• Reviews

    Book Review – The Witchy Homestead: Spells Rituals and Remedies for Creating Magic at Home by Nikki Van De Car

    Book Review The Witchy Homestead Spells Rituals and Remedies for Creating Magic at Home by Nikki Van De Car Publisher: Running Press Adult 144 Pages Publication Date: August 17, 2021   I’m always on the lookout for books focused on everyday magic that makes home and family life easier and, perhaps, that little bit more wonderful. This one is so eye-catching with its promise of spells, rituals, and remedies for creating magic at home. Yes please! The book is handily split into three sections: Enchanting Your Food, Enchanting Your Health, and Enchanting Your Home. I love the idea of enchantment as an everyday practice to weave into all aspects of…

  • Monthly Columns

    ZOOM IN!

    Tips and Techniques for Effective Zoom Events   COVID-19 and new protocols for safety has resulted in canceled festivals, rituals and workshops leaving many within our community feeling isolated and yearning for interactions with others. Fortunately, we live in a technologically booming age and since creativity is a staple of pagans, these two together can form a winning partnership…..   Basic Virtual Etiquette Now that we are using virtual platforms more often there is the need to establish guidelines for appropriate behavior during the virtual event/call. This month’s post provides some of the basic rules of etiquette you may wish to employ.   Muting Microphones When you sign into the virtual…

  • Monthly Columns

    ZOOM IN!

    TIPS AND TECHNIQUES FOR EFFECTIVE ZOOM EVENTS COVID-19 and new protocols for safety has resulted in cancelled festivals, rituals and workshops leaving many within our community feeling isolated and yearning for interactions with others. Fortunately, we live in a technologically booming age and since creativity is a staple of pagans, these two together can form a winning partnership. The past several months, I’ve used a virtual platform for workshops, Esbats, Sabbats, social activities and more. There is undeniably, a learning curve in finessing the event to make it enjoyable and powerful for the participants. And, unlike an in-person event, there is additional planning required to ensure that the technology component…

  • Reviews

    Book Review – 10 Minute Crystal Healing: Easy Tips for Using Crystals for Healing, Shielding, and Protection by Ann Crane

    Book Review 10 Minute Crystal Healing Easy Tips for Using Crystals for Healing, Shielding, and Protection by Ann Crane 176 Pages     “10-Minute Crystal Healing” introduces readers to these natural wonders and their energies. In the first part of the book, Ann Crane explains how crystals work, the significance of various shapes, the attributes of each color, how to choose and care for stones, some of their most common uses, and how to program them. There are tips, rituals, exercises and meditations to inform, guide, heal, protect and empower users. Basic correspondences for zodiac signs and chakras, and using crystal grids are also presented. I was impressed with the…

  • Reviews

    Book Review – Light Magic for Dark Times: More than 100 Spells, Rituals, and Practices for Coping in a Crisis by Lisa Marie Basile

    Book Review Light Magic for Dark Times More than 100 Spells, Rituals, and Practices for Coping in a Crisis by Lisa Marie Basile 176 Pages     I was lucky to be sent a copy of the book “Light Magic for Dark Times” by Lisa Marie Basile. It’s published by Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc, 2018. This book is 176 pages and is a hardback. This is a book that is perfect for the current state of the world. It is filled with self-care and coping practices targeted for the hard or challenging times in life. This book has lots of general information that will help any newbie to magic…

  • Reviews

    Book Review – 10-Minute Moon Rituals: Easy Tips for Working with Each Astrological Sign to Develop Your True, Lunar Nature by Simone Butler

    Book Review 10-Minute Moon Rituals Easy Tips for Working with Each Astrological Sign to Develop Your True, Lunar Nature by Simone Butler 208 Pages     “10-Minute Moon Rituals” has two parts. The first is an introduction to the eight monthly phases of the moon and the characteristics of each. This link to author Simone Butler’s site http://astroalchemy.com/your-moon-power/ will determine your moon sign at birth so you can read up on your emotional nature, needs, wisdom from previous lives, and what can trip you up. Other sites, including this one, https://www.astrocal.co.uk/find-out-your-moon-phase/ will give you the phase of the moon. I was born under a waning gibbous moon. According to Simone,…

  • Crafting Articles

    WitchCrafting: Crafts for Witches – Gratitude Tree

      Merry meet. Making a gratitude tree is a timely craft for Mabon or Thanksgiving, and it’s something the whole family can do. Start by finding one branch or several small ones to place in a vase or other container that is weighted with rocks, sand, etc. to keep it from tipping. Cut leaves out of paper in fall colors. On each, write something for which you are thankful. To hang on the branch, punch a hole and tie one end to the leaf and the other to the branch. You can also tape the thread to the leaf.     To use real leaves, write on them with a…

  • Reviews

    Video Book Review – The Book of Altars and Sacred Spaces: How to Create Magical Spaces in Your Home for Ritual and Intention by Anjou Kiernan

    Video Book Review The Book of Altars and Sacred Spaces How to Create Magical Spaces in Your Home for Ritual and Intention by Anjou Kiernan 177 Pages   “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” and nothing is more inspiring than the creation of an altar that speaks to your intentions. Ready to manifest your intention? Learn more in this video edition book review by Robin Fennelly.   The Book of Altars and Sacred Spaces: How to Create Magical Spaces in Your Home for Ritual and Intention on Amazon *** About the Author: Robin Fennelly is a Third Degree Initiate within The Assembly of the Sacred Wheel Tradition and serves as High…

  • Monthly Columns

    Spiritual Preparation for Pregnancy Excerpted from The Pregnant Goddess by Arin Murphy-Hiscock

    Spiritual Preparation for Pregnancy     Is Anyone Truly Ready for Pregnancy? On the surface of that question is the obvious answer: If you can conceive or have conceived, then you are physiologically ready for the state of pregnancy. Whether you are mentally, emotionally, or spiritually ready, well, that’s another story. Even if you have previously been pregnant, that experience serves only as a guideline for how this pregnancy will go and how you will feel and react to the changes in your body once again. It is one of the miracles of pregnancy that every experience with it will be different. Every gestation is unique and you must look…

  • Monthly Columns,  Spells & Rituals

    “Self-Love Ritual for When You Don’t Get It Right the First Time” An Excerpt from The Junior Witch’s Handbook by Nikki Van De Car

      Fulfillment will never be achieved without some failure along the way. If it were easy, it wouldn’t be all that fulfilling, would it? Failure is an integral part of the process of reaching satisfaction and happiness. That doesn’t mean it’s a pleasant experience. Whenever we fail at something—and particularly when it’s something we really want to be good at—it hurts. We feel all kinds of emotions, and may decide that this failure along our journey means that we’re not good at this, that we’re never going to be good at this, and, sometimes, that’s there’s something wrong with us because we weren’t successful this time. Sometimes it helps to…