HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: tedwards@src.umd.edu (Thomas Grant Edwards)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: night and winter
Summary: thunderstorms
Date: 1 Oct 92 04:54:25 GMT
Organization: Systems Research Center, Maryversity of Uniland, College Park

In article <80738@ut-emx.uucp> amadeus@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Susan Harwood Kaczmarczik) writes:
>
>I love winter.  I'm not sure how much of it has to do with being a
>December baby, but it's always been my favorite season.

I love winter also (birthday is Dec. 9, a total lunar eclipse this
year...great imagery!).  But the problem is the winters have been
real wimpy around the DC area the last couple of years.  I remember
all kinds of 3ft. snowfalls when I was younger.

And the worst is cold late fall / early winter rains...yuck!  (IMHO, of
course).  But snow is beautiful!  It's great how a few inches can
bring such tranquility, even to a city!  Then there is freezing rain,
another of my favorites...all night you hear the trees cracking,
power lines exploding, etc.

And thundersnow!  As a young medievalist, I remember building a fort
out in the middle of a forest, when the sky started getting dark,
so I headed back to home.  Then white flashes of lightning lit up
the forest, already covered with a few inches of snow, like a 
blazing sun for a microsecond, and the snow started pouring down hard!

>One of my *favorite* things is to be outside, at night, during a
>thunder-and-lightning storm.  It makes me go all elemental... :)

Another tale of my youth was when my mom and I were electrocuted by
lightning in a phone booth in the Great Smokey Mountains.  Ever since
then I've _loved_ thunderstorms, and spent alot of time in high school
chasing after them in a car...

-Thomas
 resident technoshaman
From: barclay@RAIL9000.gatech.edu (Barclay Blanchard)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: Tarot traditions
Date: 28 Sep 92 19:17:03 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Georgia Tech Research Institute

In article <7606@monmouth.edu> c1741@moncol.monmouth.edu (MICHAEL CARSON) writes:
>	As an example:  One friend of mine INSISTS that you must NEVER buy
>your own deck.  It's okay to give somebody the money, and get THEM to buy it
>for you (how this isn't the same as them buying it and you then buying
>it from them I haven't figured out, yet.) and that after you get the deck,
>you must sleep with it under your pillow for three days.  Has anybody else
>heard of such traditions?

I bought my own deck and didn't put it under my pillow for three days (although
I think I have put it under my pillow when it felt right to do so).  I've also
heard that you're supposed to keep your deck wrapped in a special cloth.  I
don't do that, either.  But I do treat my cards as sacred objects.  When
someone interrupts a reading I'm doing (in a disrespectful way) I later
reorder my cards (a ritual of mine that I've always followed with my card
decks, non-Tarot as well as Tarot).  I haven't read for anyone I especially
dislike and don't intend to start.  For me what works is following my own
instincts and judgment, not listening to someone else's (arbitrary, IMO)
rules.

-- 
Barclay Elizabeth Blanchard    barclay@rail9000@gatech.edu
"I've been laughed at by some of the funniest people."
--Lissie, Alice Walker's _The Temple of My Familiar_
From: kbennett@milton.u.washington.edu (K. Lena Bennett; Slacker Goddess)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: Pagan Rock Artists...
Date: 28 Sep 92 19:34:28 GMT
Organization: University of Washington

Well let's not even mention that Kate Bush's album _Hounds_Of_Love_
contains a hymn to the Goddess as well as a "you are there" kind of song
about the witch trials.  A general mysticism pervades the whole disc.

Gotta love it.

And even though U2 is supposedly Christian, I really had to wonder
about "Mysterious Ways" with its lines about nature and "sister moon"
and the chorus "she moves in mysterious ways."  Maybe they are still
Christian but have expanded their theology to include the idea that
god is in nature and can have any gender....!

Lena
From: ba@mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu (B.A. Davis-Howe)
Subject: Re: New Janis Name
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 23:14:04 GMT

corun@access.digex.com (Corun MacAnndra) writes:

>In article <BvFKI0.DE9@news.cso.uiuc.edu> ba@mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu (B.A. Davis-Howe) writes:
>[a whole bunch of insightful stuff on W/Bitches that I've deleted to save
>bandwidth]

>Thanks for the info, Br'anArthur. As a Taoist, I of course realize the
>interrelationship between the dark and the light, but as I'm still learning
>how the pagan mind works with respect to the Eastern disciplines I've 
>experienced, I didn't immediately correlate the two with the Crone. Your

Um, I was not talking about the Crone.  The Crone is part of the Triple 
Goddess.   The Bitch is independent of the Triple Goddess, in my version of
the Craft.  Also, what I am talking about has nothing to do with Taoism, yin/
yang, or anything Eastern.  It is distinctly European thinking.

>comments help. In the light in which you've shown how the term bitch can
>be used, I can now see the positive aspects of it. Maybe the term should
>be Bwitches (though it sounds a bit like Elmer Fudd saying britches <grin>).

>Btw, I've noticed your use of the word "hir" in place if "his" or "hers."
>Is it a function of you being gay, or does it embody the greater joining
>of the male and female aspects, like yin and yang, in your particular
>view of paganism? Just a curious thought. IMWTK.

1. I am not gay.  2. It has nothing to do with sexual orientation--it is a
relatively common generic pronoun.  I usually use it when the sex of the
antecedent is unclear.  3. I use it for myself because I am third-gender.  A
good introduction to the concept of third-gender persons is _The Spirit and
the Flesh_.  (Unfortunately, I can't think of the author's name.  Can anyone
help out?)

Hmm, this post sounds a bit sharp to my ears.  It is not intended to be--I've
just read a bit too much stuff which ticked me off in the last hour.  You are
not one of the sources of the ticked off feeling, though.


              Merry meet, merry part, merry meet again,
                               Br'anArthur

Queer, Peculiar, and Wyrd! :-)

******************************************************************************
Newage is hypoallergenic spirituality--
it's for people who are allergic to the word religion.
                                   --Jon Jay Obermark
Organization: Freshman, MCS general, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Date: Sun,  4 Oct 1992 22:47:13 -0400 
From: Kendrick Kerwin Chua <kendrick+@CMU.EDU>
Subject: Re: The Serpent

>What do any of you know of the serpent?
> 
>Anything would be welcome; comments, references . . .
> 
>Gil

Most are going to tell you that the serpent myth originated in China,
with the dragons and Feng Shui stuff.  However, I believe that the
serpent originated in Mespotamia, with the legend of Tiamat.

According to the mythology, in the great battle in which the earth and
sky were created, the god Marduk slew Tiamat, the great leviathan who
dwelt in the oceans of Absu (the Abyss). From this Marduk made the earth
from one half of the corpse (he cut the serpent in half), and from the
other half he made the sky, to keep out the waters above.

This myth has carried itself east and west, where it became Adonai and
the leviathan, Saint George and the Dragon, and any one a a million
"some guy and a lizard" legends.

Hope this helps


Kendrick Kerwin Chua

kc3u+@andrew.cmu.edu    or
kendrick+@CMU.EDU

Cthulhu for President, 1992!
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
From: pkappess@erc.cat.syr.edu (Peter Kappesser)
Subject: Pagan Magazines (was A Novice Asks...)
Keywords: Paganism
Organization: Electronic Resource Center, Syracuse
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 92 01:50:41 EDT

In article <BvMLqA.5wF@access.digex.com> corun@access.digex.com (Corun MacAnndra) writes:
>In article <1992Oct3.193232.18469@gmuvax2.gmu.edu> rlove@gmuvax2.gmu.edu (Rebecca M. Love) writes:
>>In article <29SEP199218211057@rosie.uh.edu> lib1p@rosie.uh.edu (Tammy Stark Blandino) writes:
>>>Read this newsgroup
>>>Read pagan magazines...
>>>"Circle Network News"
>>>"Green Egg"
>>
>>   I have heard alot about these magizines....but I have never seen
>>them.  Does anyone know where in Northern VA I could get a hold of them,
>>or an address to write for a subscription?
>> 
>>Becky
>
>Don't know about No. Va., but you could try Chuck & Dave's bookstore in
>Takoma Park, MD. I was in there last week and asking after the Green Egg,
>and the guy I spoke to seemed to think it was no longer being printed,
>though I have seen it in there in the past. Anyone know if Green Egg has
>passed on?
>
>Corun

Green Egg is alive and well, unless something dire has happened in the last
month or so... (hmm, the Mabon issue should have been out by now, shouldn't
it?) I just got a shipment of some back issues and the 1993 calendar.

Green Egg is $4.95 per issue US. Subscriptions $13 per year US, $18 Canada
[and also I believe US first class, in an envelope], $24 per year trans-
Atlantic [air], $26 per year trans-Pacific air. Address: Green Egg,
P.O. Box 1542, Ukiah, CA 95482 USA.

Another magazine I like, directed more at Wiccans, is "New Moon Rising."
They even have a BBS: (619) 466-5403 [N81; v.32 turbo/v.42 bis].
$3.50 per issue, $14 per year (six issues) subscription bulk rate, $21
first class (in an envelope) and to Canada or Mexico, $30 elsewhere.
Mystic Moon, 8818 Troy St., Spring Valley, CA 91977 USA.

I don't know about availability in norther Virginia, but I know of a
New Age bookstore in Ellicot City, a suburb west of Baltimore, which
carries these magazines; I bought Green Egg and Circle Network News there
when I was visiting the area a few months ago, while on a shopping trip
during Balticon. In general, most New Age/occult/metaphysical bookstores
will carry such magazines.

Blessed be,
-- PeterCat
From: markbr@radian.uucp (markbr)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: Halloween
Summary: a reply on one question
Date: 30 Sep 92 17:34:31 GMT
Organization: Radian Cormp.

In article <1992Sep25.163434.1@uwovax.uwo.ca>, wrchurch@uwovax.uwo.ca writes:
> Hello,
> For several year now I've been researching the significance of that most
> bizzare time of the year -- Halloween.
> 
> Ever since I was a child the macabre theme of this autumnal festival has
> fascinated me (my welsh ancestry might have something to do with it).
> Unfortunately, material on the subject (not to be confused with Samhain) is
>somewhat scarce. For the most part I've had to rely on old newspaper clippings,
> children's literature and passages from books on celtic mythology, folklore,
> magic, or religion.
> 
>I'm especiall interested in the beliefs and perceptions of both individuals and
> entire communities. You see, for me it is truly amazing that a strange
> amalgamation of celtic, roman, and christian beliefs and traditions should
>endre countless repressions and transformations (some would say perversions) to
> become the western world's (ethnocentrical POV) foremost secular (i.e. not
> sanctioned by either church or state) festival devoted to the themes of death,
> the supernatural, sorcery, mischief and -- of course -- fear.

Fear? (See the recent thread about winter, fall, & darkness)
> 
> The following is a list of question I have about Halloween in general. If you
> can help me with some answers I would be most appreciative.
> 
> 8.  My mother was born and raised in France with stories of the "Loup-Garou"
>     (Werewolf). In the small welsh mining village of my father the kids all
>     feared the bogeyman. Are there any local myths were you live, or is it 
>     all just the pop culture Hollywood stuff.
> 
The nearest thing that I know of to "local myths" are the things kids in
school tell each other, and the "urban myths" that pass around at work.
To have a local myth requires locals, and, at least in this country, that's
not easy. People move to where there's work, or may be work. I'm from
Philly. I moved here (Austing, TX) the end of 86. My wife's son grew up
on the 2 acres we were buying, but we moved, last year, 25 miles into town,
to avoid the commute. Different school system. Different kids. My current
next store neighbor is different than the one 9 months ago - a hell of a
lot of us rent (houses are *in-fucking-credibly expensive*, and you don't
want to be stuck with a huge mortgage payment if you loose your job, or
have to relocate for one). I know one (1) next door neighbor. Sorta makes
it hard to develop local customs, much less hear local myths.

> 9.  Do people have anything real to fear from Halloween?

Yeah - funnymentalists trying to wipe out another pagan remnant.
> 
> I want to thank you in advance for your input. Its hard to tell without any
> feedback as to whether my questions are valid or way off the mark for this
> group. In any event, if you would like to add something else or make a point,
> by all means feel free to add your $0.02
> 
> Richard Church
> 
	mark
From: SL500000@brownvm.brown.edu (Robert Mathiesen)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: Witches and death
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 08:19:12 EDT
Organization: Brown University - Providence, Rhode Island  USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: brownvm.brown.edu
News-Software: BNN via BNN_POST v1.0 beta

Janis writes: "Anyone who tells you that only Witches (Wiccans) reincarnate
should have their head examined."

Actually, I wasn't asking about reincarnation, but about beliefs concerning
reincarnation current among Witches.  Hope you haven't killed the possible
response to my question from the side you condemned ...   -- Robert

Robert Mathiesen, Brown University, SL500000@BROWNVM
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
From: lib1p@rosie.uh.edu (Tammy Stark Blandino)
Subject: Re: a nice experience last night
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: University of Houston
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 22:37:00 GMT

In article <80473@ut-emx.uucp>, amadeus@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Susan Harwood Kaczmarczik) writes...
> 
>Janis, have I mentioned recently I think you're really cool?
> 

Maybe we ought to consider having an alt.pagan get together some
sabbat.  We could have it at Janis' location so we could all meet
her "in the flesh" ;-)

new name for Janis
alt.pagans.big.sis

Tammy
From: corun@access.digex.com (Corun MacAnndra)
Subject: Re: another poem
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 01:56:33 GMT

In article <Bv703E.6H5@news.cso.uiuc.edu> ba@mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu (B.A. Davis-Howe) writes:
>
>"Little Boxes" was written by Malvina Reynolds.  It is (c)1962.  The words and
>chords are in _Rise Up Singing_, a songbook with over 1200 songs.  
>
>
>              Merry meet, merry part, merry meet again,
>                               Br'anArthur

Thanks Br'. I'm still going to dig out that songbook, just for nostalgia. ;-)

Bb,

Corun


-- 
===========================================================================
    Corun MacAnndra    | To sit with a pretty woman for an hour seems like
  Dark Horde by birth  | a minute. To sit on a hot stove for a minute seems
    Moritu by choice   | like an hour. That's relativity. --  A. Einstein
From: corun@access.digex.com (Corun MacAnndra)
Subject: Re: another poem
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 01:54:03 GMT

In article <Bv5B1w.KLF@nntp-sc.Intel.COM> pharvey@mipos3.intel.com (Paul Harvey) writes:
>
>In article <10411@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au> erik@cs.uq.oz.au writes:
>>My contribution, for now, is that the quote is from a Mama Lion something
>>song about rows of suburban houses. She's written some good stuff. And i
>
>Hmm, it's a folk song about South San Francisco, I thought it was Peter,
>Paul and Mary.

Don't know about Mama Lion, but the first time I heard it, it was on a
recording by Pete Seeger and the Weavers, more years ago than I care to
think about. I may have it in an old folk songbook. If I locate it, and
it tells the author, I'll let ya'll know.

Bb,

Corun
-- 
===========================================================================
    Corun MacAnndra    | To sit with a pretty woman for an hour seems like
  Dark Horde by birth  | a minute. To sit on a hot stove for a minute seems
    Moritu by choice   | like an hour. That's relativity. --  A. Einstein
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
From: radzy@ICSI.Berkeley.EDU (T. O. Radzykewycz)
Subject: Re: Scents
Organization: International Computer Science Institute, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 05:22:12 GMT

rjb@milton.u.washington.edu (LeGrand Cinq-Mars) writes:
> Dictamnus alba is the botanical name ....  My
> memory insists that's the way it's usually written, but it's
> if so it's either a grammatical oddity or "alba" isn't an adjective.

cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese) writes:
> Is the spice white? 

It could be more.  The plant may have leaves which are
light-green, like the light part of a variagated plant.  Or the
flowers may be white.  Or the spice may be white after the
leaves are dried and crushed.  Or it even be that the plant
exudes a white sap when the fresh leaves and/or stem gets
crushed.  Any of these, or others, would be enough for it to be
called "X alba" and you wouldn't necessarily know about them.

Blessings!

		-- radzy

------------------------------------------------------------
					|  An it harm none,
	T. O. Radzykewycz	     	|  do as ye will.
	The Incredible Radical Cabbage	|
					|  "Just pray for a
	radzy@cogsci.berkeley.edu       |  tough hide and a
	        			|  tender heart."
	        			|    -- Ruth Graham
------------------------------------------------------------
Tribal Mother was old, and lay ill on a bed of moss and
fern.   Her hair was long and grey.   Her face was very
wrinkled.    Tamura'nun-pa thought:   How beautiful you
are, Mother, so old and wise.
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
From: scarrobi@shearson.com (Steve Carrobis)
Subject: Re: C & E
Reply-To: scarrobi@shearson.com
Organization: Lehman Brothers, Inc.
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 21:23:39 GMT

she probably means Chaotic and Evil 
because of the genre of her books .. i can find out for u .. i'll have it by monday if 
other people dont already give u the answer .. a friend of mine loves her work..
and she should know..

but i think my assumption is correct...

  Steve C.
From: dhardin@bbn.com (Dawn Hardin)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: books to avoid
Date: 29 Sep 92 17:49:37 GMT
NNTP-Posting-Host: bbn.com

ba@mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu (B.A. Davis-Howe) writes:
> 
>I have about thirty books on the Craft on my shelf.  I don't get rid of any
>book on Wicca which I might refer back to at any point in the future.  I got
>rid of all of my books by Raymond "would you buy a used religion from this man"
>Buckland.  (The nickname is a local joke on the fact that he seems a lot like
>a slick used car salesman in many of his books.)  There are very few books on
>the Craft which I will recommend *against*.  This, Buckland's _The Tree_, and 
>the Frosts' _The Witch's Bible_ (which is another story entirely), are the few 
>I do actively discourage people from buying.

What do people think of other books to avoid?  There's one I've seen around
a few times by a Lady Sarah Some-Snotty-Fake-Sounding-Name-Or-Other with
a title of something like "Practical Magic" with all kinds of really
ludicrous spells on how to grab a man to cherish and take care of you
forever, and how to make your enemies wet themselves in public.  And Sybil
Leek always struck me as a good example of the "I chose my spirituality so
I could piss people off and get on talk shows" school of thought.

Would the people here put Laurie Cabot in that group or not?  She's the
self-styled "Official Witch of Salem" and in the Boston area she's the one
that the press usually finds when they want some kind of quote from a
witch.  I've heard the opinion expressed that she's a weirdo floating around 
in ugly robes.  The "official witch" business makes me want to vomit, but 
when I glanced at her book in a bookstore it looked halfway interesting and
I have to admit she doesn't sound too bad in the media either.  Does anyone 
know what her books are like?  

Dawn
"Oh, Time!  Of all the dwellers here below 
You only elevate buffoons or fools,
Or him whose anus as an inkstand serves."
The Perfumed Garden of the Shaykh Nefzawl, translated by Sir Richard F. Burton
Newsgroups: alt.pagan,alt.drugs
From: c9221777@cc.newcastle.edu.au (Brother Redeye)
Subject: Re: Witchcraft & Hallucinogens
Organization: University of Newcastle, AUSTRALIA
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 03:51:23 GMT

In article <1992Sep29.231555.12495@zip.eecs.umich.edu>, wmichael@emunix.emich.edu (Walter Michael) writes:
>        Be *very* careful when experimenting with
>      anything containing the class of compounds
>      contained in belladonna, datura, jimson weed 
>      etc. Speaking from experience... they definately
>      have a narrow range of tolerance depending largely
>      on your metabolism.

The belladona-alkaloid group can also be found in many brands of
motion-sickness tablets.  The "Travacalm" brand in Australia requires a dose of 
8-12 tablets depending on body frame, metabolism, etc to induce a "trip"
effect.  Alcohol will also affect the result.  Note that while on acid at least
some grip on reality is maintained, with a suitable dose of this reality is
completely gone.

>        The hallucinations unlike LSD are "true"... that
>      is you actually see something which is not there!!
>      On the downside of the experience I believe the
>      active components metabolized into something moderately
>      toxic. There were significant body spasms and a 
>      general feeling of being poisoned. Don't know if I'd
>      do it again but it was interesting to say the least.

It does have an effect on the heart and respiratory system.  People with
troubles in these areas should restrict themselves to small doses if any at
all.  I have known even quite healthy people to report difficulty in breathing
for a short while, but this effect tends to wear off.  I have heard a rumour of
a guy who ended up running around a field tackling policemen and another of
someone who spent two weeks in an asylum under theimpression that he was a
chicken, but I have no verification of these stories.  (Although a couple of
friends of mine have had long an interesting conversations with people who were
not there - one was a phone call on a phone that wasn't even connected)


>        If you decide to try jimson weed I recommend a tea
>      taken in *small* doses over at least an hour. There is
>      a book "Legal Highs" which gives more details on dosage.
> 
>                                   -Wally 
>                                    wmichael@emunix.emich.edu 
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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