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Beltane & Sex Magick
Today is Beltane! The first day of May and it’s also a full moon, the Flower Moon. Our community needed this rare, powerful alignment this year. However, to break up the monotony, I decided to write a combination article about Beltane and Sex Magick. I figure everyone else will be talking about the Flower Moon, but I was captivated by something else. I have noticed a rise in sex magick on social media lately, particularly during Beltane festivities where many local pagan groups are hosting adult fertility ritual. Unfortunately, I’m still living abroad where there isn’t a big pagan community, so I cannot join in on any of these Beltane…
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The Sorcerer’s Notebook: Walpurgisnacht, The Green Devil, and Witches’ Sabbat
Blessed Walpurgis to all, and Beltane Blessings! Today, and specifically, tonight, holds a special power that those of us who endear themselves with the more traditional cunning arts should not only welcome and observe, but work with, and cast effective magick for actual change. Yes, I am getting a little political, but only because current events and regimes threaten to bring us to brink of extinction: either via war and destruction, or via climate change. To be clear, I’m no climate scientist, but, I can read, and read I do; everyday. From the small bit of research I’ve done on the worsening climate issue, we’re already at the point of…
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Spring, Beltane, and the Magick of Renewal: A Special Column from The Modern Merlin
Hello friends, and welcome to May! Happy May Day, and Merry Beltane/Bealtaine! After a short hiatus, I’m back, and will slowly be picking up the pace in my writing so as to not burn myself out. How often I’ll be posting this month is TBD, if I’m being honest, but I’m excited to be back! That aside, I’m excited to be sharing with you a unique perspective I’ve come to regarding Beltane. Beltane is, and always was, a fertility festival; there’s an energy of renewal in the air, and love, too. Culminating with the Solstice at Midsommer, this season is truly about life renewed, as the bees and various critters…
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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,…
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#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…
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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…
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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…
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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.…
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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…
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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,…
