-
Beltane & Sex Magick
Today is Beltane! The first day of May and it’s also a full moon, the Flower Moon. Our community needed this rare, powerful alignment this year. However, to break up the monotony, I decided to write a combination article about Beltane and Sex Magick. I figure everyone else will be talking about the Flower Moon, but I was captivated by something else. I have noticed a rise in sex magick on social media lately, particularly during Beltane festivities where many local pagan groups are hosting adult fertility ritual. Unfortunately, I’m still living abroad where there isn’t a big pagan community, so I cannot join in on any of these Beltane…
-
The Sorcerer’s Notebook: Walpurgisnacht, The Green Devil, and Witches’ Sabbat
Blessed Walpurgis to all, and Beltane Blessings! Today, and specifically, tonight, holds a special power that those of us who endear themselves with the more traditional cunning arts should not only welcome and observe, but work with, and cast effective magick for actual change. Yes, I am getting a little political, but only because current events and regimes threaten to bring us to brink of extinction: either via war and destruction, or via climate change. To be clear, I’m no climate scientist, but, I can read, and read I do; everyday. From the small bit of research I’ve done on the worsening climate issue, we’re already at the point of…
-
Astrology, Divination Articles, Gods & Goddesses, Monthly Columns, Paranormal, Folklore & Mythology, Spells & Rituals, This Month's Holiday
Cody’ Column: Spring Forest Walk Into Coherence
Cernunnos, Runes, Fungi, and Crocuses… Long walks in the forest… Finding medicines… Research… Ritual… Writing… Observing the birds… Looking for nettles and trillium… Tarot, Dragons, Moon Phases, Astrology… Welcome to this month’s column! This article will be more of a side-by-side journey of a magick wielder to encourage my readers to immerse themselves in their practices and maintain their sovereignty against all odds of confusion and incoherence. We begin with the Fool, or empty mind, the creative and regenerative force that guides any adventure worth traveling on. March was my birth month and as such, prompted me to evaluate my cycle or Jera in the cosmos. I have been carrying…
-
You are allowed to celebrate the ancestral holidays without becoming a pagan – A message to those who want to distance themselves from Christianity
I have acknowledged pagan holidays since around the age of 12, but this is the first time in my life I have finally decolonized them. The last year I’ve watched as Evangelical Christians have become extremists who’ve hijacked the government and are forcing their cruelty upon the world. I’ve seen them use their religion to justify harm, control, fascism, and war. Now they are telling soldiers that the war in Iran was “all part of God’s divine plan”, and that they are trying to spark Armageddon via WWIII. It’s insanity, it’s depraved, it’s unforgivable, but mostly importantly, it’s how that religion has always been. The Abrahamic religions continue to do…
-
Yuletide, Saturnalia and Closing Out 2025
Hello everyone, I hope you’re all enjoying your holiday season, and that it continues to go well for you. For many, this time of year is difficult for a multitude of reasons, including myself. While I won’t get into why, I do want to offer some closing thoughts for those who have had a less-than-spectacular 2025. For many, 2025 is the final shedding of the skin (it is the year of the Snake, after all), and that skin shedding process can be painful. Loss, death, change, and even dramatic life altering events are likely to have happened. Whatever 2025 brought you, I wish you resolution, peace, and joy as the…
-
Tarot with Lady Saoirse- Reading without Tools
Bright Blessings, The season of Yule, Winter Solstice, and Xmas is upon us. Many of you are scurrying about, gathering gifts for loved ones, decorating in a modern way that fuses classic Paganism with whatever is pretty at shops, and planning for something else wonderful- New Year’s 2026. You are probably thinking of gifts for everyone but yourself, but for New Year’s, I want you to give yourself a gift as someone who does divination. Learn to do readings without any tools- at all. The first time that I saw someone do divination without any divination tools was probably about 15 years ago. I was friends with a Priestess…
-
Art & Academia for October 2025
Here are a few of the art and academia pieces I was captivated by this past October. I tried to keep themes spooky and or witchy for Samhain/ Halloween! Science Nobel Prize for Chemistry 2025: Hermione’s Enchanted Handbag Some of you may have heard the Nobel Prize laureates in Chemistry, announced on October 8th, 2025, work was likened to Hermione’s enchanted handbag. The reality might not be quite as fantastical as the enchanted bag from the Harry Potter series, but it’s still pretty freaking cool. This year’s Nobel Prize went to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar Yaghi for their pioneering work on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). MOFs are crystalline networks built by linking metal atoms with…
-
Messages of the Mums: Reflections on Grief, Samhain, and Honoring the Departed
Hello friends, I hope you’re all doing well and staying warm during these last few days of spooky season. It’s cold where I live, as November’s soggy and cold climate approaches. I originally had an entirely different idea for a Samhain/Halloween piece, but life has a way of showing you what’s most important, and what you should share. I unexpectedly lost my oldest cat, Maxwell, who was only 5 years old, two and a half weeks ago, and my home and family has been reeling from that since. He was the heart and center of our family and household. Life has been difficult without him, to say the least. Grief…
-
Lughnasadh, Lammas, does it matter?
As this is my first year back as a practicing witch in many years, I wanted to re-learn the Pagan origins and celebrations of Lammas aka Lughnasadh. I keep seeing both names, but ignorant as to why some call it Lammas and some call it Lughnasadh. I was surprised to discover these two names were not always the same festival, however, got combined in the Wiccan community. This doesn’t surprise me given that old European pagan practices were mostly lost to time, due to the absence of written language, records, and the destruction of cultural heritage by the Roman Empire. Therefore, it makes sense that the bits and pieces we’ve…
-
Spring, Beltane, and the Magick of Renewal: A Special Column from The Modern Merlin
Hello friends, and welcome to May! Happy May Day, and Merry Beltane/Bealtaine! After a short hiatus, I’m back, and will slowly be picking up the pace in my writing so as to not burn myself out. How often I’ll be posting this month is TBD, if I’m being honest, but I’m excited to be back! That aside, I’m excited to be sharing with you a unique perspective I’ve come to regarding Beltane. Beltane is, and always was, a fertility festival; there’s an energy of renewal in the air, and love, too. Culminating with the Solstice at Midsommer, this season is truly about life renewed, as the bees and various critters…
