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    Welcome

      _____________________________________________________________________________ Cover art: Blood Moon for Samhain by Janna Prosvirina of Fantasy Art of Janna Prosvirina on Etsy, where you may also find it as a coloring page. About the artist: Janna Prosvirina lives in Upper Austria (Europe), in a beautiful area full of turquoise blue lakes, evergreen forests and high mountains. Nature has always been the main source of her inspiration together with myths, legends and Celtic\Pagan music. Apart from being a professional traditional artist, Janna is a devoted herbalist and naturopathy enthusiast. More of her works can be found on her Website, and her Etsy Shop. She can be seen through her Facebook and on Instagram @Jannafairyart…

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    Sacred Place, Sacred Space – Book Review of “Spiritual Places” By Sarah Baxter

    Book Review of “Spiritual Places” By Sarah Baxter As someone who loves to read and write about the sacred places across America and the world, this book is an absolute gem! The book encompasses the world, from St. Catherine’s Monastery in Egypy to Mount Olympus in Greece, from the Isle of Iona and Avebury in the United Kingdom to Shwedagon Paya in Myanmar. Some are specific places in these different countries, but others, like Kyoto and The Ganges, are termed spiritual in their entirety. Each individual sacred place is given it’s own section. The writing is beautiful, and vivid, as in this opening paragraph from the section on the “Isle…

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    Notes from the Apothecary

    Notes from the Apothecary: Mandrake As we approach Samhain, I like to examine an herb or plant that has particular links to the season. Last year I explored the magic of the pumpkin, an obvious choice for the Halloween season. This year I wanted to dive deeper into folklore and magic, and the mandrake has been my mystical plant of choice. Immortalised by J. K. Rowling in the Harry Potter series as the shrieking stars of herbology, the image of the human-like root screaming actually goes back to at least the 12th century. A medieval manuscript describes how the plant ‘shines at night like a lamp’ and that iron must…

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    Book Review – Ceri Norman: Faerie Stones, An Explanation of the Folklore and Faeries Associated with Stones and Crystals

    Book Review Ceri Norman: Faerie Stones, An Explanation of the Folklore and Faeries Associated with Stones and Crystals Ceri is a prolific writer, with several books under her belt and numerous magazine articles. This book, Faerie Stones, was mentioned by a friend and I was intrigued by the title and the concept. Faerie Stones takes a wide variety of stones and crystals and gives a great deal of information about each one, including but not limited to the deities and beings or spirits associated with them. It’s worth noting that in this book the term faerie is used to cover a wide variety of beings including deities and spirits. I…

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    Gael Song

    The Body of the Goddess, Earth In most druid writings, there are lots and lots of descriptions about relating to nature, how wonderfully peaceful it is, how deeply restorative. It’s one of the most fundamental, if not THE fundamental, teachings of Celtic paganism. But I don’t think I’ve ever read what I personally feel is the reason for the tapestry of wonders and extraordinary powers of nature, which is that earth is the Body of the Goddess! In the seven heavens my druid guides taught me, which make up the planes of light of the inner realms, the first heaven is earth, and it is ruled by the Goddess. She…

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    Samhain Correspondences

    Other Names: celtic ~ Summer’s End, pronounced “sow” (rhymes with now) “en” (Ireland), sow-een (Wales) – “mh” in the middle is a “w” sound – Greater Sabbat(High Holiday) – Fire Festival Oct 31-Nov 1(North Hemisphere) – Apr 30-May 1 – The Great Sabbat, Samhiunn, Samana, Samhuin, Sam-fuin, Samonios, Halloween, Hallomas, All Hallows Eve, All Saints/All Souls Day(Catholic), Day of the Dead (Mexican), Witches New Year, Trinoux Samonia, Celtic/ Druid New Year, Shadowfest (Strega), Martinmas or Old Hallowmas (Scotttish/Celtic) Lá Samhna (Modern Irish), Festival of the Dead, Feile Moingfinne (Snow Goddess), Hallowtide (Scottish Gaelis Dictionary), Feast of All Souls, Nos Galen-gae-of Night of the Winter Calends (Welsh), La Houney or Hollantide…

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    The Sober Pagan Book Review of Hopeful Healing: Essays on Managing Recovery and Surviving Addiction by Mackenzie Phillips

    Book Review of Hopeful Healing: Essays on Managing Recovery and Surviving Addiction by Mackenzie Phillips The last column I wrote was titled “What’s in your toolbox?”, which was posted August, 2018. I missed posting an article last month due to my father’s illness and subsequent death. Believe me, during the stress of the past several months, I have had more than one occasion to open up my toolbox and review all the tools I have in there. In some cases, I polished them off and updated them. Others I just cherished like the old friends that they are. And I added a few new ones because it seems like there’s…

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    Retha’s Crystal Reflections

    Protection Stones This month I think is an appropriate time to discuss protecting yourself, your aura & your space. You can use many tools to remove negative energy from your environment, such as salt, smudge, herbs etc, but my favorite way is with crystal allies of course! There are tons of crystals we could discuss but for lengths sake we will talk about my top 10 protection stones. They are not in any order, I encourage you to work with or wear as many of these amazing stones as you can! Smoky Quartz: Smoky quartz is one of my favorite stones for many reasons, but for wearing as a protection…

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    She Who is All – The Goddess of Ten Thousand Names

    Dzivaguru (Photo Credit: patientenbetelligung.info)   This Mother Earth Goddess was of the Shona-speaking Korekore peoples of Zimbabwe. She was the Goddess of Earth and the Darkness of Night. It was She who controlled the clouds and the rain, and the pools and the streams. Dzivaguru was kind and compassionate toward her people. She brought the rain, and with the help of her two beautiful, golden Sunbirds, She brought the sun. Because of Her, Her land was fruitful and abundant. She lived in a palace which was on an ancient lake. She walked freely, and often, amongst her meadows and forests, drinking from her magical cornucopia, which brought Her everything She…

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    Coming Out of The Psychic Closet

    Are You Afraid to Share Your Experiences with Others? It is certainly encouraging that modern society is beginning to allow people to come out of their unique closets of personal truth and be accepted for who they are.  Those people are finding the courage to reveal the true nature of their individual life choices and experiences. But what if you don’t understand the nature of your life experiences and don’t remember making choices to be psychic? How do you share such a thing with your friends and family? Will they reject you, laugh at you, or call you ‘crazy’ and force you back to the safety of your secret closet? And…