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The Modern Merlin’s Corner: Samhain 2024 Special Edition
Welcome to a day filled with frights, ghosts, spirits and spooky vibes. This is Halloween. This is Samhain. A sacred day of honoring our dead, our ancestors, and helping the dead with unfinished business move on. This is a time to celebrate the cycle of life, death and rebirth. It’s a time to cast witcheries; protective and baneful; beneficent and malevolent alike. Let your inner Witch out, because it’s our season! The Dead Roam Among Us As I write this, an eerie, cool, yet warm, wind blows, making leaves fall all around. It’s the breath of the spirits coming to visit us, whether with good intent or ill. This Samhain…
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Weyland’s Whey, Samhain 2024 Column
For Your Deliberation Samhain is my favorite Sabbat! I observe it (in my own ways) from the day after Mabon until the morning of All Hallows. Enjoy! VOTE That! That!! Dude Looks Like a Cyborg!!! These days when I step out the door, I have a glucose sensor glued to my arm, a Fitbit on my wrist and a cell phone with more gadgets in it than Batman’s utility belt! Better living through electronics! Granny One Dylan came home. As he started up the stairs to his apartment, he noticed a new Halloween decoration his landlady had put out near the foot of the stairs: an old crone doll in…
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Book Review-The Moon Apothecary: Rituals and Recipes for the Lunar Phases by Lorriane Anderson
Book Review The Moon Apothecary: Rituals and Recipes for the Lunar Phases By Lorriane Anderson Publisher: Rockpool Publishing 265 Hardcover with Full Color Pages & Illustrations Release Date: October 1st, 2024 The Moon Apothecary is an absolutely beautiful, full color hardcover that will exceed the expectations of any Green Witch, or any Witch in general, really. It’s a complete grimoire of self care based on the lunar phases, giving crystal, herb and essential oil correspondences, self-care rituals and recipes for tinctures, salves, lotions, teas and so much more. If you want to get yourself more in tune with the Moon and her phases, and also take steps towards self care (in a witchy…
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Book Review-Owl Magick: Explore Our Fascinating Connections with These Birds Through Folklore and Magickal Traditions by Rieka Moonsong
Book Review Owl Magick: Explore Our Fascinating Connections with These Birds Through Folklore and Magickal Traditions By Rieka Moonsong Publisher: Rock Point 159 Page Hardcover Release Date: September 10th, 2024 Do you love owls? I love owls! They symbolize wisdom, intuition, the mind/intellect, and the mysticism of the night. They’re the 2nd most commonly known witch’s familiar after the cat. Do you want to learn more about owls, their magick, deities associated with them, and the like? Look no further, as Owl Magick delivers all of this and more! Packed with spells, rituals, invocations and meditations, Owl Magick will teach you about owls-their anatomy, abilities, and their magickal capabilities. While we can’t (or usually…
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Book Review-Jim Morrison, Secret Teacher of the Occult: A Journey to the Otherside by Paul Wyld
Book Review Jim Morrison, Secret Teacher of the Occult: A Journey to the Otherside By Paul Wyld Publisher: Inner Traditions 256 page E-Book Release Date: September 10th, 2024 Jim Morrison, Secret Teacher of the Occult: A Journey to the Otherside by Paul Wyld is a fascinating look into Jim Morrison’s life, and his exploration of the Occult and Hermetic mysteries, coinciding with his musical career and well-known use of psychedelics and other drugs. The book covers Morrison’s life from early childhood, his adolescent and college years, where he began experimenting with LSD, and his career with The Doors and the numerous debacles thrown his way by the Establishment through law enforcement…
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Cat’s in the Crisper
Cat’s in the Crisper by Weyland Smith Syn flew back from the Halloween Convention in Massachusetts straight to Mom’s apartment. She’d been watching Syn’s old cat, Midnight, while she was gone, and Syn was anxious to retrieve him. Mom’s words of greeting were, “The cat’s in the crisper.” It took Syn a second tocatchon: “What?” “Your cat. He didn’t wake up yesterday. I didn’t want to spoil your party, so I put him in the freezer until you got back.” “Oh.” “Can you take him tonight? He’s kind of creeping me out there in the fridge next to my food.” “Uh, sure.” Syn…
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Deck Review-The Vedic Tarot: East Meets West by Dwina Murphy-Gibb
Deck Review The Vedic Tarot: East Meets West By Dwina Murphy-Gibb Publisher: Red Feather Mind Body Spirit 81 Card Tarot Deck with full color, 287 page guidebook. All come in a magnetically enclosed, sturdy box Release Date: September 28th, 2024 The Vedic Tarot: East Meets West by Dwina Murphy-Gibb is an exquisitely illustrated Tarot deck that is the ultimate fusion of Eastern Philosophy and Western Esoteric Wisdom via the Tarot. In this 81 card deck, so many nuggets of wisdom are given, as these stunning cards not only feature Tarot symbolism, but also wisdom from Hinduism and the Vedas, as well as Hebrew Qabalistic correspondences, and, my favorite part, the Celtic…
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Weyland’s Whey, October 19th 2024 Column: The Difference Between Halloween and Samain, Part Two, Conclusion
For Your Deliberation To me, Samhain focuses on a different type and aspect of death than does Halloween. It’s more familial than scary. Samhain is for moving on into what’s next instead of hanging around here on this side of the veil making trouble. Of course, there are exceptions…. Waiting for the Dark The houses in our neighborhood share a big leafy backyard which is crisscrossed by a warren of short bridges and long pathways. Lots of trees, almost woodsy, it hosts a murder of crows, a dray or two of squirrels and an alarming number of very bold skunks. We have lights back there, but after twilight it can…
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Book Review: The Little Book of Wicca. A Beginner’s Guide to Witchcraft (2024) by Kirsten Riddle
Book Review: The Little Book of Wicca. A Beginner’s Guide to Witchcraft (2024) by Kirsten Riddle Note: This book was originally published in 2014 as The Beginners Guide to Wicca. This new edition was published May 14th , 2024. “Kirsten Riddle writes a column on magic for Chat: It’s Fate, and writes regularly for Spirit and Destiny and Kindred Spirit. She is also a columnist for Take a Break: Fate and Fortune as Alison Davies. Kirsten’s books for CICO include Discovering Signs and Symbols and Trickster Magic. She lives in Nottingham, UK.” (Amazon) For those just beginning to delve into Wicca, Kirsten Riddle’s Little Book of Wicca A Beginner’s Guide…
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Book Review-Wisdom Weavers: Explore the Ojibwe Language and the Meaning of Dream Catchers by James Vukelich Kaagegaabaw, Illustrated by Marcus Trujillo
Book Review Wisdom Weavers: Explore the Ojibwe Language and the Meaning of Dream Catchers By James Vukelich Kaagegaabaw, Illustrated by Marcus Trujillo Publisher: becker & mayer! kids 32 page Harcover in Full Color Release Date: September 3rd, 2024 Another kids book that totally blew my mind! Wisdom Weavers is a beautifully illustrated, full-color book for children with an interest in dream catchers and Ojibwe culture. The book is easy to follow along with, giving the wisdom of the Ojibwe Dream Catchers and their lore, while also teaching phonetically and with spelling how to say certain phrases or words in the Ojibwe language. As the Ojibwe are located in the Great Lakes region,…
