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Magical Matches Merry meet. If you are looking for a tool for a special ritual or an easy gift, try decorating match boxes. I had a partial deck of miniature tarot cards. Cutting off the white borders with a paper cutter made them the right size for putting on boxes of matches. Some decks, such as the Rider-Waite, are just about the perfect size for the large box of kitchen matches, requiring only a very small portion of one edge to be removed. I used spray adhesive to affix them, but just about any glue will do. By choosing cards to fit someone’s personality, astrology or goals, you can make…

Summoning the Fates By Z Budapest I have just finished “Summoning The Fates, A Generational Woman’s Guide to Destiny and Sacred Transformation” by the wonderful Z Budapest***** If you have ever asked “why me?” or “why do bad things happen?”, then this is the book for you. This book was a joy to read.  I felt as if I were sitting at the feet of one of my teachers, listening to her stories, learning from her wisdom.    Almost immediately,  her love for her mother leaps off the beginning pages, which was so touching.   We are most  familiar with the Greek Fates of Clotho (the Spinner) who spins our life…

Take a look around the Pagan community these days, we have some amazing philosophers and some wicked intelligence. People like Raven Grimassi, who is so grounded and well versed (beyond well versed) in his craft and Jason Pitzl-Waters who founded the Wild Hunt. These people never cease to amaze me by the things they write, the ideas they inspire and sometimes even by the way they make me research something just to learn a little more. While writers and practitioners are amazing, we are in dire need of community leaders, in order to help our communities and causes move forward. Paganism is amazing. The freedom, the whole antiauthoritarianism vibe really…

  I was lucky enough to catch up with an incredibly creative and talented witch this month, Sheena Cundy. Sheena is a well-known healer and the creator of The Magic of Nature Oracle, a vibrant divination deck based on the flora and fauna of Britain. She is also the songstress of the band Morrigan’s Path. In between all this she teaches tarot and horse riding. Sheena took a break from all this to answer some of my questions for you lovely readers here at Pagan Pages. Mabh Savage: So, first of all, what is a crafty crone? Sheena Cundy: She is a Witch of menopausal age, shrewd and creative with…

SAMHAIN- November 7.2015   Although last month may have seemed more fitting for this article, October 31st is not accurate date of Samhain if celebrated from the perspective of the astronomical occurrences that in ancient days marked the Great Wheel of the Year. The astrological date always in November, usually somewhere between the 5-8th. This year, it will occur on November 7th. So, with these intentions in mind, I share with you the mystery of Samhain’s parting of the Veils…..   The Hounds nip at my heels Pushing me precariously forwards As I move through the dark Veil of Samhain Night.   I breathe deeply feeling the Pain of sharp…

Notes from the Apothecary: Coriander   November is an odd month for herbs if you live in a temperate climate. There are a few still hanging on in the garden; maybe a tough sage or some rosemary that’s well rooted in, but many of the deciduous plants have already dropped their leaves, so we home herbalist have to rely on either dried product, or those herbs that we can grow from seed on a bright windowsill. Coriander is one such herb. It grows quite easily as long as it is kept moist and warm, and with a bit of tender care can bring a vibrant verdancy to the cold season.…

Goddesses of Giving Thanks and the Harvest Festivals of thanks and the harvest have been, and are, celebrated the world over, and have been for hundreds of years. The harvest has always been associated with the Goddess of Earth and Fertility. She is and always will be the Source of all Creation. Chicomecoatl The Aztec Goddess of Maize (corn), she is dressed in flowers, carrying ripened ears of corn and a shield in the form of the sun. She is sometimes shown with a corncob engraved with the words, “forgiving strength”. She is the Goddess representing the mother aspect of the corn, while Xilonen is the Goddess representing the maiden…

The word of Tahuti, Paved in the black obsidian sky, The aether being the pillar of night, His great ibis voice is nigh, The demanding verbiage led in the plight. Whisper of the whirlwind led by fire, Daunting halt before the bejeweled Queen. The lesser Will of the magician burnt in a pyre, Out of his books and through his mind he is keen. Ink soaked symbols stained in a papyrus, Desire be thy passion in heat of superseding. The twelve signs of elements abound by Cyprus, Contemplation gone to Rome thither in weaving. XVIII! Liber I covered the art of writing and how it is beneficent to the magician…

Tarot Cards Merry meet. The long months of darkness that stretch before us are a good time for a long project. One to consider is making your own deck of tarot cards. Among my decks is one that was a project from an ATC (artist Trading Cards: miniature works of art about the size of a playing card) group for pagans; each member designed two freestyle cards and made 40 copies of each on heavyweight paper. The organizer collated the decks, giving one to each person who made two cards and keeping two decks for the effort. (The photo shows a sample of the cards.) Participating in it made me…

Since we are kind of on a Major Arcana roll, let’s look at the card known as Temperance. First, we should quickly define and describe some terms. There are 22 Major Arcana cards in a Tarot deck, with numbers from 0 to 21; the Majors usually deal 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. An archetype (pronounced “ark eh type”) is a generic, idealized model of a person, an object, or a concept which can be copied, patterned, or imitated. The term archetype often refers to one of two concepts: a…