Yvonne Aburrow's Blog

Long-time readers of this blog may remember that I wrote a post about ancestors, including my Grandpa, Harold James Aburrow, 1903 – 1993, who was a conscientious objector.

I just found a newspaper article with some details of his conscientious objection tribunal.

My other Grandpa, Felix Maurice Rose (1909 – 1992) was also a conscientious objector.

I am very proud of them both for being conscientious objectors, and standing up for their beliefs.

It seems like fundamentalist Christians are trying to foment sAtaNic paNiC 2.0 (or 3.0 if you count the Puritans). There were large numbers of posts on Threads recently claiming that “hALLoweeN is sAtaNic”. There have also been rumblings about this from the MAGA crowd.

One thing we learned from the satanic panic in the late 1980s: we do not throw the Satanists under the bus.

We can point out many things:

I finally got around to reading the Anne of Green Gables books (although, annoyingly, the boxed set I bought is missing two of the books).

These are some of my thoughts on the books.

One thing that we have to remember is that these books were written between 1908 and 1921. So they do reflect the time period when they were written. I’d say that they were relatively progressive in their day.

One glaring omission is the almost complete absence of Indigenous people, Black p...

Patricia Crowther (née Dawson; 14 October 1927 – 24 September 2025), Craft name Thelema.

Read the rest of the obituary
at Gardnerian Wicca – an unofficial and informative website

I have just done an interview for the archives of Marquette University about my thoughts on Tolkien. This is a great project where they are collecting fan responses to Tolkien and his work. Anyone who considers themself a Tolkien fan can take part (see the FAQ).

The interviewer will record only the three minutes devoted to the interview itself. Only the audio is recorded. The interviewer will not make any comments, but will use a timer to silently cue the fan when the three minutes are n...

Up until now, my blog has always been free, so you may be wondering why I have created a Patreon and Substack for paid subscribers. It is because I was laid off from my job in April.

If you enjoy my writing and videos, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to either my Patreon or my Substack.

Halloween and Samhain are coming and as they approach, everyone’s thoughts turn to the uncanny, the liminal, and the numinous.

And what could be more liminal and uncanny than a path which was regularly used to transport the dead from remote villages…?

My new post about corpse roads, the grateful dead, the fair folk, the wild hunt, and the journey to the otherworld is now available to paid subscribers on Substack and Patreon.

The folklore of the dead – The Moon Path on Substack

The fo...

Apparently a member of the British government has said she doesn’t think repeat protests are British.

Protest — long-drawn-out, repeated and sustained protest — is very British indeed.

Indeed, repeat protests — often involving destruction of property, sometimes even loss of life — have historically been the only way to get change to happen.

Here are some examples from history.

It may seem that there’s no point criticizing other people’s theological beliefs because from the standpoint of atheists, all religious beliefs are equally unreasonable, but different theological beliefs are not equal, and they lead to different outcomes.

I define theology as beliefs about gods, spirits, and ethics: how we show up in the world as humans.

Bad theology is when a theological belief leads to harmful behaviours. Here are some examples:

The tenth anniversary edition of All acts of Love and Pleasure: inclusive Wicca — expanded, revised, and updated.

The book includes chapters and sections on 2SLGBTQIA inclusion in Wicca, anti-racism, cultural appropriation, including disabled and neurodivergent people, consent culture, Wicca and science, running a coven, and more!

The first edition broke new ground by advocating for inclusive Wicca that celebrates all acts of love and ...