Samhain 2016 for Celebrating the Old Ways in New Times Bright Blessings! Samhain is upon us! Many of y0u had your celebrations in the past week, and some of you will have yours this week. Thanks to the wizardry of Jennifer, our editor, here at Pagan Pages, I can post links to past Samhain articles here if you’d like to look over them. Here is 2015’s Samhain article: https://paganpages.org/emagazine/2015/10/celebrating-the-old-ways-in-new-times-12/ And here’s the article for 2014’s Samhain article: https://paganpages.org/emagazine/2014/10/celebrating-the-old-ways-in-new-times-2/ Both articles explore some history and pre-Christian practices. This year’s Samhain article is going to specifically focus on something that is quite controversial in some of our communities- the revelry some engage…

Bright Blessings. I write this October article on the week of the Fall Equinox. By the time you read this, the days will be even shorter than they are today, the temperature will have dropped even more at nighttime, which will be longer, and all of us will be enjoying the bounty fall time brings. I started doing that this past weekend. I bought some bulbs to plant that will bloom in springtime, and I got my FIRST pumpkin spice latte of the year. And yes, I was the stereotypical white lady in stretchy pants when I pulled into Starbucks to nab that treat! As a matter of fact, I…

Mabon 2016 for Celebrating the Old Ways in New Times Bright Blessings! Mabon, or Autumnal Equinox always sneaks up on me. It is August 19, and while our tomato and cucumber harvest is going well, I can hardly believe that in a little over a month, we will be harvesting even more, and we’ll be quickly headed to Samhain! An especially harsh Winter is forecast for this year. I suppose that is the price some of us in Central Ohio will just have to pay for the fact last year’s Winter was quite mild! I was told the insects were heavier this year as a result of the mild Winter-…

Bright Blessings! Lughnassadh is upon us. Already, those of us who garden have been proudly plucking things from branches, vines, and stems, and bringing them to loved ones to share. In our garden grows tomatoes- OF COURSE- blackberries, cucumbers, snap peas, potatoes, mint, lavender, sage, thyme, nasturtiums, cabbages, blueberries, and PLENTY of flowers as well. Snap peas, our herbs, blueberries, and nasturtiums have already been picked, and shared, and enjoyed. The cabbage leaves are folding into themselves nicely to form little purple balls that will grow huge by fall. We are waiting for the greens to die back, indicating the potatoes are ready to pull from the ground. Already, we…

Bright Blessings! We are in-between Sabbats and I had thought that perhaps I’d write a very Wiccan article about a Moon phase or something. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought I’d like to write about something the Summer months brings that we are all both blessed and plagued by. That is… H-E-A-T. Summer is in full swing- the Solstice just behind us- and while the days might be getting shorter, they WILL be getting hotter! This weekend was a scorcher for us here in Columbus, Ohio, and the heat really got to me. It was easy for me to escape into air conditioned spaces and…

Summer Solstice Bright Blessings. As I reviewed my past Summer Solstice materials, I was deep in thought about community, the upcoming Pride march, which I wrote a bit about last time, and I wanted to learn something new I could share. I had thought to do an article about some aspect of healing used at Solstice time, but all I could find was that some people did pilgrimages to find medicinal herbs- because they were in season and it is time to go get them. Somehow, that just did not spark my interest enough to dig much deeper. I am a flighty, finicky person, and I write best when inspired…

We are in between Sabbats. Many of us just celebrated our Beltaine, and may not have even packed up all our ritual supplies yet and already are planning for Summer Solstice! Because I’m going to wait until next time to write about Solstice, I decided to write about one of my favorite topics. Food!!! The weather is shaping up and we are beginning the warm weather festival season. What would festivals be without the food? If you go to big mainstream community gatherings, you pay to eat from food trucks and grilles- but for us Pagans, many of our festivals are smaller, private, and akin to family barbeques. Thus, Pagans…

Beltaine Bright Blessings! We just celebrated out Ostara last night, and I admit, I am dog tired today. We had TOO much fun, and I am reminded of how the film Excalibur portrayed Merlin as going into a deep sleep after becoming tired after doing magic! I actually slept in until about 2 P.M. today! But more than that, I am worried. I am having difficulty reserving the group campsite we have been reserving for years for our Beltaine. You may remember my article from 2014 that lamented we were too ill to camp- wellk this year WE WANT TO CAMP! Unfortunately, there is confusion about booking at the site…

Spring Equinox 2016 Part II My last article focused on cleaning toxic people out of your life. I believe that is a good first step. I have a lot of experience with toxic people! I am an adult child of a toxic parent, and said parent has also crossed the veil. I know that although that toxic relationship is over, the hurt and heartache is not. Some people think you can just “get over it” and “move on with your life” as if nothing happened. While I realize things that happened to us are in the past, and thus will never happen again- I also realize that not everybody can…

Spring Equinox 2016 for Celebrating the Old Ways in New Times Greetings from cool, moist, Ohio. We had five days of snowy , icy yuck, and now it is all melting. I have no complaints. I was able to open the sliding glass door and air out the house a bit without the heat switching back on. We have had a very warm winter here, thanks to El Nino- or what some believe is human induced global warming and what others feel is climate change that was coming all on its own. I have not decided what I believe is causing this freakishly warm weather- but today is January 15,…