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Staying Resolved:  Keeping the Magic of Resolutions Fresh and Effective One year winds down as we look backward and reflect on all we’ve been through and all we’ve learned.  It has been a year of successes and joys and it has been a year of sorrows and failures.  Such is a life, richly and fully lived.  And then we turn towards the New Year and make plans and resolutions.  It’s all about change at this turning point of the calendar.  What can we do better and how can we be better?  All seems possible at the birth of the New Year!  At the same time, we are saddened that through…

Basic Color Chart Black: Usually associated with the energy and ministerial figures, black stops gossiping, meddling people right in their tracks.  It’s also great for breaking bad habits, or for any work that involves separation, wisdom, secrets, or invoking the Crone aspect of the Triple Goddess. Pale Blue: This shade goes a long way in relieving confusion, anxiety, and loss of control.  Try it for effects that involve calmness, peace, tranquility, healing, and pleasant dreams. Dark Blue: If you need to get organized and add some structure to you life, this is the color for you.  It’s also a wonderful hue for invoking the Water Element, or calling upon feminine…

Janus Have you ever had a moment where you feel as if you’re looking forward to whatever the future may bring yet at the same time, looking back as to what the past has brought?  Or have you ever sat around on New Year’s Eve contemplating the coming new year while reminiscing about the past year?  January is the first month of the year and it’s named after a Roman god named Janus. Janus is one of the more….interesting gods in the Roman pantheon. He’s just as if not more important than Jupiter, who is the ruler of all the gods. In Greek mythology Jupiter’s counterpart is Zeus, Janus however…

she moves with care now, her limbs aching with each step eyes shining in the darkness. now, she is old, old as time, beckoned by the gods, needed by so many. they call upon her now to birth their babes, lay out their dead. a-night, they leave her solitary in her home, wary of angering this old, old soul who has such knowledge in her that it carves upon her face deep and careless lines. for pain, they need her, fearful of its claws they beg for aid and always and anon she answers she is all three, maiden, mother, and, now, as aged as the Goddess that she smiles…

An exploration of Near-Death and Out-of-Body Experiences Let’s switch gears this month away from ghosts and the like, and take a look at another huge area of paranormal research- the Near-Death (NDE) and Out-of-Body Experience (OBE).  Hollywood likes to toy with the notion of Life after Death and the Out-of-Body Experience; sometimes in a beautiful way, such as in 1998’s What Dreams May Come, and the 1980 classic Resurrection.  I’d like to note that Resurrection was the first movie to base its screenplay not on superstition and cultural references, but on the research and ideas of Raymond Moody, whose 1975 book Life After Life led to the foundation of the…

Family Winter Wellness The dark phase of the year often brings with it lower immune systems and colds and flus.   As a new parent (only three years in) I often forget to prevent illness and backtrack when my little guy comes down with something.  I’ve assembled a quick guide to keeping your family healthy in the winter focusing on prevention since we’d rather not deal with getting sick if possible.  Of course if we do get ill we know that it is a message from our body that slowing down and resting is in order.  Since January is post-holiday craziness time it is hopefully a great time to make some…

Are you cyclically confused? In a ceremonial quandary? Completely clueless? Wonder no more. *Ask Your Mama™ Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Spirituality and Didn’t Know Who to Ask™ by ©Mama Donna Henes, Urban Shaman A Question of Mercury in Retrograde Dear Mama Donna, For years I have been hearing warnings about Mercury in Retrograde, but I am not sure I understand what that means or why I should be careful. All I know is that all sorts of weird, awful things are supposed to happen. Can you please explain this phenomenon to this astrology neophyte? Confused and wary in Wisconsin Dear Confused, Mercury, the planet of communication enters…

In Praise of Snow Ó Susun S Weed Winter is my favorite season. And where I live, winter brings cold and snow. Do you like snow? I do. I like to play in the snow. I admire snow’s beauty. I’m thankful that snow protects the animals and the plants. But what impresses me the most about snow is its country name: “poor person’s fertilizer.” What fun to sled in the snow (screaming), to ski across the snow (silently), to ride a snowboard in the snow (grinning), to ice skate (laughing), to make snow angels (shivering), to bring a snow person to life (cooperating), to have a snowball fight (competing), to…

A Powerful Spell of Magick for Weight Loss Regardless of your belief in the Witch’s Wheel or when the start of the New Year begins, come January we all feel a bit…well, bloated. After several helpings of everything on the dinner table, I can feel the stretch in my clothes. This is the time of year, when losing 5-20 pounds seems like a necessity. I know I wasn’t alone, eating all those pies, homemade candies and heavy meals, right? Asking for the Goddess’s assistance is a sure way to receive guidance and love as you whittle away the pounds. Magick spells are a way to connect to your desires and…

Double-feature review of Isaac Bonewits’ Real Magic and Real Energy Bonewits, Philip Emmons Isaac. Real Magic: an introductory treatise on the principles of yellow magic. First published 1971. Revised edition, 1978, Weiser Books. Paperback, 282 pages. Bonewits, Phaedra and Isaac. Real Energy: systems, spirits, and substances to heal, change, and grow. New Page Books, 2007. Paperback, 287 pages. These works represent, in some ways, the bookends of Isaac Bonewits’ life writing for the Pagan community at large. His impressive bibliography is filled with works on specific topics, and his biography with work on the ADF, which he founded and shaped, among many other efforts. But these books are the most…