iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

@chseminary.bsky.social marks the passing of a faculty member, David Oringdeff -- Pagan leader, Army LTC, and, I hear, a pretty serious disc golf competitor in his later years. (See comments for another obituary with more personal info.) blog.chasclifton.com?p=14399

blog.chasclifton.com

Remembering David Oringderff

I met David Oringderff just one time, in a San Antonio wine bar where a bunch of Pagan-studies scholars and members of the local Pagan community met for an evening, (He drove down from Austin, I be…

110 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

What happens when your shrine is "desecrated" by chainsaws -- the first of several projected blog posts on ritual-reclaiming (with reclamation seed mix from the garden supply store). blog.chasclifton.com?p=14361

blog.chasclifton.com

Fleelng with the Idols

Thinking how to rebuild an outdoor Pagan shrine after a forest fire.

030 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

A first: I have now marched in uniform (vol. fire dept.) with pipes and drums down a town street. (Photo: At left, some of the Pikes Peak Highlanders tuning up,)

Bagpipers from the Pikes Peak Highlanders turn up with Horn Peak and the Sangre de Cristo Range in the background.

020 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

It's October, and you know what that means. (Hmm. Who is the target audience?) www.vogue.com/article/witc...

vogue.com

Get In, Crones: This Fall We’re Dressing Like Witches

100 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I'm taking a week off, post-forest fire and all that. Where did I go? The US state should be an easy guess. View out the front door of the rental house.

000 0

Reposted by Chas S. Clifton

Daily Grail @dailygrail.com · 19/08/2026

Earth is an alien planet. (Macro photograph of a longhorn beetle by Dara Ojo.)

1154 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Marked safe from bedroom scorpions two nights in a row now. Ah, summer.

000 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Entering Goldfield, Colorado. Pop.63 in the 2020 census. Between 1900–1910, it was more than 3,000. It was on this road, but going the other way, that I had one of my three notable "time slip" experiences, where I was simultaneously driving my car and back in some violent incident ⬇️

A mountain bike rides downhill into the "ghost town" of Goldfield, Teller County, Colorado, August 1, 2026.

140 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Started a novel blurbed as the "perfectionism" of folk horror. Does British folk horror always follow The Template? There, a city person(s) comes to the country. Extra points for Wales or a Scottish island. ⬇️

110 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

The experts on "folk horror" will be all over this one shortly. Worth a podcast episode or two, I should think.

010 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Shine on at Midsummer (card from the Jesper Toad oracle deck) jespertoad.com

010 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

If I remember right, Col. Oringderff fought for Pagan military chaplains in the 2000s and the Chaplains Corps stonewalled him. Check link for his free, downloadable publications on Wicca, in particular, in the military. cherryhillseminary.academia.edu/DavidOringde...

1137 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

It's the lead-up to primary elections and to the 250th birthday of the USA. The owners of this old car in Pueblo County, a bit of "pasture art" -- that's like "yard art" but with more space -- are going all out.

A rusted 1930s car sits in a prairie pasture, decorated with red, white and blue bunting, flowers, and American flags. Mountains and a house in the background.

010 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

It happened. A 30-ish woman approached me on the sidewalk holding out a business card. (What's she selling?) She said "You probably don't remember me, but I was in your class, and now I'm an author. You were a good teacher." And I don't remember her, that's the sad part. Maybe her website can help.

000 0

Reposted by Chas S. Clifton

Meanwhile in Ukraine @meanwhileua.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

A stork got trapped at the front. Ukrainian soldiers stopped to save it. ㅤ Russia’s war is not only breaking cities and lives. It is turning roads, fields, forests and skies into traps for everything still alive.

514730 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

why am I Like This™? -raised to think Trees were Important -had first "big" Bear dream age 4 -wondered why prayer book ignored hunting, fishing, & natural resources, was altar boy anyway -set on the path in Taos, NM by failed love affair, Robert Graves, & Greek ballad "Kathe limani kai kaimos."

120 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

A custom followed last weekend in southwestern Kansas goes so far back that it definitely seems "Pagan-ish" to me. blog.chasclifton.com?p=14280

A wheelbarrow full of wheat sheaves, decorated with ribbons, is wheeled into a small town Kansas graveyard.

011 0

Reposted by Chas S. Clifton

The Wild Hunt News @thewildhunt.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

A New Jersey lawsuit involving Wiccan religious accommodations in prison has drawn national attention, highlighting debates over inmate rights, transgender incarceration policy, and how conservative media frames minority religions such as Wicca. wildhunt.org/2026/05/wicc...

wildhunt.org

Wiccan Prison Lawsuit Sparks Controversy in Conservative Media Over Inmate Rights - News, Paganism, The Wild Hunt, U.S., Witchcraft

Witchcraft & Pagan News - A New Jersey lawsuit involving Wiccan religious accommodations in prison has drawn national attention, highlighting debates over inmate rights, transgender incarceration poli...

1156 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Dogs long gone -- their collars still hanging on the basement wall.

020 0

Reposted by Chas S. Clifton

Daily Grail @dailygrail.com · 13/05/2026

Apparently Gordon White of Rune Soup has died - multiple people confirming the news was announced today via the Rune Soup newsletter. His publisher Scarlet Imprint have also posted about it on Instagram. www.instagram.com/p/DYRtsbMNAkG/

Instagram post by Scarlet.Imprint with a photo of Gordon White and the message "We will miss you terribly Gordon. Our dear friend."

7266 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

I heard of the "Council of All Beings" concept some years ago. I could never decide whether it was something genuinely fruitful or just thinly disguised human egotism. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.com

‘I’m worried there’s too much of me,’ says a birch: inside the interspecies council giving nature a voice

In a village in Norway, humans representing flora and fauna of all kinds meet to reimagine ‘nature-centric governance’

000 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

I used have this Hudson's Bay "point" blanket. Then it was mysteriously replaced by something else. This was not "weirdness" at the Bigfoot/UFO level, but it shook my world nonetheless. blog.chasclifton.com?p=14248

000 0

Reposted by Chas S. Clifton

T. Susan Chang @tsusanchang.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Not everyone, believe it or not, falls in love with the cards at first sight! What’s behind tarot-phobia? My wise and witty editor, Barbara Moore, shares her thoughts. Listen to the Tarot Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Or, if you prefer, watch on YouTube! youtu.be/mHjGDBPF-ps

youtu.be

Why do People Fear Tarot? with Barbara Moore - The Tarot Podcast Ep 45

YouTube video by The Tarot Podcast with T. Susan Chang

031 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

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

Adult male Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

140 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

@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.

243 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

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?

000 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

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

000 0

Reposted by Chas S. Clifton

Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

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...

51613 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

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

010 0

Reposted by Chas S. Clifton

Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

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?

5512 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

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

Two standing stones mark the entry to a limestone quarry, Huerfano County, Colorado

020 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

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

blog.chasclifton.com

A Pagan Studies Scholar, the Shah of Iran, and a Return to Aryan Native Faith

As I write this, tens of thousands of Iranians (or let’s call them Persians) are demonstrating against the government of murderous black-turbaned mullahs who let the 1979 revolution and promp…

030 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

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:

A BBC article announces that the fax machine is 180 years old, hence introduced in 1846.

000 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

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

noradsanta.org

Official NORAD Tracks Santa

120 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

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

000 0

Chas S. Clifton @chasclifton.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

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?

210 0