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The Fivefold Kiss: Understanding the Controversial Blessing
The Fivefold Kiss is a blessing ritual first seen in the Gardnerian First Degree Initiation. It involves the priestess or priest (of the opposite gender polarity of the initiate) to kneel and kiss five points on the initiate’s body: the feet, the knees, the groin, the breast, and the lips. He then kneels at her
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The Three Great Mysteries: Uncovering the Secrets of Magick
The Second Degree Initiation ritual in the Gardnerian Book of Shadows contains a priestly monologue in which the initiate is instructed about the Mysteries of Life: “For there be three great mysteries in the life of man — love, death, and resurrection in a new body — and magic controls them all. To fulfill love
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The Eightfold Path: Raising Power for Magick
Gerald Gardner wrote about the Eightfold Way, also known as the Eight Paths to Power, in 1953 and again in 1957. He said essentially the same thing in both drafts, namely that combining the eight paths in certain combinations added more power to the rite and that intention and proper preparation were essential to the
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Meeting Your Ancestors: Beginning Ancestor Veneration at Samhain
Ancestor veneration can be a tricky subject for the newcomer. Whether you’re new to the Craft or just new to the concept of incorporating ancestors into your practice, it can be a challenge. First of all, not everyone knows their biological ancestors. And not everyone has nice ancestors. In fact, most people have some assholes
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Embracing Queerness as a Witch: Subverting Norms and Gaining Power
Categories: ArchiveTags: queer witcheryOne of the great Mysteries of the Craft is that each of us is a perfect, amazing, flamboyant, paradoxical reflection of the Divine. Of course, this Mystery looks cheap on paper. Until its full power is realized through direct experience, it seems obvious, cliché, tawdry. The experience of the Mysteries is what makes them powerful
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The Circle
Categories: Creative NonfictionTags: personal experienceThe ritual circle at Taz and Alex’s house was the main feature of their verdant back yard. It was eighteen feet in diameter with twelve stones — limestone, marble, quartz, granite, and others — marking the circumference. Wild strawberry plants surrounded the southern half of the circle, and the northern half was marked by three
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Dechristianizing Yourself: Criticizing the Institutional Church
Categories: ArchiveTags: dechristianizationWhile Wicca as a religion is now old enough to have grandchildren — children raised in the faith by parents who were raised in the faith by parents who converted to the Craft — there are still plenty of practitioners who come to Wicca and other traditions in Paganism from Christianity. And many of them
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Mental Health and the Craft: Finding the Balance Between Magical Thinking and Magickal Thinking
Categories: ArchiveMental health is a subject near and dear to my heart because I struggle with several major conditions. I have Bipolar I Disorder, and I have experienced visual and auditory hallucinations while in manic and depressive states. I have Autism and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. I have been frankly suicidal on more than one occasion. And
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The Labyrinth Beads: One Witch’s Rosary
Categories: ArchivePrayer beads have been used for centuries to count out prayers and to serve as a repository of spiritual power, comfort, and protection. In Wicca, and in other Pagan traditions, there is no reason why we can’t use prayer beads as a meditative aid if we feel called to do so. They are a cross-cultural
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The Summerland: Understanding the Wiccan Afterlife
Paganism in general isn’t concerned with the afterlife. We know there is a life after death, and another, and another, in the cycle of reincarnation. But Wiccans have the concept of a place of rest between lives, called the Summerland. But what is the Summerland, and how can you rest there and also reincarnate? Body,