The Spiral Dance with Hawthorne is a lively weekly show dedicated to folks who share a passion for earth-based spirituality. We offer a combination of music and talk, with engaging conversations with writers, musicians and activists, complimented with the latest in Wiccan, Pagan and New Age music.
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For this weeks show, we honor America’s Independence Day – July 4th. Ya; this ain’t no Christian country. Democracy was invented by the ancient Greeks. The ancient Greeks were Pagan. Therefore, Democracy is a Pagan institution.
I want to share with you a ritual you can do to help ensure Religious Freedom - whether it’s just for yourself, or for your community, or even for the whole world. Plus some Pagan writers have suggested that we can invoke the Founding Fathers to provide protection for our religious freedoms. I want to share some excerpts from an article I found that talks about how the Founding Fathers viewed America’s relationship to religion. Then; the Fourth of July kicks off The Beach Season in these parts, so let’s talk about a good magickal approach to the beach.
We in the U.S. have just celebrated Fathers Day. Some characterize Fathers Day, and Mothers Day as “Hallmark Holidays” – holidays that don’t have a whole lot of significance and were actually invented by the greeting card industry.
Be that as it may, in an increasingly complex society such as ours, Parenting has become a very big issue. And Fatherhood is ever more controversial.
Zackery Fisk joins us this week to talk about Pagan Fathering. Zack has been with us before as a founding member of the Church of Eternal Light in Bristol, CT. Visit the Church of Eternal Light on the web at www.churchofeternallight.org.
Also, I’ll share some thoughts on how your kids could handle any bullies in their lives.
This week on The Spiral Dance, we celebrate the Midsummer Sabbat. Summer Solstice occurs on Sunday, June 21.
It was right around this time of the year back around 1995 when I was first introduced to the Pagan Path. I thought, at the time, that it was a little strange to refer to the Summer Solstice as “midsummer”, when, by our calendar the solstice marks the first day of summer. I’ve come to learn that the ancient Celtic peoples only saw the year as having two seasons: Summer and Winter - or the Time of the Big Sun and the Time of the Little Sun. The period between the Spring Equinox and the Autumnal Equinox was the Time of the Big Sun, or what we call summer. The solstice marks the mid-point, so we call it Mid-Summer. However, with that said, it was really the Norse and the Saxons who started actually celebrating the solstices. So, there are a number of different traditions that we’re drawing from.
Celtic Wiccans also call this Sabbat, Litha. Litha is an Anglo-Saxon word, meaning “Moon”. The summer solstice takes place as the Sun enters the sign of Cancer; the month of the year which is ruled by the Moon. Litha was the time when our spiritual ancestors crowned the Sacred Holly King. The Holly King and the Oak King are symbols of the waning period, and the waxing period of the year. At summer solstice, the Holly King wins over the Oak King as the year turns towards the time of shortened days and lengthened nights. At Yule, the Oak King will win once again.
Wiccans at Solstice also call upon our Bright Lady and Shining Lord to bless our families, our homes and communities with light, inspiration joy, happiness, strength and wisdom.
This week on The Spiral Dance we get down to the Primal Scream of Religion! By that, I mean that we’ll look at the roots that lay at the base of religion. Where did the religious impulse come from?
We’ll take a look at what may be the world’s oldest known Ritual; when and where it was practiced, and what historians believe humans were worshipping there.
Then we’ll explore the relationship between religion and organized dance.
And from there, we’ll look at Mystery Cults. And finally – a Rosicrucian Moon Initiation.
