I’m old enough to remember a time before the internet, when being Pagan was more isolating than it is now. These magical devices we carry around with us, and our laptops and computers at home, enable us to connect to a world of other practitioners. One of the interesting upshots of this connection is that…
Tag: healing
How is it already MARCH?! Somehow we’ve made it to this moment, and the vernal equinox is in sight. This month, I have two offerings to help make the most of this changing season. The first is a Tarot special. In honor of the coming spring, and that wonderful restless energy that tends to hit…
Mystics live in a world that contains more dimensions than the ones we talk about in geometry. Along with the practical world – the world of edges and measurements and truths we can prove in a petri dish or double blind study – there are less tangible layers all around us. One of these is…
The very first pre-Christian Deity I served was Brigid, an Irish goddess. As a young musician with a military background, she was easy for me to relate to. “A musician AND a blacksmith? Sign me up! I want to make music and hit things too!” I still consider my time in service to her to…
Many years ago, I was introduced to the idea of selecting a single word for each calendar year to act as an intention, touchstone, and big-picture goal. The beauty of a single word intention is that the simplicity means multiple ways of connecting are possible. For example, my word for 2020 was “Manifest.” One of…
One of the ritual forms I practice is Hrafnar-style Seidr. This type of ritual is a modern liturgy that traces its roots to the form practiced by our ancient kin of faith in Iceland, Scandinavia, and Norway. Hrafnar-style Seidr is oracular divination: a seer goes into trance and is then able to ask questions of…
“To be hopeful is to have a form of emotional resilience. A hopeful person believes that although challenges, grief, and adversity occur in every life, somehow things will work out. They believe that they have the ability to figure out a path forward or respond in a way that makes adversity just another part of…
Stories wield incredible power, and are one of the core shaping influences in human cultures. We can easily look around the world for examples of this: here in the United States, our culture is shaped by Christian mythology. In India, Hindu mythology forms the culture. In Iceland, the Icelandic and Norse mythology of old supports…
We inherit a lot of perspectives from our parent culture. Some of these are obvious, and we begin the work of deconstructing them pretty quickly. I began hacking at the “girls can’t be strong” trope almost as soon as I could walk. As a result, I’ve made good progress on pulling that particular weed out…
Our will – the function of the brain that makes us do things, even stuff we don’t really want to do, can best be viewed as a kind of mental muscle. We have a finite quantity of it when we start the day; using it causes our reserve of willpower to deplete. This is why…