Merry Meet and Happy Witches New Year Samhain is upon us and a new year is beginning.  We have an issue full of Samhain advice, recipes, crafts, and ideas. Our Etsy Shop is once again open and our stock is full again.  I apologize it has taken me so long to get it’s stock up.  But we are here and in time for the new year and Yule.  Please stop buy and see some of our new bookmarks and lower prices:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/paganpagesorg?ref=ss_profile We are currently looking for a new Meditation Writer as ours leaves us this year.  If you are interested in writing meditations or sharing your knowledge on meditation…

A little touch of Rome Ancient Romans had a major effect on modern paganism and parts of their culture need to be credited. Romans owed a high proportion of their language, architecture, religious beliefs and philosophy to the Greeks after the Greek culture was absorbed into Roman society when it became part of the empire. Even with this, Romans were a highly successful and intelligent society who introduced new technological advances into life. Early Romans paid homage to spirits rather than specific deities. The divinity in all things and early deities were known as ‘Numina’. Numina were divine manifestations. They were faceless and formless but very powerful. The Numina included…

What are the gods doing? What’s their “daily” life like? I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately. If you were a god or goddess, what do you do all “day” long? To explore this, we’re going to have to try to change our perspective. These guys don’t live the kind of linear existence we do, nor are they bound by a physical body. They aren’t really “bound” by anything, so in order to understand what it’s like for them, we need to try and imagine the infinite possibilities of existence. Everyone loves a good superhero movie. There’s just something about a hero who can fly, has super strength, or…

Time and Perception: Elementals are described in stregheria and other Craft traditions as existing at a frequency of vibrations close to those of our own physical dimension, but slightly higher.  This is why they can interact with witches and help them elevate their energies somewhat, gaining access to the astral plane.  They do this by elevating the witch’s rate of perception and sense of time. In order to understand the relationship between perception and time, let us consider old-time silent movies.  These were called ‘flicks,’ because they had fewer frames per second than later sound pictures.  The illusion of movement produced by motion pictures, as we know, is caused by…

Inner Witchcraft Working with Elementals Introduction These chapters were originally presented as information supplementary to that provided by the High Priestess of a coven I was advising over in Colorado.  Since I could not be physically present among them, I provided more private aspects of my practice, some part of which would surface at times were I with them.  My contention throughout has been that most magical energy is locked up within the human body and therefore preparation for witchcraft must attempt to remove some of these blocks so one can experience and make use of one’s native magical energy.  By ‘magical’ I mean here ‘capable of producing unexpected effects.’ …

Welcome to the Samnhain edition of Thrifting the Witchy Way! The fabulous Jenn ( round of applause for the hard working staff here- they deserve it and more!) has promised me that the pictures from our last installment should be up this time around so please take a look at that so that you don’t think I’ve been doing imaginary projects! So for my first Samhain (or for those of you out there who go a bit more secular- Halloween) edition of Thrifting the Witchy Way I thought I would keep it light and bring you one of my favorite crafts –Miniature Witchy Brooms! Now this project is a ton…

Samhain Crunchy leaves underfoot and crisp clear skies overhead bring such peace to our family! Now is the favorite time of year for this suburban pagan family. When the kids were little, each day found us walking with baskets collecting acorns, sticks,  and pretty leaves.  Upon arrival the acorns were dispensed to the little kitchen for play food while the leaves and sticks awaited further attention. Decorations freshly made for October begin on the first day. Little gnomes are made of acorns with pinecone bodies began to populate the hearth. An age old craft of placing a leaf between two pieces of waxed paper and ironing it shut is inhanced…

Home is Where the Heart is Allow me to introduce myself. I am a “baby boomer” – a “child of the fifties”. I am part of that generation whose fathers came home from winning a great war, and then had us. Officially, we are those who were born between the years 1946 and 1959 although there are a few of us on either side of those years. We grew up during the stability and prosperity of the “Eisenhower Years” then looked forward with hope and anticipation to the promised glories of John F. Kennedy’s “Camelot.” I am part of that generation that came to my maturity in a time before…

The Weiser Field Guide to Vampires by  J. M. Dixon © 2009  Weiser Books ISBN:  978-1578634491 Paperback        192 pages $14.95 (U.S.) When people in the modern, Western world encounter the word “vampire” certain images spring immediately to mind, most of which center on Eastern and Central European perceptions – think Dracula in  all his many permutations.  But there is a lot more to the topic of vampires than that narrow perception admits.  They range from Papau New Guinea to Grenada; from undead relatives to modern day Strigoi Vii; and from those who subsist on blood to those who “merely” siphon off energy.  Although all of these are touched upon within…

I watch the brightly colored leaves Blow in the last of daylights Autumn breeze The sun has finally left the sky And now at last the time is nigh In an outdoor cauldron I lay the fire With sacred herbs and wood And conjure loved ones memories Be they bad or good I smile, I laugh,sometimes I cry And every year I question why Life’s lessons are so hard to learn And I sit and watch the fire burn The hours pass, I’m unaware On this Samhain of a Solitaire But the lessons learned I’m proud to say Have made me who I am today. Here are a couple of…