Labors of Lupercus

1. To carry the sacred ram and set him among the stars.
2. To purify the hide of the sacred white bull.
3. to tame the twin serpents of Teramo.
4. To carry the Great Sea Crab to the Western Horizon.
5. To free the sacred Lion.
6. To fashion a bow for the goddess Diana.
7. To forge the Great Scales of Justice for the Gods.
8. To seal the giant scorpion back within the Earth.
9. To make a golden arrow for the King of the Centaurs.
10. To fashion two golden horns for the Great Goat Fish.
11. To purify the jugs of water which are bore to the Gods.
12. To leash the two Great Fish of the Sea and set them among the stars.

Hereditary Witchcraft, page 97 by Raven Grimassi

Wolves

Taken from How to Stay Alive in the Woods by Bradford Angier

The Wolf is so cautious that, aided by a high order of intelligence, it will put forth every effort not to be even seen by man. Its correspondingly keen curiosity, however, will sometimes lead to close investigations especially during protective darkness, and this has stimulated some of the tales about wolves trailing individuals with the alleged motive of eventually attacking.

Whenever I hear such accounts I think of the many nights in the Continental Northwest when I've gone to sleep wherever in the wilderness I have happened to be, many times listening as I dozed off to a wolf chorus and often as not hearing the wild music when half-awakening during the night but - except for the thrill it still never ceases to arouse - having no particular emotion except the pleasure of feeling more closely attuned to the unspoiled places; not because of any daring but because I soon realized, both from observation and from what others told me, that no wolf will harm a human being.

New Streghe on the Block

Interesting exchanges going on.

And we are reminded again, even when there are similarities, of how diverse Italy and its traditions are. Remember even the Romans didn't "unify Italy".

Henbit

I know it's just a weed but I think it's lovely.
It grows where it is moist and wild and cool and dies back in the summer heat.
Apparently lots of people take great effort to eradicate it.
I've actually started collecting clumps on my walks in a golf course that has been fallow and
wild since Katrina in the hope of getting it started in my garden.

Interview with Arch Priestess Diana of Strega of Benevento

Friday, January 21, 2011
SCANDAL in San Diego: Interview with Arch Priestess Diana of Strega of Benevento, Puglia & Piemonte by Lupercus del Bosco Sacro


It is my pleasure to be here interviewing Arch Priestess Diana of Strega of Benevento, Piemonte, Puglia & Sicily. For those of you who might not know yet, she arrived here in America on December 8, 2010, together with her husband and Son, to initiate and teach in the wisdom of Stregheria of Benevento. Tonight at 7:00 PM, APS Diana will appear for the first time to teach before Pagans in San Diego. There has been a great deal of gossip and scandal coming out of San Diego this week - in anticipation of this event.

Arch Priestess, the sudden appearance ot Strega of Benevento in America has been causing quite a scandal this week. What do you think of this?

It is normal and to be expected. Nothing at all of our Stregan tradition of Benevento has ever come out before. We have been extremely secretive until now and our tradition has remained virtually unknown.

Actually, I think it is The Great Rite that is causing most of the scandal. What do you make of this?


This is normal too. Most people think that The Great Rite amounts to nothing more than putting an Athame in a cup or sexual relations between a High Priest and High Priestess before, after, or during a ritual. The Great Rite, in reality, is much more than this. The Great Rite is a means, just to give one example, of contacting divinity in the flesh. There is a vast corpus of spiritual sexual technology that has never seen the light of day before we came to America. This information is an incredible blessing for Pagan couples everywhere.

Yes. There has been quite a scandal prior to your arrival in San Diego this week for your first lecture, workshop, and initiations. There are even several Pagan authors beginning to weigh in on the discussion. Would it not have been better for you to hide the teachings of The Great Rite in the higher degrees of Stregheria of Benevento, instead of putting them up front and center like you have?

Well, I am certain that it would have been easier!

This would not have been in line with our mission, however. By putting The Great Rite up front and center, we make an important statement to the Neo-Pagan movement in America. We want people to know right from the beginning that Stregheria of Benevento is not at all like Neo-Pagan traditions. We do not, for example, rely on fairy tails, psychology, or psychodrama. Moreover, in our rites and tools, you will find next to nothing of the theater and complicated implements that you find in other traditions either.

Stregheria of Benevento is a Pre-Pagan shamanic tradition. Our rites are simple and deadly effective, as are our practices. Most importantly, Stregheria of Benevento is a Pagan tradition that is NOT for everyone. Most people are not even close to ready for a tradition as powerful as Stregheria of Benevento.

We are not interested in educating and initiating vast numbers of people. In fact, there are only couple handfulls of Pagans that are completely prepared and truly ready for something like this at this juncture. Putting The Great Rite up front and center is a great way of weeding out 90% of candidates right from the beginning. Pagans who still have not bothered even to begin liberating themselves from the fear and negativity around sex instilled in them by Christianity, should certainly not come to us. They should better instead go deal with their sexual issues in psychotherapy or in one of the many Neo-Pagan traditions first.

I know that this sounds arrogant, but Stregheria of Benevento is, after all, a School of Perfection. We are only interested in the spiritual elite of the elite of the modern Pagan movement. For these few individuals, Stregheria of Benevento has an enormous amount of knowledge and training to perfect your spirituality and your practice.

We simply do not have the time or energy, however, to waste with the idly curious or people who still think that they can simply make up their own Pagan traditions.

Putting The Great Rite front and center in our teachings, thus, in the long run is not at all a bad idea. Sure, we are scandalizing a lot of people by rubbing under their noses the fundamental importance of spiritual sexuality in ancient Paganism. On the other hand, we are frightening off a lot of people who are nowhere near ready for a school of perfection like ours any way. This helps us preserve both our energy and our initiatic resources for candidates who are truly ready for such an extraordinary opportunity like Stregheria of Benevento.

I am not here to waste my time with individuals who are not suited for this work anyway. I could just as well have stayed in Italy. In fact, I certainly would have preferred to have remained in Italy. Our elders, however, are absolutely convinced that NOW is the time for this knowledge finally to come out.

It is not at all normal, that someone leaves their lives and everything behind to go to another country and start over like this. We barely speak English, for goodness sake. Our Son had to leave his school and his friends behind. If I had it my way, I would still be in Italy, dancing with my sisters and brothers beneath the Great Walnut at Benevento.

This is why I could care less about all of the gossip and noise like that coming out of San Diego this week. Those who are ripe for this message will hear the call of the Goddess, Diana Lucina, and will come to hear what we have to say. Those who are not right for this message will listen instead to the fear mongers - and they will stay away. This is the way of things - and it is good that things are are like this.

Mother Nature's Dow

I can't believe I've held on to this article for more than a year. When I first read it I thought it was perfectly aligned with The Ways, with the concept of Nature as the Great Teacher.

Op-Ed ColumnistMother Nature’s Dow Twitter
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: March 28, 2009

Gumbo - explained with a picture

Amanda Buck provided this is an excellent explanation of what Gumbo is and can be.
I take only one exception. I put file' on my Okra gumbo.


Remember despite the visual in the chart Cajun Roux is darker! It's darker because it is "cooked", toasted longer.

Atchafalya Houseboat

Atchafalaya Houseboat is a short memoir that takes you to another place outside of time as we moderns know it. It's a worthwhile trip. Into nature and around the wheel of the year.

Anyone who tries to listen to nature and breath with the seasons should read this book. I do my best to live *in* the world that we have today. I have a job. I provide a roof and healthcare and schooling for my family. I do my best to contribute to my community for both the short and long term, but there are times I yearn to be far, far away from this modern world. Atchafalya Houseboat let me have a few hours of that. I fell asleep last night after read many chapters and dreamt of my own houseboat with solar panels and a wi-fi hotspot. But no phones. One day I'll have chickens. I can already pick blackberries and make apple pie from scratch.

I have a new list of books to read.
Brad Angier - How to Build Your Home in the Woods and realize that I already have one Angier's books: How to Stay Alive in the Woods.

Or poetry and literature,
Sandburg's Fire Dreams
Mark Twain's Hunting the Deceitful Turkey
Robert Frost's My November Guest
and as I look these up to provide the links, my thoughts of solar panels and wi-fi seem less obnoxious.





Click here to see more pictures taken by CC Lockwood.

Or here for youtube videos.

Or here if you're interested in the PBS documentary.