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Living the Oily Life
Oils: The Basics Plants have been around since the beginning of time and their benefits have been harvested, but not to the extent they are known now. The essential oil industry over the past several years has boomed as people started to look more toward non-traditional and less Westernized medicine. If it has worked for millennia, why not now? Oils can be distilled in multiple ways. Typically there are 2: Steam and expression. Steam is the most common way. Heat is used with a combo of gentle pressure and this combo causes the essential oils to be released. The oil lays on top of a layer of water…
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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…. Spring is awakening and we honor The Magickal Art of Creation and Manifestation! For many of us the turning of the Greater Wheel to the Spring Equinox (aka. Ostara) is one of anticipation…
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Celebrating The Old Ways in New Times – Final Edition
Celebrating The Old Ways in New Times 2023 – Final Edition Bright Blessings! Since 2016, I have written about the Sabbats in this column. As the Wheel turns, and seasons change, so do we, and this old witch wants a new topic. This will be my final Celebrating The Old Ways in New Times, and starting with the next issue, I will be writing a column about Tarot. I’m a Tarot reader and have been for years. I was lucky enough to be one of the readers at the psychic fair that was this past weekend at the shop where I get to read, and let me tell you, being…
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Mindful Living: A Connection of Mind, Body, and Spirit
Welcome to Mindful Living: A Connection of Mind, Body, and Spirit. Here you are invited to explore, collect knowledge and learn how to implement mindfulness in your life. The benefits of mindful living are a deeper mind, body and spirit connection, as well as learning to see yourself and the world around you without harsh judgment. The previous article discussed how to take small mindful moments throughout the day. This began weaving a practice of mindfulness into your life. No matter where you are in your practice, I want you to take three slow deep breathes and give yourself a moment of gratitude for being open to mindful living…
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Celebrating the Old Ways in New Times
Celebrating the Old Ways in New Times for Yule 2022 and Imbolc 2023 Bright Blessings! As the year comes to a close, and we reflect upon the blessings Yule and Winter Solstice bring, we also look forward to Imbolc when the first signs of Spring appear. This time, instead of writing about the Sabbats, I want to give you gifts. I am sharing some letters my Priest was able to acquire and tell you about the things the letters discuss! First, a bit about my priest. Lord Shadow He is nearing age 72, the age he says most Ceremonial Magicians don’t live past, and he has already dodged…
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GoodGod!
Meet the Gods: Saturn Merry meet. In case you don’t have enough holiday activities in December, you can add the 17th to your calendar and observe Saturnalia, one of the most popular ancient Roman festivals. It occurred around the time of Yule. Though originally a one-day event that ignored the distinction between masters and slaves, the activities came to fill an entire week, making for much merry-making and lechery. Saturn was the son of Caelus, Father Sky, and Terra, Mother Earth. (In Greek mythology they were Cronus, Uranus, and Gaia, respectively.) To prevent a prophecy from coming true – that a son would dethrone him –…
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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…. The Seasons Are Waxing and We Honor the Magickal Art of Our Divine Spark! The concept of the Divine Spark is one that flows strongly through varied spiritual practices. Within the pagan context this…
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Peeking in the Shadows: Crafting a Book of Shadows and Light
A Journey Through the Witch’s Wheel of the Year 2022! The Witch’s Wheel of the Year We Finish Our Journey Through the Witch’s Wheel and celebrate Yule/Winter Solstice…. We began our journey at Imbolc and now we have arrived at Yule/Winter Solstice. I invite you to revisit the pages and writings that have been crafted this year… Peeking in the Shadows: Imbolc Yule Although in many cases the celebration of Yule coincides with the astronomical date of the Winter Solstice, they are distinct in that Yule is a seasonal observance that often lasted longer than the single Sabbat date it is traditionally assigned of Dec. 20/21…
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Focus Pocus
My Life is Not a Greek Drama, but Thank You Anyway Eris During my year-long journey reading the Iliad and the Odyssey as part of Jack Grayle’s course Godsong, I noticed the way I perceive some of the gods in the stories differently than when I studied the texts when I was in college. Over the years life experience and therapy has shaped how I understand the actions of others and recently I found myself relating to the Goddess of Strife in a way I never expected. She is referred to as Strife in the Iliad Book 4, “whose fury never tires, sister and friend of murderous Ares,…
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As Above, So Below (How the Stars Became Our Hearts)
Seasons Blessings! Moving into this period of darkness and the first snows begin to fall. I come to this place of contemplation. And as with the last few pieces, I’ll lose my 3rd person textbook voice. This piece will be a bit meta, as, yes, it’s snowing and I just now started this. Lol. And I said “Lol”. And I said that I said. This message is a download, heavy on my heart with these past moons. A lesson that’s been delivered to me through my personal life, and I feel the need to share. Blessed Samhain. What a strange season it has been, closing with a lunar…