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Meet the Gods: Dagda (This illustration of Dagda was found on Pinterest. His cauldron, known as the Undry or the Cauldron of Plenty, provided infinite food and drink but never to a coward or an oath breaker. It was also said to revive the dead. One end of his enormous club could kill while the other end could give life.)   Merry meet. The name of the Celtic god Dagda means “Good God.” He’s also known as Eochaid Ollathair, meaning “Eochaid the All-Father.” His name is typically proceeded by the article “the.” In the Celtic tradition, the Dagda is one of the leaders of a mythological Irish people, the Tuatha…

The Sacred Marriage in the Great Below Our soul’s craving for wholeness drives the unfoldment of all stories. A profound mystery teaching is found at the heart of a collection of myths from ancient Sumeria, such The Descent of Inanna and the sacred marriage of Ereshkigal and Nergal. The language may be archaic but the message is timeless: the sacred marriage between divine feminine and masculine principles is what animates and revitalizes the cosmos This phenomenon needs to occur within our own psyche (on the level of soul and archetypes) as much as in the world around us. I invite you to take a journey of initiation into these mysteries…

What is the Grail to you?! The Grail stands as a beacon of hope and wholeness in the midst of the Wasteland created by modern Western materialism.  The potency of this symbol beckoning us back to living in harmony with both ourselves and the land around us is a myth very much of our time.  It speaks directly to wholeness and connection and reminds us that to bring the Wasteland back to fertility and lush abundance we must return to the Source that nourishes it. Our modern Society and education systems gives us few really useful tools to take with us on the great journey of Life.  We need knowledge…

The Road to Runes: Hagalaz, the Coming of Hail So, it was the turn of a different friend to pull a rune this time, and I wasn’t expecting it. On the spot divination, she pulled out the polished, burnt piece of hazel and looked at me quizzically. I had to admit to her that my studies had not taken me this far, and thus, my latest article was born. Pictured is the rune she pulled: Hagalaz, also known as Haglaz or Hagala. This rune literally means ‘hail’, and by what I have learnt, is a pretty fierce and somewhat scary rune to see in any divination. The Elder Futhark (the…

The Wild Rose of Druidry The Celtic path is unlike any other, unique in ways that mean so very much to me. The first blossom of this path is that it imposes absolutely no restrictions, except that one should not harm another (which seems like quite a sensible restriction to me!) In the Celtic pagan tradition, all paths are good, and everyone has total freedom to be, to wander into darkness and shadows, if one wishes, then out again into light. I searched for many years for a spirit tradition that would allow me the freedom I longed for, going through Congregational, Presbyterian, and Quaker phases over the past thirty…

Book Review – QUEEN UP! Reclaim Your Crown When Life Knocks You Down: Unleash the Power of Your Inner Tarot Queen by Angela Kaufman In our current atmosphere of #Time’sUp and #MeToo, this is the perfect book to come along. The Queens that are spoken of in this book are the Queens of the Tarot, but it also fits in with so many, adding the term “Queen” to the three-fold aspect of the Goddess. The author uses the archetypal energies of the four Queens in the Tarot, each representing a different element, to help us to meet, and work with, our Inner Queen(s), using a tarot deck and our intuition.…

Pagan Portals- Pan: Dark Lord of the Forest and Horned God of the Witches     Author: Melusine Draco Publisher Moon Books Length:96 Pages   I found this book to be a fascinating read. The author opens with The Orphic Hymn to Pan. She talks about the Coven of the Scales, of which she is the Principal Tutor, they worship Aegocerus “the Goat-God” and not Cernunnos. Ms. Draco puts forth the question, “How did the pre-Olympian Deity find his way into traditional witchcraft of Britain?” No other foreign Deity has been added to Traditional British Old Craft, so why Pan? Ms. Draco goes into some great depth on the history…

Book Review “The Tradition of Household Spirits: Ancestral Lore and Practices” by Claude Lecouteux, translated by Jon E. Graham Published by Inner Traditions English translation copyright 2013 Pages: 228 “A house is much more than a building. It is a microcosm, a living being with both a body and a soul. It speaks, even if its language is only creaking and cracking noises for the profane,” Claude Lecouteux writes in the introduction to “The Tradition of Household Spirits: Ancestral Lore and Practices.” “It speaks, even if its language is only creaking and cracking noises for the profane. Its wailings are evidence of an attack by hostile forces. … The house…

(en)LIV(en)ING with the Muses:The Hymns of Polyhymnia   (Image: Sculpture from the State Hermitage Museum) This is the Sixth posting of the (en)LIV(en)ING with the Muses Series Each time I have lost myself in the beauty of music, Polyhymnia has been whispering in my ear. Her name is derived from the Greek, “poly” meaning “many” and “hymnos” which means “praise. Her name is alternately spelled Polymnia. She is attributed with many gifts and depending on the territory of Greece that she oversaw, her garb and visage was adapted. Her primary creativity flowed through music, song and dance and in the more traditional sense she became the muse specifically of religious…

Beltane   (Hexenringe limited edition fairy ring screen print on handmade paper, by artist April Llewellyn of April H L Etsy shop.)   Also known as: May Day, Bealtaine, Beltane, Bhealtainn, Bealtinne, Festival of Tana (Strega), Giamonios, Rudemass, and Walburga (Teutonic), Cetsamhain (opposite Samhain),Fairy Day,Sacred Thorn Day, Rood Day, Roodmas (the Christian term for Rood Day, Old Beltane, Beltain, Baltane, Walpurgis Night, Floriala (Roman feast of flowers from April 29 to May 1), Walpurgisnacht (Germanic-feast of St. Walpurga), Thrimilce (Anglo-saxon), Bloumaand (Old Dutch) Date: May 1 Animals: Swallow, dove, swan, Cats, lynx, leopard Deities: Flower Goddesses, Divine Couples, Deities of the Hunt, Aphrodite,artemis, Bast, Diana, Faunus, Flora, Maia, Pan, the…