Author: Amy Rhea
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The Way: Walking in the Footsteps of the Great Teachers
Categories: ArchiveThe Way, at least as I currently understand it, is a practice that emphasizes the sorts of universal truths that underpin many of the world’s religions and philosophies-of-life: love one another, harm none, honor the divine, exercise compassion, help those in need, defend those who cannot defend themselves, safeguard all children, respect your elders, enjoy…
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The Work: A Tale of Two Wiccas
Categories: ArchiveIn Traditional Initiatory Wicca, there are working rituals and celebratory occasions that have a distinct pattern, symbolism, and lore attached to them. And then, there is the other stuff. And the other stuff, at its heart, can really only be defined as purpose-driven and intuitive ecstatic practice.
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Wiccan Priestesshood: Serving the Gods, Preserving the Craft
Categories: ArchiveWiccan priestesshood is a life-long undertaking, which is why it takes time for the proper person to become properly prepared for initiation.
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The Shame Room
Categories: Creative NonfictionAt the abortion clinic, they don’t let anyone go back with you. The waiting room is filled with people wanting abortions, people supporting the people wanting abortions, and people judging the people wanting abortions. You pay up-front. You wait. You get called back. You get blood tested. You wait. You get an ultrasound. They ask
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The Winding Path: A Reflection on My Path as a Priestess
Categories: ArchiveI was a month shy of seventeen years old when I decided I wanted to be a priestess. In my naïveté, I envisioned that it would consist of singing songs to the Goddess and tending to an altar and leading a coven and making special blends of oils and incenses and teaching people who wanted
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The High Priestess
Categories: Creative NonfictionTags: personal experienceWillow was a fiery redhead with a quick wit and an infectious smile. When she laughed, the whole world laughed with her. When she spoke, the whole room got quiet to listen to her words of wisdom. She was a battered and tarnished old cup, full of experience and grace, and why she ever thought a
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Ancestor Veneration: An Ancient Tradition for Modern Pagans
Over the last couple of decades, there has been a widespread push in modern Paganism to look at our history — our real history, not the mythological pseudohistory that tells of a pan-European Goddess cult and nine million women dying in the Burning Times. This push has led to increased scholarship in Pagan Studies and
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Affirming Queer Pagans: Radical Love and Compassion
Categories: ArchiveTags: queer witcheryIn Paganism, we’ve come a long way from “gay people mess up the energy in circle”. There are a variety of traditions who are open to working with Queer folks. But we’re still largely in the stage of accepting Queer people. Encouragingly, there’s movement toward affirming Queer people, but it’s still working its way through
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Adjective Witch: Words of Wisdom from the Non-Adjective Witch
Categories: ArchiveTags: personal experienceI see it all the time on Tumblr. I’m a storm witch. I’m a death witch. I’m a forest witch. I’m a crystal witch. And for the inexperienced ones, I’m a baby witch. And it seems like there’s the expectation that if you draw your power from a certain major source or if you have
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Wiccan Belief: One Tradition’s Teachings
I can hear the detractors already: “Wicca doesn’t have beliefs!” Well, that’s true and it’s also not. Wicca doesn’t have a single, unified set of beliefs that practitioners are required to adhere to in order to practice. Attempts have been made for a variety of reasons, most of them having to do with codifying the