Blogroll Update

It’s time to update the blogroll. I’ve removed some people who are no longer blogging or who (like the Dallas Morning News Religion blog) have changed their focus so much they’re no longer interesting. And I’ve added a few folks who I’ve started reading since the last update.

Walking the Hedge. This is the blog of Juniper, who describes herself as “a messy little Hedgewitch who speaks her mind.” And that she does. She runs the Walking the Hedge website, co-hosts the now-infrequent Standing Stone and Garden Gate Podcast with Brendan Myers, and has chapters in two anthologies: To Fly By Night: Craft of the Hedgewitch and Hoofprints in the Wildwood: A Devotional for the Horned Lord. Her story of how she was called by Cernunnos is one of the most powerful I’ve come across.

Walking the Hedge is a very personal blog. As Juniper says “this is my journal. It will have funny bits, rants, ramblings, ideas, poetry and more… take it as you please.”

The Shieldmaiden Blog. This is the home of Morpheus Ravenna, “initiate and teacher in the Anderson Feri Tradition. Visual artist and ecstatic dance performer. Lover of wildness, twilight and shadows.” Morpheus was featured in the documentary film American Mystic and runs the Stone City Pagan Sanctuary. More importantly, over the past two years Morpheus has become the de facto High Priestess of Morrigan. Morrigan is calling priestesses and priests to her service – a lot of people are hearing this call, but Morpheus seems to hear it louder and clearer than the rest of us. Or maybe she’s just more willing to go where she’s led.

Bishop in the Grove. This is the Patheos blog of Teo Bishop, who’s in the dedicant program of ADF and isn’t afraid to let the world know he doesn’t have all the answers. He does a good job of asking questions and being open to whatever answers present themselves. Teo may be new to Paganism and Druidry, but his lifelong experience as a bard serves him well in his explorations and in his writing.

NOTE:  As of October 12, Teo Bishop has left Patheos and is now blogging on his own website at bishopinthegrove.com.  The link on this blog has been updated.

Raise the Horns. Another Patheos blog, this one from Jason Mankey, a devotee of the Horned Gods and a fan of rock and roll, football and Jim Morrison. I think Jason has an even wider range of interests than I do. He lives in the San Francisco Bay and says “In addition to running a circle in my living room, I’m involved with a local coven, and two of the bigger, open, Pagan groups in the area. I think I have four Samhain rituals coming up? Let’s hope none of them conflict with football.”

My Own Ashram. The spiritual journey of Niki Whiting, an Alaska native living in Washington who is a student of religion and mother of two. She’s practiced a variety of religions including mystical Christianity and Feri witchcraft, has an MA in Religious History and Systematic Theology, and worked on a PhD in Wales. Her blog is sometimes deeply religious, sometimes intensely personal, and always interesting.

Rune Soup. This blog is very different from the ones listed above in both looks and in content. Gordon White is a wizard living in London. He says “Rune Soup is about magic. Principally it is about improving your life through the use of magic, life hacking and otherwise taking charge of your own destiny. The only proviso is that the hacks must work. This is not a theory blog. This is where the rubber hits the road.”

Gordon’s long post on sigil magic was intended to be the beginnings of a book. If he ever expands it to book length I’ll be first in line to buy it. As it is, it’s far and away the best guide I’ve found on a simple form of magic that works and works well. And it’s free.

There’s very little religion here and Gordon promotes some ideas about history and science I find rather unlikely. But his writing is intelligent and interesting, and for get-stuff-done magic there’s nothing better.