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You hear it all the time: “Perception is reality.” Sometimes, that’s a hard thing to accept, but it says a lot about how we act and react to the world around us.  And for any who do magic, it’s a very important, even crucial maxim.  However, it also relates to how we determine who is ‘sane’ and who isn’t. Of course, I’m sane…  I really am. I mean, really…  I am… Sane, that is. Really (Here’s some advice:  Do not try to prove you are ‘sane,’ because the harder you try, the worse it gets.) Our spirituality, probably because it’s based on personal experience rather than a specific book or…

LIVES BEFORE LIVES… So, we are back into Mercury retrograde and if the year wasn’t throwing crazy things at us, no doubt it will this month. Phew! What a year. This year has been full of extreme situations, with extreme illnesses, deaths, births, ups and downs and all of this each day. As they say, what doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger… I recently had the privilege of attending an amazing workshop. It was on Life between Lives. Some may have heard about it. It is a hypnotic process which focuses on taking you into the brain wave patterns deeper than that for Past Lives and taps into…

Healthy Bones The Wise Woman Way Every woman I know is concerned about osteoporosis. Frightening stories equate it with broken hips, bent spines, wheelchairs, and death – things we all want to avoid. What can we do? Should we take calcium supplements? Hormones? Fosamax? Can we rely on our green allies? The Wise Woman tradition maintains that simple lifestyle choices – including, but not limited to, regular use of nourishing herbal infusions, medicinal herbal vinegars, yogurt, and seaweed – are sufficient to preserve bone and prevent breaks. And, further, that these lifestyle choices produce multiple health benefits, including reduction of heart disease and breast cancer, without the problems and risks…

June 1 Festival of the Oak Nymph. This Pagan celebration honors all hamadryads (female nature spirits who are believed to inhabit oak trees). Decorate a Pagan altar with acorns and war some oak leaves in your hair. Kiss an oak tree or place a small offering of some kind before it, and the tree nymphs who dwell within it will surely bestow a blessing upon you. June 2 Shapatu of Ishtar. A Pagan festival dedicated to the goddess Ishtar is celebrated every year on this date. She is the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian deity who presides over love and fertility as well as war. The birth of the god Apollo…

The Goddess of Summer Solstice People from every culture and era have held spiritual and religious celebrations in June! Most are holy days, linked to the Summer Solstice. Officially, it’s the first day of summer. On this day, literally, the sun appears to stand still as it reaches the zenith of its climb through Heaven. From this day forward, it will slowly descend, the days growing shorter as we move toward winter. The Pagan Community celebrates Litha, the Summer Solstice, on June 21st. It‘s the longest day of the Pagan year, halfway between Beltane on May 1st, and Lughnasadh on August 1st. At this sacred and fruitful time, the Oak…

Dreams Part IV Helping the Dream To wrap up the series on dreams I thought I would share some of ways to making divination through dreams more powerful and provide the clearest results.  Often times my most creative inspirations and thoughts come to me during the “twilight” stage. (no, not the vampire movie)  You know when you’re feeling yourself drift off to sleep, but technically you are still awake.  This is the time when crazy solutions seem reasonable and the worries of the day dance softly to the back of your mind.  I often meditate for story ideas, answers to questions or signs on which direction I should take.  When…

PaganPages(PP): Tell us a bit about yourself Alexis Waite (AW): I’m a SoCal native who has been drawing ever since I could hold a crayon.  My dad worked as a graphic artist, painter and photographer to support his family before the computer revolution turned the entire art industry on its ear in the early 90’s.  I think he was my main influence in why I drew as much as I did, given his own paintings adorned the walls of each house we lived in.  I still carry a sketchpad and draw in my spare time as a hobby. PP: Have you always wanted to design Tattoos? AW: That’s something I…

Blodeuwedd – Owl Goddess, Flower Woman When you think about a goddess that can help you take responsibility for your actions and to be assertive, you may want to work with the Welsh Goddess Blodeuwedd.  Here is her story. Blodeuwedd was created by the family of Lleu Llaw Gyffes because Lleu was put under a curse by his mother Arianrhod to never have a human wife.  This was because of Arianrhod’s  shame of having her not being a virgin exposed by Math in the myth Mabinogi of Math fab Mathonwy. Math needed to place his feet in the lap of virgin when he was not at war.  The fact that…

The Real Castle Dracula “A vast ruined castle, from whose tall black windows came no ray of light, and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the moonlit sky.” -Jonathan Harker as he approaches Castle Dracula for the first time (Stoker Chapter 1) Bram Stoker’s Dracula has always brought about inspiration, curiosity, and enchantment to those who have decided to be enthralled by the tale.  In the novel, both the Count and his home are described in such detail that one would think that both are real.  While it has been shown that the infamous Vlad the Impaler is the Count, arguments still exist about the exact whereabouts of…

Faeries, Elves & Other kin: The Fae and their Origin. The name fairy comes from the Old French word faerie. The word faerie as we commonly know it has been hackneyed by using it to describe paranormal beings and the like. Never the less, there is an enormous amount of differentiation in categorizing a faerie from today’s modern literature and those of literature from the middle ages, particularly those of the Celtic tradition as well as from other faerie traditions such as those from  Germany, England and many Slavic countries. Oftentimes when one thinks about the Fae, they envision them as tiny winged creatures flittering around a glittering unearthly light…