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    Spiralled Edge

    Spiralled Edge – Finding the Hearth and Heart   Once upon a time, the Hearth and Heart of a home would have been the main room with a large fireplace for cooking and heating, where people went about their daily lives. The fireplace would have been the focal point of the room. But many houses don’t have fireplaces these days, or they may be mostly ornamental with a fake fire, and we certainly don’t have huge fireplaces. The focal point in that main room has become a TV set, not a fireplace.     Gradually, the hearth became the cooker. And the heart of a home moved into the kitchen.…

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    Spiralled Edges

    Spiralled Edges – Finding Balance It may be because I was born with Libra Rising, but for most of my life I have been a person who likes balance. One doesn’t walk a balanced path though. Instead it is a constant fluctuation between extremes. Sometimes that fluctuation is very tiny with minute changes most people never notice. Other times, these fluctuations can be huge, with massive changes that send you reeling back and forth for some time.   When we think about walking in balance, our vision is that it is somehow a static event. We reach balance and then we are in balance. This could not be further from…

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    Spiralled Edges

    Not so much a circle… We talk a lot about circles. Holding ritual circles. Creating a sacred circle. Building a power circle. And different Pagan paths have their own ideas on how circles should be created, crossed, and taken down. Circles serve one of three purposes. They are either built to keep things in, to keep things out, or both. Going back to 101 basics, for those who are still learning, circles built to contain are generally used when doing energy raising for spellcasting or healing. Circles built to keep out are used when doing work that may attract unwanted energies. And those which do both, well that’s pretty self-explanatory,…

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    Spiralled Edges

    Spiralled Edges – Good and Bad Teachers I’ve been thinking about teachers and students a lot recently. We talk a lot about teachers in Paganism. Someone to teach us how to be Pagan. How to do “it” right.     I’ve been a teacher, and I’ve been a student. I’ve been both at the same time. I’ve been a bad teacher, and I’ve been a good teacher. I’ve known teachers who were bad for me, but perfect for someone else, and vice versa. But what, in my mind, makes someone a good teacher and for that matter, what makes someone a bad teacher? A good teacher: Has a good understanding…

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    Spiralled Edges

    Spiralled Edges – Real Pagans     Occasionally, I see a resurgence of the perpetual “What is a ‘Real Pagan?’” argument. Usually connected to something that has been reported in the news, or a round of gossip or bitchcrafting. Nothing new under the sun, these same arguments made the rounds years ago without the aid of social media. Invariably, any argument or discussion that being with “Real Pagans or True Pagans…..” finished with a list that manages to include everything the person does and excludes everything the person doesn’t. And for every single “Real Pagans don’t do X” I have seen I can point out a Pagan somewhere who does…

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    Spiralled Edges

    Spiralled Edges – New Beginnings and Imbolc Chaos and Change I had an entire idea for a nice article about Imbolc and how it symbolises new beginnings in our lives. But I’ve torn that all up, in a figurative sense, because of all that is happening around the world in recent weeks. The US has a new president, Great Britain is poised to leave the European Union, and refugees are fleeing yet another war in yet another country. Right now, the whole world is really chaotic, and really rather scary. As human beings, we tend to not like chaos and change. Change can be dangerous our subconscious tells us. People…

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    Amulets of the Goddess 12 Month General Reading

      January – Hand with Seeds: Holding Power in your hands You hold the seeds of change and growth. This is your time for a new start. A new way of being. The seeds of change aren’t far away. They are within your grasp. Now what are you going to do with them? Will you fling them away? Will you grasp them tightly to you? Or, will you plant them and allow them to grow? February – Ewe: Self-Worth Somewhere you learned to not trust in yourself. Somewhere you learned that you do not have worth. Your worth is not in who you know. Or the money you have accumulated.…

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    Spiralled Edges

    Resolutions It’s the time of year for making New Year’s Resolutions. Promises to one’s self that are invariably broken before the first crocuses and snow drops push up from the Earth at Imbolc. This year, as I consider once more resolutions and people around me talk of their hopes for the coming year, I have been looking more closely at what resolution actually means and where the word comes from: late 14c., “a breaking into parts,” from Old French resolution (14c.) or directly from Latin resolutionem (nominative resolutio) “process of reducing things into simpler forms,” from past participle stem of resolvere “loosen”. Sense of “a solving” (as of mathematical problems)…

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    December Amulet Guidance from the Council of Elders with NanLT

        Night star – Dreaming Goddess – Labrys – Snakes – Hand with seeds As we come into this time of the Solstice, I ask the question – What do people need to know in this Solstice season? The Council of Elders came to us this day to tell us, “Make your wishes, dream your dreams, you hold the power, release your fears, plant your seeds and know your dreams can come true.” The Night Star is there to light your way through the darkness. That simple rhyme of our childhood, Star Light, Star Bright, First star I see tonight… by which we made our wishes. Sometimes the wishes…

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    Spiralled Edges

    Spiralled Edges: ‘Tis the Season to be Thankful People in America just finished celebrating Thanksgiving, a tradition that is focused on being thankful for the bounties which they have received over the previous year. I am frequently asked if I, as an American living in Britain, continue to celebrate Thanksgiving in my adopted homeland. Short answer, no. The reasons range from the simple to the more complex. I tend to cook a simple roast dinner every few weeks anyway, whether it be a roast chicken, lamb, beef, or pork. Being thankful is something that I try to focus on regularly, not just at harvest time. The American Thanksgiving Day is…