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The Viking Spirit by Daniel McCoy: A Mini-Review
Note: This was originally posted in a reblog of an anonymous ask to @skaldish on Tumblr. The anon had recently purchased this book and asked for help in making sure it wasn’t based on white supremacist misinterpretations. This was actually one of my first books on Heathenry! Like Zan mentioned, it’s an okay resource and…
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Witchcraft, Occult, New Age, or Pagan? What’s the difference?
For folks just getting into alternative spirituality, terminology can be confusing. What’s the difference between New Age and pagan? Are all witches pagan? What does occult even mean? And where do my beliefs and practices fit into all that? Truly, you don’t need to label your spiritual practice unless you want to. Labels can sometimes…
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The Holy Grail: Pagan or Christian?
[Note: This is a repost from my Tumblr. The original post was published on May 16, 2022.] The Holy Grail may be one of the most enduring parts of Arthurian legend. It’s shown up everywhere from Indiana Jones to The Da Vinci Code, and is almost as essential to our modern image of King Arthur…
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“Structured” vs. “High Demand”
You know, at this point I think it may be useful to talk about the difference between highly structured religions and high-demand religions, because I realize the terms sound very similar but have very different meanings, which may be confusing for newcomers. Highly structured religions are exactly that — religions with a lot of internal…
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Some thoughts…
I’ve often heard Americans and Europeans (i.e., people from culturally Christian societies) argue that Buddhism isn’t a religion, but a philosophy — even though most Asian Buddhists would tell them that of course it’s a religion. I think this gets into a larger cultural (mis)understanding of what a religion is and what it means to…
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“Queer is a slur” is anti-trans rhetoric. No, really.
Note: This post is a written transcript of my most recent YouTube video. Remember how, in my video about Nazis in Norse Paganism, we talked about how most of the ideas held by modern white supremacists can be traced back to a handful of bigots hiding behind a facade of academia? Turns out, that’s also…
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Currently Reading: White Rage
I just finished White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson. This isn’t the first book I’ve read about the history of systemic, anti-Black racism in the United States, but it is the most hard-hitting I’ve read so far. Anderson refutes the conventional narrative of linear progress towards racial equality that most Americans, myself…
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What does it mean to be pagan? (Paganism 101 Ch. 1)
That’s right, y’all! With Baby Witch Bootcamp officially wrapped, it’s time to jump into our next long term series! I put out a poll on Patreon, and my patrons voted for Paganism 101 as our next series. While not all witches are pagan and not all pagans are witches, there is a lot of overlap…
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Introducing: The Mystic Bitch Podcast!!!
For a long time now I’ve wanted to start doing deep dives into my favorite mythology and folklore, and a podcast felt like a better place for those kinds of discussions than YouTube. I decided to start off with the Rape of Persephone – it seems seasonally appropriate since we just passed the fall equinox,…
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New YouTube Video: New Orleans Travel Vlog!
New Orleans is one of my favorite cities in the US because of its unique history and culture. It truly is a magickal place. My mom and I took a weekend trip down there, and I thought I’d share some of the awesome stuff we saw and did. You can find my vlog of the…
Sam Wise 