Category: Archive
Articles that appeared in the previous iteration of this blog, called Mirth and Reverence with Amy Rhea.
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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
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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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Dechristianizing Yourself: Building Practice as a New Pagan
Categories: ArchiveTags: dechristianizationMoving from a belief-based religion to a practice-based religion can be daunting, especially for those with little experience with personal spiritual practice to begin with. Shifting away from a system where your thoughts and feelings rather than your actions define your spirituality can be very empowering, but some people may worry — as I did
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Workings in the Inner Temple: Developing Your Spiritual Core
Categories: ArchiveTags: inner templeOnce you have constructed your inner temple, you might wonder what you can do with it besides conduct astral rituals. The answer is, whatever you can imagine. I’ve listed a few ideas below, based on my own experience, with brief instructions on how to perform the exercises. May they serve as inspiration for your own
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People of the Library: An Annotated Bibliography of Recommended Beginner Books
Categories: ArchiveTags: reading listsThere are thousands of titles on Wicca, Witchcraft, Paganism, magick, and the occult from publishers large and small. Some of them are useful to read and refer back to again and again. Some of them are, quite frankly, not worth the paper they’re printed on. And some of them are so expensive as to be
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Tradition and Path: Where You’re Walking and Who You’re Walking With
Categories: ArchiveTags: personal practiceTradition and Path are words that get tossed around a lot in the discussion of Paganism and Wicca. Young traditions are sometimes scoffed at as being ‘really just a path’, as if a path is somehow less important than a tradition. There’s the implication that paths are eclectic or made up and thus less authentic
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The Nine Sacred Woods of Wicca: Unlocking the Secrets of the Sacred Fire
“Nine woods in the Cauldron go — burn them quick an’ burn them slow.” Thus goes the couplet from “The Rede of the Wiccae” by Lady Gwen Thompson. In this poem, originally published in Green Egg in 1975, Lady Gwen doesn’t specify which woods are the nine that should go in the ritual fire, only
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Building a Personal Practice: A Month-by-Month Guidebook
Categories: ArchiveTags: personal practiceAs the wheel turns to Samhain, the Witches’ New Year, you may feel the pull toward making some witchy new year’s resolutions. To do more witchy stuff. To be more witchy. To enhance your personal practice and live the witchy life. Yes! You can do it! Harness the power of the season of the witch
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Witchcraft: The Recourse of the Oppressed
Categories: ArchiveTags: personal experienceWitchcraft is the recourse of the oppressed, and it always has been. It is subversive, countercultural, revolutionary. It breaks unjust bonds. It uplifts the downtrodden. It punishes the wicked. And the real danger for the Craft in the 21st Century is that mainstreaming it and becoming respectable in the eyes of the overculture — which
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Calling the Quarters: Unlocking the Power of the Elements
Some people regard the quarter calling ritual as rote memorization to get through before the ‘real’ part of the ritual begins. Nothing could be further from the truth. In a quarters-cast circle, inviting the Mighty Forces of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth into the circle builds power for both the circle itself and the power