Welcome     _____________________________________________   In This Issue…   Our Mabh Savage Interviews Damh the Bard.   We have two great book reviews for you one on The Way of the Hedge Witch, Rituals and Spells for Hearth and Home by Arin Murphy-Hiscock.   The Second book is Buddhism for Couples by Sarah Napthali.     Learn about Kwan Yin this month In She Who is All – The Goddess of Ten Thousand Names.   _____________________________________________   Interested in joining our writing family?  email us at [email protected]   _____________________________________________   Like us on Facebook and Twitter !!    _____________________________________________   Happy Reading…  

Mid-Year Resolutions! December 31st marks the last day of any calendar year and we bring all the accumulated lessons, joys and sorrows of that year with us as we cross the threshold into a new beginning- the first day of a new year. For many, this self-initiated new start is welcomed by the making of carefully and thoughtfully chosen “resolutions”. And, just as many, often find that by the end of that cyclic year, those resolutions have fallen by the wayside, replaced by regrets or excuses for not having accomplished what we had set out to. What I would like to offer is a new way of looking at this…

The Sea Witch When I think of the Sea Witch, I see her standing upon high cliffs, arms upraised as she harnesses the power from the waves crashing against the rocks below. Sometimes I see her walking barefoot along the beach whispering words of magic while the light of a full moon casts a soft glow around her. She makes use of the things cast up by the sea; shells, hag stones, glass fishing floats, hooks, rope, sea glass, fishing net, driftwood, sea weed, bird feathers, as well as using sand and sea. Her magic is tied to the tides, the moon, fog, storms and the bright sun. She controls…

Astro Report for June 2015 Mercury still Retrograde in Gemini – 8 degrees Monday, June 1, 2015 – 12:01 am EDT Goes Direct on Thursday, June 11, 2015 – 10:51 pm EDT The Planet of Communication enters the Sign of Communication… Hmmm… Interesting how conversations go from subject to subject. It’s a wonder how each segues into the next. And while you’re talking, be wary of what you say about others not part of the conversation. Gossip can bite you in the end. However, when Mercury goes Retrograde, conversations can definitely be uncontrolled. The proverbial foot fits in the proverbial mouth too often. Mercury goes direct later this month.  …

Croning Part 3 Merry meet!  This month is the third of a six-part series on croning – a feminine rite-of-passage ritual for those reclaiming the power and wisdom of the old woman, the crone. It touches on some of the symbols of the crone you can consider incorporating into your ritual. Croning : Symbols Amethyst: This is often considered the gem of the crone because it is associated with spirituality and wisdom. Everyone who attended the weekend event at which I croned was given a small piece of amethyst and the instruction to give it to me with a personal message. I was given an etched champagne glass to collect…

More Dollar Store Delights Merry Meet. Magical stores are few and far between, but dollar stores are everywhere and they have a wealth of items for altars, rituals and sabbats. With Litha in mind, I snapped these photos as more examples of items you can find for $1. On mid-summer’s eve, the fairies are said to be at their merriest. You can be, too. Whether or not you are donning fairy wings, you can still wave a wand. Butterflies are as much a part of summer as are bubbles. Celebrate both. What’s your best dollar store find? Merry part. And merry meet again…

Buddhism for Couples By: Sarah Napthali Paperback: 248 pages (tentative) Publisher: Jeremy P. Tarcher / Penguin (June 2015) In The Miracle of Mindfulness, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh tells the story of a father who struggled to balance his Buddhist practice with his daily responsibilities of being a father and a husband. After the finite hours of his day were divided between work, wife, daughter, and son, there was barely any time left for himself. It was only when he changed his idea of “free time” or “his time” to include running after his children and shopping with his wife that his days opened up and he found he had…

Notes from the Apothecary: Angelica     A tall, stately plant that I remember well from my mother’s herbaceous garden when I was tiny, Angelica is as beautiful as the name suggests. Unlike many of the herbs in my Apothecary, Angelica can withstand quite cool climates and is found as far north as Iceland and Lapland. In seeming contradiction to this, the plant’s ruling astral body is the sun, and it is mostly closely associated with fire. Despite being classed as a masculine plant, Angelica is linked to the goddess Venus; deity of love, beauty, sex, prosperity and fertility. We can follow the link from the mother of Romans to…

History of Litha (MidSummer) Also known as Summer Solstice, Litha, Alban Hefin, Sun Blessing, Gathering Day, Feill-Sheathain, Whit Sunday, Whitsuntide, Vestalia, Thing-tide, St. John’s Day In addition to the four great festivals of the Pagan Celtic year, there are four lesser holidays as well: the two solstices, and the two equinoxes. In folklore, these are referred to as the four ‘quarter-days’ of the year, and modern Witches call them the four ‘Lesser Sabbats’, or the four ‘Low Holidays’. The Summer Solstice is one of them. Litha is usually celebrated on June 21st, but varies somewhat from the 20th to the 23rd, dependant upon the Earth’s rotation around the Sun. According…

Midsummer 2015 for Celebrating the Old Ways in New Times The Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year, and afterwards, the days begin to shorten. The Sun is at it’s highest point, and at it’s strongest this Sabbat. It is still going to get warmer, and the wheel is turning towards harvest time. If you are in Finland, “the land of the midnight sun”, this is the time of year there is practically no darkness at all due to location. All Winter, some of us look forward to this time of year when it is warm, the sun rises early, everything is green and growing, and it feels…