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It is November, and I’ve just about hit the halfway point of my planned journey. But, like most things in life, it isn’t turning out like I expected. For instance, I’ve hardly read any of the books that were on my original list, nor have I developed that meditation practice I keep talking about. And rather than finding a spiritual path that makes me feel at home and welcome, I continue to feel out of place no matter where I turn.   Take, for example, mommy blogs. I’m a stay-at-home mommy of a kindergartener, and it is important to me to spend time teaching my son, even though we don’t…

Nergal   Nergal is a Mesopotamian God of the underworld. He’s known to be associated with mass destruction, plague, warfare and pestilence. He is a pre-Judaic Arabian God who was worshipped throughout Mesopotamia (Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia), and is the son of Enlil and Ninlil   This deity of the desert is connected to Bulls and Lions. He represents the sun of noontime and of the summer solstice, as the high summer is the dead season in the Mesopotamian cycle.   Nergal is mentioned in the Hebrew bible as the deity of the city of Cuth and there is evidence of his cult in Canaan and Athens. As a God…

Yesterday I did it. After meticulous examination, logistical speculation, scenario determination, and plain old wishful thinking, I put a bird feeder on my second floor window pane. Of course, it’s a bird feeder in name only. In a matter of weeks, perhaps even days, the pretty little feeding station will garner the attention of the resident squirrel population. Then it will become either a squirrel feeder or a wreck on the concrete below from which squirrels will eat the contents through shards of shattered plastic. I had a pole feeder with a squirrel baffle in my back yard when I first moved in, but when I saw the neighbor’s cat…

Welcome to the October/Samhain Issue of PaganPages!       Have a happy and healthy holiday!!!

You hear the words, but do you listen? You see the signs, but do you read? You know the way, but still you wander. You get your wants, forget your needs. Then in the early morning lightness when you wake still half asleep, unwanted thoughts bombard your mind, you try to decide which ones to keep. You hear the stillness in the silence. You taste the freshness in the air. You close your eyes, go back to dream time, you know the answer’s there somewhere. Then when the darkness drowns you, when there is no end in sight, finally you can surrender, realize there was no fight.

Over the past couple of months I’ve written a few times about the rules that govern and guide different religions. I feel that these rules, as much as the deity, make the religion. They provide the framework for all the practices and beliefs of a faith, and if you can’t follow the fundamental rules then I don’t think you can consider yourself a member of that faith. Since I’m still on my spiritual journey with only a generic version of the Golden Rule to guide me, I thought that perhaps I’d better take a look at the rules that govern my life. Maybe laying out my personal commandments will point…

Gleaning and gathering are the keywords for October.  Tromping through the forests in our rubber boots for the Chanterelles, subjecting ourselves to the thorny vines on which the rosehips hang large and ready for the jelly or tea pot, trying to get as many tomatoes as we can before the slugs reach their ripened meats – all the work of Autumn’s first few weeks.  Rewarding work, too! Recent days have brought us the remnants of a typhoon and so the rains have come early and heavy.  We removed the peppers and tomatoes from their vines, and a new set of fruits is already trying to come on.  The peppers[1] have…

  “When Ghost Hunters Go shopping”   Ghost hunting is big business these days. It takes serious cash to attain a collection of data capturing and analysis tools to make your research a success, after all you have to get the latest and greatest gadgets if you’re going to troll around at night playing scientist. The trend is such that the owner of a new business in downtown Springfield, Ohio is cashing in on it, confident of long-term success. Darin Hough’s Ghost Hunting Source offers shoppers paranormal research equipment in a truly unique niche market. Perhaps a bit morbidly, Hough explained, “As long as people are dying people are going…

Making answer board for a pendulum   Hello crafty witches! We’ve already made a pendulum together so now I want to show you how to make an answer board to go with it! It’s basically as simple as writing yes and no (and maybe of you’d like) on a piece of paper. However, if you wanted to make something a little bit fancier and don’t have a lot of artistic skill there is still a way! This method can be used to do everything from an answer board to a wall plaque to anything your heart desires.   To make one like pictures you will need: A wooden board (you…