Songs of the Green Man

As we descend into winter, my thoughts always turn to the Green Man; and as I get a lot of comfort and joy from my music, I thought I’d share some of the songs that I’ve found that relate to him.

My Heathen side

In one of my first posts I mentioned that Heathenry would have been a logical path for me to take, from an ancestral perspective; my Mom’s side of the family is largely Palatine German (and British), and that’s the part of the family that I grew up with.

And for my Christian readers…

Merry Christmas! Rejoice in the birth of your Savior and the company of your loved ones.

Have a blessed Solstice!

Whatever you celebrate at this season, may your God(s) bless you at this sacred time.

Vikings with banjos!

This is too cool! From the Philadelphia Mummer’s Parade.

Beowulf

So maybe I’m just a big nerd (OK, scratch the “maybe”… :) ) But I’m all excited about this: a free e-book of Tom Shippey’s Beowulf, a volume in Routledge’s “Critical Heritage” series.

A little more on Yule music

Woven Wheat Whispers is the label that brought out the much-talked-about John Barleycorn Reborn multi-disc compilation back at Lammas (and the much less noticed, but IMO actually superior, “companion” volume, All Souls Arise); they are an outstanding label (if that’s the term) that is doing much to promote a new generation of folk music that is frequently highly “myffic“.

Music of the season – Yule

[Note: this is a lightly edited repost from my old LJ. I am hoping to make this an occasional series here, as warranted.]

Good Winter Solstice music is hard to find. In general I do not include filked Christmas carols in the “good” category, although there are a couple of exceptions (and completely new pagan words set to an existing melody are a different matter altogether). Good *Christmas* music abounds, of course… and some of it is even reasonably pagan-friendly.

The wisdom of Terry Pratchett

So, I’m in the middle of my annual re-reading of Hogfather; and as an early Hogswatch gift, and because I can’t think of a better tribute to the Master in light of the recent news, I thought I’d share a couple of the (many) choice little gems in what I consider to be his most spiritual book.

Bog bodies

There’s a very interesting article in a recent National Geographic about new technologies being used to investigate bog bodies – the ancient corpses found in peat bogs through much of Northern Europe.