Crowns Merry Meet. This month I hope to inspire you to crown yourself with flowers. It’s a wonderful way to bring out the Goddess within. Flowers are also a sign of fertility, quite in keeping with Beltane, making this a perfect time to start. In most areas, plants are just beginning to bloom. As I write this in central Connecticut towards the end of April, forsythia is just about to peak while daffodils are waning. Grape hyacinth and early tulips are just starting to bloom, and crab apple and a few other bushes and trees are just starting to bud, so it won’t be long. We have vetch and Hebit…

Altar alternatives   Merry Meet. This month’s column is about how to set up an altar without setting you back financially. Some of the items typically found on an altar are a covering, one or more candles in holders of some sort, salt, water, incense and something to burn it in, a libation dish or bowl, items that represent the elements, and something representing one or more deities. Nothing need come from a witch store, although I do advocate patronizing the ones near you when you do buy – rather than online sources – whenever possible. Pagan festivals and their vendors are also worthy of your support. When we can…

Twig God(dess) Merry Meet. This month I hope to inspire you to craft a Goddess to adorn your space or be used in ritual. TwigBeltane Photo by Lynn Woike There are beautiful statues to be found of Brigid, Gaia, Hecate,  Frigga, Cerridwen, and many others. Gods, too. When I first started on my path, I was not familiar with many at all, and found myself working more with a “generic” Goddess that I came to think of as the Great Mother of All. Rather than calling on a named Goddess, I worked from my intent and would call upon whomever had the qualities I was incorporating into my work to…

Dressing up Merry Meet. In last month’s column, I talked about how you don’t need props, tools or symbols to practice the Craft – that you needed only yourself. This month, I’m going to begin talking about various ways of acquiring some of those props, tools and symbols that you don’t need, but might enjoy – all on a budget. Ritual wear, for one. One of the things that gets me out of the mundane world and ready for entering sacred space is my “witch costume.” On dark moons and Samhain, that tends to be a long black skirt and a black top. For full moons and festivals, I tend…

Introduction   Merry Meet. In this first column about witching on a budget, I wanted to explain my belief that you don’t need any thing to practice the Craft except yourself. You don’t need ritual garb. In fact, you don’t need garb at all; it’s not uncommon to practice rites skyclad (“clad only with the sky” or nude). Some old texts insist this is the only way to do ritual, based on the belief that only in this way are you truly free. While this is my preferred method in solitary practice, it has never been appropriate for the public or group rituals I have attended, and it’s not something…

  “Egg”ads!   Merry meet.   I am calling this column Witchcrafting because it’s going to be about crafts connected to the Craft.   Since Ostara occurs March 20 or 21, depending on your location, this first column will be about a key symbol: eggs.   The egg – as well as all seeds – contains the promise of new life. It is a potent symbol of fertility because it contains the power to become something: a bird, a plant, a turtle, a tree. Eggs are a symbol of possibilities, wishes, abundance and prosperity. On Ostara, they are used as decorations, for offerings, as food and in magic. I tend…