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NROOGD Beltane 1996

Photo Album: 1996 NROOGD Beltane Celebration

Posted on July 11, 2019July 13, 2019 by David Arv Bragi

In the spring of 1996, the neopagan religion NROOGD (New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn) performed this fun Beltane celebration in a public park in Berkeley, California.

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Book cover for On Pagan Roads by David Arv Bragi

On Pagan Roads: Wiccan Life in the 1970s and 1980s

Posted on July 5, 2019August 9, 2019 by David Arv Bragi

Welcome to this modest collection of fifty-three short tales and character sketches about road, street and occult life during the late 1970s and early 1980s, when long robed sorcerers, long haired rockers and long winded street preachers prowled the nation’s back roads and back alleys in search of the philosopher’s stone, or the holy grail, or at least an undiscovered stairway to heaven.

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warren-mary_eliza_kelso-detail

Invisible Indians: Mixed-Blood Native Americans

Posted on February 19, 2019February 19, 2019 by David Arv Bragi

Are you or a loved one a mixed-blood (multiracial) Native American Indian who lacks sufficient documentation to join the tribe of your ancestors? Are you tired of being labeled a “wannabe” just because you don’t have the right birth certificate on file? Is your tribal heritage more important than a piece of government paper? If so, then the book Invisible Indians was written with you in mind. Download the free e-book!

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2018 Fairy Congress Table (Video Screenshot)

Artwork: The 2018 Fairy & Human Relations Congress

Posted on September 4, 2018September 4, 2018 by David Arv Bragi

Whimsical creations from the outdoor arts and crafts table at the Fairy & Human Relations Congress, where children and adults are welcome to create original works.

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Fairy Girls

Video: 2018 Fairy & Human Relations Congress

Posted on July 29, 2018September 4, 2018 by David Arv Bragi

Here’s a short documentary video that I created during a wild and mystical mountain gathering of “fairy folk” held every summer at the Skalitude Retreat in the Pacific Northwest.

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Juneteenth celebration

Video: Juneteenth Celebration

Posted on July 1, 2018 by David Arv Bragi

On June 16, 2018, Black Lives Matter hosted a Juneteenth Celebration in Bellingham, Washington. Attended by a multiracial audience of local residents, attendees spent the day reflecting upon the state of race relations in their community and throughout the world. Observed annually by African-American communities in the United States, Juneteenth commemorates June 19th, 1965, when…

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Lummi Nation blessing ceremony for the Tokitae Totem Pole Journey.

Native Americans try to save killer whale from captivity

Posted on May 10, 2018May 10, 2018 by David Arv Bragi

On May 10th, I had the honor of attended a blessing ceremony for the Tokitae Totem Pole, a large traditional wood carving of a killer whale created in an effort to free a living whale from captivity. Created by artisans of the Lummi Nation, a seafaring Native American tribe, this remarkable work of art has…

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Gustav Holst's The Planets: The Motion Picture (radiant woman poster)

Gustav Holst’s The Planets: The Motion Picture

Posted on January 14, 2017 by David Arv Bragi

Executive producers David Arv Bragi and Dolores J. Nurss are producing a 3D animated fantasy feature film based on Gustav Holst’s popular orchestral suite, The Planets.

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1979 flyer announcing Emilie Glen's poetry reading at B. Rutherford Books in New York City.

Two newly discovered poems by Emilie Glen

Posted on April 7, 2016April 7, 2016 by Poems by Emilie Glen. Commentary by David Arv Bragi.

Two recently discovered, previously unpublished poems by the late, prominent 20th Century poet Emilie Glen on the mystical aspects of nature.

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Original photo by Gage Skidmore. Zombification by David Arv Bragi. Creative Commons License: CC-by-sa-2.0.

The Donald Trump of the Dead

Posted on March 25, 2016March 25, 2016 by David Arv Bragi

The answer is obvious. Donald trump is the Great Zombie Master and his followers are the risen legions of the Undead.

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Muscogee Women Strive to Document their Ancestry

Posted on March 18, 2016March 18, 2016 by Mary Kay Leitka and Carmen Chambers

Testimony of two modern Native American women from the Muscogee Nation who struggle to document their tribal membership and heritage.

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Video: Young John Bemo

Posted on October 27, 2015March 18, 2016 by David Arv Bragi

Animated Native American children’s video of the 19th century Seminole adventurer, missionary and educator John Douglas Bemo.

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circle of hands

Understanding Cultural Appropriation

Posted on September 9, 2015March 18, 2016 by David Arv Bragi

The difference between sharing and stealing.

(Links to an external page at Coreopsis Journal of Myth and Theatre).

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The Happy Goth Girl

Posted on December 20, 2014March 18, 2016 by David Arv Bragi

Interview with celebrated goth artist Rose Adare, who lives on the big island of Hawaii and paints luminous oil portraits of various subcultures.

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Where are the Dolls of Color?

Posted on December 11, 2014March 15, 2016 by David Arv Bragi

Children’s gifts and toys that meet the needs of racial minority and mixed families.

Black girl, white doll

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Gentrification, San Francisco: Circus of Resistance

Posted on December 2, 2014March 15, 2016 by David Arv Bragi

Circus of Resistance image 08
It is August 15, in the year 2000. In a few hours it will be midnight, and then the police will come. But for now, it’s party time. On a balmy evening in San Francisco, nearly a thousand artists and friends cram into one narrow block in the historic Mission District in a show of support for a local dance company that had lost its lease.

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Sail of Tears: John Bemo and his Seminole descendants

Posted on November 29, 2014March 15, 2016 by David Arv Bragi

One Native American family’s history, 1825 to 1998.

Myrtle Bemo Webb
Some folks find themselves sailing, lost at sea, forever in search of dry land, never at a loss for water and storm. The same goes for entire families. Here’s a story about both.

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Dykes on Bikes!

Posted on November 28, 2014March 15, 2016 by David Arv Bragi

From the 1996 San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Pride Parade

Dykes on Bikes 1
It’s my first time here so I don’t know quite what to expect for the opening salvo, but all the other photographers are really jazzed up. Suddenly the crowd lining an empty Market Street breaks into a cheer at the tiger growl of motorcycles approaching in low gear. The parade has begun…

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Death and the Modern Pagan

Posted on November 28, 2014March 15, 2016 by Melissa L. Pinol

The Earth-Based, Goddess-Centered Pagan traditions, including Wicca, have a very different attitude toward death in general. Most of the Pagans I have spoken to over the years believe in reincarnation in some form, so that death is seen as a change, a “shedding of the skin”, rather than the end. For this reason the snake that sheds its skin is viewed as a symbol of rebirth rather than as a symbol of evil.
Hecate

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The Long Good-Bye

Posted on November 28, 2014March 15, 2016 by Phyllis Edgerly Ring

The “Disappearing Indians” Myth Lingers On

It didn’t take a “melting pot” of settlers from other parts of the world to create diversity in North America. The native peoples who lived here already represented an enormous variety of cultures, and they had something in common that would help them survive centuries of misfortune without losing that culture.

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Following The Threads in The Fabric of Freedom

Posted on November 28, 2014March 15, 2016 by Phyllis Edgerly Ring

Gloria Bowens with quilts.
Learn about the secret code system that connects early African-American quilt designs to activities of the Underground Railroad. When aired out on plantations, such quilts communicated how and when slaves could escape.

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Aunt Sarah: Woman of the Dawnland

Posted on November 27, 2014March 15, 2016 by Phyllis Edgerly Ring

A book review and interview with the author of the book Aunt Sarah: Woman of the Dawnland by Trudy Ann Parker

Aunt Sarah book cover

The greatest testimony to the skills of a medicine woman is that she lived to see 108 winters herself.

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Mixed African, European, Native American: Omoya’s Story

Posted on November 27, 2014March 18, 2016 by David Arv Bragi

OmoyaInterview with “Omoya”, who discusses her life experiences as a proud woman of African, European and Native American ancestry.

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Grandfather’s Dream

Posted on November 27, 2014March 15, 2016 by Jason Portras

Native American Indian spiritual practices are not the glamourous and easily-digested catchphrases of wisdom portrayed by Hollywood or the New Age movement. As the following short story by this Canadian Metis author illustrates, walking the “Red Road” can be a challenging, even embarrasing, ordeal. – The Editor
Eagle

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Minuteman

Posted on November 27, 2014March 15, 2016 by Kay Sundstrom

(The surreal world of a teenager stuck working at a fast-food joint)

hamburger - from wikimedia commonsJenna hated him, the garish tricolored hat, the white powdered curls fat as sausages, the tiny American flag clutched in his wooden hand. Her mother had bought the minuteman jack-in-the-box as a memento of the Bicentennial, placed it next to the miniature spinning wheel on top of the piano.

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When West Meets East: A Chicken in China

Posted on November 25, 2014March 15, 2016 by Phyllis Edgerly Ring

My daughter, Vanessa, is a genuine pigeon. She began her life in China two years ago, is living in the second city she has called home here, and has warned her Chinese friends not to plan surprises in front of her anymore because she understands everything they say.
Photo by Phyllis Edgerly Ring

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Feather River Singers: Native American Drum

Posted on November 25, 2014March 15, 2016 by David Arv Bragi

Feather River Singers. Photo by Mark Eyre
Feather River Singers is a Native American Indian Women’s Northern style contemporary pow wow drum that performs in both the Cherokee and English languages. They recently released Daughters of the Earth, a CD of original music, which includes healing songs for the Earth, pow wow dances and songs that honor warriors.

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Sacrifice

Posted on November 25, 2014March 15, 2016 by David Arv Bragi

(a fantasy poem)

Photo by Andy Morffew.

The One Who Stayed

I warned her
blood of mine
blood spilt
always
I warn them
  few listen…

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Eye of the tiger: Anti-goth backlash after Columbine

Posted on November 25, 2014March 15, 2016 by Tim O'Regan

There was a group of people at my high school who were known as The People Under the Stairs. They were very nice, mostly suburban white kids who dressed in black and hung out underneath the main set of stairs. The People Under the Stairs were the misfits and the Goths of our school.
Goth Legs. Photo by Bryan Ledgard.

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Shalom, y’all! | Jewish in the Bible Belt

Posted on November 25, 2014March 15, 2016 by Elizabeth Entman

Image by David Arv Bragi
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know that I was Jewish, and that it made me a teensy minority in my hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. Aside from being the capital of country music, Nashville also functions as the unofficial Baptist Vatican.

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Recipes for Cherokee Bean Bread and Pepper Pot Soup

Posted on November 24, 2014March 17, 2016 by Joy Donnell

Is it okay to add more spices? Of course, my grandmother did and I do all the time! Traditionally this bread is very mild, but grandma loved to spice things up. As long as the red beans are fresh, not canned, your bread will have enough drama to enhance any seasoning you include.

Bread & Soup. Photo by Joy Donnell.

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Native and African American Southern Comfort Food

Posted on November 24, 2014March 13, 2016 by Joy Donnell

Surely, anyone who remembers childhood knows comfort food. It was what you ate on rainy days when you couldn’t play outside. It was what you found at the table when your pet goldfish died or your dog ran away.

Bread & Soup. Photo by Joy Donnell.

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The Culture of Cousin Jacks: Cornwall during WWII

Posted on November 23, 2014March 15, 2016 by Brian C. Coad

About 1937, a Spanish ship laden with casks of sherry and carboys of Canary wine ran ashore during a gale and broke up on a rocky beach near my home. The news spread rapidly, as it still does in Cornwall. My Uncle Bob, with his little Austin 7 car, was one of the first to the rescue – not of the ship’s crew, but of its cargo.
Land's End. Photo by Brian C. Coad

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Three Poems of Exile from Zimbabawe

Posted on November 23, 2014March 15, 2016 by Handsen Chikowore

Tears of sorrows never vanish from their long faces
Thousands like zebra jumping out in search of long denied grass
Crossing rivers contaminated with crocodiles
South Africa seems to sweeten their sorrow
To them, Zimbabwe is just a zombie to flee
Image courtesy of Sokwanele - Zvakwana

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Native American Elders and their Children

Posted on November 22, 2014March 18, 2016 by Annette Biggart

Annette Biggart with mother
For as long as I can remember, I always knew that I was Indian, but I also knew that we could never talk about it in front of my Grandmother. For whatever reason, she would have a fit of rage if anyone asked her about it. She would say that she was NOT Indian and that she didn’t want to hear any of us say otherwise. We never knew why she denied it.

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Cry Africa Girl

Posted on November 21, 2014December 10, 2014 by Handsen Chikowore

Dankali girl in festival dress
Up in the azure sky
Shoots the sun’s rays
Rises to meet another day
Another promise
To me its not yet any hope
As each day brings more problems
Which trouble a thirteen year old girl

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The Saga of my Hair

Posted on November 20, 2014March 15, 2016 by Melissa L. Pinol

When womanhood came, my hair awoke
Heeding some inner genetic calling,
To a life of its own.

It framed my face like a cloud of blackness
Wild curls reaching in every direction
Armed with combs, with clips and barrettes.

My horrified mother
(Born a white Southerner and Never Forgetting It)
Attempted to tame it and failed.

Melissa Pinol - photo by David Arv Bragi

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The End

Posted on November 20, 2014March 15, 2016 by Kay Sundstrom

(A short story inspired by the tragic 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire)

She is worthless, cloth legs and arms, sooty grey and smudged, grey as newsprint, or a spider, Little Miss Muffit sat on her tuffit, eating her curds and whey. Too poor for a printed face, no high buttoned shoes or jet beads small as gnats. Instead someone stitched her a round open mouth, two spiked lashed eyes and a flattened French knot for a nose…

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Immigrant Rights Rally

Posted on November 17, 2014March 15, 2016 by David Arv Bragi

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Photo Gallery: Labor Day march and rally in Tucson, Arizona in support of the region’s migrant workers.

The year was 2010 and tensions between the Arizona state government and its Hispanic residents had simmered for months…

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A Letter To Young Wiccans

Posted on November 17, 2014October 24, 2018 by David Arv Bragi

flowers

Advice for teens who are new to Wicca, Witchcraft and Paganism.

As a young person you probably have a lot of issues in your life that you need to work out; the teen years especially can be pretty confusing. As a young Wiccan you have the added challenge of setting out on the strange, new road…

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OTHER FINE SITES

Brainstorm. Artwork by Dolores J. Nurss.
David and Dolores Creative Studio, our content marketing consulting firm.
 
John Bemo
The Tree of Life, a genealogy site of the Bemo, Webb and Estel families.
 
Mandala by Dolores J. Nurss
The Archives: Writings and discussion group by Dolores J. Nurss.
 
gears
Workflows: How we do what we do.

copyright © 2018 David Arv Bragi.

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