mourning Archives - Glasse Witch Cottage

Grief and Joy: Living with Loss in the Holiday Season

Posted on December 30, 2024December 30, 2024 by GlasseWitch

(Content warning: death, grief) One of my favorite quotes I’ve heard Reverend Carl give is from educator and activist Parker Palmer: “There are two ways for the heart to break: apart into many shards like a fragment grenade, or open into greater capacity so we can hold life’s inevitable tensions creatively, not destructively.” My father,…

Grief, Spiritual Bypassing, and How to Not to Stick Your Foot in Your Mouth

Posted on July 24, 2023February 3, 2024 by GlasseWitch

This blog is the “2024 Outstanding Blog Post of the Year” winner in the Witchcraft and Occult Media Awards 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….

Lamentation of the Witches – Grief and Mourning for the Modern World

Posted on December 10, 2018December 10, 2018 by GlasseWitch

My personal path is one of grief right now. One of the dearest companions of my soul joined the Ancestors on Friday. And so I once more negotiate the weeping waters and shifting tides of a heart broken open. Our culture, as a whole, fears death. The collective impulse at this time is to push…

Foundations of Witchcraft: A Blackfeather Mystery School Training Manual

Available now from Crossed Crow Books! Order a signed copy here (only available in the United States).

Foundations of Witchcraft: A Blackfeather Mystery School Training Manual is a comprehensive guide to the practice of witchcraft and spiritwork. Rooted in over two decades of experience, this immersive manual blends magical theory, ritual, spellcasting, journeywork, and introductory spirit contact into a cohesive and empowering system.

Designed to offer both structure and freedom, Foundations of Witchcraft treats witchcraft and spiritwork as complementary paths. It provides clear, practical training to help witches develop their power and deepen their connection to the unseen.

The Heathen Way: Foundations of Inclusive Norse Practice

Coming in July of 2027 from Llewellyn Worldwide. Reserve a copy from Llewellyn here. Reserve a copy from Amazon here. Options to order signed copies will be available as we get closer to the release date.

In our modern era of changing relationships and digital connectivity, this beginner guide to heathenry offers an inclusive, ethical framework for deep connection and growth.

Drawing from their years of experience as practitioners and teachers, Irene and Ash Glasse introduce you to Norse history, mythology, and philosophy while also providing many hands-on exercises for our contemporary world. They offer approachable ways to explore the basics of heathenry and its community, helping you decide what aspects of the tradition work best for you.

From deities and sagas to runes and rituals, this inclusive guide features everything you need to start practicing heathenry. Learn how to perform blóts and holiday ceremonies, use the Elder Futhark for divination, discover what wyrd, animism, and seidhr mean, and much more. Whatever your background or skill level, this guide welcomes you to find your own heathen way.

Irene Glasse is a Heathen witch based in Western Maryland. She is a longtime teacher of witchcraft, meditation, and magic in the mid-Atlantic. She is the co-author of "Foundations of Witchcraft: A Blackfeather Mystery School Training Manual" (Crossed Crow Books, 2026), the co-author of the forthcoming "The Heathen Way: Foundations of Inclusive Norse Practice" from Llewellyn Worldwide, a contributing writer to Llewellyn's Witch's Sun Sign Series and to the 2024 - 2026 Sabbats Almanacs (Llewellyn Worldwide, 2023 - 2025), and a blogger and columnist. She is a Commissioned Lay Minister at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick and is the lead organizer of the Frederick Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (Frederick CUUPS), offering events, rituals, classes and workshops to a large, vibrant community.

Caine Dreamwalker, co-author and co-creator of Blackfeather Mystery School, has spent over a decade building upon his vision of caring for his community as a modern Spiritworker. It is his life’s work to help others and Caine strives to approach his life with as much compassion as his heart can muster. He makes it his mission to meet people exactly where they are in the moment to help overcome obstacles in their path.

Ash Glasse (they/them) is a Heathen practitioner based in Western Maryland. They are the Gothar (spiritual leader) of Elk Ridge Kindred, an inclusive Heathen group based in Frederick, Maryland. Ash is the co-author of the forthcoming "The Heathen Way: Foundations of Inclusive Norse Practice" from Llewellyn Worldwide. They are a member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick, where they are an active CUUPS (Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans) member, leader, and teacher. Ash’s primary focus in Heathenry is to incorporate the practice into daily life. They try to break down the walls between the spiritual and the mundane, while keeping in touch with Heathenry’s historical roots.