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Yule Correspondences
Lesser Sabbat – Winter Solstice Begins Wednesday, December 21, 2022 and ends on Sunday, January 1, 2023 Other Names: Jul (“wheel”, Old Norse), Saturnalia (Rome ~December 17 & 18), Yuletide (Teutonic), Midwinter, Fionn’s Day, Alban huan, 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,…
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Witch Hunt
There are witches all around us. You can find them anywhere… The Witch on Wheels has been documenting her findings. Meet: Catherine LaForza Catherine is a 60-year-old Witch, a warm glass artist, caregiver, Grammy and Death Midwife who has been a practicing pagan since 1990. We connected this summer when I was in Connecticut. She’s a caregiver to her husband who has not only survived, but thrives as a 20-year heart transplant recipient. Their experiences dancing on the edge of Death has led her to train as a Death midwife. Birth and Death are spokes on the same wheel; both are initiations and transitions. Death midwifery sits…
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Deck Review – The Weiser Tarot by Arthur Edward Waite, Pamela Colman Smith, and the Editors of Weiser Books
Deck Review The Weiser Tarot by Arthur Edward Waite, Pamela Colman Smith, and the Editors of Weiser Books Publisher: Weiser Books 64-page Guidebook and 78-Card Deck Release Date: September 14, 2022 I can’t remember where I found out about this tarot deck. I thought I read about it on a WordPress blog I follow about Tarot and Oracle cards but when I checked the blog to reference it, there was no mention of this Tarot deck, so I must surmise that I discovered this beautiful set of cards somewhere else. I look at hundreds of emails everyday and every Tuesday is Tarot Tuesday, when I focus…
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Book Review – Pure Magic by Judika Illes
Book Review Pure Magic by Judika Illes Publisher: Weiser Books 320 Pages Release Date: April 1, 2022 Originally published as Earth Mother Magic in 2001, and later as Pure Magic in 2007 and The Big Book of Practical Spells in 2016, the newly updated Weiser Classics edition of Judika Illes’ first book Pure Magic boasts a new foreword by Mat Auryn and a new preface by Judika Illes. My own first experience of Illes’ work was when I acquired The Element Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells: The Ultimate Reference Book for the Magical Arts a few years after it came out. That monumental volume has been with me…
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Book Review-The Wheel of the Year; Your Nurturing Guide to Discovering Nature’s Seasons and Cycles by Rebecca Beattie
Book Review The Wheel of the Year Your Nurturing Guide to Discovering Nature’s Seasons and Cycles by Rebecca Beattie Publisher: Elliott And Thompson Limited 224 Pages Published: October 27, 2022 Dr Rebecca Beatttie has drawn inspiration for her many years of teaching about the wheel from nature. She has captured her knowledge gained from those years here. Her writings make a great guidebook to assist one to live life in step with the seasons of nature. Throughout the book she makes reference to the oral traditions that were not formally recorded. Sometimes stories are forgotten or altered based on the storyteller’s interpretation. Rebecca makes references to these stories…
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Exclusive Interview with author Ron George
Interview with Ron George, Author of Elizabeth Franklin: A Witch’s Tale Pagan Pages: What got you started as a writer? Ron George: I was really into poetry and classical literature when I was in high school. Shakespeare’s Macbeth really inspired me to start writing. But looking back I would say the movie Mean Girls. Fanfics were really big back then so I joined one of the online groups and developed a fairly decent following with my stories. At the time I don’t think Tina Fey knew that Mean Girls, almost overnight, developed a cult following. Well, the original version was actually written by Rosalind Wiseman. Anyway, for whatever reason…
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Book Review – Pagan Family Prayers and Rituals by Ceisiwr Serith
Book Review Book of Pagan Family Prayers & Rituals by Ceisiwr Serith Publisher: Weiser Books 272 Pages Release Date: June 1, 2022 A book about Pagan prayers and rituals? Who knew! I wish I could have had this book when my children were little! This book is chock full of prayers for every occasion: Morning, Bedtime, Holidays like Samhain, Yule, Imbolc! It explains each of the four festivals, the solstices, and the equinoxes; it gives what decorations, foods (and recipes!), and drinks you should use, along with rituals, and blessings that should be used. Ceisiwr wrote this book obviously for families, but anyone can use this…
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WitchCrafting: Crafts for Witches
Yule Decor Merry meet. You know magic is everywhere when you can find a good idea for Yule in a YouTube video from The Home Depot. I live on a bus and use mason jars for everything from drinking glasses and vases to making kombucha and storing herbs. “Fuss-Free Holiday Decorations & Prep Techniques” now has me using them to make berry luminaries. It’s simple: put pieces of evergreen in any-sized mason jar, fill with water, add some cranberries, and float a tea light candle (removed from its holder) on top. Mine will be on my altar, but these would go well on a…
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Book Review – Learning to Love the Spaces in Between: Discover the Power of Liminal Spaces by Claire Gillman
Book Review Learning to Love the Spaces in Between: Discover the Power of Liminal Spaces by Claire Gillman Publisher: Welbeck Balance 200 Pages Release Date: January 3, 2023 From the publisher: The word liminal comes from the Latin word ‘limen’, meaning threshold. A liminal space is the ‘crossing over’ space, the time between ‘what was’ and the ‘what is to come’, and a place of transition and possibility. Each of us experiences liminality in our lives – learning how to navigate and embrace its power can enhance our wellbeing and our understanding of the world. Being in liminal space can be unnerving, yet it is often where insight,…
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#165 — The Samhain Issue
Hallowed Samhain! — This October, we: Celebrate a Hallowed Samhain with correspondences, recipes, and more… Sit down with Pagan elder Oberon Zell to discuss Neopaganism, the Green Egg, and the Church of All Worlds… Explore the magickal benefits of Middle Eastern Oud incense… Review a whole bunch of new Pagan Portals titles… Delve into the Mood Tarot & Mood Oracle… Share book excerpts & poetry… Plus — Tons of book reviews — A review of The Rota Mundi Tarot — Working with the Gods when you have ADHD — and much more!
