Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Ian Phanes' LiveJournal:

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Friday, April 27th, 2012
7:23 pm	the history of LCoP written in response to a message from someone in Blue Star trying to sort out the history Our coven is Little Circle on the Plain (LCoP). The original Coven of the Blue Star was in Philadelphia, led by Franque and Tzip.  The first initiates with Tzip as Franque's priestess were my initiators, whose outer Craft names are Branwen and Caspian. Franque and Tzip moved up to New York to open their shop, Tziporah and the Wizard.  They authorized Branwen and Caspian to lead the Philly folks, but they were still part of Coven of the Blue Star, coming up to New York to circle with Franque and Tzip and any folks they added up there.  In early 1979, the Philly folks chose to become a separate coven from the New York folks, under the leadership of Branwen and Caspian.  I believe the date of separation was Imbolc 1979, but it might have been a month or so earlier or later. Branwen and Caspian led the group for about a year, then had to move for Branwen's work.  They left it with another couple, who named it Maidenhill. After a couple of moves, Branwen and Caspian ended up in Central Illinois.  In early 1997, I got to know Branwen and then Caspian.  They initiated me in Feb. 1998, though I had been working in another (very non-Wiccan) style of Craft for about a decade at that point.  I introduced them to a select few other folks, and the coven started in August 1998.  Branwen died in April 2005, and a couple of years later Caspian moved to be closer to his grandkids. I would argue that our lineage is not from the Blue Star Tradition, as there was no tradition when the Philly group separated--just the one coven that hadn't yet developed many of the characteristics of the Blue Star Tradition.  Instead, I identify our lineage as from Eddie Buczynski's American Welsh trad, which derives from NECTW.  I see Maidenhill/LCoP and Blue Star Tradition as parallel lines--with Franque and Tzip as the initiators of both lines--but with some real differences. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 5th, 2012
2:07 pm	"I’m Christian, unless you’re gay." The original post: I’m Christian, unless you’re gay. All his follow-up posts, including: A Teen’s Brave Response to “I’m Christian, Unless You’re Gay” Have Kleenex on hand for that last one. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, March 26th, 2012
3:24 pm	Only Boys Aloud Welsh boys choir Only Boys Aloud auditioning for Britain's Got Talent (Comment on this)
Friday, March 23rd, 2012
3:53 pm	Blue Triskele Wicca? I've been thinking of the style practiced by LCoP as "Blue Triskele Wicca" for a while now.  While our lineage derives from NECTW via Eddie Buczynski's Welsh Tradition, our closest lineage kin are Blue Star Wicca.  This is because our founders, Branwen and Caspian, were the first initiates by Franque and Tzip into the Coven of the Blue Star in Philadelphia, before Franque and Tzip moved to New York and started the tradition called Blue Star Wicca.  When I met a couple who had been initiated by Blue Star initiates, we discovered that the altar arrangement hadn't changed substantially--after a quarter of century of separation.  We are still influenced by the practices that Branwen and Caspian learned from Franque and Tzip.  So, we are more like Blue Star than we are like anything else anyone will have heard of. But we aren't Blue Star.  The core of our Book of Shadows was written by our founders after they separated from Franque and Tzip.  We don't have a degree system. We aren't interested in being a Tradition with a capital T.  If someone moves away and founds a new coven, they should change their Book of Shadows without feeling that they have to consult their upline--just as we do.  We believe that Wicca works best when it can change organically, gradually. Perhaps most radically, our Wicca includes three deities, not two: our Lady, our Lord, and our Revealer.  The Revealer happened to us because I am third-gender.  I didn't fit right as a priestess or as a priest.  So Branwen told me that I needed to go find a third-gender deity and bring it back to the coven.  (Unlike some of the folk in the discussions about trans-inclusion in paganism, she didn't respond "you don't fit our system, so go elsewhere and celebrate your own mysteries."  Instead, she said, "you don't fit in our system, so we need to expand our system to include you fully."  Blessed be her memory.)  So, most of a decade ago, I discovered Phanes, the bi-gender deity in the Orphic Cosmogony.  I brought back to the coven a Revealer who comes from Hellenistic mysticism, is radiant, and golden-winged.  When, a couple of years ago, our coven did a sharing about our experienced of the Revealer, I discovered that most of my covenmates worship a Revealer who reflects Northwestern European traditions, is hooded, and shrouded in mists.  That's when I knew that this had become meaningful for the coven as a whole, not just "Ian's thing".  Since that discussion, most of the initiates have stood as herald of the Revealer at least once, as a conscious way of deepening their connection.  And they also challenged me to stand as priestess of the Lady and as priest of the Lord, to help me deepen my connections with them. We aren't Blue Star, but we're close.  And our core is a triad of deities.  So, Blue Triskele Wicca.  I mentioned it to my covenmates for the first time last week, and people seemed to like it.  I have no idea if my covenmates will use it, but I think I may. Blue Triskele Wicca...how does that sound to you folks? Edited to correct spelling. (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, March 2nd, 2012
3:02 pm	libations A linguistic quibble: "to libate" can only correctly be used for liquids, as the Latin word means "to pour as an offering". (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, March 1st, 2012
12:14 pm	thingums "thingums" is an ancient Witchcraft term for ritual tools, candles, oils, herbs, offerings, jewelry, statues, altar cloths, robes, and any other material objects. It's probably Ye Olde Celtic or Old High Gallifreyan in origin. ;-P (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012
9:31 am	Braised Red Cabbage from an email list I'm on: It is Swedish and from a book called, Shelia Lukin's All Around the World Cookbook. 1 large Red Cabbage (2.5 lbs), cored, halved, and tough outer leaves deiscarded 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter 1 cup dried Cherries 1/4 Cup red wine vinegar 1/4 Cup Apple Juice 1/4 Cup Red Currant Jelly 1 Tablespoon Sugar Salt and Pepper 1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees 2. Cut the red cabbage into thin slices and set aside 3. Melt butter in large, heavy, oven proof pot over medium heat. Add cherries and cook until they are soften. 2 Mintues. 4. Add the cabbage, vinegar, apple juice, red currant jelly, sugar, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat until the cabbage begins to wilt. 5 Minutes. Cover and braise in the oven for 1 hour. Serve Hot. (Comment on this)
Monday, February 13th, 2012
3:08 pm	pentagram and pentacle origins Someone asked about the origins of the pentacle symbol in nonwiccanwitch.  This is what I wrote: You will find more information if you look for "pentagram" than "pentacle". If I remember correctly, John Michael Greer has a decent entry on the pentagram in his The New Encyclopedia of the Occult. The pentagram (not necessarily encircled) entered the Western esoteric tradition through the Ancient Greek Pythagoreans, who associated it with health. Since then, it has primarily been associated with magic--primarily power and protection. During the Christian centuries, it was generally perceived as a Christian symbol (as you just discovered) because that was their context. It was *never* associated with pagan religion until the latter part of the 20th century, and then only because British Traditional Wicca--and then other forms of Modern Pagan Witchcraft--took it from Ceremonial Magic. Pentacle, on the other hand, derived from a French phrase for "hung from the neck" and was used for *any* pendant containing a sigil or similar design in ritual magic evocations. The Golden Dawn extended the use to refer to one of their elemental tools: a disc displaying a hexagram against a background divided in quarters, each quarter in the color of one of the four elements in the sphere of Malkuth. (They used the alternate term "lamen" to describe ritual pendants.) The use of "pentacle" for a pendant or altar object prominently displaying a pentagram (almost always encircled) appears to have arisen within Modern Pagan Witchcraft in the latter part of the 20th century. As far as I can tell, it was a conflation of 1) the ritual use of pentagrams inscribed in the air at the quarters in British Traditional Wicca; 2) the mention of "pentacles" for objects inscribed with sigils in the Gardnerian First Degree Initiation Ritual; and 3) the use of "pentacles" as a title in the Rider-Waite Tarot for the suit of discs or coins, showing discs displaying an encircled pentagram. I am unclear if this conflation began in BTW and migrate outward, or began in Wiccan-derived Craft and was later used in BTW. It is my strongly held opinion that, as the pentagram was historically associated with magic rather than pagan religion, the pentacle symbol should only be used as a religious symbol within Modern Pagan Witchcraft.  Other pagans are strongly encouraged to use a symbol relevant to *your* paganism.  (E.g.: a triskell or triquetra for Celtic pagans or a Thor's hammer for heathens.) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, January 6th, 2012
1:43 pm	video: Roll a D6 a hip-hop video about Dungeons & Dragons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54VJWHL2K3I&feature=player_embedded Geek love! (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 4th, 2012
12:10 pm	map of public pagan statues in the US http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=206968267575527882077.0004b4f56be0fb3566107&msa=0 (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, December 31st, 2011
9:36 pm	Statistics for my life 2011 2010 2009 2008 ContraryWise Craft solitary circles 21 18 17 13 Little Circle on the Plain meetings 17 18 20 19 Hermetic Order of the Celtic Cross meetings 11 13 10 9 Beads N Botanicals psychic fairs and classes 6 9 4 0 Society for Creative Anachronism events 5 4 6 5 Brotherhood of the Phoenix rituals 4 1 4 1 CUPagan/Friday the Thirteenth rituals 2 1 2 0 In 2012, I want to increase my ContraryWise circles.  I've noticed that increasing their frequency increases my total energy.  And I need some energy... I have been way too tired for way too long.  So I'm taking a sabbatical from HOCC group activity this year.  I've been the person keeping things going for almost a decade--since we dropped down to two members, which means we can't function as a chapter and elect officers.  TASE took a sabbatical year from HOCC a few years back, and that worked well.  Now it's my turn. The one additional thing I'm hoping to add to my plate this year is a course on Practicing Modern Pagan Witchcraft which will meet monthly.  But I need enough people to sign up, and that hasn't happened so far. (Comment on this)
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
1:07 pm	calculating sabbat dates In nonwiccanpagans, faeriegirl asked questions about the sabbats: I have a few questions which are probably the most stupidest and obvious questions of ever, but bear with me please! Every time a sabbat rolls around I get confused on the date. It's because I know the Celts viewed the day as beginning at sundown (so, for example, Friday will begin at sundown tonight), and I'm wondering if that's how the calendars list them? Let me put it this way. Say the Calendar says Jun 21st is the Summer Solstice. Does that mean it begins on Jun 21st and then goes through the 22nd? Or is it just Jun 21st by itself? The other question is, is Imbolc celebrated on Feb 1 or 2? I've seen them both listed so many times, but I'm wondering specifically when the Celts celebrated as I'm wanting to keep my path as Celtic as possible, though I'm not a Celtic Reconstructionist :P I replied: These are not stupid questions, and they are most certainly not obvious, as there is no certain answer to them. The ancient Celts did not use the Gregorian calendar. In fact, the ancient Celts did not all use the same calendar. One calendar we do have in the archaeological record is the Coligny calendar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coligny_calendar It is a lunisolar calendar. Partially inspired by that information, I created my own lunisolar calendar for modern paganism: http://ianphanes.livejournal.com/56679.html OK, more specifically: Solstice: The Celts didn't celebrate the solstice, in anything I've seen. So you need to decide what calendaring rules you wish to use. You said that you define your day as sunset to sunset. So you look up the exact time of the solstice or equinox for that year. This year, Sol entered Capricorn at 0530 GMT on Thur. 22 Dec. That's 2330 CT on Wed. 21 Dec. for me. Using those rules and my location, the Winter Solstice started at sunset on Wed. 21 Dec and ends at sunset on Thur. 22 Dec. Imbolc: Again, the ancient Celts didn't use the Gregorian calendar, so what we are working with are two Christian feasts that were later associated with the mentions of the ancient feast of Imbolc. Part of the confusion is that there are two critical and related feasts at the beginning of February in Irish Catholicism: The Feast of St. Brigid on 1 Feb; and Candlemas, or the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin, on 2 Feb. These feasts are interrelated in the Irish consciousness in that 1 Feb honors St. Brigid, Mary of the Gael, while 2 Feb. honors St. Mary, Mother of God. (In some legends, Brigid is even declared to have been Mary's midwife at the birth of Jesus.) Given that the other three cross-quarter days are all observed on the first day of the month--beginning on the eve before--I would suggest starting Imbolc at sunset on 31 Jan. and ending at sunset on 1 Feb. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, November 28th, 2011
12:22 pm	the seasons of the sphinx? something for me to reflect on... Star Foster wrote: Perhaps the season between Samhain and Imbolc is meant to be focused on Silence. On Secrecy, and things kept very close to the heart. Imbolc to Beltane, might be the season of Knowing. Beltane to Lammas, the season of the Will. Lammas to Samhain, the season to Dare. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, November 18th, 2011
3:46 pm	wandering many paths I keep seeing posts from various people who are trying to find the right path (singular) for them, the (single) label that encompass their souls.  And I always want to ask, "Why?"  Why do you want to limit yourself that way? Can you name any significant figure in modern paganism who walked only one path? I suspect that polyreligiosity is the default for devout pagans. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 8th, 2011
10:08 am	ethics, via quotes I've often found that certain popular culture quotes express my ethics succinctly. Glinda the Good:  Are you a good witch, or a bad witch? Tira (Mae West):  When I'm good, I'm very good. But, when I'm bad...I'm better. The Doctor:  Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
7:07 pm	stepping onto the path My usual advice on finding a religious or magical path is: Start by reading broadly. If possible, meet real life practitioners, and participate in open rituals if they are available to you. After a bit, pick something to *do*.  Some discipline. It can be a whole tradition or just a simple practice or anywhere in between.  The point is committing to doing something.  Don't worry about whether or not it's the right path for you for life.  Just choose it for now. Stick with it for a year.  That will probably be very hard at points.  Feel free to adjust the discipline during that year, but don't stop it. By the end of year of *any* discipline, you will know a great deal more about yourself, and about what you're really looking for.  And it's amazing how often--if the discipline wasn't the right path for you--opportunities will crop up to show you where you should be heading. (Comment on this)
Monday, October 31st, 2011
4:04 pm	my list of the Mighty Dead Dion Fortune Gerald Gardner Robert Cochrane Gwen Thompson Edmund Buczynski Melita Denning Doreen Valiente Stewart Farrar Victor Anderson Ellen Cannon Reed Evan John Jones Sjanna Johnston info Cora Anderson (Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
10:54 am	the point of divination The core question of divination is not: What will happen to me? The core question is: What should I do in this situation? (Comment on this)
Friday, October 7th, 2011
12:43 pm	Astrolabe makes astrologers look bad Here's a place where my professional and magical lives intersect... Wow! Via Slashdot, we discover that a company named Astrolabe, which appears to make astrology software, has ridiculously decided to sue the maintainers of the timezone database that nearly every Unix and Linux platform uses to set clocks to local time. Astrolabe apparently bought the rights to the database from The American Atlas, which is cited as a source in the timezone database. But... there's a problem: you can't copyright facts. And it's difficult to see how this information is anything but factual. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111006/11532316235/astrolabe-claims-it-holds-copyright-timezone-data-sues-maintainers-public-timezone-database.shtml I've emailed Astrolabe, Inc.: Given your recently filed frivolous lawsuit I will make certain to avoid purchasing your products personally and/or selecting them for the collection of our library.  I am appalled. I've sent a similar letter to Robert Hand, the founder of Astrolabe Inc.  This is unfortunate as I've been selecting several titles from Robert Hand's other company for the collection. edited to add: I got the following response from Robert Hand's other company, Arhat: Thank you for your email. We just tried to contact you and got voice mail. We left a message with a phone number for you to return our call. Mr. Hand has not been affiliated with Astrolabe, Inc. for over 10 years. We would appreciate learning more about this. So I can continue to select Arhat titles for the collection and purchase them for myself.  And I've got Arhat's attention on Astrolabe Inc. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
4:50 pm	Astrological Checkers My lodgemate, L, was kind enough to introduce us to “The Book of Astrological Games” in Libros de los Juegos (The Book of Games), commissioned by Alfonso X of Castile, Galicia and León and completed in his scriptorium in Toledo in 1283. The following is my draft of modern rules for the Astrological Checkers game included in the text.  Suggestions, questions, etc., are welcome. ( Read more... ) (4 Comments |Comment on this)