Tag Archives: Damh the Bard

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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: Why we do what we do

It has been five years since RevKess dragged KaliSara online to do the first episode of Pagan-Musings. Hard to believe it has been that long! And yes, RevKess had to “drag” KaliSara. He was unemployed and going stir crazy, trying to find something to fill his time while waiting for potential employers to get back with him. So he asked her, “Wanna sit in on my first podcast? I don’t know what I am doing, but it could be a lot of fun!” Five years later and they’ve hardly missed a week (those that have been missed have been due to technical difficulties).

Both hosts enjoy doing the show. They enjoy the music and meeting them musicians. They enjoy the books and talking with the authors. They enjoy sharing news and information with their listeners. On a deeper level, RevKess feels that the show, indeed almost everything he does with PMPChannel, is part of a calling that he has to teach. For KaliSara she feels that she has something to share with others, with the hopes that what she shares will be of benefit to others.

Along the way both hosts shared some of their favorite topics and guests. As you can see from the list below, PMPChannel plays host to other shows, some of them as one-off’s, some as series. PMPChannel plays home to the podcast version of Murphy’s Magic Mess and Lavender Hill from KZUM.

MUSIC

  1. Cernunnos Rising – The Witches Tree – Urban Druid
  2. Leigh Ann Hussey – Greenmantle – Homebrew
  3. Damh the Bard – Raggle Taggle Gypsies – Herne’s Apprentice
  4. SJ Tucker – Cheshire Kitten – Mischief
  5. Celia – Everyday Goddess – Breathe
  6. Lon Milo DuQuette – Sweet Babalon – I’m Baba Lon
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PWN S4E6: What we’re really say is….

On the Pagan Weekly News RevKess and Zaracon do their best to bring you news, views, and information that is of interest to the Pagan community. Along the way we often discuss religious intolerance/persecution and the brighter side of our religio-spiritual umbrella: festivals, books, and music. This week’s edition is no exception to that pattern. As the title of this edition implies, Zaracon and RevKess discuss some of the popular memes that are floating around on the internet, primarily on Facebook. What is a meme, you might be asking. It used to mean “an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, especially imitation.” It has come to mean “a humorous image, video, piece of text, etc. that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by Internet users.” Many of the memes that we see in social media are political in nature, especially during an election year. Whether they are political or not, memes are often half truths at best, out-right lies at worst. Many of the memes that people share seem humorous at first glance, if you look at them again you note that they are insulting to one group or another. Here is a prime example of such a meme. It is true that many who use politically correct speech are sugar coating things, but not because they cannot handle the truth. More often than you might think it is because they are trying not to insult someone else. This one makes no attempt to avoid insulting people. It does, however, bring to light what many think of politically correct speech. An example of how politically correct can be more insulting than sugar-coated would be many of the attempts the straight community use when talking about the gay community, in particular the trans community. See, look there. In an attempt to be general and “politically correct” I left out lesbians and bisexuals, gender queer and gender fluid. Other attempts to be more encompassing of everyone who might fit into that community is the abbreviation “LGBTQA” Even that collection of letters leaves people out.  Some like the acronym “SOGI”, sexual orientation and gender identity. This term is confusing for some, a literal look at the term would encompass the entirety of humanity. Perhaps that is the point. Maybe, just maybe, people should call it as they see it, or to use a phrase “call a spade a spade.” And then you have the opposite end of the spectrum. Memes that point out something that many might consider to be true. In this situation, many might consider it a fault to need alcohol and drugs to be entertained. Agreed. Drugs and alcohol are not necessary to have a good time. They can make for a little extra entertainment – like when your friend gets so drunk they can’t walk without falling down. In moderation, though, alcohol is fine – even some drugs are fine in moderation. RevKess would rather enjoy a glass of wine at dinner or while watching a movie than toke up, or even go out to the clubs. Combing through several pages of racist memes, none could be found that weren’t in some way disgusting or too far into the racist field (I think I need a shower now). But it is easy to understand that a racist meme is just wrong, insulting. Whether they are directed at whites, blacks, Jews, Asians, Latinos, whatever. They are all disgusting and insulting. After all this, there are some memes out there that are just down right funny, cute, or enlightening. Here is an example of one that is inspiring – at least for the bibliophiles out there. Just look around at RevKess’s home and you will see bookcases in every room (save the bathroom) and stacks of books literally to the ceiling. Never enough bookcases. And of course there are the snarky memes.

LINKS

Before we start with the links, RevKess would like to apologize for a tidbit of misinformation. He failed to double check the publication date of an article about Andy Griffth. Mr. Griffth died on July 3, 2012.  The article he saw just before going live was in memorial of him.

  • In the New York Times, opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof talks about how religious freedom is in peril, focusing on how Muslims seem to be using the idea of religious freedom to persecute non-Muslims – primarily in the Middle East and “underdeveloped” countries.
  • The Pope apologizes to Buddhists for the Christian Colonial Rule of Sri Lanka. Is it enough?
  • Rev. Chuck Currie, a minister for the United Church of Christ and columnist for Huffington Post – Religion, writes about how religious freedom is in under attack, and not how you might think. His focus is on how the SCOTUS ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby’s religious exemptions for certain birth control coverage may lead to further misuses of the law and the protection of freedom of religion. “In a nation as diverse as the United States of America, it is critical that the federal government be trusted to follow — and indeed, to role-model — equitable employment practices. We believe that our mutual commitment to the common good is best served by policies that prohibit discrimination based on factors that have no relationship whatsoever to job performance. We are better and stronger as a nation when hiring decisions are made based on professional merit rather than personal identity.” – from a letter Currie wrote to President Obama.
  • On the Wild Hunt, Cara Schulz writes about the SCOTUS decision, after breaking things down in understandable terms she quotes several Pagans who voiced their opinions. RevKess is quoted.
  • RevKess’s full opinion piece on the SCOTUS decision for Lavender Hill.
  • In the days following the SCOTUS decision many businesses and organizations have begun prep work to petition for religious exemptions from Obama’s promised executive order to ban discrimination of LGBTQ employees of federal contractors, and the current draft of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act before theHouse. RevKess wrote an opinion piece for Lavender Hill after the announcement that  the Nation Gay & Lesbian Task Force, the ACLU, and other civil rights groups have withdrawn their support for the current version of ENDA.
  • In the current edition of the Pagan Community Notes on the Wild Hunt, Jason PItzl-Waters talks about the New Alexandrian Library Project and the special issue of Green Egg in honor of Morning Glory Zell.
  • Heather Greene has written a two part series on Pagans on campus for the Wild Hunt. Part 1, Part 2.
  • Cara Schulz, taking a step away from the seriousness of SCOTUS, birth control, and religious freedom, writes on the Wild Hunt about discovering Pagan ethics in modern secular life – Football.
  • Silverspring on her blog writes about why some people may choose to remain in the broom closet.
  • Writing on Witches&Pagans’ blog, author and lecturer Karen Tate talks about integrity in Pagan writing. Read an excerpt from her new book Goddess Calling on the blog Bad Witch.
  • On Patheos, T Thorn Coyle writes about public priesthood.

MUSIC

  1. PWN intro, courtesy Aetopus
  2. Damh the Bard – The Parting Glass – Tales from the Crow Man
  3. Big Bad Gina – Freedom Connection – Lake of Dreams
  4. Leigh Anne Hussey – She is Grandmother – Homebrew
  5. Mama Gina – Summer of the Fae – Goddess Kiss’d
  6. Spiral Dance – Weaving the Summer – Magick (also available on their best of CD, The Quickening)
  7. Frenchy & the Punk – The Circus Parade – Hey Hey Cabaret
  8. Celia – Carry Me Home – Carry Me Home
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MMM: Soundbackers Union 2014

ad bannerLast year started a new membership drive at KZUM, the Soundbackers Union. An exclusive group of member-listeners who get special benefits from KZUM – including discounted concert tickets, elite swag, and other exciting benefits. For one week every June the station does a fund raising campaign for the Soundbackers Union. Murphy’s Magic Mess put together a special playlist for  the event. The campaign for the 2014 membership of the Soundbackers ends on the 23rd at midnight Central time, but KZUM is always open to new member-listeners and donations to support Nebraska’s first and only community radio station.

Tracks 7 and 8 were arranged in honor of Sparky T. Rabbit, one of the voices of Lunacy. Sparky passed away a little over two weeks ago. As Murf said during the show, “what is remembered never dies.”

  1. God is Alive, Magic is Afoot – Buffy St. Marie – Best of Buffy Sainte-MarieSoundbackers-Final
  2. The Gift – Louis Colaiannia – Closer
  3. Orange Sky – John Luttrell – The Dream Exchange
  4. Summer Reunion – Jennifer DeFrayne – by a wire
  5. Songbird in the Morning – Larken Lyre – Extraordinary Voyage
  6. One and Only – Lisa Hilton – Kaleidoscope
  7. For the Love of All Who Gather/Floor of Heaven – Betsy Tinney – Release the Cello
  8. Shango – Lunacy – Lunacy
  9. Noon of the Solstice – Damh the Bard – Spirit of Albion
  10. Down in the Garden – Damh the Bard – Antlered Crown and Standing Stone
  11. Flowers to Make into Wine – Alan Austin –
  12. Flower of Ireland – Spiral Dance – Over Nine Waves
  13. Family Garden – John McCutcheon -Family Garden
  14. Crying for the Honey Bee – Cernunnos Rising – (unreleased)
  15. The Garlic Waltz – Sally Rogers and Claudia Schmidt –
  16. Salad of Doom – SJ Tucker – Mischief
  17. Fin and the Old Man – John Redbourn – Wheel of Fortune (story)
  18. White Rabbit – Tuatha Dea – The Tribe
  19. Little Which House – Serpentine – Rock the Goddess
  20. Pagan Born – Inkubus Sukkubus –
  21. House of Mama Dragon – SJ Tucker –  Haphazard

Murphy’s Magic Mess airs  live every Sunday morning at 9am Central, bringing the listener two hours of new age and Pagan music from around the world. Celebrating 20 years with KZUM, Murf, *K8, and Phil are thrilled to bring you a unique collection of music every week!

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PWN: Religious & Political News discrimination

RevKess goes solo again for this edition of PWN. That means a little bit more music than you might usually expect, but plenty of news coverage and opinion bits. Zaracon is settling into his new living arrangement and getting used to things there.

RevKess’s work schedule got turned upside down this week, adding to his already hectic schedule with rehearsals for a musical he is in this spring. This and other factors made for a one hour edition of PWN this week.

LINKS to stories and op-ed pieces discussed

  • It is with sadness in our hearts that we make formal announcement of the passing of Donald Michael Kraig. You can read an obituary and comments from loved ones and friends on The Wild Hunt.
  • Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps is reported to be dying, according to a Facebook message from his estranged son Nathan Phelps. He was also excommunicated from the WBC back in August 2013, a disagreement with other elders of the church about being “kinder” to others. Update: Since our broadcast Wednesday morning, Fred Phelps has passed away. Stay tuned to PMPChannel.com for RevKess’s editorial on the life and times of Fred Phelps.
  • Federal Judge rules in favor of the student after a creationist teachers calls his beliefs “stupid” and orders the school staff and faculty be educated on the 1st Amendment by an ACLU approved attorney.
  • St Patrick’s Day parade boycotts in NYC and Boston. Both mayors and three major beer bottlers drop support of the St. Patrick’s Day parades in the cities. Sam Adams, Heineken and Guinness.
  • Cognitive Dissonance on PaganActivist.com
  • ReligiousTolerance.org

MUSIC

  1. Damh the Bard – The Parting Glass – Tales from the Crow Man
  2. Heather Dale – Call the Names – Call the Names
  3. Celia – Symbol
  4. Tuatha Dea – Ye Jacobites by Name – Tuatha Dea
  5. Frenchy & the Punk – House of Cards – Happy Madness
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MMM: Sky Stuff & Springish 2-23-14

Thank you to all our wonderful artists we get to play every week on Murphy’s Magic Mess on KZUM-HD in Lincoln, NE. We’d also like to thank all our wonderful listener-members who either renewed or became members of KZUM this past week during the spring 2014 pledge drive. You are who we do this for every week.

Phil was in a sky and Spring mood Sunday morning, and the first several pieces reflect the sky and many of the rest reflect the call for Spring. Murf selected most of the second half of the show with a few contributions from Phil and some suggestions from *K8. A big kudos to *K8 for typing up the play list during the show. Phil has gone through any made any corrections that might have been needed.

It was a real joy to see Sister Gladysteen in the studio. She is one of the hosts of Glorious Gospel on KZUM and one we do not get to see on a regular basis. We are looking forward to seeing here again now that Spring is starting to make itself known in our area. The first piece we played was for her, as Paul Spaeth’s CD is very spiritual. It was also selected to honor Dr. Rock who ended his tenure with KZUM – he hosted the six hour program Dr. Rock and the Medicine Show.

  1. To Say GoodBye – Paul Spaeth – Redemption
  2. Above the Sky – Jeremy Weinglass – Choose Love
  3. Moon Goddess – Jack Gates – Voyage of the Troubadour
  4. Skies and Openings – Vin Downes – Unlike the Stars
  5. Aspiring Emptyness – Yang Ying – Elixir
  6. One Day I will Go to the Stars – Larken Lyre – Extraordinary Voyage
  7. Watching the Clouds – Masako – Call of the Mountains
  8. Song of the Siren – Paul Higgs – Pavane
  9. Liberty Elephant – Betsy Tinney – Release the Cello
  10. Behold – Abbi Spinner McBride – Fire of Creation
  11. Ritual Dance – Allan Scott Bachman – Gaia, Earth Goddess
  12. A Call for Spring – Alexis Kochan – Ukrainian Songs
  13. Life’s Wheel – Heather Alexander – Merlin’s Descendants
  14. Mishiamagu – Tuatha Dea – The Tribe
  15. Regnal – Anne Lister – Root, Seed, Thorn, & Flower
  16. Dancer & the Moon – Blackmore’s Night – Dancer & the Moon
  17. Beyond Us Is the Cost – Cernunnos Rising- Urban Druid
  18. Pagan Ways – Damh the Bard – the Cauldron Born
  19. Mannanan McLir – Eachdraidh – Angel and the Canadian Celtic Cowboy
  20. Urban Elements – Ginger Doss – From Love to Love

Throughout the program we updated you on a couple of Elders in the global Pagan community. Donald Michael Kraig is in hospital and battling pancreatic cancer, the prognosis is not good. He is in good spirits, though. His family and friends have been at his side as much as possible and number of Pagans around the world have been lending their energy to him, to ease him and make him more comfortable at this time. Morning Glory Zell has also been in hospital, she is battling complications from her recurring cancer. She’s doing well. Will hopefully be returning home soon. A GoFundMe page has been set up to assist with the medical expenses incurred during MG’s hospital stay.

Lastly, we spoke briefly about the murals at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in England. Alder Hey is slated for demolition. The beautiful murals that are risk were painted by volunteer artists from across England, including singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist George Nicholas. George is the front man for Cernunnos Rising, whom we played a piece from towards the end of the show. There is an online petition to preserve the murals, you can find out more here.

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PMP: Hypersensitivity & the Pagan

Shauna Aura Knight joined RevKess and KaliSara for a wonderful discussion of hypersensitivity with a focus on the Pagan world. Relaying anecdotes from personal life, ritual situations, and throwing in some armchair psychology, the three had a rather informative talk about how being hypersensitive to their environment and other contributing factors can learn to move through life with a better understanding of how their selves react to the world.

A term that cropped up once or twice in the conversation was “kinesthetic”. In context of the conversation, Shauna was referring to kinesthetic sense. WikiPedia defines that as

Proprioception, the kinesthetic sense, provides the parietal cortex of the brain with information on the relative positions of the parts of the body. Neurologists test this sense by telling patients to close their eyes and touch their own nose with the tip of a finger. Assuming proper proprioceptive function, at no time will the person lose awareness of where the hand actually is, even though it is not being detected by any of the other senses. Proprioception and touch are related in subtle ways, and their impairment results in surprising and deep deficits in perception and action.

The idea of “micro expressions” was brought up just over half way into the show. If you are a fan of TV dramas then you might be familiar with the show Lie To Me. Taking the idea of “profiling” to the extreme of observing the smallest shifts in body language or facial expressions to better understand the emotional state of the individual. The TV show is based on the work of Dr. Paul Ekman.

Towards the end of the show, the focus shifted to Pagan leadership.

ADDITIONAL LINKS

MUISC

  1. Celia – Everyday Goddess – Breathe
  2. Tuatha Dea – Akasha (featuring Spiral Rhythm) – The Tribe
  3. Dragon Ritual Drummers – Heart Beat – Passage
  4. Damh the Bard – Ever with Me – The Hills They Are Hollow

Unfortunately for our live listeners the live stream ended before the show was over. But they didn’t miss much. Shortly after the top of the hour Shauna and KaliSara both lost their connection and RevKess did a quick wrap up. All three will return on February 2nd for a continued conversation about Pagan Leadership: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.