Felix the Cat had his bag-of-tricks, Batman had his utility belt, and witches have spells. Hollywood tells us that all a witch really needs is a good book of spells and they’re in business.  Hot, diggity-dang!  I’ll run right out and get me one of those.  Except, aren’t there any useful modern books of spells?  The ones that I can find are kind of out of date and a lot of those spells aren’t of much use any more.  I mean, who needs a spell to keep your yams from wandering over the fence into your neighbor’s yam patch at night?  Or one to get rid of boils on your…

Not Rocket $cience The system of categorizing the universe that’s most commonly learned by Pagans is called the Elements.  Although the four classic Elements (Air, Fire, Water, and Earth) proposed by the ancients aren’t nearly as scientific as the modern-day Periodic Table of Elements, the ideas behind both are the same and the four-element system was actually the basis for the hundred plus modern chart.  Magic dictates that we have an acute knowledge of the world(s) around us.  And that means we need some sort of system to categorize, prioritize, and organize what we are able to perceive in those worlds.  The four-element system works quite well for this because…

From the late 1950’s until around 1980, what is today labeled simply as modern Paganism was making its way through Britain and North America, slowly but inexorably growing and developing.  During that time, those who were initiated to our beliefs were cautiously screened for certain qualities and the decision to allow them access to knowledge about us was made only after due consideration.  In other words, newcomers were vetted before they were initiated. The usual procedure went something like the following:  Someone who was already an initiate took notice of your interest in something that they considered a possible indicator of how you might favorably react to their way of…

It’s 9:53 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2008.  I have just witnessed the swearing in of Barak Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America.  For some, this represents a major moment in a struggle for racial or class equality.  Others have different thoughts, perhaps ones of trepidation or doubt.  Maybe some even define this moment as a bitter defeat or failure.  And I’m sure there are even those who will see this as the beginning of the end for some ideology they have embraced and a threat to their way of life.  But I think that few would contend that it is an insignificant moment.  What…

Nearly every form of communication used by humans contains symbols.  In fact, you are looking at a whole bunch of symbols right at this moment… they’re called letters.  And if we were using hieroglyphs, we’d still be using symbols.  In one sense, even if we were speaking, we would be using symbols.  Symbols are an integral part of our magic and spirituality.  Without them, we wouldn’t be talking about them!  The importance of symbols to Pagans is no greater than to other human beings but it is to our benefit to understand more about them because of what that knowledge can do to elevate both our magical abilities and spiritual…

There is a common misconception that Wiccans worship the full moon.  Simply put, that’s pony poop.  We worship at the time of the full moon and we use the moon and its phases as a religious symbol, a spiritual metaphor.  Let me explain: For Wiccans, there are two sort of ‘generic’ deities, the god and the goddess.  Another way of stating it is that there are projective (sometimes called ‘positive’) and receptive (sometimes called ‘negative’) forces from which the universe is derived.  The god (projective, positive, etc.) is said to be the one that produces the energy, while the goddess (receptive, negative, etc.) takes it and shapes it into everything…

He sat across the narrow room from them as they ate their breakfast that morning.  An attractive woman with two children: a boy of around eight years and his younger sister, a wide-eyed and happy five- or six-year-old.  The mother was busy with her children but seemingly without the usual undertone of anxiety that he saw in so many young families these days.  The children also did not display the more common agitated behavior of youngsters who felt they had to compete for attention.  They showed all the enthusiasm and fearless engagement with life that he loved so much about children their ages.  He felt especially enchanted by the girl,…

Probably one of the most striking differences between modern Paganism and the more predominant western religions is the fact that we have multiple gods and goddesses.  More than any other, this difference is the most disturbing to the monotheistic / revealed religions espoused by millions in Western and Middle Eastern cultures.  It rankles and offends them in most cases and they find such ideas impossible to comprehend.  And, for many folks within the Pagan religious expressions, it is difficult to explain in any way other than to say, “Well, that’s what I believe.”  That’s hardly comforting to the monotheists and it usually doesn’t sit well even within our own minds. …