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Hey, Creeper, I Owe You Nothing
So normally I blog about things like magic, the Pagan community, occult history, and other such stuff. It’s my realm of expertise, and I enjoy writing about it, and I don’t normally bother wasting bandwidth with posts about much else. However, lately, there has been a lot of discussion in both the news and on social media about the ongoing harassment of women, and something occurred last night that perfectly illustrates the bullshit that we have to deal with on a daily basis, in every sphere of our lives. The #metoo hashtag has gained a lot of traction in the past few weeks, and millions of us shared our stories.…
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Make a Group of Yard Ghosts
When I moved a year ago, I discovered that while I had about five boxes of Yule decor, I had over two dozen boxes of Halloweenery – it’s my favorite time of year! And this is one of my favorite decorations to put out – every fall, random strangers would stop and take pictures of my front yard, because of all the Halloween nonsense, and this group of ghosts was always a huge hit. Here’s how you can make your own, with about $20 worth of random supplies. For each ghost, you’ll need the following: 1 4-foot length of 2″ PVC pipe, cut with a 45′ angle on one end…
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Saturday Spellwork: Money Magic
For hundreds of years, people have used magic to bring abundance and wealth of one type or another into their lives. Let’s look at some of the various customs involving money around the world. In parts of the Ozarks, it is believed that you’ll soon receive a letter with money in it if a honey bee buzzes around your head, according to Vance Randolph’s Ozark Magic and Folklore. There is also a legend, in some parts of Missouri, that if you see bubbles in your coffee, if you can drink them all before they disappear, a large sum of money is coming your way. There’s a legend in some parts…
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How Many Pagans Are in a Group?
A reader says, I recently talked to a friend of mine who is in a coven – the group is Pagan but I don’t believe they’re specifically Wiccan – and told her I was interested in joining the group. She told me that the high priestess has set a limit that she’ll only have [number] people in the coven, and even if someone new is interested, they won’t take any more than that. Is this a red flag that means I should stay away from this group? Actually, no, it’s really not, as long as all the other aspects of the group are things that work for you. There may…
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Pagan Clergy and Confidentiality
A reader asks, “What guidelines are there in Pagan religions for clergy in matters of confidentiality? I am an ordained Pagan priest, and a member of the community has come to me with a problem. If I get involved, someone will end up in jail. However, if I don’t speak out, someone else will continue to be victimized. I don’t want to violate anyone’s trust, but I can’t stand by and see someone hurt. How do you think I should proceed?” You know, this is a slippery slope that clergy of all religions have walked for centuries. There is certainly a need for confidentiality with any religious leader. After all,…
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Saturday Spellwork: Magical Wood Correspondences
In many magical traditions, wood is assigned various properties that make it useful for ritual and spellwork. By using these correspondences, you can include different woods in your magical workings. Keep in mind, this is not an exhaustive list and there are plenty of other woods that are not included here. Also, some people find that they find a particular wood resonates with them in a way that is completely different than the standard assigned correspondence. If that’s the case for you, it’s okay – use the wood in a way that best makes sense to you. Keep in mind that some of these woods are magical in multiple ways…
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Mabon Apple Butter
Ok, I admit that I have a weird obsession with apple picking. Every fall, I go off to the local apple orchard and spent an hour or two finding the ABSOLUTE BESTEST APPLES EVER and dropping them in a basket, and before I know it I have like eight bushels of them and my kids kids are all NO MOM OMG PLEASE NO MORE APPLES. I mean, really, you can only do so much with apples before everyone gets tired of seeing, eating, and smelling them. So, obviously, there’s some mason jar activity involved, but one of the things I love to make is apple butter. I like this because…
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Blasphemy and Paganism
Here’s one from Ye Olde Magical Mail Bagge: A reader says, “I was at a Pagan event last month, and dropped a candle – I seriously thought I was going to set my robe on fire. I said, “Oh my goddess!” and was immediately jumped on by a woman who scolded me for being blasphemous. I told her that I didn’t think my goddess really cared if I said something like that, but she told me that “taking the goddess’ name in vain” was wrong. This sounds an awful lot like Christianity, which I left recently. Am I missing something? Is there really a rule that says I can’t say…
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You’re Pagan, Can You Go to Church With the Fam?
So the other day I got a message from a super nice young lady who wanted to know what to do about an upcoming situation. She’s visiting her boyfriend’s family for the weekend, and they’ve invited her to accompany them to church on Sunday morning. Apparently it’s a pretty casual and laid back church environment, non-judgmental and friendly, and she likes the boyfriend’s parents, so she is more than willing to tag along… but of course, some yahoo told her OMG A REAL PAGAN WUD NEVER SET FOOT IN A CHURCH BLAH BLAH HURR DURR DERP. Lemme ‘splain you something, Lucy. You do you, ok? This whole thing is entirely…
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Saturday Spellwork: Water Magic
So a couple of weeks ago we talked about solar eclipse magic, and one of the things I did during the August 21 eclipse was put a few jars of water outside to charge with magical energy. I keep different kinds of water on hand, for a variety of magical purposes, and I thought this would be a good time to share some of the types I have handy. First, it’s important to keep in mind that water in general, as an element, has some pretty specific connotations – it’s associated with healing, cleansing, and purification, just for starters. In most traditions, it also corresponds to goddess magic, and to…
