PaganPages.org

Croning Part 3 Merry meet!  This month is the third of a six-part series on croning – a feminine rite-of-passage ritual for those reclaiming the power and wisdom of the old woman, the crone. It touches on some of the symbols of the crone you can consider incorporating into your ritual. Croning : Symbols Amethyst: This is often considered the gem of the crone because it is associated with spirituality and wisdom. Everyone who attended the weekend event at which I croned was given a small piece of amethyst and the instruction to give it to me with a personal message. I was given an etched champagne glass to collect…

More Dollar Store Delights Merry Meet. Magical stores are few and far between, but dollar stores are everywhere and they have a wealth of items for altars, rituals and sabbats. With Litha in mind, I snapped these photos as more examples of items you can find for $1. On mid-summer’s eve, the fairies are said to be at their merriest. You can be, too. Whether or not you are donning fairy wings, you can still wave a wand. Butterflies are as much a part of summer as are bubbles. Celebrate both. What’s your best dollar store find? Merry part. And merry meet again…

Buddhism for Couples By: Sarah Napthali Paperback: 248 pages (tentative) Publisher: Jeremy P. Tarcher / Penguin (June 2015) In The Miracle of Mindfulness, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh tells the story of a father who struggled to balance his Buddhist practice with his daily responsibilities of being a father and a husband. After the finite hours of his day were divided between work, wife, daughter, and son, there was barely any time left for himself. It was only when he changed his idea of “free time” or “his time” to include running after his children and shopping with his wife that his days opened up and he found he had…

History of Litha (MidSummer) Also known as Summer Solstice, Litha, Alban Hefin, Sun Blessing, Gathering Day, Feill-Sheathain, Whit Sunday, Whitsuntide, Vestalia, Thing-tide, St. John’s Day In addition to the four great festivals of the Pagan Celtic year, there are four lesser holidays as well: the two solstices, and the two equinoxes. In folklore, these are referred to as the four ‘quarter-days’ of the year, and modern Witches call them the four ‘Lesser Sabbats’, or the four ‘Low Holidays’. The Summer Solstice is one of them. Litha is usually celebrated on June 21st, but varies somewhat from the 20th to the 23rd, dependant upon the Earth’s rotation around the Sun. According…

Notes from the Apothecary: Angelica     A tall, stately plant that I remember well from my mother’s herbaceous garden when I was tiny, Angelica is as beautiful as the name suggests. Unlike many of the herbs in my Apothecary, Angelica can withstand quite cool climates and is found as far north as Iceland and Lapland. In seeming contradiction to this, the plant’s ruling astral body is the sun, and it is mostly closely associated with fire. Despite being classed as a masculine plant, Angelica is linked to the goddess Venus; deity of love, beauty, sex, prosperity and fertility. We can follow the link from the mother of Romans to…

Midsummer 2015 for Celebrating the Old Ways in New Times The Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year, and afterwards, the days begin to shorten. The Sun is at it’s highest point, and at it’s strongest this Sabbat. It is still going to get warmer, and the wheel is turning towards harvest time. If you are in Finland, “the land of the midnight sun”, this is the time of year there is practically no darkness at all due to location. All Winter, some of us look forward to this time of year when it is warm, the sun rises early, everything is green and growing, and it feels…

Visualisation, Meditation and Journeying One of the first things that caught my attention when I started reading about paganism long ago was the use of visualisation. I recognised something I had been doing all along. In daydreams I escaped reality by imagining beautiful landscapes, stuff I wanted, people I liked. I tried to ‘see’ every little detail in my mind’s eye. books, tapes and later workshops helped me to develop this skill even better. I loved to learn how to use all my senses. I didn’t only see the forest… I noticed the distinct smell of it after a rain shower, touched a tree, heard birds singing… That sounds as…

  Damh needs no introduction for most Pagan music fans. His albums are sold all over the world and his latest release, Sabbat, shot to number one in the folk charts within hours of its release. Damh took a break from celebrating to have a little chat with me about music, life and druidry. Mabh Savage: The new album ‘Sabbat’ enjoyed a number one spot on Amazon almost immediately upon release; tell us how that felt… Damh the Bard: Surreal and wonderful. I saw it had reached number 7 which surprised me, but when I looked back a couple of hours later it was at number one. It’s quite a…

Diving by Crystal Ball, Part 1 Our esteemed editor, Jennifer Wright, sent me a crystal ball to examine and review for Pagan Pages. It arrived within days of my birthday, which was just fabulous! It came in a royal blue box entitled “Titania’s Crystal Ball” and along the side of the box was written: “NOW YOU CAN ‘SEE’ YOUR FUTURE”. Inside the box was the crystal ball in a plastic cup to keep it from rolling around inside the box; a ring to place the ball upon when in use; a booklet to teach you how to use the crystal ball; a card entitled “The Image Key” with the most…

The 1st Chakra In last month’s column, I briefly reviewed the major chakras (energy centers) in our bodies. This month, I will start a more in-depth discussion of each one, starting with the first Chakra. As I mentioned last month, when doing any chakra work, it is imperative to keep yourself grounded. While you can use any grounding exercise that you prefer, I have always used this one in my chakra classes: **Stand up, grip toes to the ground, long deep breathing, visualize your roots going deep into Mother Earth, keeping you grounded and centered. Inhale and bring the earth energy up to the base of your spine; exhale and…