Category: Archive
Articles that appeared in the previous iteration of this blog, called Mirth and Reverence with Amy Rhea.
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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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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as human beings with families and jobs and lives, we can lose track of our own spiritual progress because it’s been superseded by other, more immediate concerns.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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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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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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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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Esbats and Sabbats: Methods and Tools for Timing Observances
Wiccan practice is based on eight solar observances, called Sabbats and known collectively as the Wheel of the Year, and 26 lunar observances, called Esbats, each year. Some people hold very strictly to celebrating the moment, or at least the day, of the observance. Others are more relaxed about the time of the gathering, factoring
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The Witches’ Pyramid: The Theory of Making Magick
The Four Words of the Magus — to know, to dare, to will, to keep silence — were first written by Eliphas Levi, a 19th Century French occultist. Aleister Crowley added a fifth word later on — to go — and the basis of the Witches’ Pyramid was formed. The Witches’ Pyramid wasn’t referred to
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Dechristianizing Yourself: Making Peace With Unwanted Beliefs
Categories: ArchiveTags: dechristianizationPaganism is largely a religion of converts, and those converts generally come from some sect of Christianity. While it’s true that Wicca and other Pagan paths are now old enough that it’s possible for children and grandchildren to have been raised in the religion or to have come to Paganism from strong folk-religious backgrounds, that
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Devotional Deities: Choosing or Being Chosen
Categories: ArchiveAs Wiccans, we worship the Goddess and the God, either as archetypal representations of a Supreme Being or as distinct deities on equal footing with other deities from other cultures and timeframes. Depending on the tradition, these deities may or may not have names. In the beginnings of Wicca, the names of the deities were
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Dechristianizing Yourself: Making Peace with Jesus
Categories: ArchiveTags: dechristianizationOne of the things that is most difficult for new Pagans about leaving Christianity is the expectation that must they leave behind their relationship with the Christian pantheon. But I have found that this method of thinking is counterproductive at best and willfully ignorant at worst. After all, if you’re entering a spiritual movement that