#paganism — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #paganism, aggregated by home.social.
-
Ancient word of the day: Hedgehog
The ancient word for today is hedgehog Erinaceus europaeus. In the Middle Ages, writers didn’t make reference to hedgehogs, but to urchins. This term for the spiky diminuitive animal is still favoured in some English dialects. We still have the lingering remnants of this etymology in the form of sea urchin, which is literally a sea hedgehog.
The word urchin came to England with the Norman invasion and was derived from the Latin word ericius. Before the Norman conquest, the animal was known by the Anglo-Saxon name Igl.
Other names
Furze-pig – Devon
Hotchi-witchi – Romani
Hodmedods – Norfolk
Ouriço cacheiro – crafty pig
Detail of a miniature of hedgehogs sticking fallen fruit to their quills and carrying it back to their burrow; from the Rochester Bestiary, England (Rochester?), c. 1230, Royal MS 12 F. xiii, f. 45r.
or porco espinho’ – spiky pig in Portuguese”Thorns shall grow in their palaces, nettles & thistles in their strongholds … there shall the hedgehog build, dig, be there at home and bring forth his young ones.” Taverner’s Isiah 34, 1539.
Detail of a miniature of the hedgehog reproaching the goat for his vanity; from Ulrich von Pottenstein, Spiegel der Weisheit, Austria (Salzburg), c. 1430, Egerton MS 1121, f. 44v.The hedgehog was a symbol of Christian humility
The Speculum sapientiae, or Mirror of Wisdom is an ancient tale of beasts in Latin. In one tale, a passing goat sees its reflection in a pond and declares himself very handsome indeed. A hedgehog trundles along afterwards and reproaches the goat telling him that profound humility, not vain boasting are what makes animals truly noble.
Detail of a miniature of a hedgehog; from Jean de Wavrin, Recueil des croniques d’Engleterre, vol. 1, Netherlands (Bruges), 1471-1483, Royal MS 15 E. iv, f. 180r.Read more: The British Library Digitised Manusripts
Content Catnip
Follow me on Mastodon Watch my videos Donate to my Ko Fi #AncientWordOfTheDay #animals #books #England #Europe #fauna #hedgehog #History #inspiration #medieval #naturalHistory #nature #paganism #Scotland #ScottishHistory #spirituality #words -
#FediCoven 2026 Q7: What have seasonal changes taught you that books or teachers could not?
I've learned more from nature in general that I ever would have in school when it comes to many subjects. I allow myself to truly feel (and love) the changes during the year, throughout the seasons, and that alone has done a lot for me. Just as we as people change, Mother Earth does as well throughout the year. Change is good. It cleanses and renews.
-
#FediCoven 2026 Q6: What relationship do you have with the moon and its phases, and how does that show up in your craft?
Ever since I was little, I've always felt connected to the moon. That hasn't changed, nor will it. The moon plays a big part in my practice, as I'm sure it does for many others as well. I usually work my schedule and spells around its phases.
-
@floofpaldi I love when somebody hits it off with you & we start talking energies, herbs, or spiritual court. Then others join in with their experiences.
What doesn’t work for me when you bring something up that could be better & you’re greeted with apathy. I’ve left circles over this. #Pagan #Paganism #Wicca #Wiccan #Heathen #Fedicoven
-
#FediCoven 2026 Q5: What helps you feel welcome in a pagan or witchy space? And what doesn't?
A true feeling of "otherness" and a lack of crosses. LOL. In all seriousness, though, just a genuine sense of self, unapologetically and authentically them, so I can get a read on the person, an idea of who they are or what they like, and we all decorate differently. That final part makes things fun.
Just be yourself.
🍂 🍄 🔮 🧿 🗡️ 🐉 🐺 🍁
-
#FediCoven 2026 Q4: How do you identify? (Witch, druid, pagan, shaman, medium, 'all of the above'?)
These days, I generally only use a single word: pagan (because it's simple, easy). Feel free to call me anything you want, though. None of those words bother me. Also, random: I'm a medium, or a clairvoyant, psychic, etc. I even have a paranormal podcast.
-
#FediCoven 2026 Q3: Are you out of the broom closet?
I was raised in an Irish Catholic family. With that being said, my father practiced his own sort of Paganism, having been close to and dear friends with so many indigenous peoples, and my mother is Wiccan. So, of course, to some family members, I'm out. To others, I'm not. I actually live with my grandmother, my nana, and she thinks I just collect crystals. She also thinks I might be agnostic. It is what it is.
-
#FediCoven 2026 Q2: What role does self-care play in your practice? Any tips?
Self-care is a huge part of my practice. A major one, actually. We have to take care of ourselves before we can even think of taking care of those around us. No matter what your religion is, that should play a role.
As for tips? Do what's right for your body. Listen to what your body needs. Drink more water. Take your medication if you're reading this and you haven't yet. Every little thing matters.
-
#FediCoven 2026 Q1: For those who have a form of divination in their practice, does this indicate to you that the universe is predestined or deterministic?
Thank you, @HeliaXyana! :11111:
In some ways, I believe it is. In others, I do believe we forge our own path. You could ask any pagan and they would probably give you a different answer. While I think some things are set in stone, others might be changed.
-
Bronze headdress decoration depicting the 'decapitator god', Peru, 400 BCE - 600 AD
-
Even though I'm known as The Minoan Lady, this continues to be my bestselling book. I'm not crazy about most self-help books, so I wrote my own: for ordinary mortals, those of us with less time and energy than we'd like. You don't have to be Wiccan to use the methods I share in it.
https://www.lauraperryauthor.com/wiccan-wellness
#books #bookstodon #pagan #paganism #wicca #wiccan #spirituality #MindBodySpirit #wellness #NaturalHealth
-
Most Online Chaos Magick Is Naming Mnemonic Variables
No matter how intricate your sigil is, it’s still just a semiotic identifier—a signifier. You could call it x, and it would carry the same ontological weight. Sigils point to concepts, entities, or they act as a signature. At the end of the day, you’ve just created a decorative label. Sigils are glyphs, not alphabets or languages like Theban, Celestial, Enochian, or the Alphabet of Daggers.
Sigils made using Austin Spare’s method aren’t languages—they’re stylized abstractions. You’re not writing a sentence in some hidden tongue; you’re making a visual variable. A graphic tag with no linguistic scaffolding. There’s nothing to “read” in it—no syntax, no grammar, no pronunciation. Just an intentional scribble pointing toward a thought.
Compare that to Theban, Celestial, Enochian, or the Alphabet of Daggers. Those are actual alphabets. Magical languages. They follow consistent letter-for-letter substitutions. They can obscure meaning—because there’s real meaning to obscure. You can encode texts, chants, names. They operate like ciphers, because that’s exactly what they are.
Spare-style sigils don’t encrypt—they erase. When you compress a phrase into a symbol, you’re not hiding language, you’re letting it go. You’re collapsing intention into a single mark that doesn’t depend on literacy, just mental association.
Magical languages at least do something. They obscure. They encode. Run a sentence through Theban or Celestial, and you get something arcane-looking and unreadable—because it is, unless you know the key. That’s the point: symbolic misdirection. Encryption with intent.
Sigils, especially the Spare-style ones, don’t do that. You’re not concealing a message; you’re flattening it into a shape. It’s not code—it’s a label. A name tag. You take a phrase, compress it into a glyph, and suddenly it’s a “magickal symbol.” But it’s really just a symbolic pointer—a variable, like in programming. And just like with variables, the more convoluted the name, the more annoying it is to use. If your sigil looks like a spiky eldritch mandala, congrats: you’ve made a beautiful, unreadable label.
Honestly, watching people crank these out like they’re reinventing the arcane wheel—when they’re just decorating the same psychological placeholder—it’s almost a relief. The more time someone spends designing a stylized faux ceremonial symbol symbol for “money now please,” the less likely they are to be doing anything dangerously effective. A lot of what gets called “chaos magick” online is really just overdesigned variable naming by people who think the aesthetic is the spell.
Sure, sigils, metaphors, and myths all operate symbolically—but they don’t hit the same. A sigil is a symbol boiled down to a label. A shortcut. It points to something. A mythology doesn’t just point—it breathes. It moves through story, layers, archetypes. That’s why mythic metaphors and ritual drama land harder: they’re not just signs, they’re immersive systems of meaning.
A myth doesn’t just say “this is like that.” It binds symbols into patterns. It creates tension, resonance, transformation. Allegory can carry cosmology. Sigils don’t do that. They’re more like programming variables—arbitrary labels you assign meaning to. Useful? Sure. But flat. A box with a name. Writing “dragon” on the lid doesn’t conjure the force of a real dragon narrative.
That’s why stories, dreams, and rituals move people—and sigils usually don’t, unless you’ve already decided they will. Metaphor speaks to the deep mind. It speaks with symbols, not just about them. Sigils? They’re like filing tabs. Metaphors are the stories inside the folders.
So yeah—they’re both symbols. But one is a placeholder. The other is a living structure.
Exactly—whether you sketch a swirling, ornate sigil or just scrawl an x, you’re still tagging the same conceptual box. The content doesn’t change just because the outside is fancier. That’s the point: the sigil isn’t the thing. It’s the pointer. It’s the tag that says, “this is where I stored that intention,” or “this represents that entity.” It doesn’t gain power because it looks more esoteric.
People get caught up in the design and forget the purpose. A sigil doesn’t summon anything by itself—it’s a reference. It’s not the payload. You’re not conjuring a spirit with the shape; you’re doing it with the meaning you’ve assigned. The symbol just helps you focus—like putting a label on a folder.
This is why making the sigil “look magickal” is mostly cosmetic. Dress up the label all you want—it still opens the same box. The real work isn’t in the glyph; it’s in what the glyph means and how your mind interacts with that meaning. So yes, swap the sigil for an x—the box still holds the demon. All you’ve changed is the font.
Fediverse Reactions
#Archetypes #ceremonialMagic #ceremonialMagick #chaosMagick #Crowley #demons #Discordians #egregore #egregores #exemplification #fascist #grimoire #grimoires #HermeticOrderOfTheGoldenDawn #hermeticism #hyperSigils #invocation #JungianArchetypes #magicalLanguages #magick #mythologies #mythology #myths #occult #occultism #occulture #Ontology #ostension #pagan #paganism #paranormal #paranormalCommunities #postmodernism #poststructuralism #Semiotics #sigil #sigilMagic #sigilMagick #sigils #sorcery #urbanMyth
-
Hail Odin on Odin's Day!
White as snow,
The ravens are let loose
And bade by Odin
Plumb the darkness;
Thus they fly,
Long, far
Into midnight thoughts
And shaded will,
Till again to Odin come
They settle black as void;
For Thought and Will are naught
Save the darkest of both is known.
#pagan #paganism #norsepagan #odin #woden #wotan #allfather #heathen #druid #writer #writing #poetry #spirituality #thought #memory #wednesday -
Remember, folks, authors are small businesses!
I'm much better known for "the Minoan stuff," but this book continues to be my bestseller. It's the self-help book I wrote because I don't like self-help books. And you don't have to be Wiccan to use it! Be sure to get the updated second edition, with the hands holding a candle on the cover.
Details: https://www.lauraperryauthor.com/wiccan-wellness
#wicca #wiccan #SelfHelp #wellness #MindBodySpirit #book #bookstodon #nonfiction #pagan #paganism
-
Deleted the previous version of this as it once again showed up as a reply to someone else.
Please boost. I will follow nearly anyone who posts about the following:
#Muppets
#FraggleRock
#SesameStreet
#Disney movies and shows
#SofiaTheFirst
#ElenaOfAvalor
#TheLionGuard
#StarTrek
#TMNT
#Ghostbusters
#RealGhostbusters
#TeddyRuxpin
#JaneAndTheDragon
#bunnicula
#theWanderingInn
#AnAmericanTail
#Fandom in general
#Witchcraft
#Paganism
#Mythology
#Fantasy
#Food
#Recipes
#jokes -
The way we see the world shapes the way we treat it. If a mountain is a deity, not a pile of ore; if a river is one of the veins of the land, not potential irrigation water; if a forest is a sacred grove, not timber; if other species are biological kin, not resources; or if the planet is our mother, not an opportunity -- then we will treat each other with greater respect. Thus is the challenge, to look at the world from a different perspective. ~David Suzuki
People rag on David Suzuki all the time but he is correct. He was raised in a tiny mountain town not too far from where I live. The land is alive and when you grow up running in the forest, wading in the rivers and lakes, wandering the wild flower meadows, you understand the spirit world is real, alive and part of you.
