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Setting Up Your Ancestor Altar
I’m pleased to announce that I have a little something for you over at the Llewellyn Journal! Setting up an ancestor altar is often the cornerstone, the very foundation, of working with your extended network of kin and clan for spiritual empowerment and personal growth. Much like a garden, with some regular tending—and a bit of occasional weeding—it can become a place where your spiritual work blooms and flourishes. By putting an ancestor altar in place in your home, and giving your people a space of their own, you’re carrying on a tradition found around the world, going back thousands of years. Read about Nine Things to Keep On Your…
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A Reaping Blessing for the Equinox
Back in September 2017, I had the privilege of presenting a workshop at Dayton Pagan Pride Day, which was one of the best PPD events I’ve ever attended. That year’s theme was Walking Our Earthen Path, and main ritual was hosted by Selena Fox of Circle Sanctuary. This was the first time I’ve met Selena in person, although I’ve been following her online for years, and she is an absolutely delightful human being. Selena invited the presenters to participate in main ritual, and asked each of us to contribute an invocation or chant focusing on the theme of celebrating the earth. Since it was time to celebrate the fall equinox,…
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Demeter, Persephone, and the Feel of Fall
Where I live, autumn hasn’t quite rolled in yet – it’s still hot and humid and gross, but the minute September 1st popped onto the calendar, people started acting like it was fall. For me personally, I don’t really start thinking about fall until around my birthday, which is at the end of this month. It’s usually starting to cool down at night by then, there’s a slight crispness to the mornings, and even if the sun is out and the sky is blue, there’s a feeling in the air that everything is about to change. I’ve always loved the story of Persephone and her mother, Demeter, because their story…
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The Countdown is On!
YOU GUYS. In just one week on Sept. 8, Badass Ancestors will officially release! If you’ve pre-ordered a copy, you might even see yours before that — and select retailers have already gotten theirs. If you’ve got your own Badass Ancestors, or if you spot copies out in the wild, please do me a solid and snap a pic, and then post it on social media, and tag me on Instagram (@pattiwigington), Twitter (@patti_wigington or @paganwiccan), or Facebook (@aboutpaganism or @AuthorPattiWigington! I love seeing where my stuff ends up! Also, after you’ve had a chance to read Badass Ancestors, please be sure to post a review on Amazon — that helps boost…
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Pagan Living on a Budget
In tight economic times, people are cutting way back on their spending. Most folks are eliminating the expenses that they consider unnecessary or frivolous. After all, no one wants to have to choose between paying the electric bill or buying food. One of the first places that Pagans tend to cut back during a financial crunch is on their magical supplies. After all, how can you justify spending money on a new set of Tarot cards or a pretty new piece of jewelry, when you don’t know how you’re going to afford your car payment next month? If you got a stimulus check earlier during COVID, you probably used it…
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10 Things To Learn When You’re Studying Paganism
This article was originally published on my About Paganism page, back in the days when it was part of the AboutDotCom network, but has since vanished because of changes and weird restructuring. ———————————- I know, it stinks. You finally sat down and had The Big Talk with your parents and they still won’t let you practice Wicca — or any other form of Paganism — in their house. It’s not fair, you might just hate them for a few minutes, and they’re the meanest parents ever. Take heart — there’s a positive side to this. If you can’t practice Paganism while you live under their roof, that means you’ll have…
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Help Your Local Shops Out During COVID
Guys, the world has been on fire for several months, and we’ve all been watching as smaller businesses are struggling to stay afloat. Especially in the case of Pagan businesses, which tend to have a shorter lifespan anyway, this year is going to be a make-or-break it situation. Plenty of the witchy shops where I live — and probably where you live as well — have moved to a model that involves curbside pickup only, or which requires customers to mask up and have access to product in minimal numbers. Whichever way your local shop has asked you to engage with them, it’s important that you still do patronize them.…
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Welcoming the Non-Pagans to Your Pagan Stuff
One of the most popular articles on my old About/ThoughtCo.LearnReligions site was one about proper etiquette when you’re a non-Pagan — or at the very least, a non-coven member — invited to a ritual. The piece discussed how to behave and interact with the folks holding the ritual, and how to make sure you’re invited back again — and since the piece is no longer live on LearnReligions, I’ve reposted it here. Anyway, for each non-Pagan attending an event, there must clearly be someone putting on the ritual. It’s important, therefore, for us to discuss how to treat non-Pagans–or non-members of our group–when they take time out of their schedules…
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Ritual Etiquette for the Non-Pagany Peeps
Perhaps you’re not Wiccan, but you’ve been invited by your friend to join in her coven’s next circle. Or maybe your buddy from work has invited you to his upcoming Druid celebration at the park. You want to participate, but have no idea how Pagans behave, or what the proper protocol is for a non-Pagan attending a ceremony. Or perhaps you are a Pagan, but you’ve been invited to attend a ritual with a group that’s brand new to you. So now what do you do? Believe it or not, most rules of common sense and courtesy apply here, just as they would apply to you attending any other religious service.…
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The Magic of Sigils
Sigils are a great way to identify your intent when you’re working magic. A sigil is simply a symbol of your purpose – for instance, you could use a heart to identify love, or a dollar sign to indicate money. Those are the easy ones – and certainly, there are a floppity-million other symbols you can use. If you want to do the standard issue symbols, pick up a copy of Raymond Buckland’s Signs, Symbols, and Omens – it’s chock full of great suggestions. That being said, one way to connect your intent to your working even more effectively is to create a unique symbol of your own. This sort…
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