Baby Blue As spring dawns upon us, the chill still left in the air reminds us that winter has not yet breathed its last. Yet the skies clear from time to time, letting the sun through to warm the fertile earth and bringing hope of new life from above. Eostre’s colors of pastel greens, pinks and blues begin to spring up in unexpected places. It is is blue of the sky, the water, and ice that I speak of in this issue. What better color to represent this hopeful time of year, a combination of vibrancy and repose, than the traditional “baby blue”. Although this name is a purely Western…

Are you cyclically confused? In a ceremonial quandary? Completely clueless? Wonder no more. *Ask Your Mama™ The What, When, Where, Why, How, and Who of Ceremony & Spirituality by ©Mama Donna Henes, Urban Shaman A Question of Egg Balancing Dear Mama Donna, First let me say that I have great respect and gratitude for the work that you do. As a long time organizer in the neo-pagan community I have followed your activities with pleasure in the media through the years. But there’s one thing that really irks me; this spring equinox egg balancing hoax. The fact is that it is no easier or harder to balance an egg on…

Painting is a passion. It is what keeps my blood flowing. I’m  full of many visions that coil around my heart. having opened my emotions in a deeper light these paintings are portraits of my inner creature. being a self taught artist for some time now, I realize that it is truly the core of creativity that binds the colors and figures used in my work and feel very proud to make my art come to life. Color My Eyes Myself Koi

Spiritual Work and Paranormal Investigations (Part 2 of 3) There is a lot of misunderstanding when it comes to particular parapsychological concepts such as soul rescues, possession, and exorcisms.  Centuries of religious propaganda and dogma have colored our understanding and acceptance of the phenomena and Hollywood has not helped to shed light on the truth either.  In fact, classic flicks such as The Exorcist and Poltergeist have added so much sensationalistic garbage to the pop culture viewpoint that objectivity is out the window. Alright, you and your team have catalogued some irrefutable evidence that a location is haunted.  Now what? When a location has legitimate paranormal activity then the real…

The WildWood Tradition of Witchcraft I’ve been reading and doing a lot of research as of late.  In that search I have been examining the work of an up and coming young pagan.  Gede Parma is an author, and one of the founding members of WildWood Tradition. The WildWood Tradition stems from the Coven of the WildWood.  The Coven was formed by Gede and several other founding members hail from Brisbane, Australia.  The coven the tradition stems from was founded in early 2006; it is a young but vibrant tradition. The tradition stems became official in 2008 when another coven hived off the first. It is a mystery tradition based…

An Introduction to Attachment Parenting Did you carry your son around in a sling during his fussy times as a baby with the sense that it would help him?  Do you bend down and look in your daughter’s eyes when trying to discipline her?  Do you treat your teenager with respect and listen to their desires before you give them an answer?  Then you are practicing Attachment Parenting and you may have not even known it. Attachment Parenting is a term that was coined by Dr. William Sears.  His life’s work as a father and pediatrician along with the insight and mothering of his wife Nancy and the raising of…

In this months Issue: Two Book Reviews Circle, Coven, & Grove Simple Wicca Faeries, Elves, & Other Kin teaches us about Banshees A New Column on Auras and a new column on Oils begin this month! Monthly Horoscope (Feb 19- Mar 20) Pisces the year 2010 will bring with it life changes, some of which will prove to be for the good, however, be mindful of those that are not. Unexpected difficulties will dot your horizon. But keep your stress under control, making yourself nervous will only add to your problems. Feuds in your workplace will continue throughout this year, and your pocket book will feel it. Nevertheless, midway through…

Winter is nearly over, and this year it seems to have been a very long season.  I think I got too happy at Samhain as it wasn’t cold and I wandered about with the kids in a witch costume and not much else.  My logical mind figured if it was mild at the end of October then surely winter couldn’t be too severe.  Well, that’s what you get for thinking and trying to out guess Mother Earth. Luckily we faired quite well here in the South of England with only 1 heavy snowfall but it’s been so cold.  Freezing cold (and I’m not a big fan of being cold).  Now…

Are We Limiting Ourselves? There is no doubt that following a Pagan path rarely has been from birth, speaking strictly in my experience. Most of those that I have had the honour to know have initially been of a different faith as a child and through the universal guidance found their way to Paganism. I had wondered whether once we find the path we are on does it remain stagnant or do we allow ourselves to continue to evolve irrelevant of where our journey takes us? There are so many dimensions and aspects to being a Pagan that I wonder whether any of us are becoming too comfortable in status…

Psychic protection is a hot button topic in a lot of circles.  Do we merely reflect what is being thrown at us or do we defend ourselves.  There is a lot of confusion as to whether the protective magick should be passive or active. This meditation works on both levels.  It makes you acutely aware of what is going on around you and you work actively maintain it.  It also effectively neutralizes the negative energy that may have been directed toward.  The protective meditation that follows is meant to be repeated on a regular basis.  I recommend you revisit it monthly. Visualize a spider web of stunning silver filled with…