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When You Are Unable to See the Signs I don’t know about you, but I know this has happened to me and more than once – lay out a spread of Tarot cards or playing cards or some other divinatory devise – and nothing. Either the meanings elude you or the cards have no relation to one another or to the positions on which they landed or to the entire situation at hand. If this is just for me, I can just put it all away and wait for another day – when maybe I’ll be “seeing” a little more clearly – but if I am with a client, then…

Since we are at the time of the Spring Equinox and new growth, let’s talk about a Minor Arcana card that tells of new growth of the heart: the Three of Cups. The Three of Cups is a Minor Arcana card, so we know right away that the message offered by this card will most likely be more immediate in nature, or will most likely be connected to more day-to-day issues. The easiest way to get a decent understanding of a Minor Arcana card is to examine its number, or in the case of Court Cards, its rank, and to examine its suit. In this case, we are dealing with…

Offerings, Not Sacrifices Merry meet. People have jokingly asked me about what I sacrifice on my altar. Occasionally, the person isn’t joking. While a long involved response is not practical in a social setting, I wish to delve into the topic a bit in this column. To sacrifice means to give up. In that sense, I sacrifice money when I donate to a charity and I sacrifice sleep to spend late-night hours on the phone with a friend in need. An older meaning of sacrifice is to make sacred. When our ancestors dedicating something to the gods and goddesses during a ritual ceremony, such as a cow or a deer,…

                               WELCOME   ________________________________________________________________________________   In This Issue…     An Interview with Ellen Evert Hopman. Ellen is a druid, an herbalist, and a prolific author. She runs the Willow’s Grove shop through her website. She also runs a course in herbalism for those wanting to learn the marvellous powers of plants.     SpellCrafting: Spells & Rituals has information on  labyrinths they offer a sacred space for introspection. In the shape of a circle, it also holds magic.     Aromatic Life features Lemons. Lemons might seem an unlikely addition to the Witch’s armoury but they have a good…

Why Walk a Labyrinth Photo by Mario Dasz Merry meet. A labyrinth offers a sacred space for introspection. In the shape of a circle, it also holds magic. Labyrinths go back 4,000 years, are found in most major faiths and around the world. They are found in parks, places of worship and private homes, and often can be walked for free, offering the opportunity for a no-cost, nothing-needed ritual. Unlike a maze, there is only one path in and one path out of a labyrinth. No dead ends. No wandering, lost. This makes it suitable for meditation. As you walk through a labyrinth, following the path, you head one way…

Lemons Lemons might seem an unlikely addition to the Witch’s armoury but they have a good many uses both medicinally and magically. Lemons have long been prized for their high vitamin content, and lemon juice is still carried at sea to prevent scurvy. The juice makes an excellent gargle for sore throats and, when diluted, can be applied to reduce itching. It is recommended for rheumatic pain and can even be used to counteract some poisons. A teaspoon undiluted will cure even the most stubborn hiccoughs. If you make your own lemonade you won’t want to touch the fizzy stuff again. Mix the juice of one lemon and a tablespoonful…

artemis (Dedicated to Sunshine) (Photo Credit: symbolreader.net) he Greek Goddess, artemis, is very complex. She personifies opposites. She is seen as a virginal moon goddess, however, She is a goddess of fertility and childbirth. She was a fierce hunter, who could kill with one shot of her arrow; yet, She fiercely protected the animals of the forest and woods. She is said to be born of Zeus and Leto. At the time of her birth, Leto was very weak, and so, it is told that She helped birth her twin brother, Apollo. Due to this, she is a Goddess of Fertility and Childbirth, a force of creation. Women in childbirth…

Spring Equinox 2016 Part II My last article focused on cleaning toxic people out of your life. I believe that is a good first step. I have a lot of experience with toxic people! I am an adult child of a toxic parent, and said parent has also crossed the veil. I know that although that toxic relationship is over, the hurt and heartache is not. Some people think you can just “get over it” and “move on with your life” as if nothing happened. While I realize things that happened to us are in the past, and thus will never happen again- I also realize that not everybody can…

Witches Soul Work: The High Priestess is Not Your Girlfriend (Picture is Gardnerian HPS Doreen Valiente. For more about Doreen see: http://www.doreenvaliente.com/) When I first met my High Priestess (HPS) Lady Rhiannon we were taking a course on-line together and sometimes got together for lunch. We became friends and later co-taught a class together. About a year later she invited me to join her Coven. I had studied Wicca for ten years at that point; a lot of reading and studying on line or by correspondence. I had also joined a Reclaiming women’s circle for a while and an Eclectic Witches Circle that was really a peer study group. I…

Spiralled Edges – What Makes a Crone? Mid-February I celebrated by 50th birthday, a full half century of living. As I have moved towards this mark, I have turned my thoughts to who I am and what I want to be in my life. Now more than ever I face my own mortality as I have realised I most likely have more years behind me than in front of me. I am okay with this. I am ready to take my place as an elder, as a crone, both in the Pagan community and in the world at large. Who am I to self-proclaim: I am an Elder! Is it…