-
Book Review – The Path of Elemental Witchcraft: A Word Woman’s Book of Shadows by Salicrow
Book Review The Path of Elemental Witchcraft A Word Woman’s Book of Shadows by Salicrow Publisher: Destiny Books 576 Pages Published: May 31, 2022 Salicrow shares her personal experiences in “The Path of Elemental Witchcraft: A Word Woman’s Book of Shadows” as a way of teaching readers how to engage with earth, air, fire and water. For each element she offers a variety of techniques, spells, and rituals for communication, divination, and healing. Other workings include enchantment, protection, geomancy, and transformation – all with five or more lessons to help develop skills that form sacred, personal relationships with the natural world. This guide reads like the author’s own…
-
Witch Hunt
There are witches all around us. You can find them anywhere… The Witch on Wheels has been documenting her findings. Meet: Catherine LaForza Catherine is a 60-year-old Witch, a warm glass artist, caregiver, Grammy and Death Midwife who has been a practicing pagan since 1990. We connected this summer when I was in Connecticut. She’s a caregiver to her husband who has not only survived, but thrives as a 20-year heart transplant recipient. Their experiences dancing on the edge of Death has led her to train as a Death midwife. Birth and Death are spokes on the same wheel; both are initiations and transitions. Death midwifery sits…
-
WitchCrafting: Crafts for Witches
Yule Decor Merry meet. You know magic is everywhere when you can find a good idea for Yule in a YouTube video from The Home Depot. I live on a bus and use mason jars for everything from drinking glasses and vases to making kombucha and storing herbs. “Fuss-Free Holiday Decorations & Prep Techniques” now has me using them to make berry luminaries. It’s simple: put pieces of evergreen in any-sized mason jar, fill with water, add some cranberries, and float a tea light candle (removed from its holder) on top. Mine will be on my altar, but these would go well on a…
-
Book Review – Pagan Portals: Harvest Home by Mélusine Draco
Book Review Pagan Portals: Harvest Home by Mélusine Draco Moon Books 96 Pages Publication date: August 25, 2022 This book, one of a series of Pagan Portal shorts, focuses on two of the three harvest festivals: Lammas/Lughnasadh and the Autumnal Equinox/Mabon. Mélusine Draco presents the history, customs, traditions, symbolism, and folklore associated with a variety of autumn festivals from “ye olden days,” when emphasis switches from the goddess to a “male domination of the seasonal rites.” Harvest celebrations occur over a number of weeks, as the crops are gathered, culminating with the cutting of the last sheaves of Lammas grain,…
-
Book Review – Traditional Brazilian Black Magic by Diego de Oxossi
Book Review Traditional Brazilian Black Magic: The Secrets of the Kimbanda Magicians by Diego de Oxóssi Destiny Books 128 Pages Publication date: August 31, 2021 Diego de Oxossi, a Chief of Kimbanda and an Orishas Priest, details the tradition of Afro-Brazilian black magic. Although it’s been demonized, Kimbanda is a spiritual practice embracing both the light and dark aspects of life through worshiping the entities Eshu and Pombajira. The book is written in a scholarly fashion, with references, documentation, and examples. Before the introduction are three pages about African and Portuguese vocabulary used in the book. While I find foreign…
-
Witch Hunt
There are witches all around us. You can find them anywhere… The Witch on Wheels has been documenting her findings. Meet: Kathleen Kfrey Kathleen lived about a mile from my condo, yet I had to leave to meet her. I did a three-card tarot reading for her on Christmas 2020 and we have stayed in touch through tough times, and now both of our lives are transitioning. We meet when I’m in Connecticut, and found we have lots more in common in addition to the Craft. We’ve gone thrifting, shopped tag sales, and shared meals. She’s offered help with painting tie-dyed-looking stripes on Karma and other…
-
WitchCrafting: Crafts for Witches
A Wheel of the Year Merry meet. Samhain and the end of the pagan year is a good time to create a Solar Wheel using Indian corn, a common seasonal decoration. Gather eight ears of corn that are the same length and have husks. To represent the quarters, pick four that are similar in color, and select another color for the cross-quarters. Using all one color, or a random selection can also represent the eight sabbats. A wire wreath form, bent metal hanger, grapevine wreath, or circle of sturdy cardboard can serve as a base. You’ll also need a small cardboard circle. Attach two ears of corn opposite…
-
GoodGod!
Meet the Gods: Loki With the renewed interest in Norse mythology, Loki has gained popularity. Today he is typically portrayed as mischievous and self-serving, yet charming and lovable. While he’s sometimes an antagonist, he’s rarely a bad guy. In Norse mythology, he is all that and more; he is know as the cunning trickster god, sometimes getting the Æsir (gods of the principal Norse pantheon including Odin, Frigg, Höðr, Thor, and Bald) in trouble, other times getting them out. The son of the giant Farbauti and brother to Thor, Loki is most often in male form, but does not follow gender norms and changes both his sex and…
-
Book Review – Flower Essences from the Witch’s Garden: Plant Spirits in Magickal Herbalism by Nicholas Pearson
Book Review Flower Essences from the Witch’s Garden Plant Spirits in Magickal Herbalism by Nicholas Pearson Publisher: Destiny Books 512 Pages Publication Date: April 5, 2022 Flowers have always been magical. Long ago, magic and medicine were intertwined, and here they are again. I am a witch who uses and has made flower essences. I am excited to find Nicholas Pearson has done something I haven’t seen anyone else do — merge the medical and the magical sides of healing flower essences that work on a spiritual level. “Flower Essences from the Witch’s Garden” is a tome that has it all — a comprehensive reference for the beginner…
-
WitchCrafting: Crafts for Witches
Magickal Eye Pillow Merry meet. I have used eye pillows filled with rice, sand, microbeads, beans, or flaxseeds for decades. Its gentle pressure signals the brain to relax, while also blocking out sleep-disturbing light. They have been found to ease stress and anxiety, promote better sleep, and provide relief from tension headaches and migraines. It wasn’t until recently I thought to make it magickal. When a corner of my favorite eye pillow opened, I took it as a sign I didn’t have to start from scratch and use the fabric I had cut out and put somewhere months earlier. Pouring out the contents, I washed the cover. Then I…
