim Weise – Tales from Cultures Near and Far
  12. Dreamtime – Elvendrums – Gateway to Faerie
  13. Yidaki – Elvendrums – Gateway to Faerie
  14. Mishiamagu – Tuatha Dea feat. Celia – The Tribe
  15. Rite of Passage – Douge MacLean – Rite of Passage
  16. Allein Duinin – Tuatha Dea – Tuatha Dea
  17. Wisp of a Thing – Tuatha Dea – Tufa Tales
  18. The Goddess of Letting Go – Mama Gina – Goddess Kiss’d
  19. Sisters Waiting – Mama Gina – Goddess Kiss’d
  20. The Wild in Me – Cronilus – Threshold
  21. Urban Druid – Cernunnos Rising – Urban Druid
  22. Yes – Bone Poets Orchestra – Belladonna Smiles

Michelle is a “new” addition to the Mess. She is not officially a Minion yet, but she is getting some training on the boards and is encouraged to bring in some of her own music selections for use during the show. Michelle hails from the Order of the Red Grail, a local Wiccan church, and has been regularly guesting on the Mess for some time now. Murf recently extended the invitation to her to join the crue and make a Mess of things with the rest of us. Murf and her Minions are looking forward to get her trained on the boards and making her a permanent addition the Mess.

KZUM is coming up on their Spring Donation Drive, one of the two or three times a year the station asks the listeners to donate and support community radio. The drive is from 5 February to 12 February 2015, in time to celebrate the 37th anniversary of KZUM. You can find more information at the web site. The Crue of the Mess will be sharing more information as it becomes available through their Facebook page and during the live broadcasts.