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Colors of New Year Nature rules! It is the greatest source of beauty with it´s ever changing scenery of light, colors, and seasons. Nature is my greatest inspiration for creating beauty in my life. Deep dark blue and silver make the perfect couple in my color palette around New Year´s. The sky shows it´s darkest side now, bathing in deep murky blue most of the time. Luckily there are also stars up there, twinkling ever so brightly on cold clear nights. That´s the combination I embrace this time of year, at late Yule, after Christmas and before Imbolc. (Sadly my little snapshot camera is unable to capture the beauty.) When…

Part One: The Wheel of the Year Whereas non-pagans are guided by sacred books, pagans are guided by nature. Nature guides us through the course of the seasons. We take our moods, our goals and the way we pursue them, from the seasonal round, which is called ‘The Wheel of the Year’. Witches of our Celtic tradition follow three interlocking paradigms throughout the year. The course of the Sun throughout the year is plotted by the Wheel of the Year. The course of the lunar month is plotted by the phases of the Moon and their meaning. And the sequence of lunar months through the solar year is plotted by…

Let it Rain Merry Meet! There’s an old Led Zeppelin song that ends with the words, “Upon us all a little rain my fall.” I want to show you how that rain can be used in ritual. One of the directions I turn to each day is west as I honor the element of water. It comes in many forms: tears, sweat, blood, rain, snow, ice, streams, rivers, oceans, wells. I remember early on my path, there was freezing rain on Yule, forcing the cancelation of an event I’ve come to think of as the Sacred Circle of Deep Dark Silence. I was pouty because I was missing out on…

Molybdomancy: The art of Divining with Metal and Water   I have to admit, this is a new one on me.  A half an hour before this very moment – as I sit here at my dining room desk, eating a Yuletide cookie and sipping a cup of Constant Comment Tea – I had never heard of Molybdomancy.  Not that I pretend to know everything about divination – I know very little, really.  I am just a novice in the subject.  Every day I learn something new.   I was thinking of end of the year rituals – the New Year’s resolutions that are common here in the States – customs…

Isabella Stoloff is a practicing shaman that founded the Orange County Healing Center.  At this center she offers soul retrievals, chakra balancing, and other such spiritual ceremonies.  In addition, she reaches millions on her YouTube Channel. The links can be found at the end of the article. Morwen: Isabella, you have an amazing YouTube channel that assists people in understanding the energies around them, dealing with their chakras and energy bodies. Would you want to talk about that a bit. Isabella: Sure!  I created this YouTube channel to begin to share the information that was coming into me and the healing that I was experiencing, and also to teach people…

You Take the High Road and I’ll Take the Low Road….   This month, I would like to have us give consideration to the type of magick we practice. We are entering a New Year and the potential held in crossing those Gates into a new way of experiencing Magick is ripe and ready. Before we can define what we practice, we need to know what some of the definitive properties are and what the effects could be.   There is some debate over what the definition of Operative Magick is and the tag lines of Practical, High and Low Magick associated with its definition.  Moreover, the term High and…

Mantras As someone who has been teaching Kundalini Yoga for 17 years, I think mantra has been the things I have been most leery of teaching. Most people do not understand it, even when it is explained. I have had students refuse to use mantra at all. Even though yoga and meditation are secular and can be done by anyone regardless of religion, some felt it went against theirs and were very uncomfortable with it. I understand all of the reasoning behind why they did not wish to do it. In my OWN PERSONAL OPINION, I feel the real reason behind their refusal was fear. They think mantra is different…

February 1, 2 Other Names: Imbolg (im-molc)(em-bowl’g) (Celtic), Candlemas (Christian), Brigantia (Caledonii), Oimelc, Festival of Light, Brigid’s (Brid, Bride) Day, La Fheill, An Fheille Bride, Candelaria (Mexico), Chinese New Year, Disting-tid (Feb 14th, Teutonic), DisaBlot, Anagantios, Lupercalia/Lupercus (Strega), Groundhog Day, Valentines Day. Animals & Mythical Beings: Firebird, dragon, groundhog, deer, burrowing animals, ewes, robin, sheep, lamb, other creatures waking from hibernation. Gemstones: Amethyst, garnet, onyx, turquoise. Incense/Oil: Jasmine, rosemary, frankincense, cinnamon, neroli, musk, olive, sweet pea, basil, myrrh, and wisteria, apricot, carnation. Colors/Candles: Brown, pink, red, orange, white, lavender, pale yellow, silver. Tools,Symbols, & Decorations: White flowers, marigolds, plum blossoms, daffodils, Brigid wheel, Brigid’s cross, candles, grain/seed for blessing, red…

Farewell to Kyra   On November 30th a wonderful woman passed over to the Summerlands. Kyra was my HPs, my initiator, but first and foremost she was a dear friend. Although most of you reading this didn’t know her, I want to share some stories and thoughts about her.   When I met her for the first time some years ago, she was already diagnosed with Hodgkin’s. It came back several times and even then she was already living on borrowed time. That didn’t stop her from fighting, on the contrary! She has been a fighter until the end. She tried alternative methods, special diets, everything within reach that looked…

Notes from the Apothecary: Sage Welcome to my new column, Notes from the Apothecary! Each month I’ll be talking about a different herb or plant. Some will be familiar to you, some may not, but I hope you will always find out something new and interesting, that will help you increase your medicinal and magical knowledge.   Not much is still lively in my garden in late November, but the one plant that never seems to give up is my beautiful, purple tinged sage. You only have to brush your fingers against the slightly rough leaves to produce an aroma that is at once appetising and mystical. Sage has been…