Welcome to the June Issue of PaganPages *** This month Features your Old Favorite Columns, Your New Favorite Columns, and New Columns we Promise will Become Favorites! Check out our New columns:   Connecting with Nature Musings from a Hereditary Witch art and mystery Nelland Living The Neon Pagan Signposts A Year and a Day Seeing the Signs Tink About it Seed, Root & Stem Bare Feet on an Earth Path Also find all your Litha correspondences *** Interested in writing?  Pitch us a column.  Email [email protected] Do you write your own Spells and Rituals?  Would you like to share them?  We are looking for Spells and Ritual Columnists.…

I came to paganism, like many of us, by way of books. They intrigued me, and once I got my nose into them, one led to another, which led to another. Many of these books were written by brave, public pagan figures who had recorded their knowledge so that I, an inheritor of that knowledge, could follow their bread crumb trail on a journey of my own.   The very first books I plucked off of the bookstore shelves and brought home with me were introductory Wiccan books. They did their best to describe just what Wiccans are and what they do, saying that “Wiccans believe this” and “Pagans do…

Are you cyclically confused? In a ceremonial quandary? Completely clueless? Wonder no more.                  *Ask Your Mama™                Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Spirituality and Didn’t Know Who to Ask™ by ©Mama Donna Henes, Urban Shaman A Question of Connection   Dear Mama Donna,   It’s so important that we all work together in cooperation. Unfortunately, most people don’t realize that we’re all connected. They live their lives thinking they’re completely separate. So how do we get everyone to realize that we are a whole?   Looking for Unity in Ashville We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness.       -Thich…

I wake up slowly on the second day of a writer’s retreat in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State.  The morning is cool, the air gray and hazy.  Unzipping my tent, I’m surrounded by green.   Moss-covered trees flank rolling hills just beyond a forest where coyotes, mountain lions and wolves hunt in freedom.  In the clearing, I see that dandelion flowers have gone to seed, overnight changing from sun-yellow to moon-white to form hundreds of pale spheres.  Painted in the morning mist, they look like spirit flowers. My dreams from the night before were of water.  “Distill” was the word that came.  The story that I’m writing…

The Spellcasting Picture Book By Diana Rajchel © 2008, 2011 Diana Rajchel 48 pages electronic book available at http://www.dianarajchel.com The Spellcasting Picture Book’s full title is The Spellcasting Picture Book: Visual tools for grown-ups. At first glance it does appear to be a children’s picture book and not a book for adults. Further investigation reveals this to be a fun and inventive book. The book is full of fun colorful pictures with directions or spells. The artwork is done primarily in crayon and inspires the reader to take the whole further with their own fun with crayons and spells. The author does state the spells are designed for the reader…

Hornblend Hornblend is the ambassador or mediator of crystals promoting the manifestation of brotherhood through allowance and acceptance of differences rather than through enforcement of pseudo-like-mindedness.  It tends to promote the expression of personal qualities thereby showing individual uniqueness.  It is a mineral capable of reducing the emotional static of tension and conflict between parties attempting to reach agreement on an issue.  It helps individuals to reach clarity on what they perceive as their vested interests and to accept compromise so that both parties can achieve resolution.  Hornblend contains aspects of grounding and is a highly stable interactor with other minerals and humans.         Iolite (Cordierite) Clear…

Evocation           Evocation has two different meanings today. If you have a ceremonial background than you would believe that Evocation is the summoning of a spirit or deity into a magic triangle that is outside of the ritual circle. The other meaning is that one evokes positive energy from within themselves, and this is typically done within the circle. The Evocation of a spirit is quite complex, so I will touch on the latter meaning first, the ability to evoke the positive energy from within yourself. This you can do by yourself and can be quite empowering. Some people state that the words must be carefully picked and that they…

Playmate   All children, or almost all of them, go through a stage in which they invent imaginary playmates. Russian children are no different from any others in that respect. Viktor and Katya Boikia’s little girl, Vika was no different. When Vika was about five years old, she was constantly talking to her parents about her friend “Natasha”. Of course, her parents didn’t pay much attention to her. They thought that it was funny, and sort of amusing… except for one thing… “Natasha” was always hungry… Vika was always going to the kitchen and raiding the refrigerator, cookie jar, or bread bin for food… “for Natasha”. Now, Vika, unfortunately, takes…

Spring Renewal   After the long winter months, the quiet has finally lifted. Nature has woke and with it a fury of activity. Branches become lush with new leaves, the birds sing for a mate, flowers spring up from the earth and the insects are buzzing. It’s a time for the emergence of animals from hibernation and the birth of new ones. The lengthening days of spring stimulate growth hormones in many animals. In male deer these hormones stimulate the growth of antlers in the spring and early summer. This is the time of year where everything is fresh and new again. Where we can release that which is weighing…

Being a Hereditary A Hereditary tradition does not have to be transferred from parent to child. Often it can skip a generation and be passed from a grandparent or an aunt, uncle or other family member. A Linage tradition is passed directly from parent to child and so forth down the generations. Of course, I am speaking from my family’s understanding within our own tradition. My own line of hereditary witchcraft began with my great, great aunt who was adopted into a hereditary line of witchcraft. Often entrance into a family tradition was through birth, marriage or adoption. My great, great aunt then passed on the tradition to my grandmother…