Ah, it's that wonderful time of the year when Witches are suddenly in vogue. A vast array of bewitching-themed items can be found in every store across the land. Houses and shops are decorated with orange lights, fall leaves, blooming mums, colorful gourds, pumpkins, and scarecrows. Oh, and of course, ghosts, Witches, and screeching black cats. In all the excitement of decorating and preparing for the sabbat, it is easy to forget that often the most practical and magical of items are to be found very affordably, courtesy of good old Mother Nature. This Halloween why not keep things simple? For..
Honoring your ancestors, like any practice that deals with spirits, is a lot like cooking. Anyone can do it, not just people with special training. (That's a big part of the reason why I wanted to write a book about it!) But whether you're an amateur or a trained professional, you still need to stay in the moment and use your senses—or you might end up burning something.When you cook, you don't just put your food on the stove for ten minutes and trust that it's been cooked perfectly. Even if you're following a recipe and the recipe says, "cook for ten minutes," you need to watch the food chang..
One day my daughter was peeling a hard-boiled egg. She said, "I wonder why eggs have so many parts: there is the shell, then the skin part, then the egg inside."I said, "Well, each part has its purpose."She turned to me and asked, "Do people have a purpose?"I smiled and said yes, that every person had a purpose, though we don't always know what that purpose is. "I thought so," she said, "but I just wondered."These are the kinds of everyday encounters that can instill in our children the sacredness of life and help launch deeper discussions. They also introduce the idea of metaphor; the egg is ..
It's easy to get overwhelmed when you come upon the tarot for the first time and try to learn the esoteric meanings for all the cards and the card combinations. The tarot lies at the very heart of modern Western magic, and to understand it requires at least a partial knowledge of various esoteric subjects, the most important of which are the elements, astrology, numerology, and the Kabbalah.One way to learn the basic meanings of the cards is to memorize them by rote, but there is another way, a much more organic and holistic way that I used when I was a beginner, and I will describe it for you..
Most of us would agree that there is more to being a Witch than celebrating the Sabbats or casting a spell under the full moon. That being said, many modern Pagans struggle to find ways to integrate their spiritual beliefs with their busy and often stressful mundane lives. Work, family, significant others, and all the responsibilities that come with everyday survival can make it difficult to carve out time and space to focus on the spiritual.But our spiritual core is what nurtures and supports our daily life, and it is vital to our physical, mental, and psychic well-being. So what's a busy Wit..
One of the greatest summer pleasures of my youth was taking a drive with my parents and brother through the August countryside, stopping for fresh produce the farm families sold at the roadside for what seemed like spare change. Produce on the vine in the morning came fresh to the table in the evening. Nothing else tastes quite so sweet as that first taste of the first harvest from the fields of your homeland.When I first began doing research for the book that would become The Sabbats: A Witch's Approach to Living the Old Ways, I was astounded to discover that both the autumnal equinox as well..
I have always been a strong advocate of Pagans touching or connecting with the earth in some way. The earth, after all, is the primal source of our spirituality. It stands to reason, then, that any activity that causes you to physically interact with the earth can enhance your Pagan spirituality.
Any time is a great time to add a new energy clearing technique to your home. As we integrate positive changes, creating a crystal grid in your home can really shift the energy in it. (Everything that happens in your home gets imprinted energetically in each room; the crystal grid transmutes that energy so that it doesn't remain in the home.)Crystal grids can cleanse, align, and shield the energy in any home. When we set the crystals in any space, the points emit beams of energy that are projected into the space. The beams of energy can go through walls and all physical objects. Multiple cryst..
When I got involved in Wicca, I found that most of my teachers emphasized the Goddess. Many people have been raised with traditions that emphasized the male aspect of divinity. These same people often come to nature-based religions with a desire to reconnect their spirit to the divine feminine, the Mother principle. I know I did. I came from a strict Catholic background, so I found the idea of the Goddess both intriguing and comforting. I always liked the Virgin Mary, and found the multifaceted images of the Goddess quite a wonderful challenge. It was hard to look at the feminine as not only v..
Every day of the week, Sunday through Saturday, is a magical day. Each of the seven days of the week has its own magical correspondences such as deity associations, colors, crystals, and herbs. Each individual day also carries its own bewitching specialties. The trick is finding a way to apply these correspondences in a practical and fresh way to your Witchcraft.You may feel like you don't have much room in your schedule to add to your magical practice. Between your job, hauling the kids to soccer practice, walking the dog, and doing the laundry you've got maybe twenty minutes to spare for mag..
You can tell a lot about a crystal by its color and the magical way that a crystal interacts with light. In fact, color may be the single most important factor you will need to know in order to work with crystals.Since the 1900s, when Isaac Newton used a prism to split sunlight into a rainbow of colors, scientists have recognized that light is a form of energy. That energy travels in waves, and the distance between each light wave is measured in terms of wavelength. Every wavelength has its own color—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, or violet.In a way, color is an optical illusion. In..
To begin the Svadhisthana meditation, find a comfortable position with your back straight. Close your eyes and begin breathing yogically. Breathe deeply through your nose without separation between inhalation and exhalation and feel yourself relaxing. Take your time and become conscious of your body by following your breath for about five minutes. After five minutes, bring your attention to your second chakra, right above your sexual organs. Then bring your breath to your second chakra. On each inhalation, feel the energy centered in your sexual organs increasing. You will feel it as a heat an..
It is often said that tarot is a mirror. There are different ways of thinking about this. Some say tarot reflects back what you think, feel, or believe. Some say that it reflects back what you want to see. Some say that it shows you nothing more or less than your own potential. All of these are possible, and depending on what you believe about how tarot works, one or more of these may be at play when you work with the cards in any way.
Whatever you believe, you can blend these ideas into one process that helps you identify your ideals and your practices so that you can be aware of the dista..
What is Mabon?One of the minor Wiccan and Pagan holidays (or sabbats), Mabon is also known as the Autumn Equinox. It is the second of the 3 harvest festivals (with Lughnasadh and Samhain) when the earth is cooling from the heat of summer and the crops are being harvested and stored for the coming winter.Like the Summer Solstice, day and night are of equal length but after Mabon, the night becomes longer for the dark half of the year.Think of Mabon as the Thanksgiving for pagans. It is a celebration of the Earth's bounty and the first step to prepare for winter which in many parts of the world,..
Going to college is an exciting and stressful time. Your dorm room should be your
spiritual sanctuary. But it can be hard to be Wiccan in the middle of
the chaos of college, especially if you want to keep it low key. Here are some ideas to make your dorm room your personal sacred space.
The Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year when the sun seems to
stand still. The heat of the sun is
also dangerous able to burn and kill as quickly as it nurtures. This is why the Summer solstice is also a day of balance between fire and water.
Danu, the Great Mother Goddess of the Irish Celts, calls us to recognize the abundance of life
lighting the fires of inspiration connecting us to the Divine spark.
Amethyst is one of the best crystals for meditation allowing a raise in
vibration of the Third Eye.
Read more about this mystical purple gemstone.
The Spring Equinox is when day and night are equal, a time of balance. It is also known as Ostara and
is considered one of the 4 Sabbats of the Wiccan Year. Here is a look at the rituals and the lore celebrating the beginning of Spring.
I have been a practicing witch for 20 years, and while I understand the
frustration over Trump and his policies, I won't be participating in tonight's mass ritual against Trump. Here is why.
Before you can embrace your new year and intentions, you need to let go
of anything that has troubled you or held you back in the past. Not just
the past year, but your life until now.
There is a lot of confusion about the simple pentacle - what it is, what it means, and how it is used in Wicca. We explore the differences and uses of pentagrams and pentacles in this article starting with what is a pentacle.
How do you connect to friends and family who are no longer with us? It can be something as simple as making muffins.
Create An Altar
An altar is really just a working space set with objects that reflect
you, the purpose of the altar, or the ritual or season you are
celebrating at it. Here are some things to think about when setting up your first altar.
