• Crafting Articles,  Monthly Columns,  This Month's Holiday

    In The Kitchen With Skarlett Mayday! Mayday!

    Beltane, AKA May Day, falls on the first of May. It is the festival that marks the midway point between Ostara and the Summer Solstice. In Celtic traditions, it also means the start of the summer season. Other Earth-Centered Religions have celebrated this rebirth of the Earth in many forms: The Germanic festival of Walpurgis Night is a boisterous and beloved celebration involving bonfires and much, noisy merry making; The Greeks would have celebrated Protomagia, Summer’s victory over Winter by making and hanging flower wreaths on their doors. and Vappu in Finland honors the Earth waking up with raucous picnics and mead known as sima shared round. This is only…

  • This Month's Holiday

    Beltaine Correspondences

    Also known as: May Day, Bealtaine, Beltane, Bhealtainn, Bealtinne, Festival of Tana (Strega), Giamonios, Rudemass, and Walburga (Teutonic), Cetsamhain (opposite Samhain),Fairy Day,Sacred Thorn Day, Rood Day, Roodmas (the Christian term for Rood Day, Old Beltane, Beltain, Baltane, Walpurgis Night, Floriala (Roman feast of flowers from April 29 to May 1), Walpurgisnacht (Germanic-feast of St. Walpurga), Thrimilce (Anglo-saxon), Bloumaand (Old Dutch)   Date: May 1   Animals: Swallow, dove, swan, Cats, lynx, leopard Deities: Flower Goddesses, Divine Couples, Deities of the Hunt, Aphrodite, artemis, Bast, Diana, Faunus, Flora, Maia, Pan, the Horned God, Venus, and all Gods and Goddesses who preside over fertility. Tools: broom, May Pole, cauldron Stones/Gems: emerald, malachite,…

  • Uncategorized

    #168 – The Beltane Issue

    Welcome Beltane! We’ve got tons of content to help you make the most of your spring fire and flower festivals! In Book Reviews: Moon Path Yoga, Hagitude, Spells for Living Well, Trees Are Our Letters, The Nature of Astrology — and more! Also in this issue: New monthly columns: Stellar Applications, SpellCrafting, Moon Magic, Tarot with Lady Saoirse — and many others! Correspondences to help you plan your May Day celebration! COMING SOON: Ask Magic Myrtle: a new advice column is coming to Pagan Pages! — Go visit our Ask Magic Myrtle page to submit your questions now! Getting eye strain from the background? Just click on the Moon/Sun switch…

  • Spells & Rituals

    SpellCrafting: Spells for Witches

    SpellCrafting: Starting Beltane Fires Merry meet! This issue’s WitchCrafting column has ideas for making fire starters. If you’d like to take it one step further, you can craft them as a spell. Beltane themes such as burning away that which no longer serves your highest good and greatest joy, planting seeds, and nurturing goals can be incorporated when making fire starters. For instance, toilet paper tubes stuffed with dryer lint can be decorated with Beltane colors (green, soft pink, blue, yellow, red, brown), pictures of flowers in bloom, or a sigil made for a specific intention. On it you can write what you are ready to release, what you desire…

  • Reviews

    Book Review – Pagan Portals: Breath of Spring: How to Survive (and Enjoy) the Spring Festival by Melusine Draco

    Book Review Pagan Portals: Breath of Spring: How to Survive (and Enjoy) the Spring Festival by Melusine Draco Publisher: Moon Books 96 Pages Release Date: February 1, 2023         Breath of Spring: How to Survive (and Enjoy) the Spring Festival is another lovely offering from Moon Books’ Pagan Portals series, this time exploring the various festivals of spring as they developed in Western cultures. In the first chapter, author Melusine Draco explores the origins of Candlemas and the related Pagan festival of Imbolc, from possible Greek origins (the return of Persephone) through the Christian era in Britain. This chapter explores some of the historical traditions surrounding the…

  • Crafting Articles

    WitchCrafting: Crafts for Witches

    Crafts for Witches: Fire Starters Merry meet. Beltane is one of the fire festivals. The word Beltane translates roughly to “bright fire” and in Celtic tradition, the most important ritual was the sacred community bonfire lit at sunset the evening before. (Celtic days went from sundown to sundown.) Festivities focused on casting off winter’s darkness and celebrating the start of summer. It’s also a time of celebrating fertility You can start your fire with items you likely already have on hand. Perhaps the easiest and least expensive fire starters are made by filling cardboard toilet paper tubes with loosely packed dryer lint. Use two or three to start a fire.…

  • Monthly Columns

    Mindful Living: A Connection of Mind, Body and Spirit

    As we journey through the wheel of the year, we are going to connect that journey to our mindfulness practice. Our goal will be to explore ways that mindfulness and meditation can be woven into both our daily and magickal practices. This turn of the wheel brings us to Beltaine and the astrological sign of Taurus. Beltaine represent the warmth as Summer Returns and fertility rites; as well as a fae connection. As Taurus is ruled by the planet Venus it represents love, beauty and money. Together this is an excellent time to explore love, beauty, passion, prosperity and the fires of creativity and rebirth. Our mindfulness practice makes us…

  • Monthly Columns,  This Month's Holiday

    Beltaine Correspondences

      Also known as: May Day, Bealtaine, Beltane, Bhealtainn, Bealtinne, Festival of Tana (Strega), Giamonios, Rudemass, and Walburga (Teutonic), Cetsamhain (opposite Samhain),Fairy Day,Sacred Thorn Day, Rood Day, Roodmas (the Christian term for Rood Day, Old Beltane, Beltain, Baltane, Walpurgis Night, Floriala (Roman feast of flowers from April 29 to May 1), Walpurgisnacht (Germanic-feast of St. Walpurga), Thrimilce (Anglo-saxon), Bloumaand (Old Dutch)   Date: May 1   Animals: Swallow, dove, swan, Cats, lynx, leopard Deities: Flower Goddesses, Divine Couples, Deities of the Hunt, Aphrodite, artemis, Bast, Diana, Faunus, Flora, Maia, Pan, the Horned God, Venus, and all Gods and Goddesses who preside over fertility. Tools: broom, May Pole, cauldron Stones/Gems: emerald,…

  • Crafting Articles

    WitchCrafting: Crafts for Witches

    Ostara Cards   Merry meet.   I don’t always manage to get Yule cards out on time, but it occurred to me: why send cards only for the winter holidays? Why not for spring? Here is a suggestion for an Ostara card that can be modified for any of the other sabbats. I bought packets of seeds that were magickal and, hopefully, easy to grow – organic and heirloom when possible. Then I wrote a verse for the inside of the card that can serve as a spell, which you are free to use:           “As the wheel turns and we move into the light, May…

  • Monthly Columns,  Reviews

    Worth the Witch Unboxes ‘Two Witches Whimsy’

    ‘Two Witches Whimsy’     This month’s Subscription Box we are Unboxing is from Two Witches Whimsy. Currently they have two boxes available on cratejoy: The Whimsy Box! – Vegan & The Whimsy Box – Omnivore.   They both start at $25 a month for a 1 month trial or $23.33 for a 3-6 month subscription. Those prices includes the shipping within the USA. They do charge some for shipping outside of the United States. That is a reasonable request from them, as shipping has become quite expensive.   Arrival!!     I love the arrival of a new Subscription Box!!! I get so excited! When the box arrives in…