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The Magic of Hex Signs
I live in a place that has a goodly amount of German-descended folks in the rural population, so occasionally when I’m out cruising along back roads I’ll pass the occasional barn with a hex sign on it. Although hex signs are not associated with modern Wicca, or even ancient Pagan religions, they are certainly worth taking note of, because they’re a really cool and artistic form of folk magic. Found mostly in the Pennsylvania Dutch country, hex signs — also called barn stars — are symbols painted on homes, cradles, and barns for a variety of magical purposes. The tradition originated in Germany and Switzerland. During the waves of emigration…
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Hooray for Handfasting Cakes!
Coming on the heels of my post the other day about handfasting favors for guests, a reader messaged me and asked about cakes. Now, anyone who knows me knows I’m all about That Cake Lyfe, so I’m happy to weigh in. Fortunately, I wrote an article many years ago in the AboutDotCom days, which has since been redirected away from the internet, but like the digital packrat I am, I save a lot of stuff… so here we go. If you’re holding a handfasting instead of a traditional wedding, you may want to do something special instead of just having a traditional cake. Sharing a cake with your new spouse is…
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Magical Favors for Your Handfasting Guests
It’s become traditional to give each of your guests a small wedding favor. Typically, these are small trinkets with either the date of the event or the couples’ names on them. However, if you’re having a Pagan handfasting, rather than (or in addition to) a traditional wedding ceremony, why not come up with an idea that celebrates your spiritual path, as well as announcing your commitment to the community? In some traditions, it’s become popular to have a besom wedding. Decorate small brooms with ribbons, flowers and a bundle of fresh herbs. You can usually pick up little brooms at the craft store, or you can make your own. Make…
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Protection Magic Basics
Protection magic is right up there with love magic and money magic, as far as Stuff People Ask About the Most. I thought I’d share with you a few of my favorite basic protection magic workings. Play around with them and see which works best for you! Witch Bottle or Witch Bag The idea behind this is to not only protect yourself but also send back the negative to who or whatever is being sent at you. To make a witch bottle, get a small glass jar with a lid. Fill it halfway with sharp rusty objects like nails or razor blades, pins, needles. When it is halfway full, there…
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Telling the Bees: What’s the Buzz?
The other day, Diana Gabaldon announced (FINALLY!) the release date for the next book in her Outlander series, entitled Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone. For those of you familiar with the series, she’s a fan of long and unwieldy titles, so this was no exception, but I was surprised at how many people in Social Media Land found GTTBTIAG a puzzling series of words… because telling the bees is a really cool bit of folklore. Of course, this doesn’t bode well for Jamie and Claire Fraser, as one typically tells the bees about death… but that’s Diana Gabaldon’s story to tell, not mine. In general, this practice is a nineteenth…
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The Magic of Bloodroot
Even though I’ve gotten my first of two Covid shots, I’m still social distancing, so I like taking time to get out into the woods near my home. It’s springtime here in Middle Earth, and with the heavy rains we’ve had, a lot of stuff is beginning to sprout and bloom. Last year around this time, I was out foraging near a limestone outcropping, and encountered what I initially thought was mayapple… except mayapple shouldn’t be surfacing for a few more weeks here. A friend pointed out that it was probably bloodroot (thanks, Lisa!), and I realized she was correct. It’s one of those lesser-known flowers that doesn’t get a…
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Celebrating Ostara With Kids
This is an article that originally appeared on my old About.com page and was eventually moved over to LearnReligions, but now it’s been deleted, so I’m going to share it with you here. Since Ostara comes to the Northern Hemisphere on the 20th, I thought it was a good time to talk about how you can celebrate the season if you’ve got small humans in your house. Ostara is the season of the spring equinox, and falls around March 20 in the northern hemisphere (it’ll be somewhere near September 20 if you’re one of our readers below the equator). This the time when spring begins anew, and much like Mabon, the…
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All Hail the Chocolate Bunny!
This is a ritual I created waaaaaay back in 2008 and posted on my About.com page, and since that time it’s been copy/pasted ad nauseum all over the Interwebs, and About/LearnReligions ended up eliminating it altogether, because reasons. I’ve heard about numerous shops and covens and groups doing this as a public ritual over the years, so if you want to do so, have at it. It’s a little levity in a time of crisis. So, in the interest of sharing something sort of fun—and the gods know we need fun right now—I want to share with you this simply and ridiculous Ostara/Spring Equinox ritual that you can do with your whole…
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That Falconer Woman is Now Available!
It’s finally here! Happy book birthday to me – I know, I know, a few of you are all Wait, I thought you just wrote witchy stuff… Not entirely, my sweet little plumcakes. I love me some fiction, and I’ve written quite a bit of it. My latest is a steamy Regency romance, That Falconer Woman, brought to you by the folks at The Wild Rose Press: Cordelia Falconer is back in England after a fifteen-year absence, just in time for her sister’s betrothal to a stickler for propriety. Unfortunately, Cordelia has a scandalous reputation, and her brothers are busy gambling and drinking, so the wedding might not happen at all–unless Cordelia…
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TFW Now Available for Preorder!
Cordelia Falconer’s To Do List: Proper “sister of the bride” dress fitted √ Engagement party at a fancy manor √ Try to restore scandalous reputation √ Investigate murder in the garden √ Steamy romance with a completely unsuitable stranger – imminent It’s finally happening, y’all! That Falconer Woman is available for preorder, in either paperback or Kindle edition, and will be launching February 1! I realize a lot of you don’t know I write fiction, but it’s always been my first love. Honestly, I blame Kathleen Winsor’s Forever Amber, which I read when I was about ten, for pushing me into a lifelong addiction to steamy historical novels. You can…
