We are in between Sabbats. Many of us just celebrated our Beltaine, and may not have even packed up all our ritual supplies yet and already are planning for Summer Solstice! Because I’m going to wait until next time to write about Solstice, I decided to write about one of my favorite topics. Food!!! The weather is shaping up and we are beginning the warm weather festival season. What would festivals be without the food? If you go to big mainstream community gatherings, you pay to eat from food trucks and grilles- but for us Pagans, many of our festivals are smaller, private, and akin to family barbeques. Thus, Pagans…

Notes from the Apothecary: Hawthorn What would May be without May Blossom? The sweet yet pungent, delicate creamy petals that appear as if from nowhere; a pale messenger of summer’s imminent return. Since I was a little girl we have brought hawthorn flowers, or May Blossom, into the house at or around Beltane, of course always asking the trees permission, and thanking it for its gift. The smell would hover around our hearth for days, and the resulting bare branches once the blossom had died would be burnt on the next bonfire. Hawthorn has more folklore surrounding it that any tree I know, and is particularly mentioned in Celtic and…

BUGS!!!!!  The Natural Way   Mosquito Repellents For those looking for nonchemical alternatives, plant-based mosquito repellents are now available. Most are made with plant oils that repel mosquitoes, including basil, citronella, castor,cedar, eucalyptus, rosemary, lemongrass, peppermint, onion, garlic, feverfew, clove and geranium. But these products are more susceptible to elements like perspiration and wind, so they must be reapplied more frequently. Add Catnip to this list Catnip is about ten times more effective at repelling mosquitoes than DEET — the compound used in most commercial insect repellents.   Flea Collars Apply a few drops of Cedarwood to your dogs collar. Will help to repel fleas.   Insect Bites Moisten a cotton swab in Fresh Lemon Juice, Apple…

The Enochian Tarot Sometimes you are attracted to a divinatory system as if you were mandated by some celestial being. You know – as soon as you see that deck of cards or that pendulum or those beautifully polished runes – that those are meant for you. Sometimes it’s more a matter of fate – you pick up some divination method accidentally and come to use it on a daily basis. There are also the divination tools that you only use for special occasions – a crystal ball for Samhain, for example – or a special set of Tarot cards for a Full Moon ritual. Generally, you only have divination…

Meditation as a Way of Life By Alan L. Pritz Recently, Pagan Pages was contacted by Quest Books to offer the book, “Meditation As a Way of Life” by Alan L. Pritz, for a book review. As the Meditation columnist and long time Kundalini Yoga and Meditation teacher, the book was forwarded to me by my editor. While it was not broken down as such, to me, the book was written in two parts; one being the spiritual journey of Reverend Pritz and the second being the *how-to* of meditation. As an interfaith minister, Reverend Pritz states that he deems spirituality as “nondenominational and ideally suited for inner awakening”. I…

Preventing Burnout In the High Priest and Priestess The wear and tear on the leaders of Wiccan Covens and communities can be tough but it is also a very hidden problem. A High Priest (HP) or a High Priestess (HPS) has spent many years working on his or her spiritual path, learning how to meditate, connecting with the Divine and have learned many coping skills for dealing with stress and burnout so they may be able to keep the burnout at bay for a long time, inching toward it so slowly even they don’t see it coming. Also many beginners in the Craft tend to put the HP/S on a…

I have called this ‘friendship’ with the gods rather than ‘devotion,’ because pagan religion does not require us to fake emotions the way the biblical religions do. As many of us know, Jews and Christians are commanded “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy soul, and all thy mind, and all thy strength.” Was a more impossible commandment ever given? The pagan gods of nature, unlike Yahweh, “in whom we live, move and have our being,” do not compass us round about. They arise from chaos at the beginning of a world cycle and build a new world out of matter in the chaotic…

Un-Seelie’s Playground   Photo by Vivienne Moss The beauty of Faery and Avalon can be found in the most unlikely of places. What one may find disrespectful and horrid, another will find unexpected charm. When I discover places like the picture above, I always wonder what kind of Fae lives there. I imagine some of the Un-Seelie Court inhabit this wild habitat. Rebels and misfits will feel right at home here. Those who don’t fit in with typical society will find the uncanny nature of this place welcoming. The Un-Seelie are those who make their own rules and break the ones they see as being ridiculously restricting. They are not…

There must be a dozen books on the subject of trees and the Celts so I’m not going to go into massive detail here. There is a good list of different trees and the Irish texts that mention them in my book A Modern Celt: Seeking the Ancestors which may be useful for those seeking more detailed information. Debateable it may be, but I seriously doubt there was ever a Celtic tree calendar, nor do I believe every tree cited in the calendar created by Robert Graves in 1948 (The White Goddess; London; Faber and Faber) was necessarily held as a sacred plant. However, it is clear from numerous texts…

Song Inspires Book: Story of ‘Warrior Queen’ Moves Kellianna from Singing to Writing       “I cannot remember my name as I lay on the battlefield and hear the war drums. I died here with honor today, Warrior Queen with my sword by my side.” So begins one of the nine songs on Kellianna’s first album, “Lady Moon,” released in early 2004.   The song, “Warrior Queen,” tells the story of a hero’s death on a battlefield. “When I played the song for my mom back in 2003, she said, ‘I love it. What’s the story?’ I said, ‘That is the story. She dies.’” Kellianna remembers her mother saying, “No,…