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Mindful Living: A Connection of Mind, Body and Spirit
The Autumn Equinox, also known as Mabon, will fall on September 23, 2023. It is the end of the harvest season and a time to reflect on what we have grown and gathered during this turn of the wheel or reap what you have sown. Because it is an equinox, it is also time to examine balance in your life. Balance is not something we achieve once and remains a constant. Our lives are fluid so the balance of the season of our life must be fluid. Many of us approach balance as something to be achieved and then it is completed. Balance is to be constantly reexamined because our…
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MagickalArts
What Are the Magickal Arts? … As magickal practitioners we are all “artists” in our own ways, honing our skills of creating magick, weaving patterns of energy that affect change and calling to the most Divine of our natures as we align with cosmos, greater earth and all of the many Beings that inhabit those realms. And, I like where this trend is taking us in exploring the craft in all of forms…. Mabon (aka. Autumnal Equinox) brings the opportunity for restoring harmony in our endeavors as we enjoy the second harvest. This issue we honor… Magickal Art of Tipping the Balance! As the Wheel of…
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Good God!
Meet: Liber Liber may well have originated as a native Italian god of fertility, vegetation, and wine. He is also associated with intoxication and was known for throwing wicked parties. The Romans later merged his identity with that of the Greek god Dionysus. Like Dionysus, Liber represented uninhibited freedom and the subversion of the powerful. He was a patron deity of Rome’s plebeians – the largest, least powerful class of citizens – who rejected the civil and religious authority of the ruling class elite. Before being adopted as a Roman deity, Liber was a phallic deity and a companion to two different goddesses in two different archaic Italian fertility…
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Notes from the Apothecary
Notes from the Apothecary: Anemones Whenever you hear the word “anemone” you’ll either imagine a gorgeous yet shy sea creature or a beautiful flower found both in the wild and in gardens all over the world. Of course, here in the Apothecary, we’re excited about the flowers! There are well over a hundred species of anemone, including Anemone blanda and Anemone nemorosa, both often referred to as wood anemones or the more evocative name, windflowers. Anemones are in the same family as buttercups (Ranunculaceae) and grow from bulbs or rhizomes, usually coming back year after year. In Europe, anemones are keepers of living history, in a way, as large…
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Learning Lunar
The Full Moon How exciting to be three issues into our Learning Lunar column and already able to wax lyrical (pun intended) about the full moon! Lúnasa 2023 falls on August 1st which, this year, is also a full moon. Lúnasa, or Lughnasadh, is an Irish festival co-opted by many Pagan traditions as a time of harvest celebration, games, competitions, and other summer festivities. Another popular celebration held at this time is Lammas, the Anglo-Saxon early Christian festival of blessing the first fruits and loaves of the seasons. Having the full moon to add to these blessings can only add to their fruitfulness! What Does the Phrase…
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Living the Oily Life
Peppermint Peppermint oil is another favorite of mine for many reasons. It is also recommended as another oil for those starting to dabble in essential oils. I have peppermint in my own garden, but be warned it will grow wherever unless the roots are somehow restricted. I planted mine in pots and put the pots in the ground. Granted it smells amazing when grass is being cut and a few stray tendrils are ran over. Mint plants in general are fairly hardy and are perennials so once rooted they will keep coming back. Peppermint has a very long history, like 1000 BC long history. It was noted to be…
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Mindful Living: A Connection of Mind, Body and Spirit
The Wheel turns towards Lughnasadh (August 1st) and in the United States the Midwest is in the height of Summer. Vacations and day trips are scheduled to make one more summer memory before the grind of school and school related activities becomes the primary focus of many for the bulk of the year. Gentle buds and blossoms have given way to the hearty heat loving plants and flowers. Solace can be found under shade trees, in creeks, pools and water parks. Those who live in accordance with nature often split their days to rise early to work outside then afternoon rest and work later in the day as the heat…
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Communing with the Essence
The Key to Respectfully Communing Essence-ly — Our sensitivity can at first feel as though it is a curse, a defect that proves there is something wrong with us. It can also lead us into the dissolve of barriers and boundaries, naming us as Empaths, where we feel and sense, and oftentimes absorb the world around us even to our detriment. Our sensitivity can make us sick and take on other peoples troubles. It can also lead us into understanding that we are energetic Spiritual Beings that are ultimately One. It can also remind us that we are uniquely separate entities choosing to be alive as an individual at…
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Weyland’s Whey – That Old Familiar Feeling
That Old Familiar Feeling They’re a basic ingredient. When you’re a witch you gotta have the robe. An altar. And a familiar or two. Now, full disclosure time here: I’m no scholar or expert. I haven’t seriously researched this topic, nor do I intend to. But I deal with familiars on a daily basis (or at least I believe I do) and I’m happy to share my own experiences. I suppose familiars come in all genders and species or whatever, but I only deal with my boys Jinx and Spirit. They’re a couple of stray cats my girlfriend Sparkle took in long before she and I met. We hit…
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Poetry – Lúnasa
We come to eat, we come to play To revel in the joy of the sun The heat of the height of the year The Solstice has come and gone. We bring in the first grains And pick first fruits to share We store away for later months We pickle and prepare. And while we feast and compete We honour those who came before By being better Being kinder Being something more For this green and graceful world Fragile in some ways But She’ll go on after us Nature stays, always stays… Let us hold the sun in our hearts Let us give space for the wild Let us…