Snapshot Saturday: St. Dunstan’s in the East

I am a big fan of Sara Douglass‘ books.  In one of her series, a particular church in London is featured.  So when I realized I would be stopping in London, I made it my mission to find this church and visit for a while.  I thought it would be so awesome to visit a place used in books I read.

I found it, and it was more incredible than I expected.  The sense of peace emanates from its stones, and even though this church and its walls have seen so much in the city, its  churchyard is still a place of welcome and repose.  To find out more about St. Dunstan’s in the East, see my pictures below or read here or here.

I’m Off!

Hello all my lovely readers!  Today I leave for a much-deserved and long overdue vacation, and my first trip overseas in 7 years.  I’ll be traveling to the land of my ancestors–England!  I’ll also stop in Wales and Scotland.  All very magical, old places, and I can’t wait to see it all!

I’ve set up some articles to automatically post while I’m away, but I won’t have continual Internet access.  If you want to leave a comment or send me an email, I encourage you to do so, but know that I may not respond in a timely fashion.  It’s not that I don’t want to respond–I’ll just be hiking my little heart out in the UK!  Until my return, enjoy the posts, and I’ll stop in as I can!

Spiritual Places

When it comes to very spiritual Pagan places, most probably thing of Stonehenge.  It’s the most well-known and widely-recognized Pagan landmark.  Those in the US probably think of Sedona, AZ, as it’s a metaphysical and New Age hub.  Other than that, what other places are there?  Do we even need special spiritual places?

I’d like to address the second question first.  Many Pagans revere the earth and consider the earth to be sacred or special in some way or another.  This thinking goes back to ancient modes of thought and belief in which the earth herself was something to worship or revere, and was a goddess.  This has become, to varying degrees, a mode of thought in modern Paganism as well.  The earth is treasured and honored, if not worshiped, and many of us honor and work with personified earth goddesses.

So if we see the entirety of the earth as sacred or special–then what is so special or necessary about spiritual sites?

If you subscribe to the idea of natural ley lines and nodes, then a number of spiritual places around the world are special and of spiritual significance because at those locations the earth’s energy is more strongly felt.  Sedona’s vortexes work from this kind of theory, that those areas are pools of natural energy that we lowly humans can feel and interact with.

We tend to need spiritual places of some kind because we’re human.  We prefer to have tangible evidence, and special places of worship or spirituality fulfill that need.  It’s just as true for Pagans as it is for any other faith.  Even Native Americans and other indigenous peoples have sacred places, and they are faiths and peoples very firmly connected to the earth and who do see the earth as a sacred entity.

Not only that, but spiritual places help bring spirituality into focus.  They can help a person to connect more easily with the divine and with nature than can necessarily be achieved in the home.  Areas that have a natural, more divine feel to them, that speak more directly of the gods and the universe, enhances your connection to the divine and can bring you more into focus.  For example, I can see the stars from my house in Maryland–but from the desert out west, I can see the Milky Way.  My view from home is lovely, but it doesn’t compare to the awe-inspiring view of the universe that I found in Arizona, and it doesn’t give me the same feeling that seeing the Milky Way and all those stars gave me.

So while the earth overall can be our spiritual center, those certain special places around the globe that speak to each of us of something greater, of a deeper connection–those are as worthy of reverence as the earth herself, and vice versa, the earth herself is as worthy of reverence as those special places.

As to what those places are; well, they vary widely.  Some people say their special place is the little grove or forest outside their house.  Some people say it’s a cave, or the beach, or a mountain.  Others say it’s the standing stones in Europe or the natural rock formations in Western America.

Stonehenge

Stonehenge isn’t the only magical place on the earth, and while Stonehenge is still worthy of care and reverence, a lot of people have been saying lately that the area feels tired, depleted, as if the energy of Stonehenge had been sapped.  I’m not surprised–so many people flock to the place every year and take of the energy but give nothing in return.

You don’t need to go to Stonehenge.  There are plenty of other places, some even closer than England.  Sedona, Arizona; the redwood forests in California; national parks; standing stones in England, Ireland, and Scotland; and many more.  A little research will yield a great many alternatives, if you’re willing to look a little deeper.

Review: ‘Wyrdworking: The Path of a Saxon Sorcerer’ by Alaric Albertsson

Wyrdworking: The Path of a Saxon Sorcerer
by Alaric Albertsson
published 2011 by Llewellyn Publishing ISBN 9780738721330
323 pages
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Copy is a review copy
Rating: 4 out of 5
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About the Book: Alaric Albertsson returns to the Anglo-Saxon spirituality in his second book, Wyrdworking, a follow-up companion to his first book Travels Through Middle Earth. Rooted in the history and folklore of England and Europe, Albertsson reveals more about the practices of the ancient and modern Anglo-Saxon sorcerers.  In this guide, Albertsson discusses a number of Anglo-Saxon magical practices and beliefs, including: the nature of magic and the nine parts of the Self, techniques for studying the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc runes, how to make rune charms, how to cast a spell, and what is involved in learning and using herbs.

My Thoughts: First of all, I feel that I should explain my interest in this book.  I am not on a Saxon path, by any means.  But my curiosity and interest were piqued when I saw this book and decided to read it.  The Anglo-Saxons are of interest to me; in fact, anything about England is of interest to me, since that is where my ancestors are from.  So although much of the information contained in the book does not apply to my own spiritual practices, I still found it to be an engaging and interesting read.

Albertsson begins with a section about magic and the tools of magic.  He writes about what magic is and is not in this instance, which is always important for any serious book about magic and spirituality in my opinion.  Albertsson also makes a distinction that I feel is very important, yet this distinction does not get explained enough in other pagan texts–that of the distinction between magic and spirituality, and where these two concepts intersect and differ.  For those new come to the Saxon path or those who are unfamiliar with it, he provides a brief explanation of Saxon spirituality and beliefs, both in terms of ancient and modern meanings.

For those seriously using this book as a guidebook, Albertsson includes a short set of review questions at the end of the chapters to make the reader think about what was just read.  I think this is a very helpful and useful decision on his part, and I even found it useful as a mere reader in thinking about the core concepts of a chapter.

A good portion of the book is taken up by a discussion of runes.  I learned a great deal in these sections.  For instance, I didn’t realize there is such a difference between the Elder Futhark, Younger Futhark, and Angle-Saxon runes–or that there even were Anglo-Saxon runes.  Since I don’t work with runes (I work with tarot), this section is less of a guide to me than it is general information I found highly interesting.

I would be interested to learn where Albertsson learned the spellings and meanings of Old English words, for he uses many of these words in his book.  Not that I doubt his accuracy–I would hope that someone involved for 40 years in the same path would be accurate–but because as a linguist I have an interest in such things.

The discussion of the runes and their meanings reminded me of a discussion of language.  A person can memorize as many words of a foreign language as they like, and even gain a certain amount of understanding and usage, but full comprehension of a language is impossible without understanding the culture it comes from.  In this same way should runes be approached, according to Albertsson.  The rune set a person works with has different meanings according to the culture it is from, and for a full understanding of runes, the culture needs to be studied as well.

Overall, I enjoyed this book.  I learned many new things and gained a bit of insight and knowledge of a path very different from my own.  Albertsson writes in a very frank and simple way about this path, yet intelligently.  I also found some of the examples of his personal experiences to be sometimes amusing, sometimes helpful in understanding the concepts he presents.  However, I do have one qualm with this book–that Albertsson so heavily references his previous book.  I understand why he did so, but I found it annoying nonetheless.  A minor point in the scheme of things.  I still thought the book an interesting read, and I suspect it would be helpful to someone actually on an Anglo-Saxon path.

Snapshot Saturday: Cliffs of Moher

The Cliffs of Moher is one of the most beautiful and phenomenal places I have ever been.  I took a trip to Ireland and England in 2003 and one of the first places my group and I went was to the Cliffs of Moher.  It was a great way to start off the trip.  The Cliffs are simply astonishing, and an awesome reminder of nature’s powerful and wild beauty.