Appreciation Today I am sitting down at my computer from a long vacation. My husband and I went on an adventure to Nevada and California visiting my family… who happens to live smack in the middle of nowhere. Let me tell you about my vacation and then I will get to the point of this months article (I promise, they are related). I am going to leave the name of the town out, because I don’t want to bring a lot of attention to it; it is one of those places you must discover for yourself… not that you can really find it on a map. My husband and I…

Demons in the Machine As I sat down at the computer, I realized that my simple Quest to do a little research for this article had suddenly become slightly more interesting. It seemed that space and time had collided at some point near the center of our desk, creating a portal directly into the Pits of Hell (a subdivision owned in part by a subsidiary of Microsoft). Until recently, it hadn’t occurred to me that computers could become possessed by Demons. (Break out the holy water…) For those of you who don’t believe in Pure Evil, I’ve got one word for you: Malware. That lovely collective of viruses, spywares, adwares,…

Greetings to everyone at PaganPages and to all our viewers. My name is Lady Willow Hawk and I have been a solitary practing Pagan witch for over thirty years. I grow and preserve my own herbs and I would like to invite everyone to Willows Herbal Haven to share in the knowledge of Herbalism. In this monthly column I will discuss a variety herbs, their Latin name, plant facts recipes, healing power ect. So sit back and enjoy your journey with me. ** Please always remember that herbal remedies are to combine and inhance your health and to never be taken in place of medications prescribed by a doctor. Always…

I was speaking with a friend the other day who told me that when she went religion shopping a few years ago she came extremely close to becoming Pagan. Paganism had almost everything she valued—the Goddess, respect and reverence for nature, the choice to worship with a group or be solitary, amazingly beautiful rituals, a deep, rich mythological history with such a strong connection to the ancient, primeval forces so as to be almost synonymous with the life force itself. There was one problem and for her the problem was insurmountable. Just as there was no room for Jesus at the inn in Bethlehem, it also appeared there was no…

Households and Their Pets Merry Meet Everyone! Wishing everyone a Blessed and Bountiful Lammas! This month I have decided to talk about how pets fit into the Wiccan household. Since Wiccan households see things a little differently than mainstream households, of course we treat our animals differently as well. As people who honor deities and energies of Mother Earth, we cannot help but hold Her wild creatures in reverence as well as Her domesticated creatures. First and above all, pets in a Wiccan household are usually unbelievably spoiled. They are more than just pets; they are members of the family. Their moods and feelings are taken into account as such.…

Oil for Love 2 lavandar 1 mint 1 thyme 1 jasmine 1 rosemary Mix essential oils in 1/2 Ounce carrier oil (Almond, Grapeseed, Safflower, Olive, etc) Wear when you want to attract love, or do the candle meditation below… Meditation for Love *While doing this meditation keep in mind the concequences of affecting someone’s free will. This should be used in general, to attract love, with a current partner, or used to attract someone with certain qualities that you’re looking for. Select a small pink candle, or a color that says "love" to you. (Or use white for all purpose) Anoint the candle with the oil, working towards you (drawing…

Multiplicity:The Problem of Many and One In the last column we discussed the problem of existence, how Pagans could approach the ontological questions of existence in a way that includes multiplicity of beliefs.  Now I want to discuss the problem of multiplicity of Gods and Goddesses, not just existence.  Why many, instead of one? That is a fundamental question associated with Pagan belief.  First we need to define what exactly we mean by “many”.  There are several interpretations of what we mean by the word “many”.  We may mean that we have only one God or set of Gods and Goddesses, but we accept the existence of others, within the…

When you think about your favorite magical tools, do you ever consider the telephone? Here’s a few ideas which may make a common household object seem very, very magical! Focus and Direct Energy: Focusing and directing energy is a basic principle of magic. That’s exactly what you do when you make a phone call. You are sending your intent via waves of electricity going through copper wires. In some cases you are using pulses of light going through fiber optics. But in either case, you are directing energy exactly where you choose. Bells: Many use bells in magic to project energy through sound waves. Why not use the ringing of…

Friends The Way to Escape: Life is like being caught up inside an empty bottle… Even buzzing much around like a housefly one gets actually nowhere & quite often ends up stone dead, lying heaped up among other corpses on the bottom… The only Way out is Upwards, towards the Light and through the always apparent yet as if hidden hole & out into the open & free space !!! ‘Inside the Bottle’ signifies the repeated round of rebirth & death, again & again in this Samsara – ‘Buzzing Around’ signifies the useless & futile urge craving, & monotonic restless stress of life itself! ‘Upwards’ signifies progress along increased morality,…

Come with me in our fourth monthly walk through the Door. Look up the words, "paganism", "ritual" and "mental illness" (or "mental health"), and you will find a vast number of websites and articles. Look them up together, however, and you will start seeing stuff about "satanic ritual abuse", "obsessive-compulsive rituals", and a number of other dark issues. Let me state categorically that there either is no such thing as "satanic ritual abuse" or it is so rare that the police cannot find anything. The people who are running workshops on the subject are simply in it for the money, whether they call themselves "seminar presenters", "ministers", or whatever. (If…