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Daily Wicca   While a witch’s life might be full of Sabbats and Esbats, one might have trouble finding the magic in everyday life.  However there are some things you can do daily to assist your spiritual growth and connection to Wicca.  A few minutes a day can help build upon existing knowledge and create a deeper connection to your Wiccan practice.   Mirror Book Scott Cunningham suggests keeping a Mirror Book to record your progress in Wicca.  Different to a Book of Shadows, a Mirror Book is like a diary and can include thoughts, feelings, your magical successes and failures, your doubts, fears, significant dreams and anything else part…

herbs: marjoram, holy thistle, nuts and cones Colors: brilliant white, blue-violet, black Flowers: carnation, crocus, snow drop Scents: musk, mimosa Stones: garnet, onyx, jet, chrysoprase Trees: birch Animals: fox, coyote Birds: pheasant, blue jay Spirits:  gnomes & brownies Deities: Freya (Norse); Innana, Sin and Antu (Sumeria); Saravati (Hindu); Hera and Irene (Greece); Ch’ang-O (China); Felicitas; Janus, Pax and Venus (Rome) Power Areas: Sluggish, below the surface, beginning and conceiving, protection, reversing spells, Conserve energy by working on your own personal problems that involve no one else. Time to work on new goals.

Lesser Sabbat – Winter Solstice, circa Dec 21 Other Names: Jul (“wheel”, Old Norse), Saturnalia(Rome ~December 17 & 18), Yuletide(Teutonic), Midwinter, Fionn’s Day, Christmas (Christian~December 25), Xmas, Festival of Sol, Solar/Secular/Pagan New Year Animals/Mythical beings: yule goat (nordic), reindeer stag, squirrels, yule cat, Sacred White Buffalo, Kallikantzaroi-ugly chaos monsters(greek), trolls, phoenix, yule elf, jule gnome, squirrels, wren/robin Gemstones: cat’s eye, ruby, diamond, garnet, bloodstone Incense/Oils: bayberry, cedar, ginger, cinnamon, pine, rosemary, frankincense, myrrh, nutmeg, wintergreen, saffron Colors: gold, silver, red, green, white Tools,Symbols, & Decorations: bayberry candles, evergreens, holly, mistletoe, poinsettia,mistletoe, lights, gifts, Yule log, Yule tree. spinning wheels, wreaths, bells, mother & child images Goddesses: Great Mother, Befana (strega),…

Welcome to the November Issue of PaganPages.  We have a wonderful Fall issue for you this month, packed with all the information you could need!!  We are currently looking for someone to review websites, podcasts, apps, and pagan shops.  If you are interested email us at [email protected] Watch for the reopening of our Etsy coming soon!

Pagan Education Learning a Pagan path is a daunting task.  Because everyone’s path is a little different, there isn’t a set curriculum to act as a guide along the way.  Most of us learn about Paganism on our own by reading books and finding information online.  Although we also learn from meeting others, most people I meet seem to apply a self-study approach. Self-study has many advantages over a set of courses and guides.  It can provide for a more personal exploration of our path and allows us to investigate other areas when we’re interested.  It allows us to take the time we need – most of us are busy…

The name is derived from Novem, the Latin word for nine, as November was the ninth month in Rome’s oldest calendar. THE SNOW MOON The ninth month in the old roman calandar. In Celtic traditions it is the beginning of the new year, considered a month of beginnings and endings. Astrological Signs: Scorpio, Sagittarius. Nature Spirits: Banshees and other beings who carry messages between worlds. Herbs: Ginger, hops, wormwood, hussop, patchouli, mugwort, nutmeg, star anise. Colors: Black, white, purple. Flowers: White lily, dahlia, chrysanthemum. Scents Rosemary, dragons blood, lilac, pine, wisteria. Stones: Topaz, obsidian, onyx, Apache tear. Trees: Pine, cypress, yew, elder. Animals: Bat, wolf, sow, dog, snake. Birds: Owls,…

Falling in Love with Autumn   We are well into autumn and many of us will be preparing for the winter months soon. I find this time of year festive and pretty with the leaves changing colours. With the cooler temperatures I find I stay indoors more often than I am outside. To help embrace the change in season and get outside, here are some ideas:   Go for a hike and bring your camera to capture all the beautiful colours.   Go apple picking and bake something yummy like apple pie or apple coffee cake muffins!     Clean up the garden or yard outside. Put away outdoor furniture,…

Welcome to the Land of Woo-Woo or Packing Prayers into your Painting   I have always had the hardest time explaining my process and my work to people who see my work in the secular gallery in which I exhibit. There is so much spiritual and magical context packed into each piece that starting from square one can overwhelm folks who have just a passing curiosity at the opening reception.   Sometimes I ask them if they want the short version or the”woo-woo” version.   The short version is easy: My work is an integral part of my spiritual practice. Each piece is a tangible product of my working with…

Witches in Media   Witches are popular characters in books, movies and TV shows.  They have been portrayed in a variety of ways, from the wicked cackling old hag, to the young and sassy neophyte first discovering her powers.  A boom in witch-themed TV and movies in the 90s, such as The Craft and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, spawned the term ‘Generation Hex’, describing the new generation of youth exposed to esoteric and occult-themed media.  This continued with the Harry Potter series, which became immensely popular and had a huge cultural impact.   The fact that most of the ‘witches’ portrayed in media have very little in common with real-life…

Singing to the Trees The Three Sisters Photo by Louise Harmon Throughout my study of plant medicine I frequently encounter herbalists who describe their ability to receive healing knowledge communicated directly from the plants themselves. As much as I respect intuitive knowledge, I will admit that I was always a bit cynical about such claims. Sure, I have had those moments when I’ve passed by one of my house plants, did an about-face because on some level I felt it was telling me it needed watering-and yes, those feelings were always accurate. Plants are undeniably living creatures, but having the ability to talk to humans…really? Last year at the Portland…