New blog today on the Nature’s Sacred Journey Patheos! “You see, we need our Wild. That ancestral echo within us is not just a random collection of desires and sensations. It is a wisdom carried within our very blood, hiding in the spaces within us that have not changed in millennia. Our Wild is a…
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of leading this ritual at Fertile Ground Gathering, a wonderful Beltane celebration in Northern Virginia. As a former Marine, I sometimes get tapped to organize and support events that are specific to veterans, so I was honored to be asked to offer a Warrior Blessing ceremony. As I…
I fell in love with a tarot deck at age 12. I still remember the moment I saw my deck on the shelf at a (now closed) gift shop in Frederick, MD. I can recall the color of the display unit and exactly where it was positioned in the store. I’m not sure how much…
Creating safe space in which to relax and let down our guard is the focus of a lot of house and hearth magick. Some of the oldest charms and magickal devices our archeologists find are specifically for protecting one’s home, property and lands. We can draw inspiration and ideas from these practices, many of which…
A friend recently asked me what it takes to be a witch these days. The question was in response to my post on modern virtues for witchcraft. I’ve been turning that question over in my mind since and contemplating all the different skill sets, perspectives and ways of being in the world that contemporary witches…
This week I was the guest writer on the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans Patheos Blog. I think we’ve all had the fantasy about the big, elaborate shrine in a wild-ish place somewhere. We can see it in our mind’s eye – the natural stone, the altar, some vines creeping in a decorative-but-not-annoying way. Maybe…
One of the things I’ve observed about the witches, seers and neoshamans I admire most is their focus on cultivating relationships. They seem to have a visceral understanding of being part of our planet’s tapestry of life (physical, spiritual and energetic) in a way that most of us do not. Their Work, magickal and otherwise,…
It’s finally here – the days are longer than shorter, and the world around us is beginning to look a little more lifelike. There’s more birdsong in the air, the sunlight is warmer, and the first flowers are opening. Spring has arrived in all her changeable, temperamental glory. Take it easy, Persephone! There’s a…
I am pleased to share with you the first of my articles for Nature’s Sacred Journey on Patheos! Today’s article includes a new divinatory spread (designed to work for Tarot, Oracle cards, Runes, Ogham or any other system based on sortilege) and an Ostara ritual for solitaries and small groups. Click here to read.
I’ve never found much resonance with traditional forms of prayer. It may just be my somewhat rebellious nature, but kneeling, hands pressed together in the gesture of pleading, feels wrong to me. It may also be that my most transcendental moments, those times I’ve felt the closest to the forces we think of as Divine,…