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.