episode 11 - Happy 1st Birthday To Us!

Click here for Episode 11

Greetings, fellow Travelers, and welcome to the Magical Earth Quadcast. We are so happy to have you with us to celebrate our first full trip around the sun. We couldn't have done it without you - our listeners. We appreciate the time you spend with us.

Its great to have Jacinthe back in the circle - now that the lawn is torn up and the heirloom eggplants have been turned into spicy pickled goodness. We do our usual check up and check in to share what's been happening in our lives over the past month or so.

WE GOT MAIL - thank you so much to those of you who took time to send us such wonderful emails - many of them were mini essays on some of the points we were discussing - we greatly enjoyed reading and discussing them, and bring some of the highlights to our discussion . If you want to add your thoughts to the mix - please comment on the blog or email us at themagicalearth@gmail.com.

If anyone is still interested in doing a distance ritual for energy around jobs - promotions - employment - job satisfaction - let us know - this is a carryover from Episode 10's idea - and we're always game for a good ritual.

Our topic this show - a reader suggestion - and its a hot topic - "Magical Names" - where we start out safe and then veer sharply into political incorrectness. You've been warned. :) Our quesiton of the show is about the "who / how / what /why / when" of your magical name. How did it come to you - what does it mean to you - what impact has it had on your magical and regular life?

We are all very excited (squeeeeeeeeeeeeeee) about the impending opening of "Where the Wild Things Are" - as well as a handful of other movies. But really - "WTWTA" is what it's all about - such a great book for kids of all ages and the adults who love them. LET THE WILD RUMPUS START!

Time for our closing thoughts - Here's a question for you - "why do all the pagan calendars start on Jan 1/secular calendar change day - why not Samhain?" (we know that there are a few that do - but not many)

This episode's Sacred Poetry come from a pair of books called The Book of Hours (one for the Goddess and one for the God) by Galen Gillotte.

It has been a pleasure to walk this episode with you! Have a blessed Samhain if you celebrate it - and may the Ancestors give you wisdom and peace.

Until next time - walk softly.

The Magical Earth - Episode 10

Click here to download Episode 10 of the Magical Earth Quadcast

Show notes will follow in the next week.

Episode 9 - Summer Time and the Witchin is Easy...

Episode 9

Sorry for the problems with getting this episode up and online. There were some difficulties with our hosting service that had to be overcame.


Welcome to another trip on the Magical Earth! The photos are from last year's Summer Solstice Open Circle at Pagan Park - the sun coming up over the trees by the river ... glorious.

Thanks so much for giving us a listen. We know you're out there, the download numbers tell us so. To those of you who have found us for the first time - a special welcome, and if you like what you hear, please check out the earlier episodes. For those of you who walk with us regularly - thank you for tuning in again and again. We'd love to hear from you - whoever "you" are - to let us know what's going on in YOUR corner of the Circle. Email us at themagicalearth@gmail.com

So - we recorded this just before Summer Solstice. We do our check in - Cliff & Alex welcome a new-to-them car, Susan & Jacinthe say farewell to a friend, Alex's voice gets potentially recognized on a work related call, and Jacinthe celebrates her daughter's choice to "work the program" and make her current stay in a rehab facility a success - and then there's the garden...
digging - planting - plant trading - and potential photos either on this blog or on Cliff's blog.

Sacred Poetry - once again from Her Words by Burleigh Mullen, an anthology of poetry about the Great Mother.

• The Goddesses by Jeanine Canan
• The Power of the Soul by Sheila Glover
  

We say farewell to The Pagan Activist - a wonderful site that educated, entertained, informed and delighted a world wide pagan audience - we honor the work of the Publisher (Edain Duguay and her publishing venture, Wyrdwood and all the contributors of the wonderful columns. Sad to see it go - and acknowledging that all things have the season. It was a magnificent collection of diverse voices - and it will be missed.

We talk about the state of Pagan Periodicals - real time and online - and Pagan online gathering places like The Witches Voice - PaganSpace - all the various groups on Facebook - the pagan themed groups on other special interest groups like Ravelry (for Knitters) and Etsy (for crafters) - the yahoo groups - the google groups - the Ning groups.

One question about these various community gathering places - so many people "opt out" of wanting to receive invitations - so how do people get together if no one wants to be invited to anything? How do you find out about what is going on in your community - how do you connect to other pagans and pagan events. How many lists are you on? Do you have a store in your community that is the hub of the wheel?

Who and what is your community? Does it have young families - young singles - families with near adult children - seniors - who is filling up the open circles?

Are you curious about what is going on elsewhere in Canada or the greater Pagan world - to learn from what other community groups are doing?

People - we're serious about wanting some feedback here. We have good questions - we just need some rally good answers. :) help us understand! We're so confused!

Come Plurk with us - Cliff and Susan and Alex are all on Plurk - Susan also Twitters as well as Plurk - Cliff is a Plurker, as is Alex. Join the Facebook Page and "friend us" if you'd like - send us an email - we want to know what you think.

Book Review: Alex talks about the classic The Spiral Dance by Starhawk. We also mention her 2004 release "The Earth Path - we consider both books "must reads".

Also we mourn the loss of The Crooked Path - Peter Paddon has closed down his site as well and is now focusing his efforts on Pendraig Publishing. We all found his site extraordinarily special - and part of the spell was woven through the magick of Peter's voice - made for broadcasting - we thank you Peter Paddon for all you have given to us on the Crooked Path. You leave a gap in the Pagn Podcasting community that will not likely be filled.

On that note, we wrap up - Jacinthe is looking forward to the Winnipeg Folk Festival - "where our light show is the sun" - Sunday night's closing concert is Loreena McKennitt. Cliff has agreed to camp - real tent camping. Alex is looking forward to Fringe Festival as well as Folk Fest and all the cultural events that happen here over the summer months - we get a huge cultural infusion from June to September. Alex celebrates her birthday at Midsummer. Susan wants to sing along with Summer is a Comin In by Paul Newman that she heard on Episode 14 of Druidcast - thanks to Damh the Bard for sharing such wonderful music- not to mention the general oaky goodness of Druidcast.

Hope you had a joyous and Blessed Solstice - and that there was a man with a rack of antlers on his head dancing in your garden at sunrise. Hope you sent him into the sunset well fed, well loved and full of the Goddess's blessing!

Until next time,

Walk softly....

April Showers, May Flowers, darned near Summer Fools

The Magical Earth Episode 8


Greetings Travelers, and welcome to the Magical Earth.

A seasonal episode, a little later than anticipated due to

Thanks to our elder Podkin, our Wigglian brother and sister, Mojo & Sparrow, for helping us with our little April Fools "podcast exchange".

We take a few minutes to get caught up on the rising floodwaters, and talk about local initiatives to reduce our civic environmental footprint.

• garbage day is not "recycling day" to increase awareness of recycling as an option, shifting the focus of public consciousness. (ah, magick)
• exploring the recycling of the sand used over the winter to give our streets more traction. Winnipeg as a city does a poor job of "being green".

Alex talks about her class field trip to the Costume Museum of Manitoba and how fashion used to be far more reusable than it is today.

Susan and Jacinthe are excited about some recycled fibre that they have ordered that uses waste fibre from the sari industry to create lucious yarn for knitters.

Susan's workplace implemented a hazardous waste disposal program, including safe battery disposal, through one of our clients business initiatives.

Jacinthe talks about how Spring Cleaning is a form of "honoring the ancestors" - and a time of remembering.

How do we celebrate the holidays when the seasons are changing - thank you Climate Change. While the Solstices and the Equinoxes remain constant, the "agricultural connection" is not so strong depending on where you are in the world. We reference Wiccan author and friend Kevin Saunders and his books , where he talks about using the "first full moon" in the astrological sign for the non-solar holidays. We've decided as a working group to go back to observing the holidays based on the lunar/solar cycles.

Spring Cleaning is occurring in both households - Jacinthe starts hers in the first full moon in Aries - and in each room she starts at the east-most doorway and goes counterclockwise around the room. Cliff and Alex make a plan, and then "execute!". YMMV

We talk about setting books free after our time with them is done - and talk about the most recent edition of Pangaia magazine and their article on Influential Pagans. Congratulations to the fine folk at the Pagan Centered Podcast and Mojo and Sparrow at the Wigglian Way for getting mentioned.

Cliff now Plurks and has abandoned Twitter.. Susan also plurks, and still tweets. Alex laughs at the geekyness of it all, and Jacinthe sticks to her knitting . We declare a Pagan Plurk Revolution. We Plurk. Join us plurking. Cliff is Randilin, Susan is SuHu - Alex is Tamile. Come Plurk with us.

Pagan Poetry ensues - two very different approaches to the body of the Great Mother. Speaking of great mothers as found in nature - check out this Youtube video.

This episdoe, we select the GeekWitch Podcast with its lovely host with a nerdy twist - Tallea Moonwater for our Pick a Pack of Pickled Pagan Podcasts.

Our episode has been brought to you by the World Card - this is Susan's least favourite card in the deck - (she is more of a Tower fan). May we embrace every new experience as a near-naked androgene holding a pair of pointy sticks, being cheered on from peanut gallery of the four corners of the globe by scary monsters.

Jacinthe talks about the power of creation at a molecular level - she explores her own spiritual growth and her soul's evolution through her ability to create through food -through her knitting and upcoming spinning - very nicely said by our usually quiet little French one.

We wind it up and look forward to the next episode. Until then...

Walk softly.

Episode #7 - A quick visit

Episode #7

Just a quick visit for now.

Episode 6 - Ostara, Earth Hour, and The Hope of Spring

Episode 6 of the Magical Earth

Greetings, Fellow Travellers, and welcome to the Magical Earth.

We recorded this episode mid-March - but due to being waylaid by assorted colds and flu bugs, working overtime, school, family obligations, and life ... we are thrilled to finally get this up and out.

The time change also seemed to have contributed to the ebbing of energy, as we wait eagerly for the coming of Spring - and we all strongly encourage Jacinthe to stop knitting mitts, hats and scarves to allow the energy of Spring to finally make it self manifest.

Alex has started the final class of her term, Jacinthe has been doing a lot of overtime, Susan has been sick with every pesky bug that is making the rounds, and Cliff has joined the Environmental Policy Group at his work to effect some "Green" changes in his workplace. He is also hard at work at an online writing project "Carpe Arcanum" and working on his column, the Digital Pagan for The Pagan Activist.

At one point, Susan recalls Barb's "Beltane in the Snow" chant/mantra, calling out to the Goddess to "Take of the White Dress, Put on the Green Dress". Say it with us now...

Jacinthe shares an article from a back issue of What is Enlightenment magazine about the Environment. Learn more about what is Enlightenment / EnlighteNEXT - Andrew Cohen's publication. Spring/Summer 2001 issue - Dialogue with Andrew Cohen and Rabbi Michael Lerner. The article discusses the unique and powerful relationships between spirituality, environmentalism, activism and human nature, and how we missed opportunities to effect change when it was timely, and now (in 2001) how we must effect bigger and more difficult changes becuase of the severity of the challenge ahead.

We talk about the impact of recycling on the lives of the poor in developing countries, who have depended on the affluence in the effluence of what the big cities throw away to earn a living picking out recyclable bits and pieces from the landfills.

We also discuss the impact of biofuels on the cost of food crops (which we see at the cash register) and how even "low-cost"vegetarian staples like TVP have risen dramatically in price as biofuel agribusiness has an impact on sustainable agriculture. Good TVP recipes, anyone?

Solar power is becoming more affordable for the average home and even apartment dweller with the innovations by companies like "Veranda" - check it out.

For more information on James Lovelock, the scientist who "founded" the Gaia Hypothesis

as referenced in our conversation and the final chapter of Triumph of the Moon - check the links above, and do some Googling on your own - you'll be glad you did.

We discuss plans for Earth Hour - now passed - sorry! But plan to do something next year for Earth Hour 2010! For the record, we had a great time on March 28th, at The Witchery - and the Ritual from Episode 4 was a great fit.

Pick a Pack of Pickled Pagan Podcasts takes us to a review of "Pagan Parents on the Edge" - and a discussion of episodes old and new. Arrowind and Foxfire do a great show. Cliff's favourite episode is an early one where they talk about the books that influence them, which leads to a mention of the Church of All Worlds.

This episode is brought to you by The Chariot - Self-Mastery of will and desire, leaving the past behind, and moving forward with purpose and clarity. This takes us to a Cliff's idea of a great introduction, as we move into the Sacred Poetry section, and a prayer supposedly written by that charming old snake catcher, St. Patrick, that Susan found in her current favourite daily read - Earth Prayers from Around the World

Alex's Bookshelf pick is a follow up to her website visit to www.geraldgardner.com - we discuss the reissue of Witchcraft Today. This gives us a springboard to batt around ideas about how Wiccan practice has changed, flowed and ebbed over the decades of its evolution.

Our previous bookstudy books have been (in order)

1. Pagans and Christians - The Spiritual Experience
2. The Circle Within
3. The Historical Mary - Revealing the Pagan Identity of the Virgin Mother
4. Savage Breast - One Man's Search for the Goddess
5. Triumph of the Moon

and our next choice - we are pleased to announce our pick of a Canadian Pagan Author -

Brendan Myers - The Other Side of Virtue

We invite you to follow along by joining our open community discussion forum - where we talk about many things - communitaspaganus@yahoogroups.com

After summing up our evening, we close with a prayer from the Jewish Tradition that so wonderfully expresses our committment to a life of action. We use this as a chant, a mantra, and "sing it" from time to time.

We are here to do,

and through doing learn;

and through learning know;

and through knowing

to experience wonder;

and through wonder

to attain wisdom;

and through wisdom

to find simplicity;

and through simplicity

to give attention

and through attention

see what needs to be done

We are here to do.

-- Pirkei Avot 5:27

Until our paths cross again,

Walk softly.

Episode #5 - Dedicated to Brighid - she's the reason for the season...

Episode #5


Greetings, Fellow Travelers, and welcome to the Magical Earth.

Episode 5 starts with our Greeting, as usual - and our check in reveals that once again we are pumpkin-infused and with traces of whipped cream on our faces. Tempis Fugit! It is already February (or darned close).

We talk a bit about personal fitness, financial fitness, and the concept of resolutions based on changing the calendar. Cliff and Alex visited the local Wellness Expo, and found a few interesting weight loss tips - and one very unappetizing solution. They also tried out "the chi machine" and the "hothouse" - and loved them.

Cliff has started contributing to a website called "The Pagan Activist and Cliff's column, the Digital Pagan - the next column will be on social networking.

Jacinthe has been working on her knitting, and has found a new knitting podcast to tickle her ears - having fallen in love with David Reidy, and his "Sticks and String" podcast - he has a passion for the environment, for shopping locally at Australian mills and farms, honors his knitting ancestors and does "magic" (stage magic). Mr. Reidy - you do great podcast - and even for non-knitters - his joyous exploration of the knitting community is heartening. We don't know if he's pagan - we don't think he is - but at times, his views on the sacred earth, the need for community, the use of natural resources - and - he makes sure the blue tongued lizards are not hiding in the lawn grass before he mows - make us feel like he's a kindred spirit - and kindred knitter.

We give props and shout outs to the Podkin, and the listening community - please give us - and all podcasters - feedback on what you like and what you don't. We (all of us podcasters) love to hear from you. Write reviews on iTunes, or email - you can email us and we will get back to you!

The theme that emerges is that of "doing" - as a corollary to "being - and that doing is also learning. We talk about our indiviudal lessons of the Imbolc Season, and the way that the Goddess Brighid has touched our lives.

Susan expresses the hope of resurrecting the Cil Gallchno of Brighid - where devotees can take part in a symbolic "tending of the flame" one day in a day rotation, with Brighid catching the flame on the 20th day - and holding the blessing of the flame over all of us.

A group of us did this for several years some time ago - as part of the "Order of Brighid" (Susan and Jacinthe are still members) - and some of us would like to restart it as an independent observance, possibley under their umbrella - or on our own. Please contact us if you would like more information on how this works - or if you want to do it as part of the Cil Gallchno (Susan's group) - please let her know and she'll send you info).

We talk about Elders, Teachers, what teaching looks like in the 21st century (books, blogging, podcasting, lecture series, webinars etc), getting paid for teaching, how to repay your teachers for teaching you with an exchange of energy that has meaning - which can include cash! We also kick around "how the myth of not paying for teaching affects our Elders" and would love feedback from you on this matter.

Alex reviews www.geraldgardner.com as a resource for the Wiccan Community and we discuss what we find there.

Pick A Pack of Pickled Pagan Podcasts - we talk about the Pagan Centered Podcast - a great podcast not for the faint of heart, and who earn their explicit rating with every episode. Funny - insightful - not politically correct - and worth listening to. The sound quality of some episodes is a bit dodgy - but please, perservere - if your ears aren't bleeding - you aren't listening hard enough!

Earth Hour is coming up March 28th, 2009. Learn all about it and create an event where you are. We'll be doing something at the Witchery that night - if you want to join us, please email us to let us know! We'll be doing the Earth Ritual from the last episode - by candlelight.

Get the word out - register with Earth Hour (each country has their own site) and do your part to make everyone aware of the importance of limiting energy consumption to help reverse climate change.

We're happy to help with cheap advice on what you (yes YOU!) can do to hold your own pagan celebration of Earth Hour! Email us! Join with us in energy, if you can't be with us in person. Tell 13 friends... and they'll tell 13 friends.... and so on and so on - don't you want to sit in the dark with people who want to sit in the dark with you? Let us know your events and we'll post them and announce them to help you out! the more the merrier!

We touch on the concept of environmental activism as a form of frugality - and how "frugal is the new black" (as well as the new green). There are lots of great blogs on frugality - and even one called "The Frugal Pagan".

Susan reads some Sacred Poetry - Homecoming by Linda Reuther from the collection "Her Words - an anthology of poetry about the Great Goddess" edited by Burleigh Muten. Please read the article about Linda Reuther - her amazing journey to know the Goddess in her lifetime of honoring Gaia. Truly Inspiring.

We wrap up by talking about what we are taking with us from the holy day of Imbolc - from the Flame and Well of Brighid. How was your Imbolc celebration? Let us know how she touches you - and may Her shaping of your soul be gentle - may you be as malleable metal between the hammer and the anvil of Her Forge.

Until our paths cross again,
Walk Softly.