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Can I Lie to My Parents About Paganism?
This is an older post that was originally on my AboutDotCom page, but has vanished into the aether thanks to reorganization. I wanted to share it here, because when I go to festivals and other events, I talk to a TON of people, many of them teens and young adults, who have issues with family being… less than supportive. If you’re a Young Seeker and mom/dad/grandma/Aunt Thelma are struggling with acceptance of your beliefs, this one’s for you: ———– A reader asks, My parents don’t think I should study Wicca because our family is Christian. I’m thinking about just telling them I’m not studying Wicca, but doing it anyway and just…
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10 Things To Study In Addition to Paganism
This is an article that originally was published on my About Paganism page, when it was part of the AboutDotCom network, but has since vanished because of changes and weird restructuring. ———————————- I know, it stinks. You finally sat down and had The Big Talk with your parents and they still won’t let you practice Wicca — or any other form of Paganism — in their house. It’s not fair, you might just hate them for a few minutes, and they’re the meanest parents ever. Take heart — there’s a positive side to this. If you can’t practice Paganism while you live under their roof, that means you’ll have all…
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HALP I Can’t Eat That: Navigating Food Allergies at Ritual
A reader asks, “My coven does a cakes and ale ritual at every Sabbat. I just got diagnosed with Celiac disease, and I’m wondering what I should do. I can’t eat the cakes because they’ll make me sick, and if we use beer for the ale, that could have a negative effect on me as well. I don’t want to miss out on the ritual, though, and be the only one who doesn’t participate. Are you familiar with anyone having a similar problem? Any suggestions on how to deal with this?” Answer: As a matter of fact, I’m familiar with this situation on a first-hand basis – I’ve been gluten-intolerant…
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Keep a Dream Journal
Many Pagans put stock in dream meanings — for a lot of us, it’s important to keep track of what our dreams are telling us, because it may be important. Dreams can be prophetic, in that they may tell us of things yet to come, or they can be therapeutic, a way of our subconscious acknowledging problems that have to be resolved. One great way to get in touch with your dreams and their meanings is to keep a dream journal. By keeping a dream journal, you can help yourself remember what you dreamed about even when the dream is no longer fresh. Also, you can begin looking for patterns…
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Tower Time and Self Care
The past couple of years have been pretty rough for a lot of us, as we see our country rapidly spiraling into the Republic of Gilead, thanks to the absolute shitshow that was the 2016 election cycle. We’ve watched as women’s rights and privileges are chopped away, and we have a giant toddler in the Oval Office who openly brags about grabbing us by the pussy. For many women in America, this has been extremely triggering, and we’re teetering on the raggedy edge of our own sanity. This is why now, more than ever before, self care is so damn important. What is self care? Well, it’s not just physical…
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Fire Safety: Don’t Let Those Robes Burn Up
It’s summertime, which means plenty of us are celebrating ritual outdoors. Inevitably, each year a few cautionary tales trickle out about people who had a gigantic OOPSIE involving a ritual fire, so I wanted to take a few moments to talk about something that should be basic common sense, but let’s face it, it’s not, because people are people. Ritual fire safety is super important, because few things can bring a ceremony screeching to a halt faster than someone sustaining a burn injury. In no particular order, here are a few tips to keep in mind when you’re cavorting around the ritual fire. Indoor Fires If you’re doing some sort…
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I Don’t Care Where You Get Your Tools: You Do You, Boo
Every so often I see people in the Pagan community start clutching their pearls and sobbing about how the Instagram Witches are ruining everything because they’re buying their sage in a Sephora Witch Kit or they got a cute altar statue at a Harry Potter convention or they picked up crystals that OMG ARE NOT EVEN LOCALLY SOURCED. Most of the people in the discussions I saw about this topic fell into one of two camps: either “Who cares, just let them practice,” or “THEY RUINED WITCHCRAFT FOR THE REST OF US FOREVER.” This conversation, though, isn’t really so much about Sephora Witch Kits or Whole Foods or whatever per…
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Get it Gone with Basic Banishing
I don’t care what anyone says, banishing magic sometimes is a necessity. Sure, there are plenty of people who approach it from the mindset of “Well if someone is that terrible, why don’t you do a spell to help them be kinder and more understanding?” Well, frankly, hell nawwww y’all. Some people are just awful, and the onus of responsibility to make them less awful doesn’t have to fall upon the rest of us. Some people just need to get gone. And THAT is where a good banishing spell comes in super handy. I’m going to share four of my favorite types of banishing workings, with the caveat (as always)…
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Makin’ Sigils and Stuff
Sigils are a great way to identify your intent when you’re working magic. A sigil is simply a symbol of your purpose – for instance, you could use a heart to identify love, or a dollar sign to indicate money. Those are the easy ones – and certainly, there are a floppity-million other symbols you can use. If you want to do the standard issue symbols, pick up a copy of Raymond Buckland’s Signs, Symbols, and Omens – it’s chock full of great suggestions. That being said, one way to connect your intent to your working even more effectively is to create a unique symbol of your own. This sort…
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Human Sacrifice in the Ancient Pagan World
For many people in the modern world, finding a Pagan belief system is a positive and life-affirming experience. It’s not uncommon for us to find a joy and lightness in our traditions, something that brings light into once was a dark existence. This is indeed a good thing, and what draws many new people into the Pagan community. Unfortunately, the downside of it is that there can sometimes be an unwillingness to accept that not all Pagan cultures in the past were full of light and love and rainbows. Our ancestors, hundreds of years ago, lived a completely different existence than we do today, and their relationships with their gods…
