Reading Tea Leaves   My grandmother, my mother’s mother, read tea leaves.  She was a devout Roman Catholic, but she knew all kinds of ways of telling the future, from tasseography to nature’s omens to playing cards.  Gramma was also a wealth of common-sense sayings. Tea-leaf reading was a kitchen event; a woman activity.  She would make a pot of tea, and pour out cups for each of us and tell us each to think of a question – something that we might have been praying for.  She explained that the tea leaves often told us what Jesus and Mary and the holy saints had in store for us.  She…

Ostara Fashion: “The Wicked Witch Of The East” But not the one from Wizard Of Oz! This one comes straight from my imagination, and is a combination of an Ostara witch and a Matushka from Russia. My quest for the perfect garderobe continues. I´m in the process of designing and making five outfits for each Sabbat. Smart enough to go to work in, but at the same time so comfortable to throw a cartwheel in. I like to get dressed in the morning, and then forget all about the whole existence of clothes for the day! And just stay fabulous with no further effort… =)   This witch combines the…

SUBLIME EQUINE ~ Gift of Freedom ~   I have seen things so beautiful they have brought tears to my eyes. Yet none of them can match the gracefulness and beauty of a horse running free. Author Unknown This is a journey into the Gift of Freedom, a state of natural harmony with all life…and yourself…deep within the Universal Soul, of which you are a cherished and intimate part.  Allow yourself to go on this inner journey…into the Spirit of your Beautiful Infinite Self. For here is where you shall find your Truth.   Begin by getting comfortable. Find a space that feels at ease with your body. Allow yourself…

Dressing up Merry Meet. In last month’s column, I talked about how you don’t need props, tools or symbols to practice the Craft – that you needed only yourself. This month, I’m going to begin talking about various ways of acquiring some of those props, tools and symbols that you don’t need, but might enjoy – all on a budget. Ritual wear, for one. One of the things that gets me out of the mundane world and ready for entering sacred space is my “witch costume.” On dark moons and Samhain, that tends to be a long black skirt and a black top. For full moons and festivals, I tend…

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 Baby Steps to the Goddess   Dear Mama Donna   I am not a follower of the goddess, but I was walking around downtown Brooklyn with my six-year-old daughter Beatrice when she said to me, “Mommy, I don’t believe in God. I believe in Mother Nature and the faeries in the woods. That’s why I make the circles with the rocks.” Clearly…

Moon Name: The Growing Moon Deities: Kali, Hathor, Anahita, Ceres, Ishtar, Venus, Bast Nature Spirits: plant faeries Colors: Red and gold Herbs: basil, chives, dragons blood, geranium, thistle Flowers: daisy and sweetpea Tree’s: pine, bay and hazel Scents: pine, bay, bergamot and my personal favorite patchouli Stones: ruby, garnet, sard Animals: Bear and Wolf Birds: hawk and magpie Powers: energy in creating and producing, balance is returned to the nerves change, self confidence, self-reliance, take advantage of opportunities, Time to work on emotional turmoil and get your temper into prospective

A Shamanic View: “But You Can’t be a Shaman, Because…” A book I was reading earlier this week brought up a point I’ve been thinking about since. The author talked about people raising the argument, “how can you learn to be a shaman? Don’t you have to go to some remote tribe, apprentice to some elder for a long time and then have some horrific initiatory experience?” Certainly, that’s probably the indigenous experience. The student might have been raised by the tribe shaman (who might have been known by one of many different titles). The student might have apprenticed for many years. The apprentice would probably have started by doing…

The Hunter Diaries Anthology By Serena Zane © 2013 by Serena Zane ISBN: 978-1482093940 223 pages Paperback $8.54 (U.S.)   The Hunter Diaries is different from the other books I have reviewed as this one was fiction. I found this to be a very enjoyable book and one I had a hard time putting down from the time I started reading it. This book is a collection of four stories that are inner connected through some of the characters. The first story, “The Christmas Present” introduces the reader to a world populated in part by vampires and those who hunt them. The hunters in this case are the Willis family…

Air – The Breath of Life   It’s all around us, we can’t live without it and we often take it for granted.  Air can represent the power of the mind and communication. While meditating, imagine it taking away the negative and bringing you positive, healing energy from the earth.   Human activities are changing the air we breathe and not for the better. Many of the things we do produces air pollution. The main contributor for air contaminants is the burning of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels such as vehicle emissions, industrial emissions, coal and gas-fired power plants and wood burning for heating or waste disposal. The majority of air…