This book is a free download for three more days! www.cambridge.org/core/element...

Romans in the 1st century CE ordered incense ingredients from far, far away: blog.chasclifton.com?p=14223

Someone in Beulah, Colorado (west end of Pueblo Co.) reported a male Broad-tailed Hummingbird on March 25. That is easily three weeks earlier than normal. Weird year. Got my sugar water ready though. #birds #Colorado #hummingbird

Maine? I thought "Paganistan" was Minnesota. But maybe not. themainemonitor.org/paganism-pop...

@robincdouglas.bsky.social has a book coming in our Equinox series on pre-Gardnerian British Pagan revivals, while Sasha is working mostly on Byzantine-era esotericism right now. Worth hearing! More details and Zoom link in comments.

March 4th

Mercury is going retrograde, and that is a big relief. With my ultra-Mercury-ruled, it's catch-up time: postponed projects, local travels, life at a slower pace. But will I ever hear from that typesetter in New Delhi now?

Some 19-teens February (1914?) was much like right now.

This is a build-up to another post about the built-in weirdness of "stable reality." blog.chasclifton.com?p=14101

One of my students is investigating 'Healing in Ink: Ritual, Pain, and Meaning in Tattoo Traditions' for their assignment on the Contemporary Rituals & Traditions module. If you have one or more tattoos & are up for answering some questions please head to this survey forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...

Five Classes I took in College: Old English Calligraphy I Intro to History of Religion (not its actual name) Poetics Yeats & Eliot Seminar

What if the historical Shakespeare never actually claimed to be divine, and that was just added later by the dogmas and councils of literary critics?

Driving a little High Plains road and I see standing stones! Well, sort of. It's the Long Neolithic in the County of the Orphan. #longneolithic #huerfanocounty

Current events in Iran reminded me that I was one "one degree of separation" from the late Shah of Iran, and academic Pagan studies figures in to the story too. Also: If the black turbans can be kicked out of power, expect a revival of "Aryan Native Faith." blog.chasclifton.com?p=14190

The cliche that "journalists can't do math" is alive at the BBC. That's right, the California Gold Rush was announced by fax machines:

Santa Claus is in Cambodia! Keep up with him using NORAD's Santa Tracker. www.noradsanta.org/en/map

Messing around in the murk of 6th century British history and I find the best punning academic title that I've seen in a while: Koch, J. T. (2013) ‘Waiting for Gododdin: thoughts on Taliesin and Iudic-Hael, Catraeth, and unripe time in Celtic studies’ IYKYK

Practical magic question: I had a jar of various feathers on my desk, picked over the years (turkey, jays, hawks, pheasant, flicker & more). I'd been told once that feathers in a room absorb negative energies & should be disposed of periodically, so I tossed the lot into the wood stove. Right move?

Now for a moment of shameless self-promotion... #WitchSky #WitchTips #PaganSky #OccultSky

I learnt just today of the passing of Prof. Claude Lecouteux. Photo from the "Timeless Occult Literature" account on Facebook, whose owner also posted a bibliography, which I will link to below.

TODAY at 5 pm GMT/12 pm EST I will be joined by Dr Manon Hedenborg White and Dr Henrik Bogdan to discuss their newly co-edited volume The Magical Diaries of Leah Hirsig. Link to the livestream ➡️ youtube.com/live/sfpr3Vv... #leahhirsig #scarletwoman #thelema #thelemite

And so it begins.

Joe's worth listening to, as someone built an academic career around vampires and Satanisms. 😁

I listened to (or you can watch) this podcast last month. It's interesting to hear how Brit Trad #wicca (Gardnerian, Alexandrian) is evolving and mellowing in some respects

Got this one in the line-up

New research argues that modern humans are biologically mismatched with industrial life. Scientists suggest our bodies evolved for forests and open skies, not cities and screens. Chronic stress, weakened immunity, and falling fertility may reflect this deep separation… wildhunt.org/2025/11/you-...

‪@chasclifton.bsky.social‬ · now Caffeinating while looking out at gray Boston streets, getting ready for the first Contemporary Pagan Studies section at #AARSBL2005. Fortunately it's next door to my hotel! Giovanna Parmigiani will preside--check out her new book! amzn.to/3MiyGxF

Great podcast series on Tarot, by the way.

One of my volunteer gigs is hauling (sometimes capturing) injured raptors for the Raptor Center, collecting orphan fawns & other critters for rehabbers, and sometimes releasing them in the wild. Yesterday's run was especially bittersweet: www.southernrockiesnatureblog.com/2025/11/the-...

I pledged to this one: www.kickstarter.com/projects/thu...

"Ritual, Personhood and the New Animism: Essays in Honour of Graham Harvey" is a new collection honoring a major scholar of animism. A must-buy. equinoxpub.com/projects/rit...

I wrote about the rise of paganism in Latvia: thecritic.co.uk/the-return-o...

‪Chas S. Clifton‬ It's funny how Amanita muscaria has gone from scary to therapeutic. I saw the needle start to swing in the late 1990s, and now if you're not using it, are you really fungi-maxing? Links to upcoming online conference below & in comment.https://www.facebook.com/amanitaonlinecongress

A historic first: a couple married at the Temple of Zeus in Cyprus in a Hellenic polytheist ceremony—the first of its kind legally recognized in Greece—marking a powerful step toward restoring ancestral faith and identity across the Mediterranean. wildhunt.org/2025/10/hist... #hellenism #pagan

Might be worth grabbing. I need to read it and find out.

A former Marine scout-sniper and now Heathen priest discusses his "ministry" of using psilocybin to treat vets with PTSD w/ insights on how US Religious freedom has evolved. There's a lot of getting-to-know-you chat up front; the second half is more interesting. blog.chasclifton.com?p=14111

"What happens when a folklorist and anthropologist turns her academic skills on the Pagan community of San Francisco in the 90's and early 2000's? An epic book called Witching Culture gets written!" youtu.be/MrcLcnLdkU0?...

Only a return to the Archaic can save higher ed.

Cool and misty today, and I'm back from morning dog walk with Shaggy Parasol #mushrooms and some little puffballs.

The proofs are here! Not not long to go now... 📚

Even at 75°F (24°C), big furry dogs get hot while trotting down the trail. Time for a tummy soak.

Prance while you can

I was out yesterday when thunder rumbled, and my friend muttered, "Božji kladivo." "That's Bojon," he said to me -- Pueblo (CO) Slovenian. He learned the expression from his wife's Slovenian grandmother. It means "God's hammer." Comes in handy this time of year when storm gods walk.

I wonder how many people claim credit for inventing Astro Dice. blog.chasclifton.com?p=14102

What's going on here?

This is not exactly "cozy horror." Just everyday weirdness. blog.chasclifton.com?p=14085

Me, I welcome Mercury Retrograde; it's my catch-up time.

Wow, can't even get a like on a cute dog pic. Is it true what I saw on Ecks, that engagement here is dropping? (Source: Megan McArdle, Washington Post columnist)

Marco: I am at an outdoor restaurant. People walk by with food, but they ignore me. I am so hungry. But I will face starvation with dignity. Perhaps, before I am gone, someone will yet feed me.