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Spiritual First Aid: Defense Against Love Spells
Welcome to the latest edition of Spiritual First Aid! I apologize it’s been so long since my last column. Life has been a little hectic between my personal life, and with my new book being released and the many many side projects I have going on I have neglected the thing that gives me the most joy- writing. Some of these projects, you might know about, such as The Invisible College, the nonprofit I founded to aid the development and infrastructure of the spiritual communities we all hold dear. I also have some other new projects on the horizon that I’m going to keep silent on for the moment as…
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The Modern Merlin’s Corner: Set: The Misunderstood God of Ancient Egypt
Why Set Matters in our Time Set, Sutekh, Seth; for Khemetic practitioners and those with an interest in Ancient Egypt, this name conjures up the fratricide of Osiris by his brother, whose name graces this very article. For those leaning on the Left Hand Path, he is the Pagan Adversarial God, who provokes change through harsh means. For me, personally, I view Set as much more than these limited definitions. Set is essential change, essential chaos. The Ancient Egyptians both feared and revered this deity of the dry, arid, desert, and for good reason. My personal experience with this Dark Lord is that, yes, he can turn things upside down, but usually,…
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Weyland’s Whey, Beltane 2024
Weyland’s Whey Beltane for Old People The Beltane Sabbat is, among other things, a celebration of union betwixt and between masculine and feminine energies. This includes already established families (love and commitment) as well as the making of new ones (hubba hubba). Happy Anniversary, Sparkle It will never be long enough. But eight years is a good start. Feliz Cumpleanos, Delinquent Yeah, we celebrate our little dog’s birthday. Wanna make something of it? Music Review Keiko Matsui has made several absolutely incredible songs. Love and Nothing Less, from her Euphoria album, is my current favorite. Vocals by Lalah Hathaway and harmonica from Gregoire Maret. Sparkle and I needed a song we considered “ours”. …
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Weyland’s Whey
by Weyland Smith Wey’s Predictions (He’s been wrong about everything else!) Pagans–especially Wiccans–won’t like using AI to construct spells, help write how-tos, or do magickal research. An absence of flesh and blood humanity will be thought to taint the effectiveness of supernatural dealings, and many will avoid all use of AI in their shadow work. No real magick is possible in it, they’ll say. (Two flaws in this logic: just how human are the entities and forces we’re dealing with already? And aren’t these objections akin to believing you have to write out spells in longhand instead of using a keyboard to ensure success?) This trend won’t…
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The Modern Merlin’s Corner: Transformative Magick With Astrology and Alchemy
My Dark Night of the Soul I think before I get along with my more practical explanation of what exactly I’m talking about here, I first need to explain why I chose to write this article, at this particular time. As an Astrologer, I firmly believe that humanity itself is on a threshold: evolve, or don’t. It sounds simple, but it’s much more complex, because we, as human beings, are more complex than duality of good vs. bad, or light vs. dark. The grey area is within us and around us. I mainly work in this grey area, believing that magick and spirituality are exactly what you make it. It…
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The Modern Merlin’s Corner: Lupercalia: The Ancient Pagan Roots of Valentine’s Day
What is Lupercalia? It’s a chilly February day, and snow is coming down in my neck of the woods as I write this. I look out my window, seeing the snow fall and am dreaming of warm summer days returning, and my trip to Southern California late last Summer. But, amidst my daydreams, I see a bit of hope; Imbolc is typically when Neo-Pagans celebrate the returning strength of the Sun, and the coming of Spring. For me, Imbolc is about healing, and reconnecting to your inner child/maiden, regardless of gender identity. Lupercalia, celebrated on February 15th, is more focused on love, in all its forms. In my personal…
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Communing with the Essence
The Layers of Awareness and Our Essence Coherence — Communing with the Essence requires telling the truth. We must move with and through the layers of thinking, feeling, experiencing, believing, and perceiving in order to naturally and organically arrive at deeper states of awareness. We feel weight to feel weightless. We feel held to feel free. We feel alone to feel closeness. We sense the noise to sense silence. We become present to our life to feel present with others. Our Spirit embodies as a mortal human to know its immortality. We feel lack to feel full. We feel abundant to feel what’s missing. We forget to remember. To…
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Spiritual First Aid
Magick for Dealing with the Holidays Last time I went over what to do in one of the many different spiritual emergencies you may find yourself dealing with. In this installment, I want to talk more about how to use magick to deal with the craziness that life throws at you. Since this is the Yule issue, I am going to do a deep dive into how to use magick to cope with what can be the most emotionally charged time of the year- the holidays. Holidays are usually joyous occasions marked by joy, frivolity, and feasting, but for many others the holidays can be extremely emotionally triggering or overloading.…
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Create a Mindful Life to Know Thyself
The wheel of the year turns to Yule or Winter Solstice. In the Northern United States, we have watched the leaves fall, our daylight grow shorter while our nights have grown longer. Frost has covered the ground and remaining leaves. We may or may not have had snow and ice. But we have the return of darkness and the natural introspection that comes with this time of the year. Our ancestors would gather around fires and practice rites and rituals to encourage the rebirth of the Sun and the return of longer days. We can connect with our ancestral wisdom by honoring the old practices. Turning off the lights and…
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Pagan Prompts no. 3: Coping with Overwhelm
PROMPT: How do you cope with overwhelm? Are you good at it, and do you have strategies for it? Do you see it coming, or feel like you are hit by it unexpectedly? Is it related to burnout, or something you can prepare for better in the more relaxed times? When you do find yourself overwhelmed, do you turn to your Craft to help? Or does it demotivate you from practicing altogether? by it? I hope those questions aren’t overwhelming in and of themselves… but these are important factors to consider. Often, overwhelm creeps up on us before we notice it. Being able to take a step back and look…
