Pater = Peter?

Liber Pater, Pater Patratus... Pater was a Roman term before the christians ever co-opted it. It's just the Latin word for "Father." Conspiracies abound regarding the statue of "Saint Peter" pictured here. Some claim it is the statue of Jupiter simply renamed. Others claim the bronze from the statue of Jupiter was melted down and recast as Saint Peter. Either way, we have something terribly interesting and very telling about this saint: He is a recast of Jupiter. That just made me think about when a soap opera changed actors: The announcer would come on in a hushed voice after we see the new actor on screen, but before the actor spoke. "The role of Jupiter is now being played by Saint Peter."

"The role of Jupiter is now being played by Saint Peter."

Notice he is holding a key and is crowned with a nimbus, or sun disc. Some christian conspiracy sites out there rant about it and I'm still looking for the much quoted "archaeologists" but I keep getting side tracked by the fact that the Phrygium of Cybele, Magna Mater, which was built on Vatacan hill, just had "The Vatican" plunked down over it. Allegedly, the bones of Saint Peter were found there during an excavation. Really? How did they know that? The site of the Phrygium was built on top of a necropolis! There were already thousands of remains there! There's only vaguely circumstantial "evidence" that the bones of a man in his 60s were buried with other bones in an area some time around 300 ce. Not buying it.

I'm cutting this short tonight because this is making me cranky. Off to go find real sources on this, not just conspiracies about "Pater and Peter" being different pronunciaitons of the same word meaning "Father."

Do you have anything on this? Join the conversation!

The real Santa of the season: Santa Lucia!

Santa Lucia, thy light is glowing

Through darkest winter night, comfort is bestowing.

Dreams float on dreams tonight,

Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia

Lucia, or Lucina, is an epithet of the Goddess, used in reference to both Diana and Juno. She protected the people of Sicily. Her "origin" is in Syracuse, part of Sicily and the territory known as Magna Graecia. She is the Goddess of birth and of light. I mentioned this somewhere in my rant last night:

Santa Lucia, allegedly an early church martyr, but previously celebrated as the Goddess who midwifes the about-to-be-reborn sun into the world. The feast is a reminder that it is She who guides us through the darkness with her flaming crown of stars.

I was reminded of the following during my meditations today: Beyond the role of "midwife" or Patroness of pregnant women and childbirth, She is The Starry Night personified. She isn't just our guide through the darkness, she IS the darkness, she IS night. She is the one dividing herself and giving birth.

The Goddess Lucia is about bringing forth into the light- she brings children into the light, she brings The Sun into being and therefore brings all of us into the light. We can now see because of Her efforts. The Saint Lucy story which developed is about a young woman whose eyes were cut out when she wouldn't renounce christianity. Love how the sight thing still plays into it. I also love (in that sarcastic kind of way) that the continued tradition of a young woman wearing a crown of candles was written into the new version as how she protected people. Really? By wearing dripping flaming candles on your head? Right.

I think it's lovely that Her fest begins 12 days before Dies Natalis Solis Invicti. It's the 12 days of ;) She is the "Bringer of Light" and the patron saint of vision, including psychic vision. This is an excellent night for divination!


Here is a song sung as part of a modern catholic celebration. Quite the Pagan ditty:

Hark! through the darksome night
Sounds come a winging:
Lo! 'tis the Queen of Light
Joyfully singing.
Welcome thou vision rare,
Lights glowing in thy hair.
Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia!
Santa Lucia,
Thy light is glowing
Through darkest winter night,
Comfort bestowing.
Dreams float on dreams tonight,
Comes then the morning light,
Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia.
Deep in the northern sky
Bright stars are beaming;
Christmas is drawing nigh
Candles are gleaming (Repeat x6)
Clad i n her garment white,
Wearing her crown of light,
Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia. (Repeat)

Wiki has some nifty information on midwinter Goddess centered celebrations which all seem to tie together in the figure of Santa Lucia. Is this another case of Mother Goddess celebration or sites being taken over by male cults? More to ponder!


Until tomorrow, Loyal Horde! Blessings of Lucia on you: May your vision be clear, may your vision be true. Blessings of light in darkest night!

Why?

Pagan Pride Day begins in less than 12 hours. I have been running around crazy for the past week, fielding tons of phone calls, emails and packages, updating facebook, the yahoogroup, the website, designing the t-shirts and having them printed, the programs, the schedule, etc etc etc. I'm not saying this to toot my own horn "oh gee look at how awesome I am and all that I do." I'm saying this because it takes a shit ton of work to pull off an event like this and no one can do it alone and no one does it just for fucks sake.

Why do I bother? I love my community. Even the McWiccans. I think there would be fewer McWiccans if there were more public events of this sort. If we didn't feel like we had to hide then people would never get sucked in by the ego driven folks who pose as Priests and Priestesses of the Gods and happen to attract followers just because they're the loudest ones in the proverbial room.

Our community needs to get over "you do it wrong so I won't talk to you or work with you" business. I might disagree with what other groups do and how they do it, but I'm not going to stop talking to someone because we don't agree on which direction is air. We need to stand together against the erosion of our civil rights. In that, at least, all Pagans are my brothers and sisters.

I also do this for the glory of my patrons. I don't want to convert others, I want those who serve Them as Priests and Priestesses to live a life free of fear and anxiety and providing them the opportunity to bring Them back into their full power. Which brings us back around to the topic of this blog! (And you thought it would only be a ramble! ha!)

The practice of spreading the name, and therefore glory, of a being who has done something for you is very Italian and continues today in the practice of publicly publishing a thank you in the newspaper. This is often done for Saint Jude. You'll see tiny classified ads in the back of a newspaper thanking him! Saint Expedite too. Saint Therese... So many others too.

See how I bought it back on topic! ;)

I hope everyone has a wonderful first full day of autumn and if you're in the NYC area, come on down to Pagan Pride Day in Battery Park! It starts at 11 AM and I will be leading the Harvest ritual at 4 PM!

Wine festivals, dancing and the Sea

I have blog ADD tonight! Too many topics that I'm interested in and none of them are really popping out for me to concentrate on. Here is a bit of what's on my mind:

Last night I wondered what was going on in the rest of Italy while Rome was indulging itself in the Ludi Romani. In Tuscany, specifically the Chianti region, they were harvesting the grapes and pressing them, beginning the vintage for the following year. My search for information on the festivals and impending-autumn traditions of the region led me to Wine Therapy! Not just drinking it, but apparently bathing in it and using it as a cosmetic goes waaaaaaaaay back in recorded history. It's named amongst Cleopatra's beauty treatments too.



Another festival which just passed is the festival of Madonna a Mare, Madonna of the Sea, which takes place in the Messina region of Sicily. A golden statue of The Holy Mother is processed to the beach and set on an illuminated boat where it leads a boat procession. Hundreds of  fishing boats follow and the Madonna gives a Benediction of the Sea in the bay.

Not surprisingly, there are other, similar festivals which happen in Sicily at the same time:

The northern coastal city Altavilla Milicia, population 5000, gives thanks to the Madonna of Milicia. According to tradition, endangered fishermen threw her image into the tempestuous sea, which very suddenly became tranquil. The city renders homage to her with a great party.

In the northern coastal village of Baucina, population 2000, twelve groups of girls represent episodes in the life and the martyrdom of the patron saint, Santa Fortunata. Fifty believers carry a very heavy urn on their shoulders. Legend says that the Saint assists or hampers them depending on men’s level of loyalty.


As you may have gathered in previous posts, I am a fan of Italian traditional, magical dancing, particularly the tarantella and the pizzica. I was researching Puglia and it's history of Pizzica and came across this really cool article about a summer solstice pizzica festival. A pizzica rave! A few highlights:

Tinged with voodoo, pizzica folk music has added rhythm to one of Italy's cultural hotspots

A record 200,000 revellers –mainly young – attended this year's two-week series of concerts

Fast, hypnotic and tambourine-driven, the pizzica derives from a centuries-old concoction of faith healing and peasant culture, mixed with a whiff of Italian voodoo.

"The music is so closely tied to the local culture and identity, to joy, life and death, that it would be tough to turn it into a plastic, tourist experience."

Yeah, well, don't doubt they'll try.  Add another thing to my Italy to-do list!

That's all for tonight. Tomorrow I hope to have a special field report!

Hurricane Irene Magical Preparedness plan

It's true: I picked this title just to freak out the people who are looking for mundane plans. (sarcasm!) If that's you, have a nice day, and be prepared and safe! If you're here for some magical advice, read on!

What can we as a community of magical practitioners do to help fix this? There are those who don't believe weather magic is the right thing to do. Some might think that the weather has to do its thing because we don't know how what we do will impact others. I disagree. Aren't you shocked? For something as major as this hurricane is purported to be, let's make an exception. We need to focus on peace, on calming the storm and dissipating the force, on putting up a barrier, and sending it out to sea.

You can't do the work when you're freaked the f*k out. Breathe, ground, center, and get on it.

Pledge to donate all leftover non perishable food supplies procured for this emergency to a food pantry or food drive.

I've felt called to offer something to a deity I am not familiar with, Oya. I don't have a whole lot of time to get familiar right now, so I treated it like a cold call. I have a friend who works with Her, so I introduced myself, pledged an offering She is reputed to like (eggplant, red wine, plums, red grapes... Purple colors!) and asked that it be received in support of the work my friend is doing, which I agree with and support as well. I believe it will be well received.

It might sound silly, but enchant your duct tape, cardboard wood and rope. When you tie something down, make it an actual binding magically as well.

If you're forced to evacuate, you can still lay down the work on your home and ask your Patrons or the land itself to keep vigil for you and protect the place.

For those who work with saints: Ask Saint Irene to take her namesake out to sea! Saint Christopher is supposed to help protect against hurricanes too.

Whenever you have a moment, center, tap into your power, calm yourself and the storm and and push this storm far out to sea.

Let us be kind to each other and helpful; Any kindness upholds the Pax Deorum, the Peace of the Gods, and benefits us all. And don't fight over the last jar of jelly in the store. It's just grapes and sugar!

Saint Anthony

"Saint Anthony come down, something has to be found!"

I have no idea why I'm supposed to be writing about him tonight, so please pardon the ramble... Tonight's post is a stream of consciousness. He's the patron of lost things, a "thaumaturgist" and performed many a miracle, including a few involving wine. A ship he was traveling on was blown off course to Sicily, but as they arrived safely, he is the patron of sailors and anyone making a living on a boat, which is half of Italy lol

He was also real big on Mary. As in wrote about and promoted the ideas of her being born without sin and about her assumption. Cool, huh? He was called the "Hammer of the Heretics" not because he went around killing people, but because he was so inspiring he brought people back to the church. Patron of the lost... communication... am I going somewhere? Too easy.

He carries a lily, which is a sign of fertility and motherhood. In one legend the flower was said to be created from the breast milk of Hera, in another, it was the envy of Venus. Yet another ties it to Minoan Crete and the Goddess Britomartis, who is syncretized to Artemis (and therefore Diana? heh).

Funny that Saint Anthony is supposed to be the protector of marriage, as was Hera. Why is he the patron of marriage and procreation and protector of young brides?
Saint Anthony's Fire is caused by ergot, which is  alleged to be the main ingredient in the drink used in the Eleusinian Mysteries.

I'm just rambling on here. Thanks for coming on the journey. If you have something to add about Saint Anthony, please do. There are more details, but instead of typing them out, I'm taking them into my dream with me. Nighty night!

Saints

I feel compelled to discuss Saints tonight. Many Italians work with Saints, and not just because Catholocism is genetically modified Paganism. The popular deities whose worship couldn't be suppressed, were canonized, or their attributes transferred to another name/saint. Here is a web page with a list of canonized Pagans and Pagan festivals. Here's another! For the moment, here are a few examples: Saint Brigid. Saint Dionysus, Saint Aphrodite, and a favorite example, Saint Dominic. Let's get a bit into Dominic's details...

The miracles for which he was canonized include: raising people from the dead, exorcising demons, multiplying bread and wine, curing fevers and other illnesses, and having visions of Mary and Jesus.

In a little town in Italy, Cocullo, there is a snake charmer/handler festival every May, even now. It's the feast of Saint Dominic. Snakes are collected from mid March till the first Thursday in May and wrapped around Dominic's statue. The statue is paraded through the town with a procession of chanting and singing. There are snake charmer contests, snake handling, and the reading of omens based on the snake's behavior: If the snakes move upwards toward the statue's head, it's a good sign, if they twist around the body, or are restless or move towards the feet, it's a bad sign for the harvest to come and for the town in general.

So what do all of those miracles have to do with snakes and Saint Dominic's feast? He is also credited with saving Cocullo from snakes. Funny, around 700 BCE, Apollo was credited with the very same thing and was the Patron God of the town. Dominic is the patron saint of the town.

Apollo is the Sun God.
Apollo defeated the python terrorizing Delphi (and subsequently built his oracle there)
Apollo is the Greek God most associated with the snake, not just for Delphi- the Caduceus was Apollo's originally. He gave it to Mercury.
Apollo is also known as "the healer" and invoked as such in the Hippocratic Oath.
Asclepius, the famed healer also known as the snake-bearer, was his son. I'll stop here or I'll really get off topic.

The Sun God was venerated on.... Sunday. I know, trick question. How do you say Sunday in Italian? Domenica. Yeah, Dominic. Nice, easy, transparent cover, using a Saint to legitimize and continue an ancient practice.


There are Saints I work with in my practice. Why not? Just because the Catholics like someone doesn't mean that they own them. It doesn't mean that these entities are inaccessible to those who are not Catholic. It just means the Catholics named them and energetically elevated them within their system.

Just because a nun had a vision of the Mother Goddess, with the iconography of Isis, and called Her "Mary" doesn't meant I can't invoke Her too. Again, I don't think they sweat the small stuff, like names. I think deity is beyond name. I only obsess over it on occasion because I want to know if it was the same entity being called upon, or separate ones. I find the story of the Miraculous Medal interesting. The Madonna calls for a medal to be created using specific imagery. Nowhere does the story say anything about a specific prayer or novena. The story of her vision says that those who need something have to ask for it, and wear the medal around their neck.

"Saint Anthony come down, something has to be found! I need to find _________" is a phrase I've heard my whole life. It works, so I'm sticking with it.

Saint Christopher was de-canonized, but that's not going to stop people from carrying St. Christopher medals for safe travel!


It's getting late, so I'm going to pause here and leave you with the most saintly anthem ever: