• Spells & Rituals

    SpellCrafting: Spells & Rituals

    New Year’s Intentions Merry meet! With Samhain marking the end of one year, it’s a time to focus our intentions on the witches’ new year ahead – and help them manifest. This spell will match a wish to each of the elements.     Prepare an altar for Samhain with a candle for each of the elements. Have four small pieces of paper and, to put them in, four envelopes or small glass jars. Add sacred objects, and perhaps items related to your intentions. Put the four aces from the Minor Arcana, which will represent the elements, and the Nine of Cups, the wish card, on the altar.   Burn…

  • Crafting Articles

    WitchCrafting: Crafts for Witches

    Air-Dry Clay     Merry meet. If you prefer to make tools, charms, altar decorations and gifts, clay could be all you need. In this case, it was block of the air-drying variety. Purchased at a tag sale years ago, one corner of the plastic had split open, drying some of the clay. Placing the block in an airtight container and adding some water restored it. A ziplock plastic bag also works.     Air-dry clay is soft and pliable. Kneed it a few times and it’s ready to be rolled, shaped, pressed into molds and sculpted. The clay will begin to dry as soon as exposed to air, so to…

  • Crafting Articles

    WitchCrafting: Crafts for Witches

    WitchCrafting: Crafts for Witches – Travel Shrine     Merry meet. Decades ago, while studying the Kabbala, I made a personal connection to Archangel Raphael. Recently, synchronicity brought him to my attention repeatedly until I got the hint and began calling on him again. We often meet in the same place we once did. Now I realize the old stone cottage on the side of a mountain, deep in the forest is that of a hedge witch – me – and he is helping me to heal myself and others as he watches over my travels.   To honor him I wanted to make a small shrine that had a…

  • Monthly Columns

    Season of Tender Roots: Belonging – An Excerpt from ‘Seasons of Moon and Flame’ by Danielle Dulsky

    Season of Tender Roots: Belonging An Excerpt from ‘Seasons of Moon and Flame’ by Danielle Dulsky   As a young woman, beloved witch, author, and teacher Danielle Dulsky found refuge, nurturance, and wisdom when visiting her grandmother’s rustic home. Next to the fire of the winter hearth and sitting outside with the wildflowers of spring, her anorexic body was loved and fed, her racing thoughts were slowed, and she received a maternal support she did not have in any other part of her life. These visits with Grandmother Grace were the seeds that eventually grew into Danielle’s deepening exploration into the Sacred Hag archetype and the wisdom that these elder…

  • Monthly Columns

    Preparing a Moon Alter and a Ritual for Releasing Negative Energy Book Excerpt From ‘The Moon Fix by Theresa Cheung’

    Book Excerpt From ‘The Moon Fix by Theresa Cheung’   Preparing a Moon Alter and a Ritual for Releasing Negative Energy   Lunar Preparations In The Moon Fix, you will find a series of moon fixes: rituals, spells, recipes and meditations you can perform. Location matters, and getting your moon fix outside, preferably at night, when the moon is in her element, is beneficial. You should always make sure you are in a safe, well-lit area. However, for many reasons being outdoors may not be possible: there are still many ways to align with the moon indoors or during the day. When working indoors, it helps if you have a…

  • Monthly Columns

    MagickalArts

    Creating Sacred Space The Experience of Sacred Space makes possible the “founding of the world”: where the sacred Manifests itself in space, the real unveils itself, and the world comes into existence … Mircea Eliade … What is Sacred Space? Read and re-read the quote above. Take it into your space of meditation. Analyze, dissect and observe it from all angles, perspectives and meaning. Try to feel the weight and breath of its meaning and allow the words to gently wash over you. Digest it and then simply sit with the feeling of satiety its inner essence provides. And, once you have done these things, redo them, one by one.…