This blog may eventually move to Wordpress

You may see me at undertwotrees.wordpress.com until Google decides to improve Blogger. I've already got a few unmirrored updates there as we speak, and I may or may not mirror them here ever.

If you decide that I am still worth following, best you be updating your Google Readers (which is also going away #sniff) with my new address.

"Oh, I am sorry, Frodo. I was delayed."

Because I totally was. By the long holiday off, by the Solstice, by Christmas, by the Poseidea, by the Calends of January, by the amount of work thrown at my face after the long week off, and by Gods, even by the Dionysia and Haloa. When they say this time is a busy time, they're not kidding. And we're not even done, yet. The first noumênia after the winter solstice is just around the corner.

But, behind all the busy-ness and holiday stress is great merriment and celebration, and a big opportunity to commune with the Gods. These times are not holy tides for nothing, and they have been so for hundreds of years.

Unfortunately, I'm not blogging about them today, as I have some cooking, and then, some sleeping to do. I will update, though, over the next few days, I promise. Also, I took pictures, and lots of them. I'll be sure to share them with you.

(PS: If you're wondering what Frodo or Gandalf has to do with this blog, not so much other than that I'm a huge Tolkien fan, and a pious cultor of LOTR (and soon, Hobbit) dvd-thons.)

À bien tôt!

Oak and Palm

Was what I had originally intended to use as a blog title, but I didn't want it to sound as if I was peddling corned beef. ("Olive and Palm" was my next choice, but that didn't sound very enticing, either. Oils anyone?)

The majestic oak tree was and still is a very important symbol to many European peoples. It is commonly associated with the Thunder God.

The palm tree is a symbol of fertility and life for many civilisations in Asia. In the Philippines, it is known as the Tree of Life.

To state the obvious, I have chosen these two trees to represent the two ancestral cultures that make up my religion and spirituality.

Khairete! Salvete! Mabuhay!

Khairete! Salvete! Mabuhay!

My name is Aldrin and I am writing to you on the 8th of November, 7 days before the new moon. I dedicate this space for any and all musings I might and will have as I walk the Dedicant Path, serving also the purpose of documentation for the group. A recent addition to the Ár nDraíocht Féin (ADF) fold, I am also a member of Neokoroi, Neos Alexandria, and the Hellenic Polytheistic Community on Facebook. Amongst many others.

This is me checking out our first shoots of rice.

To tell you a little more about myself: I was born and raised in the Philippines, just south of Manila. Like the very country I live in, I am an ethno-religious hotchpotch myself (an inoscule to be tree-ish about it), having ancestors from both ends of the world. Baptised and educated Roman Catholic, I now consider myself primarily Graeco-Roman (or is it Romano-Hellene?) in religious orientation. Luckily, I already am all sorts of Mediterranean-ish, so not much cultural shifting there. Still, I maintain a liberal interest in other pre-christian, polytheistic cultures.

Reading-wise, I am currently enjoying Ceisiwr Serith's "Deep Ancestors" and Jennifer Hunter's "Magical Judaism". But, other than those two and the amazing mythology books I have, I am rather poor on religion, mainly because publications on modern polytheism are quite difficult to find here and because ordering them online can sometimes take for ever. Oh well, thank Hermês for the Internet.

When things get better, I plan to add the books of Jeremiah H. Lewis (Sannion), Isaac Bonewits, and Tess Dawson to my collection.

I also dance, write, paint, bake, and speak in tongues.

Updates Coming Up!

Updates coming up! Just a little busy with my corporate job. Here is a picture of our beautiful, "eco" building.

Welcome to Under Two Trees

Where I write about my journey as an ethno-religious inoscule in the Philippines.