My Pagan Altar

I've had a collection of various items, significant to Pagan rituals and having personal or spiritual meaning, gathering in various locations throughout the house. After a good while, I finally decided to create an altar on which to place all these items and provide a focal point for rituals and my pagan studies. I'll likely add more over time and I intend to lightly decorate the altar for each of the seasons.

The main items of note are the pentagram (the obvious Pagan symbol), on the wall in top prominent location. Various candles throughout and items of the elements (feathers, water bowl, firebowl, rock, wood etc.) for the quarter\element representations. On the top left are items dedicated to Cernunnos and the Green Man, to reflect the druidic aspect. The large box contains miscellaneous items as well as pendants, rings etc for use during rituals.

The first time I used the altar was for my initiation ceremony for the Ovate Grove in November 2013. I'll perform a small Yule ritual in December at the Solstice, and will commence the new year with more dedicated rituals for the eight-fold wheel of the year.

The Heresy takes root...and ultimately possesses me!

As much as I told myself I wasn't interested, tried to resist, focused in other aspects, I have finally fallen and succumbed to obsession with The Horus Heresy!

I have become more and more engrossed in 40K over the past few years, since starting the hobby in 2006, and rarely have any involvement (let alone games) in Warhammer Fantasy. Strange, actually, as I had long roots in all fantasy and an aversion to sci-fi (outside of Star Wars, of course).

With the Black Library Horus Heresy novels released a fair few years ago, I jumped onto the latest craze and began reading the books. However, being new to 40K at the time, I didn't appreciate the whole Horus Heresy or the meaning of the primarchs etc. so was probably a wrong time to enter into this range of novels. I enjoyed the first few but then it started to wane and eventually I abandoned reading them and went back to 40K novels.

So the series continued and at the time of writing this, has spawned 28 novels and several novellas. Aside from the novel line, Forge World have produced a couple of books, to date, for Heresy-era campaigns and are continually releasing models for the various legions.

Needless to say, the Horus Heresy has accelerated and gone crazy with the fans. I got back into the novels a while back and ended up going back to obtain the new Collector's Editions hardcovers. The series makes so much more sense now and I've become totally pulled into the characters and events, opening up whole new levels of appreciation to what came to be in the 40K universe and an acceptance of elements which I had previously held no interest.

Novels aside, I've decided to (slowly) build up a Legion from Forge World. It will take a lot of time, not to mention the cost, but this will be my new focus and 40K will go onto the backburner. Of course, I'll still play 40K games on the whole, whilst the Legion is being built, but want to build up a good-sized and good quality legion. At the moment, I'm looking at Alpha Legion, but will build up a vanilla legion in the meantime until more of the Alpha Legion are detailed in one of the Forge World books on the horizon.

Death to the False Emperor (and my wallet!)

Samhain Ritual (2013)

Samhain (otherwise known as Hallowe'en) 2013 was my first public Pagan ritual. Not only that, but one which I had to lead! I'd recently joined a group of Pagans called Silver Hill Pagans. It was a relatively new group and I'd known most of the other 11 members through previous groups.

We had established a regular meeting point, being the "Miner" statue at the Silver Hill area of Teversal Trail in Nottinghamshire. It was here that some of the group, before it's forming, had held small rituals and gatherings previously and was seen as a good location.

Chris was initially meant to lead the ritual, but was uncertain as to whether he could make it, so I was given the task of performing the main structure of the ritual, with other members of the group reading passages for each of the four quarters. We gathered at the top of the Miner hill in early evening, garbed in robes etc. Another group joined also, making around 18 people in total.

Firstly, all the items to represent each of the quarters were placed in position, and all gathered around in a circle, with the miner statue in the centre. I then cast and consecrated the circle with fire and water and read out the words of the ritual. Part way in, we gathered in the centre and had a feast; a great selection of home-mode food, mead and wine, before continuing with blessings to the ancestors.

The ritual was a great success and enjoyed by all. I felt quite a buzz that we had all got together and it had gone so well, and felt a truly magical experience.



The Path of Paganism

Well I've never been one to be into religion, and have (wrongly) ridiculed those which follow a religion to the point of it dictating illogical and, what I deemed to be, ridiculous beliefs. I suppose most of that viewpoint was based on the frustrations of certain Christian-rooted religions based on people I had encountered and been around who followed such, earlier in life. I've since learnt to live and let live, and understand that some people do need a religion to follow and can wholeheartedly believe the dogmas and preachings they are taught.

Back in 2011\2, I became introduced to a more spiritual view and whilst not from a religious standpoint, it did make me look back on elements I did believe in and which I could understand and pin logic to. I've always had an affinity with nature and the earth and thus started looking into Paganism; which I'd previously dismissed (due to lack of understanding). However, when reading more into Paganism, I soon found that the more I read, the more it was obvious that I was actually Pagan and had all the beliefs and values which I was reading about! This obviously spurred me on to read more and I embraced it with vigour. There are a lot of key points and aspects of Paganism which are logical, make good sense and have supporting physical evidence (unlike most religions).

Having looked at the various paths within Paganism, it seemed obvious and right that I would go into Druidry. So again, researching more into this, I eventually joined the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids. In 2011, I started the Bardic course, which was part of the Order and learnt much about the elements, history, origins, tales of the ancient druid path; I passed this course in summer 2012 and continued into the Ovate grade, to study more about trees, herbalism, ogham language, divination etc.

I certainly feel very content with this undertaking and it feels very right and like a "coming home" type of feeling. I look back even as far back as my childhood and can see where I had actually already been Pagan and am quite happy that I can now do something about it and actively follow this path.

I've managed to visit a number of old Pagan sites, joined groups of like-minded people and been involved in rituals and other activities. It's certainly opened my eyes and given me a connection to the earth. So I now continue my studies, to eventually enter the Druid grade and complete that to become a fully-fledged druid.