Local Pagan metal band Cassandra Syndrome is in the running for "Band of the Month" on the metal blog Unleash the Furies. Lead singer, Irene Jericho, encouraged Faceook friends to vote for them:
Got a minute? Follow the link, scroll down to the 'Band of the Month' poll on the right hand side of the page, and click 'Cassandra Syndrome.' Only takes a couple seconds, they don't ask for any information from you and it would really make me happy. :)
This month's Unleash the Furies contest for January 2012 is based on the female-fronted metal bands that participated in the November 19, 2011 Flight of the Valkyries V show in Baltimore.
According to their website, Cassandra Syndrome is "a female-fronted operatic metal band. This passionate, engaging act strikes the perfect balance between playful and sinister. Cassandra Syndrome is an intimate theater of darkness and seduction."
Happy Solstice from your friends at PNC-DC! We have a great gift in store for you today. Our friends at The Open Hearth Foundation have given us two tickets to the New Year's Eve launch party celebrating the official opening of the DC Pagan Community Center, and they're all yours!
If holiday shopping has left you less than plentiful, this is the perfect chance to party down at the hottest New Year's bash for Pagans in our area. You'll also be participating actively in the progression of Pagan history as the center opens with a ribbon cutting ceremony. Oh and we've been told there will be cake. What more could you possible ask for?
The rules are easy, simple. Simply post a link to this blog on your various social media streams. If you post to Facebook, we'll keep track and you won't have to do anything. If you post to another site, just send us a link in the comments below. In honor of the solstice, you have until sunset today to participate.
Conditions (legal stuff)- Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize for an item of equal or greater value in the event all or part of a prize becomes unavailable. Prizes are awarded without warranty of any kind from Sponsor, express or implied, without limitation, except where this would be contrary to federal, state, provincial, or local laws or regulations. All federal, state, provincial and local laws and regulations apply.
Today is the last day to register for the Sacred Space Conference, one of the East Coast’s largest esoteric conferences, at the Early Registration rate of $125. On December 22, prices will increase to $150.00.
The 2012 Sacred Space Conference will be held in Laurel, MD from March 8 through 11 at the Holiday Inn Hotel on Sweitzer Lane. The four-day conference features many local teachers and presenters as well as featured teachers:
Lyratah Barrett, Director of the New Seed Sanctuary, a Magickal Order and Contacted Mystery School in Philadelphia, PA.
John Michael Greer, the current Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America and author of over 20 books, including The Wealth of Nature: Economics As If Survival Mattered and The Long Descent: A User’s Guide to the End of the Industrial Age.
Additional information on all the presenters, the workshop schedule, as well as information on accommodations is available at: www.sacredspacefoundation.org
Pagan artist Jennifer Cutting will be featured on the Kojo Nnamdi show on WAMU 88.5 FM today (Tuesday, Dec. 20) from 1:30 to 2:00 p.m. The interview is about her new CD, Song of Solstice, and she expects that topics will include the meaning behind the music; the musicians with whom she collaborated; and the themes of the album. Cutting will also be performing a "Solstice Celebration" show at the Birchmere on December 27th, and will talk about that upcoming show as well.
There are two ways to listen to the interview online:
1) Live, as it happens, on your radio (88.5 FM) or on your computer at www.kojoshow.org (select the little brown “Listen to WAMU” tab at the upper right of Kojo’s home page).
2) Later, when the show will be archived permanently at www.kojoshow.org It will probably be archived by 5 p.m. the day of the show (Tuesday, Dec. 20th).
Cutting encourages folks to call in to ask questions about the album or the upcoming show. The call in number is 1-800-443-8850.
From the press release:
Folk-Rock pioneer Jennifer Cutting, mastermind of The New St. George and The OCEAN Orchestra, has returned with a magical collection of holiday music for all generations and wisdom traditions. Her new full-length CD, Song of Solstice, combines brand-new winter songs with old favorites, folky authenticity with cutting-edge electronics, and rousing bagpipes and drums with gentle recorders and harps. It even puts legendary chanteuse Annie Haslam, the voice of the British 70s prog-rock band Renaissance, on the same album with music from the real, historical Renaissance!
Cutting started her project with a simple idea: to create music for the winter holidays that worked for everyone: Jew and Gentile, Christian and Pagan. Cutting lost her parents as a child; after her grandmother also passed away, she was raised by Indian swamis in a Hindu ashram in Florida. Partly due to this unusual childhood, she has long been a spiritual and musical seeker on many divergent paths. Song of Solstice celebrates the things all spiritual traditions share in their observance of wintertime: the blessing of human companionship in the cold times of the year, the endless round of the seasons, the return of warmth and light, and even the wisdom and strength to be found in the darkness.
Cutting’s original songs draw inspiration from these ideas. The title cut, “Song of Solstice,” is about giving thanks for both darkness and light, mixing contemplation with celebration. “Light the Winter’s Dark” celebrates the sages and deities of several religions, including Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, and the pagan Goddess. “Summer Will Come Round Again” evokes with lush imagery the Celtic “wheel of the year,” while “Green Man” assures us of winter’s greatest promise: “all that falls will rise again…all will be reborn.”
The Song of Solstice CD is available online from Amazon.com and CDBaby.com. You can also support their local shops by getting it at House of Musical Traditions in Takoma Park, or Politics and Prose in D.C.
Please share with love By Maria Aquila and David Salisbury
More than 60 people gathered in Georgetown, Delaware yesterday, as the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel hosted a Ground Breaking Ceremony for the New Alexandrian Library. This historic project aims to build a modern, state of the art library, physical structure to house a research and reference library.
All the materials have been acquired and permits issued. Construction is planned to begin on Monday morning.
The event began with host, Michael Smith, an Elder in the ASW, welcoming participants to the event and explained a brief history of the project stating that the library is "is dream whose time has come now!"
Smith also explained the grand vision for the library that will be a structure that endures and grows through the generations.
He then introduced ASW Elder, Ivo Dominguez Jr. who talked more about the project and how it is more than just collecting and preserving books, special collections, and artifacts. It is also about the Pagan community's need for roots and infrastructure.
"As much as I and many of you like the internet, or their kindle or their iPad, there is no substitute for having rooted in the physical plane storage, special materials and more importantly, a catalyst for interaction," stated Dominguez. "Where there have been great libraries, and libraries are as much the center for creation and presentation of culture, you have a crossroads where you have interaction between different people doing scholarly work. There is a place to point at and say, in this place we actually have the maturity and perseverance as a community to make something happen that stays."
There is no Kindle, no electronic version that will ever be the same as actually being in the precsence of a book that was owned by a particular author. Each of these books is like a Book of Shadows. Each is filled with the essence and the energy of the people who have worked with it. So there is something that can only be held in the physical realm."
Next, NAL Program Manager Jim Dickensen talked about the actual physical construction of the structure that will be a concrete encased dome that will help ensure the security of the by providing a structure that will withstand time, the weather, including hurricanes. Using AI Domes, the building will be sealed with layers of concrete and shaped in the way that accounts for the aerodynamic flow of wind that passes around it.
"This structure is the beginning, we foresee adding Dome 2, and Dome 3, and Dome 4, as time goes on and adding additional facilities as lecture halls that can be linked to universities and other learning institutions...This building will be constructed in a magickal way, with magickal objects, offerings, and implements."
Participants were then lead to the construction site where Smith lead an invocation with others, calling upon the spirits of the land to bless the site.
"We who stand here today, we who are manifest and walk in the world call upon the spirits of this land; the ancestors and the fey, the spirits of the depths, the spirits of the heights. Be present in this space, be present with these people and this community. The tools of manifestation, the offerings of our selves, the offerings of the manifestations of creation. Bless this work, bless this library, bless this land and all who come here."
Other attendees approached the space and delivered a series of blessings from various traditions. As the cold air sang through the trees of Seelie Court, it was easy to envision the site that the space will become; a home for esoteric and magickal lore both new and old.
More information on the project, and how you can contribute, can be found at sacredwheel.org/nal
Connect DC will be holding their Winter Solstice Ritual at the Reflections Mystery School temple in NW Washington. The Yule 2011 Ritual, Responding to the Call of Divine Mystery, will begin at noon, with participants asked to gather at the temple at 11:30 AM. Immediately following the ritual, Reflections will be hosting a public Yule party.
Moonfire will be holding celebrating Yule at the their Monthly Ritual on Sunday from 1:30 pm till 3:30 pm at the UU church in Arlington, 4444 Arlington Blvd, Arlington, VA. Details can be found on their web site: http://www.moonfireuuca.org/
5PM, Greenbelt, MD
Sunday evening at 5PM, the Central Maryland Pagans will be hosting their Yule Ritual and Potluck Celebration in Greenbelt, MD. Participants are asked to gather at 5PM for a meet and greet and ritual preparation. The ritual will being at 6PM with a potluck celebration immediately afterward.
The DC Radical Faeries will be hosting: A Very Faerie Yule 2011, on Wednesday, December 21st, 7pm - 9pm at the OHF Community Center in SE Washington, DC from 7PM to 9PM.
While many people stood in lines for hours on end in the middle of the night on Black Friday, other retail stores took a different approach. Smaller shops participating in Black Friday deals has been a growing trend throughout the years as desperate shoppers search for bargains in the strained economy.
With many stores doing the same thing, retailers are finding more creative ways to lure in customers. With all the marketing pressure surrounding this time of year, its nice to see places that think about giving back along the way.
Sticks and Stones located in Fairfax, participated in "Pink Friday." The store was open all day and among their many deals they collected funds for breast cancer research. They also collected food for companion animals.
As the holiday season moves on and shopping increases, do you see any of your favorite shops engaging in charitable practices like this? Let us know.
