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The Agency of Spirits: Getting Uncomfortable About Noncorporeal Beings
Categories: ArchiveOne of the questions that I am routinely asked is whether or not a practitioner can be called to the service of a deity outside their cultural context. There’s a lot of concern in the Pagan world these days about cultural appropriation and the difference between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation, and it is an
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Visibility and Interfaith Work as a Wiccan: How to be Taken Seriously in the Real World
Categories: ArchiveTags: priestesshoodFrom time to time, I’m asked to speak on a panel of representatives of various religions to educate students about the diversity they may encounter in their future professions. Usually, it’s me, a Catholic, a Muslim, a Jew, and an Athiest. And let me tell you, those days are the days I have the worst
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Scholarly Witchcraft: An Annotated Bibliography of Recommended Advanced Books
Categories: ArchiveTags: reading listsLet me preface this recommendation list by saying that it is not the be-all-and-end-all of advanced reading lists. In fact, it barely scratches the surface. It will be most relevant to Wiccans, although there are some titles that will be of interest to non-Wiccan Witches and Pagans as well. I’ve tried to give representation to
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The Magick of the Coven: Understanding Shared Connection
For a long time, I thought a coven was a group of people who practiced magick together. It didn’t occur to me until embarrassingly late in my practice – in a coven, mind you! – that there was more to the coven than people getting together a couple of times a month for celebration and
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Renovating the Inner Temple: Recovering Your Space
Categories: ArchiveAs practitioners of the Craft, and indeed as human beings with families and jobs and lives, we can lose track of our own spiritual progress because it’s been superseded by other, more immediate concerns. That’s certainly been the case with me. I’ve found that it takes more effort to flex my magickal muscles, that things
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Endarkenment: Seeing The World As It Really Is
Many years ago, when I was a plucky young religious studies student at a private liberal arts college in Arkansas, I had the privilege of listening to a guest lecture by a traveling Buddhist monk. The monk’s name, I can no longer remember. What I do remember is the overwhelming serenity of his presence and
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The Good-Enough Work: Spiritual Progress When You’re Struggling
Categories: ArchiveIf you’ve been studying or practicing the Craft for very long, you’ve probably come across the concept of the Great Work. The Great Work, as it is understood by my tradition, is the process of discovering who you are, what your true will is, and how to manifest that true will. It’s a process that
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Multilayered Realities: Walking In Many Worlds
The Kingdom of Heaven is in this very moment, properly understood. I don’t remember now whether I heard that in a college religion course or at a sermon one Sunday as a child, but it has stuck with me for decades. I’ve interpreted it in various ways over the years, but I’ve come to understand
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On Sabbatical: Taking Time to Nurture Yourself
Categories: ArchiveTags: personal practiceI let the Harvest Moon pass by unmarked. Same with Lughnasadh. Same with a handful of other holidays. It wasn’t because it wasn’t on my calendar. It was there, taunting me with its very presence. But I didn’t have the energy or inclination to celebrate. I barely had energy to get up that morning and
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Priestess and Priest: Getting Specific About Office
Categories: ArchiveIn my tradition, the titles of priestess and priest refer to offices rather than genders. Each role has specific duties, and every dedicant is expected to be able to perform the basic duties of each office before they are initiated. There is a relationship between office and a person’s natural energy flow, and a lot