Hexing     Hexing, this is a word that conjures up images of Shakespeare’s witches in Macbeth huddled over a bubbling cauldron; of the Sanderson sisters in Hocus Pocus and of Terry Pratchett’s Granny Weatherwax (who doesn’t love that ol’ gal). Bring up hexing at a Meet-up or discussion group and suddenly you are bombarded by someone quoting the Three Fold Law, The Wiccan Rede and Karma.   According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary: Hex – \’heks\ verb Etymology: Pennsylvania German hexe, from German hexen, from Hexe witch, from Old High German hagzissa; akin to Middle English hagge hag. Date 1830 1: to put a hex on 2: to affect…

Lughnasadh on the Mountain Some years ago my Druid sister, RhosynTan and I combined our two training groups to celebrate a Lughnasadh camp out on the mountain. Our theme was the funerary games for Lugh’s foster mother. We secured the site for the weekend and charged our grove members $25 per adult (14 and under Free). This covered the campsite, fees, munchies, dinner and dessert for Saturday night and breakfast, lunch, dinner and more munchies for Sunday. RhosynTan and I worked on the “games” that the men would participate in for over a month. The fun part was taking some traditional games (boar hunt, axe throw, horserace) and modifying them…

Blue Moon I thought I would share what we did for our 2012 Blue Moon ritual to help spark some ideas for the up coming 2015 Blue Moon (the second full moon in one month) on July 31st. At the Blue Moon we set energies into motion that will manifest our long-term goals (house, business, travel, debt free…) to be fulfilled by the next Blue Moon (approx. 30 +/- months) Everyone invited for the ritual was asked to wear either blue or white and to bring a potluck dish to share. They were asked to bring foods that were blue, white or purple (we needed another option). The exception to…

The Sea Witch When I think of the Sea Witch, I see her standing upon high cliffs, arms upraised as she harnesses the power from the waves crashing against the rocks below. Sometimes I see her walking barefoot along the beach whispering words of magic while the light of a full moon casts a soft glow around her. She makes use of the things cast up by the sea; shells, hag stones, glass fishing floats, hooks, rope, sea glass, fishing net, driftwood, sea weed, bird feathers, as well as using sand and sea. Her magic is tied to the tides, the moon, fog, storms and the bright sun. She controls…

Memories of Beltaine 2000 For Beltaine 2000, I invited my students and their significant others to participate in ritual on my family’s land. Everyone was asked to bring a potluck dish and 5 yards of 1 inch ribbon in a color that represented a wish. In making preparations I also had everyone sign a ‘hold harmless’ document, required by my family. The morning of ritual we met at my home. The ladies were dressed up, some with floral wreaths, flowers or ribbons in their hair and the men dressed casually in jeans or shorts. We busied ourselves with packing the large cast-iron cauldron, kindling, flowers, food; the ribbons for the…

The Medieval Still-Room Women have been in charge of the healing arts long before the written word. Learning their art from the wise women before them, they were often skilled in midwifery, understood the healing properties of herbs, prayers, chants, charms; being a nurturer and provider of comfort in the home. Her skills determined how well the family lived in comfort, from the peasant farm to the manor house. A woman’s value within marriage was determined by her skills as a healer, nurturer, and her fertility. The still-room was a small room off the kitchen or somewhere in the house or even an out building on the property, which contained…

The Hawthorn Tree I was visiting my mom and my aunt the other day out at the ranch, which formerly belonged to my grandma and where I grew up. We were sitting around the old Formica table in the kitchen chatting on about how green everything was, when my aunt said that she was going to have the Hawthorn cut down. “What for?” I blurted out, before remembering that grandma left her the house and surrounding property. She said the thorns were too dangerous. Well okay, yes, the thorns can grow to three inches, but we all grew up with the tree and learned to be respectful of it. My…

How I Came to Teach I never expected to become a teacher in the witchcraft/pagan community. I was really quite happy working with my family and helping a few close friends. However, my god family had other plans (as they so often do). In 1992, I was a buyer and clerk at Infinity. A lovely metaphysical shop housed in an old Victorian; complete with three resident ghosts. People would drop in after work, just to soak up the atmosphere before going home. It was a wondrous and magical place. Infinity had Readers, massage therapists, offered Spiritual counseling, soul retrieval and past life work. We sponsored author workshops & book signing…

My Go-To Herbs On my Meetup page, one of my guests asked me what my ‘go-to herbs’ were. Well that was easy enough: Rosemary, Mugwort and Lemon Balm. Rosemary is such a lovely herb for cooking and for magic. Rosemary has a slight piney scent and is relatively easy to go on a sunny windowsill. I find the Spirit of Rosemary to be very friendly and willing to work with just about any one. For this reason, it is a good herb for those just beginning to use herbs in their magic. I think of Rosemary as the quartz crystal of the herb world as it can be charged with…

Winter Magic I write this article for a street person name Dale, who I now believe was a muse in disguise. He showed up recently at the bottom of my off ramp and in the 8 years I have been taking this off ramp for home, I have never seen a street person here. He was tall and lanky with one foot bandaged, but I felt he was more than he seemed (you know that knowingness, that intuition that guides us). I gave him a couple of dollars, he smiled and said thank you. I drove on, but something nagged at the back of my mind. The next day, I…