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,…
There are many fascinating Christian holdovers in Pagan spirituality. In the United States, we are so immersed in Christianity, even when raised by a family that does not practice that particular faith, that we tend to pick up Christian ideas and norms without realizing it. One of those ideas is that of a primary God…
As a soul crafter and shaper, I have a tendency toward planning, visioning the future. I like having guidelines for the qualities I am trying to embody, so the idea of a set of Virtues appeals to me. I don’t need a roadmap, necessarily, but cultivating specific virtues gives me a light in the wilderness,…
The Powers That Be speak to me in themes. The same topics come up, the same conversations occur over and over within a month or so, and I eventually realize that I’m being sent a very specific message through the repetition. Today I’m thinking about power and integration, the way wholeness translates to deeper roots…
I felt it for the first time Saturday. I don’t know if it was the bright sunlight on the snow, or the way the light was angling through the window of the car, or just the awareness that I was headed to an Imbolc Ritual that night. But the knowing came through, like the softest…