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Ghosts, Poltergeists, and Hauntings, Oh My!
Belief in ghosts, poltergeists, and other entities is not something that is unique to the Pagan religious traditions. Many people – Pagan and otherwise – accept the existence of some sort of spiritual plane, a place where a variety of entities exist beyond the veil. Because this is a discussion topic that is often popular in the Pagan community, particularly around the Samhain season, we’re going to take a brief look at ghosts, poltergeists and other types of hauntings. As with many aspects of the metaphysical world, it’s hard to define exactly what a ghost is. However, there are a number of theories about what ghosts could be. The most popular theory is…
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Sept. 14: Nutting Day
Around the middle of September, the nut season starts. Hazelnuts ripen in the hedges, and they have long been connected to folklore and legends. Hazel is associated to the Celtic tree month of Coll, from August 5 to September 1, and the very word Coll means “the life force inside you.” Hazelnuts are connected to wisdom and protection, and are often found near sacred wells and magical springs. Hazelnuts can be used in workings related to divination and dowsing – tie a ripe one onto a string and use it as a pendulum! In the British Isles, September 14 was the day when children would forage in the woods to…
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Woolly Bear Weather Magic
The woolly bear, sometimes called the woolly worm, is a well-known harbinger of weather to come. If you do any sorts of workings involving weather magic, it’s not a bad idea to keep an eye on these crawly critters, which are typically seen during the end of summer and into late fall. Where I live, they’re starting to pop up already — of course, in my neck of the woods, our seasons are Winter, More Winter, Construction, and Football, so take that with a grain of salt. At any rate, the woolly bear, which is the larval stage of the tiger month, has black on its ends, and a brown…
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Announcing The New Aradia
I’m pleased to announce that one of my invocations has been selected for inclusion in The New Aradia: A Witch’s Handbook to Magical Resistance, available at the end of this month! Editor Laura Tempest Zakroff and the folks at Revelore Press have put together an incredible collection of great material for this anthology. I’m honored to be in some really impressive company, including Christopher Penczak, Ivo Dominguez Jr., Laura Tempest Zakroff, Mat Auryn, Storm Faerywolf, and Byron Ballard, just to name a few. From the publisher: “The New Aradia is a handbook is designed to serve as a collection of ideas to teach, share, inspire, empower, protect, and guide. Within…
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No, Salem Ancestry Doesn’t Make You Special
A reader says, “I just found out that I’m descended from one of the witches from the Salem witch trials and I feel like this makes me have witchcraft in my blood. I went to a Pagan event not too long ago, and when I told everyone about this they acted like it was no big deal. I feel like I deserve a little more respect since my ancestors were Salem witches.” I know it’s very exciting to discover that your ancestry contains people who were interesting, or even famous. And sometimes, when we make a discovery like that, we want to share it with others, and we want them…
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Shell Powder
I wanted to share with you one of my favorite magical ingredients, which I’ve always referred to as shell powder, or at least that’s what I called it when I started making it nigh on thirty years ago, and the habit done stuck. However, since that time I’ve learned that people who practice hoodoo, Santeria, conjure, and a number of other ATR magical systems call it cascarilla powder. Since I’m not a practitioner of those traditions, for me, it’s just plain ol’ shell powder. Although cascarilla powder has its roots in the West African diaspora, it has started to gain popularity in quite a few neoPagan magical practices – probably…
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The Celebration of the Silly Sacred School Supplies
This is a ritual that I originally posted on my About.com site, but it has vanished into the aether, after About became ThoughtCo. However, school is starting up again for a lot of us, so I wanted to share this, because it’s ridiculously fun, and it’s a great way to transition your kids into a new year with a new teacher, and celebrate your spirituality in a goofy and irreverent way. The Silly Celebration of the Sacred School Supplies In many Pagan traditions, it’s customary to consecrate your magical tools before beginning your practice. This creates a magical link between you, the tools, and the divine, and even the universe…
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Swipe Left! Why New Members Can Jinx Your Group’s Dynamics
So you’re part of a Pagan group that already has a really good feel to it – maybe it’s a small group of only a few people, or perhaps there are dozens of you. Anyway, at some point, you open up your membership to new folks, and as you’re vetting potential candidates… well. That’s when it hits. You’ve got concerns about one of the individuals who wants to join up and be part of the group, because you know them and they’re chronically negative and needy. You find yourself asking if you should talk to the other members about your concerns, but don’t want to cause unnecessary drama. What do…
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Make a Mabon Cleansing Wash
This herbal infusion is one of my favorite things to make in the late summer and early fall, and can be used as a skin wash or a cleanser for your ritual space. By infusing the herbs in water, you can take advantage of the medicinal properties as well as the magical ones. A quart-sized jar, like the type used in food canning, is ideal for this because it allows for a tight seal, and they hardly ever break. To make this cleansing wash, we’ll be using herbs that are in full bloom in the weeks before Mabon. You’ll need a handful of each of the following: Spearmint or peppermint…
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Pagans and Monogamy
I love letters like this one, because I get to embrace my inner Dan Savage for a few moments. A reader writes in with an interesting dilemma. He says, “Recently my girlfriend and I began hanging out with a local coven. She is spending a lot of time (without me) in the presence of one of the group’s other male participants. She has said that she’s very attracted to him, and even hinted that she wouldn’t mind sleeping with him. I objected to this because honestly, I’d like our relationship to remain monogamous, but she seems to think that since “all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals,” that…
