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SpellCrafting: Spells for Witches
SpellCrafting: Starting Beltane Fires Merry meet! This issue’s WitchCrafting column has ideas for making fire starters. If you’d like to take it one step further, you can craft them as a spell. Beltane themes such as burning away that which no longer serves your highest good and greatest joy, planting seeds, and nurturing goals can be incorporated when making fire starters. For instance, toilet paper tubes stuffed with dryer lint can be decorated with Beltane colors (green, soft pink, blue, yellow, red, brown), pictures of flowers in bloom, or a sigil made for a specific intention. On it you can write what you are ready to release, what you desire…
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Good God!
Meet the Gods: Adonis One of the gods associated with Beltane is Adonis, the Greek god of beauty, desire, fertility and renewal. He was born a human, but Zeus later turned him into a god at the request of Aphrodite. Therefore Adonis became known as the god of rebirth, but he is also associated with fertility and vegetation. The most popular belief is that Adonis is the son of Theias, the king of Syria, and his daughter, Myrrha (or Smyrna). According to World History Encyclopedia, the king boasted his daughter was more beautiful than Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love. When Aphrodite heard this, she became angry, and “used…
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Book Review – Hagitude: Reimagining the Second Half of Life by Sharon Black
Book Review Hagitude: Reimagining the Second Half of Life Written by Sharon Black Illustrated by Natalie Eslick Publisher: New World Library 320 Pages Release Date: November 29, 2022 In our society, old is more likely equated to deterioration and illness than to gifted and wise. By design, elderhood ends in death, making both unpleasant topics for many people. Thankfully, Sharon Blackie is not one of them. Sharing her own life journey in “Hagitude: Reimagining the Second Half of Life,” www.hagitude.org, she explores women’s transformation beginning with perimenopause, through the “hot-flashed fury” of menopause, and crossing the threshold to crone. “Our old women are the dark heart…
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Book Review – Spells for Living Well: A Witch’s Guide for Manifesting Change, Well-Being, and Wonder by Phyllis Curott
Book Review Spells for Living Well: A Witch’s Guide for Manifesting Change, Well-Being, and Wonder Written by Phyllis Curott Publisher: Hay House 286 Pages Release Date: October 25, 2022 Phyllis Curott is among my favorite witch authors, and I was happy to add “Spells for Living Well” to my collection. The spells, charms, and conjurations in the book are curated from her personal Grimoires, teachings, and “wisdom gathered over a divinely magical lifetime.” Some are old, some are new; some are very involved, others are simple; some will manifest over time, others will bring results swiftly – sometimes in unexpected ways. Spells include candle magic, mojo…
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WitchCrafting: Crafts for Witches
Crafts for Witches: Fire Starters Merry meet. Beltane is one of the fire festivals. The word Beltane translates roughly to “bright fire” and in Celtic tradition, the most important ritual was the sacred community bonfire lit at sunset the evening before. (Celtic days went from sundown to sundown.) Festivities focused on casting off winter’s darkness and celebrating the start of summer. It’s also a time of celebrating fertility You can start your fire with items you likely already have on hand. Perhaps the easiest and least expensive fire starters are made by filling cardboard toilet paper tubes with loosely packed dryer lint. Use two or three to start a fire.…
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Witch Hunt
There are witches all around us. You can find them anywhere… The Witch on Wheels has been documenting her findings. Meet Kelsey Jean It’s always special to meet mothers and daughters who are both witches. Kelsey Jean is the daughter of Barbara King, who was featured here two years ago. Although I am based out of New Hampshire, and had been in her hometown several times, it was in Florida at the Skoolie Fest that I met her. As a self-identified “new witch,” she is a firm believer in dabbling in everything. Her grimoire contains information on sigil work and color associations to astrology and chakras. Calling magic…
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Book Review – Shamanic Dreaming: Connecting with Your Inner Visionary by Carol Day
Book Review Shamanic Dreaming: Connecting with Your Inner Visionary by Carol Day Publisher: Findhorn Press 192 Pages Release Date: March 16, 2023 In “Shamanic Dreaming: Connecting with Your Inner Visionary,” Carol Day teaches a formula she created to help others “enter a space where connection, embodies practice and open-mindedness can all be achieved.” Called the “Presence and the Three Pillars,” Day illustrates this visionary practice with the concepts of trust, knowing, and nature forming a triangle within a circle. “Presence is the central pole of the entire visionary practice. It is what runs through everything. It is the act of being present and of not running…
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Book Review – The Guidance Groove: Escape Unproductive Habits, Trust Your Intuition, and Be True by Carolyn Kurle, PhD
Book Review The Guidance Groove: Escape Unproductive Habits, Trust Your Intuition, and Be True by Carolyn Kurle, PhD Publisher: Treehouse by the Sea Press 172 Pages Release Date: January 4, 2023 There is a voice inside you that knows exactly what to do in every situation. “The Guidance Groove” is an invitation, a manual, to find, cultivate, trust, and live according to that intuitive voice of wisdom and authenticity. A big part of listening to intuition is recognizing when you are not, when you are stuck in one of the “Unproductive Grooves” of inadequacy, obligation, scarcity, or unworthiness. Examples and questions guide readers to take an…
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WitchCrafting: Crafts for Witches
Ostara Cards Merry meet. I don’t always manage to get Yule cards out on time, but it occurred to me: why send cards only for the winter holidays? Why not for spring? Here is a suggestion for an Ostara card that can be modified for any of the other sabbats. I bought packets of seeds that were magickal and, hopefully, easy to grow – organic and heirloom when possible. Then I wrote a verse for the inside of the card that can serve as a spell, which you are free to use: “As the wheel turns and we move into the light, May…
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It’s All Rite
Spring is a time of hope, new beginnings, potential, and planting. Air, east, the new moon, the maiden archetype, inspiration, imagination, fresh flowers, nests, eggs, hawks, seeds, chimes, dragonflies, wonder, joy, playfulness, communication, spiders, purification, daffodils, childhood, and adventure are all associated with Ostara. For readers who want to keep it simple, below is a collection of easy yet meaningful activities to celebrate the Spring Equinox. Pick whatever interests you, and continue as long as you wish. Perhaps one of them will become a daily practice. * Put a bowl of candied eggs on a table or counter to bless new beginnings with sweetness and happiness. * Hang wind chimes…
