Press Release: Philadelphia Pagan Pride Day

Philadelphia Pagan Pride Day will include a workshop on "Braucherei in the Urglaawe Context." The time of the workshop has not yet been determined, but we will post it when the schedule is confirmed.

This should be a great event, so folks may want to plan a day in Clark Park on August 31!

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FOR RELEASE August 11, 2013 

Media Contact: Robert L. Schreiwer, 
philadelphiapaganpride@gmail.com 

Philadelphia Pagan Pride, Inc., is pleased to announce the return of Philadelphia Pagan Pride Day on Saturday, August 31, 2013, at Clark Park (4301 Chester Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19143). The event runs from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, rain or shine. 

Philadelphia Pagan Pride Day is a family-friendly celebration of the harvest and reflects a variety of Pagan, Heathen, Wiccan, and other religious beliefs and practices. The day's events will feature a variety of workshops and discussions on religious and cultural aspects from the various traditions.

We have an exciting array of vendors and performers who will exhibit their wares and their talents. We are accepting additional vendors, workshop leaders, performers, and children's activity ideas up until August 15, 2013. Please visit www.philadelphiapaganpride.org to participate! 

Entry to the event is free, but we do request the donation of a canned food item or other provisions for our beneficiaries. This year, our beneficiaries are the food bank at the Mazzoni Center, Forgotten Cats, and In-Reach Heathen Prison Services. 

In 2012, Mazzoni Center's food bank Mazzoni Center's Food Bank provided more than 11,000 bags of groceries for over 1,200 individuals and families. For more information on Mazzoni Center services, please see mazzonicenter.org/content/food-bank.

Forgotten Cats is a humane trap, neuter, and release organization. the organization also provides adoption services. For more information on Forgotten Cats, please see www.forgottencats.org. 

In-Reach Heathen Prison Services is a joint effort of The Troth and Distelfink Sippschaft to bring positive materials and messages to incarcerated Heathens. In-Reach also accepts donations of other Pagan materials and distributes them through alliances and partnerships with other Pagan organizations. For more information on In-Reach, please see thetroth.blogspot.com/p/in-reach-program.html.

A detailed list of needed donation items may be found at:

www.philadelphiapaganpride.org/2013/08/donations-info-for-pppd.html. 

Anyone interested in getting involved as a volunteer should contact us by e-mail at:

philadelphiapaganpride@gmail.com. 

For more information, please visit www.philadelphiapaganpride.org.

Froschmuun

Tonight's new moon starts the Froschmuun (Frog Moon) on the Deitsch lunar zodiac... By Urglaawe reckoning, this is the fifth new moon after the Spring Equinox. For those near lakes and ponds, the frog's voice is heard clearly on the sultry evenings of this time of year. Those born under the frog sign reflect their representative animal, starting out in one, small, quiet form and transforming as an adult into a prominent (if not occasionally overwhelming) voice. 

There are several adaptable signs on the lunar wheel, and the Frosch is among them. While a frog can live on land, though, it does depend highly on water for survival and reproduction. Thus, the recognition of humanity's use and conservation of water resources is a key folk-consciousness attribute of this time of year.

Better late than never....

The Spring 2013 issue of Hollerbeer Haven is now available in .PDF format. It is a large document, so please be patient during the download.

Holle's Mill

This post is spurred on by an article in Denali Institute of Northern Traditions' May 2013 issue of True North. The article, The Magical Mill, referred to the presence and role of mills in various European mythologies, including Norse and Finnish.

As is the case with so many European folk religions and traditions, Urglaawe retains lore and knowledge of a major mill from Braucherei oral tradition. “Die Miehl” is by the hall of Holle, and it is in this mill that Holle takes the souls of the departed for processing between lives. 

The mill is said to separate the different pieces of the soul in order to release the returning components. In Urglaawe understanding, the portions of the soul that are released are the Urleeg (Ørlög) and the eternal Hoch (Higher Self; the divine spark). The Glick (Luck/Hamingja) is sometimes also passed from construct to construct. Additionally, the Folyer (Fetch/Fylgia), which, in Urglaawe, is seen as an independent entity that attaches itself to a new soul constructs, is freed to find another symbiotic host. The Urleeg, Glick, and Hoch may remain together or be separated into new soul constructs.  

The purpose for the milling is, in Urglaawe belief, to prepare the Hoch quickly for a continuing upward spiral of advancing consciousness. In the deities’ effort to thwart the forces of chaos (which in Urglaawe feature ignorance, apathy, rootlessness, and unenlightened self-interest along with the physical threats described in the story of Ragnarök), the advancement of human consciousness is one of their biggest investments. 

With each lifetime and variation in the interaction of the soul components, the Hoch is to increase its ability to understand existence and to assert its will into improving the existence. In short, the deities want us to be, at the end of this cosmic cycle, where they were at the beginning of it. It is, therefore, in the deities’ interests to keep the Lewesraad (the cycle of life, death, decay, and rebirth) moving along expeditiously.  

In fact, the Urglaawe view of the Wild Hunt pertains directly to this battle with chaos. In our oral lore, it is Holle who leads the Wild Hunt (though Wudan and She are often together, too). Her purpose is to find any souls that have fallen out of the Lewesraad cycle and to bring them back into it. She is followed through the skies by the souls that She has found or that have sought Her out. It is for this reason that the Deitsch culture associates Allelieweziel (Halloween) with the departure of Holle from this plane.  

In Braucherei, there are intervals in the spiritual year that the veil between the physical and spiritual planes (or among the worlds of the multiverse). Allelieweziel and Grundsaudaag (Groundhog Day), in particular, are times at which many Braucherei practitioners engage in soul work to direct lost or distressed souls towards the Miehl. It is also noteworthy that the same processes and cycles pertain to animal and plant spirit constructs, though they differ from those of humans.  

Holle’s Miehl plays a central, critical role in the purpose of human existence, purpose, and advancement. Many of us believe humanity is currently backsliding due to the dereliction of responsibility for one’s own advancement (another article unto itself), and it up to us to aid our deities’ efforts by striving to live our lives more deliberately, being conscious of the impact of our thoughts, words, and actions.

Braucherei in the Urglaawe Context

This will be a discussion and workshop on "Braucherei in the Urglaawe Context" at Trothmoot, which is being held this year in California at Tehachapi State Park.

Registration at Trothmoot would be necessary. Online registration for Trothmoot is now closed, it is possible to register and to sign all necessary forms and to pay on site.

Friday, May  31, 2013, 1:30 PM PDT

http://www.thetroth.org

http://www.co.kern.ca.us/parks/tehachapi.asp

Oklahoma Tornado Relief Efforts

Expanded info on Oklahoma tornado relief efforts. Thanks to Destiny Ballard of Bifrost Way for this information.

http://thetroth.blogspot.com/2013/05/oklahoma-tornado-relief-efforts.html

Awesome Little Braucherei Find

Sometimes the most amazing discoveries are sitting in our closets or storage areas!

My mother had asked if she could borrow one of the old family Bibles or other books that I have in my possession. I have several old Bibles and other books ranging from the Colonial period forward, though some are not in the best of shape, so I gave one that is in good condition; it is a Bible from 1844. 

This particular Bible had belonged to my great-grandmother and then my paternal grandmother. As we were looking through it, I found a little bag squeezed in the pages. 

This little discovery turned out to be a little Braucherei bag with a charm written on a piece of paper within it. The paper is in very delicate condition, so I have not opened it up fully, but it is definitely a charm, and I can see a fair amount of handwriting through the paper. 

When I get the paper opened fully and can decipher what is written upon it, I will share it.