No discussion of May Day or Beltaine would be complete without mentioning one of the iconic symbols of the day – the maypole. There is no solid information to tell us exactly where or when the maypole originated. The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who lived in the 1600’s, suggested that it dated back to the [...]
Archive for the ‘Herbs’ Category
Dancing the Maypole – A History of Beltane/May Day, part three
Posted in Archives #5 Fire Walk With Me, Art & Literature, Herbs, Irish/Celtic, Magick, Music, Nature, Paganism, Poetry/Prose, Ritual, Sabbats, Spirituality, Uncategorized, witchcraft on Tuesday May 1 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Gather Your Blossoms – A History of Beltaine/May Day, part two
Posted in Archives #4 Pagan Thoughts and Writings, Art & Literature, Herbs, Irish/Celtic, Music, Nature, Paganism, Poetry/Prose, Ritual, Sabbats, Spirituality, witchcraft on Monday April 30 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Our discussion of Beltaine and May Day festivities up to this point have focused on the supernatural danger of the day and the need for fire rituals to ward it off. Let us now focus on the more celebratory rituals that ushered in the Summer season. Around the year 1240 a bishop in England complained [...]
On the Twelfth Day of Dining…
Posted in Archives #3 A Deaf Pagan Shares, Beasts and Animals, Food, Herbs, Music, The Yule Series on Friday January 6 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“On the Twelfth Day of Christmas my true love gave to me twelve drummers drumming…” Today is Epiphany, and thus the final day of the Twelve Days of Christmas. After today the holidays are officially over – I will be taking down all of my decorations and preparing for Imbolc and then the Spring season [...]
On the Sixth Day of Dining…
Posted in Archives #3 A Deaf Pagan Shares, Beasts and Animals, Food, Herbs, Music, Nature, The Yule Series on Saturday December 31 2011 | 1 Comment »
“On the Sixth Day of Christmas my true love gave to me six geese a’laying…” With this verse, of course it wasn’t all that hard to determine just what to fix in the kitchen for the sixth day – the incredible edible egg. Eggs have have gotten a bad rap due to their high cholesterol [...]
The Yule Series
Posted in Archives #4 Pagan Thoughts and Writings, Art & Literature, Beasts and Animals, Divination, Food, Herbs, Irish/Celtic, Magick, Nature, Paganism, Ritual, Sabbats, Spirituality, The Yule Series, witchcraft, Women's Spirituality on Sunday December 25 2011 | Leave a Comment »
My readers who have been following the Crossroads for awhile might recall that in the past, to celebrate the Winter Solstice, I did a month’s worth of posts entitled “The Yule Series” in which I shared information about various aspects of the season’s holiday celebrations – such topics as the meaning of solstice, the return [...]
Yule Series II – “The Third Sacred Plant”
Posted in Archives #4 Pagan Thoughts and Writings, Herbs, Irish/Celtic, Nature, Paganism, Sabbats, Spirituality, The Yule Series, witchcraft, Women's Spirituality on Saturday December 11 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Let us now introduce the third of the sacred plants of Yule – the ivy. Similar to holly and mistletoe, the ivy is another plant whose leaves traditionally remain fresh and green in the midst of winter (although in some types of ivy, the leaves do change color in the Fall). Like many other evergreens, [...]
Yule Series II – “Kissing Under the Mistletoe”
Posted in Archives #4 Pagan Thoughts and Writings, Art & Literature, Herbs, Irish/Celtic, Nature, Paganism, Sabbats, The Yule Series on Sunday December 5 2010 | Leave a Comment »
During the holiday season, many individuals -Pagans and Christians alike – can be found decorating their households with various types of greenery. Evergreen branches such as pine, fir, spruce and juniper deck the halls, and other plants also make a grand appearance during this “most wonderful time of the year”… including holly, ivy, and mistletoe. [...]
Yule Series II – “Magickal Mistletoe”
Posted in Archives #4 Pagan Thoughts and Writings, Art & Literature, Herbs, Irish/Celtic, Nature, Sabbats, The Yule Series on Saturday December 4 2010 | 6 Comments »
One of the primary clues that Yule is approaching once again is the vast array of displays of greenery which appear during the holiday season. Trees of pine, fir, and spruce get set up in living room corners, garlands of evergreens get draped on fences and staircases, and wreaths appear on doors. Oftentimes such decor [...]
PantheaCon Schedule Is Now Available!
Posted in Archives #4 Pagan Thoughts and Writings, Creating Accessibility, Deaf/Pagan Relations, Equal Communication Access, Herbs, Interpreting, Irish/Celtic, Magick, Paganism, Ritual, Sign Language, Spirituality, witchcraft, Women's Spirituality on Sunday January 25 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Some of you will recall that I posted previously about PantheaCon, and the availability of sign language interpreters for such… click here to take a look at it. I’m happy to report that the schedule of workshops is now up on the PantheaCon website! PantheaCon, as I explained before, is one of the largest, if [...]
The Yule Series
Posted in Archives #4 Pagan Thoughts and Writings, Art & Literature, Beasts and Animals, Divination, Food, Herbs, Irish/Celtic, Magick, Nature, Paganism, Ritual, Sabbats, Spirituality, The Yule Series, witchcraft, Women's Spirituality on Monday December 8 2008 | 1 Comment »
My readers who have been following the Crossroads for awhile might recall that last year, to celebrate the Winter Solstice, I did a month’s worth of posts entitled “The Yule Series” in which I shared information about various aspects of the season’s holiday celebrations – such topics as the meaning of solstice, the return of [...]
Answers to Pagan Mini-Test
Posted in Archives #4 Pagan Thoughts and Writings, Divination, Herbs, Irish/Celtic, Magick, Paganism, Ritual, Sabbats, witchcraft on Sunday September 7 2008 | 1 Comment »
Here are the answers to the Pagan Mini-Test… if there are any questions for which you would like more explanation of the answer, please leave a comment and I will be happy to explain it further. 1. In modern Paganism, the seasonal celebrations are reflections of the cycles of life, death, and rebirth. These festivals [...]
Pagan Mini-Test
Posted in Archives #4 Pagan Thoughts and Writings, Divination, Ethics, Herbs, Irish/Celtic, Magick, Paganism, Ritual, Sabbats, Spirituality on Monday September 1 2008 | 7 Comments »
Here we go, folks! One of Ocean’s famous Pagan tests! This one is a basic test that takes questions from six main subject areas -Beliefs, Tools, History, Spellcraft, Divination, and Ceremonial Magick. It was originally posted at my private Pagan blog, so some of you may have seen it before. With little time and energy [...]
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MEET OCEAN
Ocean is the creator & manager of this blog. Born deaf into an all-hearing family, she was raised oral and attended hearing schools. Ocean began learning sign language at the ripe old age of 16, and after meeting a Deaf man began her own journey through Deafhood. She graduated from Gallaudet College (now University), and has held positions both within & outside of the field of Deaf Services.
Ocean has been a practicing Pagan for 30 years, and considers herself "an eclectic witch," with a primary focus on Celtic Spirituality, but an interest in many different areas. A skilled tarot reader, she once donated her services to help raise funds for a Domestic Violence agency. She has also done workshops on aromatherapy, herbalism, & Paganism for the Deaf Community.
As a passionate advocate, Ocean often speaks out on the need for greater access for Deaf people (Pagan or otherwise) - interpreters, captioned videos, CART, etc...and works to build bridges between the Deaf & Hearing communities.
She lives not far from her hometown on the banks of the Ohio River with her two cats, Karma & Gandalf.
To contact Ocean,
you may email her at oshginva@gmail.comMAKING CONNECTIONS
This sculpture shows the sign for "connect"...and that is what Deaf Pagan Crossroads is all about - making connections. Connections between Deafhood and Paganism, connections between the Deaf Community and the Hearing Community, connections between myself as the writer and you as the reader. I hope you will take the time to read my various posts, some of which are listed below. Welcome to the Crossroads, and I hope you make some connections here!
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