Panthean Temple of Connecticut

06/11/2026

06/11/2026

💧☘️ The well has been there longer than the church. Longer than the saint whose name it now carries. Longer than Christianity itself on this island. And still, on the appointed morning every summer, the people come.
The Pattern Day — from the Irish word Pátrún, meaning patron saint — is one of Ireland's most ancient and most distinctively Irish religious traditions, a pilgrimage to a local holy well on the feast day of the saint to whom it is dedicated, combining pre-Christian reverence for sacred water sources with Christian devotion in a way that is entirely, unmistakably Irish. Ireland has an estimated three thousand holy wells — more sacred water sources per square mile than virtually anywhere else on earth — and many of them have been places of pilgrimage since long before St. Patrick set foot on the island. The early Christian missionaries, rather than condemning these ancient sacred sites, absorbed them into the new faith, dedicating the wells to Christian saints while preserving the pilgrim practices that surrounded them. The rituals of the Pattern Day are specific and ancient — approaching the well in a clockwise direction, the traditional Irish sacred movement following the path of the sun, praying a set number of rounds, leaving an offering on the hawthorn tree, drinking or bathing in the water as an act of healing and petition. The offerings left on the hawthorn trees at Irish holy wells — the clooties, the rosary beads, the photographs, the children's shoes left in hope of healing — are among the most moving artifacts of Irish spiritual life, each one a private prayer made visible, a piece of someone's need tied to a branch and left in the hands of whatever holiness lives in the water below.
If the holy well tradition is part of your Irish heritage — if you have ever made a Pattern Day pilgrimage, or if your family comes from a townland with a well that the people still visit — drop a 💧 in the comments and tell us about it. Follow along for daily Irish traditions, faith, and the living customs that connect the Irish people to the sacred landscape of their island. Tag someone who carries this tradition in their family. ☘️🙏

06/11/2026

A Statement from the Covenant of the Goddess:
The Covenant of the Goddess is concerned by reports that the Department of Defense has significantly reduced the number of recognized religious affiliation codes available to service members, resulting in the removal of Pagan, Wiccan, Druid, Heathen, Asatru, and many other minority religious designations. According to public reporting, the number of available codes has been reduced from more than 200 to approximately 31.

For decades, members of Pagan and Earth-centered traditions have served honorably in every branch of the United States military. Their service has contributed to the gradual recognition of religious diversity within the armed forces, including the addition of Pagan, Wiccan, Druid, Heathen, and related religious affiliation codes in recent years.

The Covenant of the Goddess believes that our service members must receive spiritual guidance consistent with their faith, whether belief or non-belief. The accurate recognition of an individual's sincerely held religious beliefs is not merely an administrative matter. Religious affiliation data helps ensure that military leaders understand the diverse communities they serve and can make informed decisions regarding religious accommodation, pastoral care, end-of-life matters, and the spiritual well-being of service members and their families.

We are particularly concerned that the removal of minority faith designations may have the unintended effect of rendering those communities invisible within official records. Service members should not be forced to choose between misidentifying their faith, selecting a broad category that does not reflect their beliefs, or appearing to have no religious affiliation at all.

The Covenant therefore calls upon the Department of Defense to provide greater transparency regarding the reasons for these changes, how affected service members will be represented within military records, and what measures will be taken to ensure that members of minority faith traditions continue to receive equal consideration and support.

Religious liberty is among the fundamental values that American service members swear to defend. That commitment should extend equally to all faiths, including those whose numbers may be small but whose members serve with the same dedication and sacrifice as any other American.

The Covenant of the Goddess remains committed to supporting Pagan military personnel, veterans, chaplains, and their families, and to working constructively with military and governmental institutions to promote religious freedom and equal treatment for all.

06/11/2026

The phrase to tie the knot comes from Ireland. And it is much older than most people realize.

Handfasting was the ancient Celtic marriage tradition practiced in Ireland long before church weddings existed. A couple would stand facing each other as their hands were bound together with cord or ribbon — usually red — by a druid or elder. The binding represented their union and their commitment to each other.

In early Irish tradition handfasting could be a trial marriage lasting a year and a day. At the end of that period the couple could choose to make the union permanent or part ways without shame or legal consequence. It was a remarkably progressive concept for the ancient world — the idea that marriage should be chosen freely and renewed deliberately rather than entered into irrevocably.

When Christianity arrived in Ireland the church gradually replaced handfasting with formal religious ceremonies. But the tradition never fully disappeared. It survived in folk practice for centuries and has seen a significant revival in modern times — many Irish couples today choose to incorporate handfasting into their wedding ceremonies as a connection to their ancient roots.

The cord is still red. The words are still spoken. The knot is still tied.

Did you or someone you know have a handfasting ceremony? Tell us below. 👇

06/11/2026

BREAKING NEWS. LATEST RESEARCH REVEALS STONEHENGE STONE DID COME FROM THE FAR NORTH

An article in yesterday's peer-reviewed academic journal, Journal of Quaternary Science, has revealed that the Stonehenge altar stone was indeed transported from the far north of Scotland by human ingenuity. The piece investigates the origins and movement of Stonehenge’s Altar Stone, a six-tonne sandstone megalith located at the centre of the monument.

Building on earlier research that identified the stone’s source in the Orcadian Basin of northeast Scotland, the study refines both its geological provenance and the route it took to reach southern England. Through geological analysis, glacial modelling, and landscape reconstruction, the researchers conclude that the Altar Stone was not transported directly to Stonehenge by glaciers.

The study proposes that prehistoric communities were responsible for moving the stone over hundreds of kilometres, likely using a combination of overland and coastal transport routes. This scenario represents a remarkable logistical achievement. The findings challenge theories that relied primarily on natural glacial transport and instead highlight the organisational capabilities, mobility, and interconnectedness of Neolithic societies. Overall, the research provides new insights into the construction of Stonehenge and the complex cultural networks that existed across Britain during prehistory.

Of course, the big question that isn’t answered is WHY?

06/11/2026

Cathubodua is a Gaulish Goddess Whose name means 'Raven of Battle.' She is presumed to be a forerunner of Badb, an Irish war Goddess Who is also known as Badb Catha (similarly 'Raven (or Crow) of battle'). Badb of the Irish is considered one aspect of the Mórrígna or Mórrígan, the great Celtic triple Goddess of war and sexuality.

The name Cathubodua is known from only one inscription in France; She is assumed to be the same Goddess known from other inscriptions as Bodua, Catubodua, and Cauth Bova. The raven was associated with both battle and death to the Celts.

Done as a reduction linoleum block print.

06/11/2026

Almost everything we think we know about Herne the Hunter came from the pen of a Victorian era novelist - who gathered most of his ideas from Jacob Grimm.

Shakespeare was the first person to put the name of Herne in writing, giving us a brief description of a malevolent folkloric figure from the supernatural world who wandered alone, bound by some force to a great oak.

Herne was virtually forgotten for centuries after that, existing only in the pages and stages of Shakespeare’s literary world, reduced to a joke as Falstaff cowered in the dirt, clutching his antlers to his head.

He enjoyed a small resurrection in 1835 when Grimm published his Teutonic Mythology, where he mentioned Herne against the context of the Wild Hunt, a concept Grimm constructed by combining several different folkloric strands including medieval processions of the dead, lone ghostly huntsmen, and the figures of Dame Holda and Odin.

Just a few years later the prolific novelist Harrison Ainsworth published his “Windsor Castle”, a serial that told a completely new version of Herne’s legend. He was now a demonic leader of his own Wild Hunt, accompanied by an owl and a pair of hellhounds with a subterranean hideout, tormenting Henry VIII as he considered the fate of Ann Boleyn.

Ainsworth lifted nearly all of the details of Herne’s appearance from Grimm’s Wild Hunt chapter, the owl, the dogs, the connection to royalty and his hunting prowess. The antlers and chain were from Shakespeare’s few lines, the chain itself now explained as being taken from a gibbet.

This new and heavily embellished Herne the Hunter was a big hit with Ainsworth’s readers, and parts of the story began to seep into British folklore itself. Both Margaret Murray and Robert Graves subsequently wrote of Herne as being a nature spirit of sorts, a god of old Britain, while in neopagan circles he began to be associated with the Celtic deity Cernunnos and was sometimes a horned consort to their Great Goddess.

Now a firm fixture in Britain’s folklore, despite his purely fictional creation and with nothing known about the lost traditions that might have inspired Shakespeare, Herne returned in The Box of Delights, The Dark Is Rising and other novels before the depiction that would become the biggest influence on the public imagining of him. The TV series Robin of Sherwood introduced the Herne of Ainsworth’s Windsor Castle as a benign figure, calm and wise, who mentored the titular hero towards his destiny.

This Herne was a nod to Ainsworth with the stag head fixed atop his head and a cave lair accessible only by water, but his almost shamanic nature connected to Graves’s poetic visions of Old Britain. He still stands today as probably the Herne that most people picture when they hear the name.

Where might Shakespeare have gathered his ideas of the figure of Herne the Hunter? Why is he associated with the Wild Hunt?

I take the deepest dive into the history of the Wild Hunt in Britain, its leaders and associated figures, in my book The Horn Of Mercia - available at the link in the comments.

06/11/2026