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Learning Lunar: New Moon into Waxing Crescent, Autumn Equinox 2025
If you’ve been following previous issues of Learning Lunar, you’ll see that we’ve looked at some of the major moon phases both generally and in relation to the specific time of year. This month, I want to get super specific and look at the exact phase and movement of the moon around the Autumnal Equinox. Why? Because I love this time of year. The Autumn Equinox is very magical for me, and has seen me go through many changes, some good, some bad; some happy and some sad. This year’s equinox holds bittersweet mixed emotions, thanks to a run of events coming to an end, but with it, the opportunity…
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Road to Runes: Buying a Rune Set
There are plenty of questions you might ask when choosing a rune set. What material should I choose for runes? Do I have to make them myself? Are mass-produced runes okay? To be clear, there are no “right” or “wrong” answers, only answers that are right for you. However, we’ve pulled together some tips and advice to offer guidance with this important choice of divination tool. Materials for Runes You can find runes made out of just about anything, and you can make a set of runes out of any materials you might have to hand. Even runes written on pieces of paper can work. But if you’re in the…
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Deck Review — Mood Crystals by Christel Alberez and Nereus North Goldstar
Deck Review — Mood Crystals by Christel Alberez and Nereus North Goldstar Publisher: David & Charles 50 Cards Release Date: 13th September 2022 Thank you to David & Charles for providing this deck for unbiased review. I really enjoy instructional decks — something beyond the standard oracle or divination deck, where each card carries learning and information beyond connecting with your inner self. This deck certainly ticks that box. From the moment you open the box and pull out the guidebook and cards, you can see that each card is not only beautifully presented but rich in useful detail. Let’s start with the guide booklet. There’s a short introduction that…
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Book Review — The Tarot Spreads Yearbook
Book Review — The Tarot Spreads Yearbook Publisher: David & Charles 144 Pages Release Date: 11th April 2023 This beautifully presented book is billed as “52 Tarot Spreads for Getting to Know Yourself.” In our modern, fast-paced life, isn’t that something we’re all trying to do a little more? It’s so easy to get bogged down in our routines, work, and trying to make ends meet that we can lose sight of our inner selves and what nourishes us. With that in mind, I opened this book with an optimistic frame of mind. At first glance, it’s clear that, like the year, this book is split into four seasons: Growth,…
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Notes from the Apothecary: Bistort
Until the end of August, possibly a little beyond depending on the weather, you may find the bristly, bottlebrush-like flowers of bistort growing everywhere from meadows to roadside hedgerows and verges. Although the bistort we have in the UK and that found in the US are slightly different, they’re all part of the same family: Polygonaceae, under the genus Bistorta. Here in the UK, I always think of the flower as little pink or purple cleaning brushes. The North American variant tends to be a bit paler and fluffier looking — I hope I get to see some with my own eyes someday. The Kitchen Garden The Wildlife Trust reports…
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Following Threads of Life in Chaos: The Tao for the Modern Occultist and Pagan
Whew! I haven’t written a creative piece in quite some time; life really hit me with a curveball, and I had to a take an unexpected leave of absence from pretty much everything here, spare the occasional book review. I’m happy to say that while the things that caused my absence aren’t completely resolved, I am at a point where things have slowed down enough for me to write this piece, which I’ve been wanting to write for a little while now. My spiritual seeking started in high school. Until late in my sophomore year, so about 2010, I found that science, like I previously thought, couldn’t account for everything…
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Book Review-The Call of the Old Gods: My Occult Journey on the Pagan Path by Christopher McIntosh
Book Review The Call of the Old Gods: My Occult Journey on the Pagan Path By Christopher McIntosh Publisher: Inner Traditions 264 Page E-Book Release Date: May 6th, 2025 The Call of the Old Gods is a well-written memoir from one of my favorite Pagan and Occult authors, Christopher McIntosh. Instead of telling you what to do, he relays the experience to you, as well as the academic background, to inspire the reader to form their own practices, etc. This book, instead of his usual, scholarly approach, focuses on a well-storied life full of trials, lessons and friendships. McIntosh has lived a long life and has had the opportunity to encounter…
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Notes from the Apothecary: Moss
It’s been a while since I posted in this column, but I’m hoping to get back to it once a month. I wanted to start back with a plant that I’ve been fascinated with since I was a child. Well, it’s not one plant really, but a whole group of plants: Moss. Moss is like a miniature forest; a whole ecosystem on a doll’s house scale (or smaller) that holds so much wonder. From common haircaps emulating pine trees to sphagnum moss that forms unique peatlands, moss is a very special part of our ecosystem and is packed with magical potential. The Kitchen Garden Moss is a collection of non-vascular…
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Are We All the Same?- Tarot with Lady Saoirse
By Lady Saoirse Bright Blessings, Recently I had an ugly wakeup and reality check. I realize I should have realized this a long time ago! Whether this is doing or getting a reading, or not, this lesson holds true in our pagan communities. A backstory first. In 2004, I had a terrible health scare. At the time, I had not converted to Paganism yet, although I had left Catholicism. I had been attending an Apostolic church for close to a year when I fell ill. The assistant pastor and another man in the congregation had taken me to task just before I got sick. It happened when the assistant…
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News & Notes from the Editor-December 9th-15th, 2024: Reclaiming Paganism
Hello again friends! I hope you’re all doing well, and that your week is getting on without any major issues as we continue to navigate the end of Mercury retrograde this week. I’ve decided to take on an Op-Ed style for this week’s Editorial. Paganism is, and has been, pervasive in history, with its cultures, traditions and folk beliefs influencing everything, from our outlooks, philosophy and our holiday traditions. Different Gods, Goddesses and spirits have taken on similar attributes for each culture, helping explain things like the changing of the seasons, weather events, death, birth and similar, unavoidable aspects of life. For large parts of recent, modern history, Christianity and…
