My very first foray into the world of witchcraft occurred when I was 12 – I fell in love with a Tarot deck. It always strikes me as interesting that the very first magical art I learned is still the one I use the most, and the one that pays a large percentage of my…
One of the running jokes within Paganism is references to “smells and bells” – our love for and use of various sensory tools and techniques when it comes to spiritual practice. Pagan rituals are often lush with texture. We use incense and sacred fires, singing bowls, bells, and chanting, rough cut stone and shining crystals,…
I start my days in the garden right now. I like to hand water my plants – it means that I get a good sense of what’s going on with them from day to day. There’s a feeling in the air that I’ve come to associate with the change of seasons. It’s very subtle –…
When I look at the path of a river, I sometimes marvel at the way it cuts through stone to wend its flow through the landscape around me. I’m lucky enough to live near both the Potomac and Conococheague rivers and I’ve spent a lot of time wandering their shores and paddling kayaks along their…
Along with writing, teaching witchcraft, and offering readings, I am a minister. This September marks 20 years since my ordination – I have spent nearly two decades in service to the Pagan (and sometimes wider) community. This means death and grief are familiar companions of mine. I have sat with the dying and held their…
This Sermon was offered on Sunday, July 16th, at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick. I see articles regularly on how to make friends over age 40. The Surgeon General recently released an advisory that points to the loneliness epidemic and the very real, dangerous impact that isolation can have on people. Obviously, we have…
I don’t remember where I first heard the phrase “in order to create a new reality, we must first be able to imagine it.” That phrase is especially true when the reality around us is challenging. As I am writing this, we’re in a Code Red air day due to smoke from the fires in…
One of the things I love about my job is that I get the weird questions. By the time someone has booked a session with a professional divinator and witch, they’ve already tried all the standard solutions. We’re the last resort, or at the very least pretty far down on the list. Since most mundane…
It’s a busy month here at Glasse Witch Cottage! Lots of activities on the calendar, a fun new podcast interview, I’m turning 43 (!!), and a great festival in New York toward the end of the month. Let’s get into it: New today! I was recently a guest on That Witch Life podcast and…
The word “Pagan” is an umbrella term for a large collection of different belief systems. Those belief systems span an incredible variety in terms of form: some of us worship gods, some focus on ancestors, some are more animistic or pantheistic, and some of us aren’t particularly theistic at all. The decentralized nature of Pagan…