Happy New Year and Happy Carmentalia! Carmentalia is two separate feast dates honouring the Roman goddess Carmenta. It is said that she could see back in the past as well as forward into the future at the same time, and her history is rife with protests and standing ones ground. At one point the Roman Senate denied certain privileges to women during the Second Punic War but didn’t immediately reinstate those privileges once the war had ended. As a mass of people started to grow to discuss and argue about this inequality, women from all over the countryside joined in, first gathering in the Carmentis gardens at the foot of…

Petrified Wood Also known as Agatized or Fossilized Wood, Petrified wood in all actuality is Quartz and possesses some wonderful healing energies. Once rooted deep within the earth, these crystalline structures have a strong Gaia connection plus grounding and ancestral healing energies. Additional attributes that I have felt from working with these crystals is a fortified strength and a type of wisdom that can only come from something that was and is so deeply connected to the Earth. This peaceful stone is especially good to work with when you have inner turbulence and need to regain or re-establish some inner peace and balance. Since my dad was a rockhound, Petrified…

La Befana   (LA BEFANA. Magic stocking from BEFANA. By incantevolemerletto shop.)   Merry meet. While my mother’s parents were from Sicily, it was not until recently I learned of La Befana, Italy’s oldest and most celebrated legend – about a witch. In Italian folklore, she is an old woman with warts on her crooked nose, wearing a skirt and a black shawl, who flies around on her broom, delivering candy to well-behaved children. In Russia she is known as Baboushka. Children await Babbo Natale on Christmas Eve, but the red-suited man is new compared to the story of the old woman who was too busy cleaning to join the…

“Tree Medicine, Tree Magic” by Ellen Evert Hopman Published by Pendraig Publishing Inc. Published: 2017 Pages: 245 This second edition is updated and revised from the original published in 1992 by Ellen Evert Hopman, a master herbalist, lay homeopath and founding member of The Order of the White Oak. She is currently archdruid of the Tribe of the Oak, a teaching grove for Druids. She holds an M.Ed. in mental health counseling. For each of the 19 trees, she includes an illustration; describes their physical characteristics; gives their practical, herbal and magical uses; and provides Druid insights and recipes. Information for each tree takes up about 10 pages; quotes and…

  I am writing this article on Boxing Day or Annandag Jul in Swedish (our family is in Sweden). I always pay close attention to dreams and my dreams last night were full of children. I am wearing a warm furry silver cloak and walking around a forest. There is a spectacular night sky overhead. The stars are reflected by the ice crystals trapped in my cloak meaning that I myself am sparkling with star light (not unlike a Christmas tree!) I am Mother Winter! All around me child spirits are darting around and playing in trees: luminous, joyful but also “ghostly”, as-yet-unborn. I open my cloak and give them…

Notes from the Apothecary: artichoke     January is an odd sort of month, past the solstice but not yet at Imbolc; deep in the heart of winter where the promise of the sun’s return sounds like a distant whisper. In keeping with the oddness of the month, I thought it would be appropriate to look at a plant which is extremely odd indeed: the artichoke. The name artichoke is used for two distinctively different types of plant. One is the Jerusalem artichoke; a sort of knobbly, potato like root which is very tasty and nutritious. However, for this month’s notes, I will be examining the globe artichoke, as far…

  The Bad Witch’s Guide to Poppets   I am a bad witch. There are a long list of reasons why I am a bad witch. Having been out of the broom closet for some considerable number of years I would on occasion get asked “but you’re a good witch though?” My response to that depending on the person asking but I found I started to say “yes, a very, very good witch” rather darkly as it usually got the point across. As someone who has only relatively recently learned to sew I had to get crafty with poppets. I am quite cool about substitutes like onions and lemons (as…

  “Going Shamanic” is hosted by Jennifer Engracio on P.A.G.E.  Media Project’s blogtalk radio each month. The show focuses on how to integrate shamanism into every day life. Instead of relegating the spiritual aspect of ourselves to Sundays at church or weekend workshops, this show will support listeners in weaving ritual, prayer, magic, alignment with the Spiritworld and the Earth into their lives to enrich their experience of living.   This month We find out …   What is addiction really? Can we benefit from the shamanic experience and perspective to heal ourselves of the root cause(s) of the addiction? Today you will hear from a woman who has done just that. Michele Fire-River Heart is the…