Purification practices are part of any healthy magickal life. Basic spiritual hygiene is as important as washing our hands and, right now, wearing a mask outside our homes. However, sometimes we’ve gone through something so challenging, so dark, and so full of pain that a hard reset is necessary. Something like four years of a…
Tag: winter
When I was a kid, I spent many of my summers attending YMCA Day Camp programs. I grew up in Frederick, MD, and the region is blessed with abundant parks and forests. For each session of summer camp I attended, I had a buddy assigned to me. One of the camp field trips I went…
Right now, the sun is setting before 5 PM here in the mid-Atlantic and the days are only getting shorter. A season normally marked with family gatherings, festive events, circles, services, and bustling shopping malls looks a little different this year. Yuletide 2020 is shaping up to be a quieter, smaller, and more solitary affair….
The Wheel of the Year has turned once more. Samhain is past and the days grow shorter and darker till Yuletide reaches us. This is the season of shadow and quiet, of the inward spiral. I think of the time from mid-October till Yule as Veil Season. Although many people focus their Ancestral work specifically…
I don’t mean to go all Ned Stark on everyone, but…well… In years without a pandemic, we would be preparing for the last of the harvest celebrations and planning the journey of the inward spiral: the time of turning within for healing, nurturing, and personal growth. This year, of course, is different. Many of my…
When I read last week’s blog on Major Arqueerna (‘Magic and the Physical Art of Release’), I was practically yelling ‘YES! EXACTLY!’ over my morning coffee. In the blog, Annie talks about how practicing Yin Yoga has supported their spiritual practice – in particular, some of their Shadow Work. One of the soapboxes I frequently…
The Pagan wheel of the year marks the quarters – the longest and shortest days (solstices) and the days of equal light and darkness (equinoxes). Our wheel also marks the points in between: the midway point from the extreme of light or darkness to the point of balance. Right now, we are getting ready for…
“For many of us, the prospect of multiple family gatherings over the next couple months can be anxiety-inducing. Add shopping, holiday parties, school obligations and packed grocery stores, and we have the ingredients for a very stressful season. The good news is that we know it’s coming, which means we can prepare for it. So…
The Wheel turned, and the final harvest lies behind us. The nights grow longer now and cool darkness whispers against the windows after the sun goes down. It is the time of the inward spiral. Living in rhythm with seasonal shifts includes many challenges, though. Although our ancestors were governed by their seasons and climate,…
“The green world around us will appear to slip into death or sleep. The truth, of course, is that deep beneath the winter soil, the plant spirits are recovering: healing, resting, growing and rooting deep for their rise in springtime. When we follow the cycle of the inward spiral, we can take advantage of the…