• Crafting Articles,  Monthly Columns

    WitchCrafting: Pinecone Fire Starters

    Merry meet! This time of year pinecones are fairly easy to find, and Yule is celebrated with bonfires and Yule logs. Combine the two by making fire starters from pinecones. It’s an easy, quick craft. Begin by collecting pinecones. They must be completely dry. If they are damp from being on the ground, you can put them on a parchment-lined sheet pan and leave them in a 150-degree oven for an hour, or until any sap has melted and the cones open fully.   If you are doing many, you’ll want to melt wax – preferable bees wax because it burns the cleanest – in a metal or ceramic bowl…

  • Editorials

    News & Notes from the Editor-December 9th-15th, 2024: Reclaiming Paganism

    Hello again friends! I hope you’re all doing well, and that your week is getting on without any major issues as we continue to navigate the end of Mercury retrograde this week. I’ve decided to take on an Op-Ed style for this week’s Editorial. Paganism is, and has been, pervasive in history, with its cultures, traditions and folk beliefs influencing everything, from our outlooks, philosophy and our holiday traditions. Different Gods, Goddesses and spirits have taken on similar attributes for each culture, helping explain things like the changing of the seasons, weather events, death, birth and similar, unavoidable aspects of life. For large parts of recent, modern history, Christianity and…