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Filling the Boat with Water The traveler in the penumbra must manage to integrate these strange practices into a reasonably normal life, or he may give the appearance of schizophrenia and wind up in an asylum, like the protagonist of the French film ‘La Vie a l’Envers [Life Upside Down]’. 1 It is probably not possible to avoid a certain appearance of eccentricity, but with circumspection one can avert raising a general alarm. While sitting in an airport and maintaining peripheral vision I found it was enough to wear dark glasses and hold a magazine in front of my face, turning the pages occasionally, to avoid appearing odd. I called…

Cleansing and Charging   Crystals absorb and hold the energy from their surroundings. Each time you or someone else comes in contact with your crystals they retain some of the energy from that interaction. After each use you should take time to clear away the energy that they’ve taken on as well as recharging to make sure that your minerals intent is restored. This ensures that your crystals are ready to use when needed.   There are a few different ways to cleanse and recharge your crystals and minerals. Below are some of the different techniques that I’ve used.   Smudging – I use white sage and palo santo wood.…

SEVEN DESERT MAIDENS As an Apprentice of the Waning Moon, I needed to walk into the Desert to find the wide open spaces within myself. This art video shows how that journey unfolded after Six Maidens appeared in a dream and told me to go looking for the mysterious Seventh Maiden. As the external journey unfolds through extraordinary landscapes the inner journey of soul-making occurs at the sane time. Along the way there are encounters with Kokopelli (Fertility Deity and the Spirit of Music) and The Man In The Moon. This film explores he essence of creativity and the keys to creative flow. It also explores how dreams offer a…

Notes from the Apothecary: Self Heal     Prunella vulgaris; prunel, brunell, carpenter’s herb, hook heal, sickle-wort; a common herb in the British isles, and indeed most places in the Northern Hemisphere; currently creeping its way across my lawn, unapologetically purple. I was delighted to find this magical little plant as a ‘freebie’; we didn’t cultivate it, it’s completely made its own way in and it is most welcome. The plant has a long history of medical use, being commented upon by Gerard, Culpeper and many other renowned herbalists and botanists, for its wide-ranging uses, which we will examine further below.   Although useful as a magical plant, we don’t…

Meet the Gods: Barleycorn Merry meet. Lughnasadh is celebrated this month – traditionally on the 1st, astrologically on the 7th. It is the first harvest, a festival of grain. While traditionally in Europe, corn meant grain, many Americans have come to think of corn only as maize. Because I know of no fields of rye, oats or barley here in Connecticut, maize has been my go-to grain. While it’s found its way into my rituals as corn muffins, corn dollies and fry bread – to go with the bounty from my garden – I had never sought to welcome the corn god to my circle. This year I will. Most…

Creativity and Teaching     This month’s offering is short and sweet. Creativity and teaching are my passion, so I’ve spent much of my 61 years of life as a teacher in one way or another. Teaching my ballet, until we could afford formal classes. Teaching ballet to others. Teaching Sunday school. Teaching my five beautiful children. Teaching my coveners. Teaching in the broader community, and more.   All of these pursuits were fueled by creativity and the passion I’ve offered up to these pursuits has out pictured in multiple venues and formats. Technology has provided a wonderful resource.   This month I am providing access to a 3-wk. course…

    The Bad Witch’s Guide to Hexing Herbs   I am a bad witch. There are a long list of reasons why I am a bad witch. Having been out of the broom closet for some considerable number of years I would on occasion get asked “but you’re a good witch though?” My response to that depending on the person asking but I found I started to say “yes, a very, very good witch” rather darkly as it usually got the point across. I have been an amateur herbalist all my life. From hedgerows and fields running barefoot I knew more than most well-read folks by the time I…

  Spirit & Life by American artist Tom Fleming   _____________________________________________________________________________   Welcome to the July Issue of PaganPages.  What do we have in-store for you this month???  Many of our great articles and reviews, such as…     A Book Review of the Tarot by Design Workbook:  Color and Learn Your Way into the Cards by Diane Heyne.     The Bad Witch’s Guide discusses love spells this month and even offers up one!       Jennifer Engrácio shares an amazing  excerpt from her book The Magic Circle: Shamanic Ceremonies for the Child and the Child Within on the importance of Children and Ceremony with our Readers.    …

The Page of Cups (The Page of Cups Card is from the artist Ciro Marchetti http://www.ciromarchetti.com/)** Back to the Court Cards! This time, we will revisit the Tarot “Royals” by examining the Page of Cups. We haven’t talked about Court Cards in a little while, so first we will review some basic information. A Tarot deck has 78 cards. There are 22 Major Arcana cards dealing with broader and more far-reaching life experience issues, archetypes that are easy for us to identify with and connect with at some point in our lives. There are 56 Minor Arcana cards that are customarily grouped into four categories or suits that represent the four elements…

Meet the Gods: Thor     (art by Samantha Sullivan)   Merry meet. Thor is the hammer-welding Norse God of Thunder. He is the son of Odin, the primary god of all the Nordic gods, and the earth goddess Jord (also reported as Fyorgyn). He is one of the most important and well-known gods in the Norse pantheon, also said to be a sun god, the god of stormy weather, and a fertility god. His wife is also associated with fertility: the goddess Sif. Together they live in Thrudheim (“Place of Might”), the largest house in Asgard with more than 500 rooms. They have two children. Thor also adopted a…