-
Learning Lunar: Moon Magic & Mystery – Imbolc
Imbolc, Full Moon into Waning Gibbous Imbolc or Imbolg is a very special time of year for many people on a Pagan or spiritual path. It’s also a continuously celebrated Irish festival, although many people celebrate Saint Brigid’s Day instead, which occurs at around the same time. Because there is no hard and fast date for Imbolc, the moon phase will move from full to waning gibbous during the time that people are celebrating this festival. Let’s take a look at what that might mean, magically, astrologically, and practically. Note: Imbolc is happening in the Northern Hemisphere. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, you’ll be enjoying your full-to-waning gibbous…
-
Book Review – Church of Birds: An Eco-History of Myth and Religion by Ben Gagnon
Book Review Church of Birds: An Eco-History of Myth and Religion by Ben Gagnon Publisher: Moon Books 248 Pages Publication Date: April 1, 2023 Church of Birds is a compendium of myths, artifacts, and observations of birds throughout the history of humankind and their role in helping our ancient ancestors survive, thrive, and strive to be more connected to the gods and the natural world. Chapter 1: The Language of Birdsong discusses the similarities between the songs birds sing and the evolution of human speech. The author mentions myths from civilizations around the world that have humans descendant from birds at the time of creation. It has myths…
-
Exclusive Q&A With La Carmina about Her New Release “The Little Book of Satanism”
La Carmina is an award-winning alternative culture journalist and TV host. She runs the leading blog about Goth travel, fashion and Satanism (LaCarmina.com/blog), which was featured in The New York Times and Washington Post. La Carmina is the author of four books including Crazy, Wacky Theme Restaurants: Tokyo and Cute Yummy Time, published by Penguin Random House. She received a journalism prize from the Society of American Travel Writers, and her writing has appeared in Time Magazine, CNN, Business Insider and Architectural Digest. As a TV personality, La Carmina has danced with William Shatner and Henry Winkler on NBC’s Better Late Than Never, dined with Japanese monsters on Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Foods, negotiated a $666 taxidermy head on Discovery Channel’s Oddities, cooked cute…
-
As Above, So Below (How the Stars Became Our Hearts)
Everything, Everywhere, For all Time A fool thinks he knows everything. A wise man knows he knows nothing. But… what is everything? Well. We don’t know much as a species. Our whole existence is a grab bag of unanswerable questions and paradoxes. Like the Fermi paradox, which is the absence of obvious evidence for alien life, despite the clear logical prediction that they should be there. Religion and science have struggled to understand everything, both as individual pieces and as an all inclusive collective. Throughout all time of collective human history, the closer we get to the answer, the further away it seems to be. Religion, and science,…
-
Toxic Spirituality
I try to keep these articles from being super personal. Avoiding using words like I, or speaking from my personal experience. This will be the opposite. This piece will be 100% gonzo. So, I’ll start my saying, I was always a seeker. A lot of people start their path Christian by default of indoctrination. I was different. I sought after the truth, and it was told to me that it was Christ. I spent much of my time in the church. I saw lots of abuse. I saw people ostracized due to their sexual relationships. I saw people mindlessly brainwashed by the platitudes of the church, even if they…
-
As Above, So Below (How the Stars Became Our Hearts)
The Mystery of Non-Causality “You are this universe. And you are creating it at every moment. Because you see, it starts now. It didn’t begin in the past. There was no past. If the universe began in the past, when that happened it was now. But it is still now and the universe is still beginning now and it’s trailing off like the wake of a ship from now and as the wake of the ship fades out, so does the past. You can look back there to explain things but the explanation disappears. You will never find it there. Things are not explained by the past. They’re…
-
Book Review – The Ancestral Power of Amulets, Talismans, and Mascots: Folk Magic in Witchcraft & Religion by Nigel Pennick
Book Review The Ancestral Power of Amulets, Talismans, and Mascots Folk Magic in Witchcraft & Religion by Nigel Pennick Publisher: Destiny Books 352 Pages Publication Date: May 11, 2021 Crosses. A rabbit’s foot. Bells. The Cimaruta. Bones. Four-leaf clovers. Bluebirds. Horseshoes. The mandrake. Runes. An Ankh. Pentagrams. Hag stones. Lucky numbers. Sigils. Emblems. Down through the centuries, people have worn, carried, and displayed hundreds of these as well as amulets, talismans, charms and mascots for protection, luck, love, good health, and more. In this book, Nigel Pennick presents the origins, meanings, traditions, and folklore for each magical artifact – plus pictures of some from his vast collection. Information…
-
As Above So Below (How the Stars Became Our Hearts)
Christianity: The Great Misunderstanding Now, in the last entries, I’ve aimed a lot of criticism at the Christian faith. Setting aside the purpose of the religion now, and whether or not Jesus was real or divine, let’s examine the lore with a more open mind. Let us assume that Jesus was very real, and his words were truth. Then with that lens, examine Christianity once again from the perspective of the man with whom the religion places it’s namesake. Jesus’ message was very much different from what we find in the Old Testament. Which seemed to be a collection of lore stories centered around sin and blood. The tribulations…
-
Bees in Folklore, Religion, and Superstition
This is an adapted extract of a video I did recently for Pagan Aid to help raise awareness of their campaign to raise money for Bees for Development, an organisation that helps some of the poorest communities in the world create livelihoods through beekeeping. You can view the original video here. There are over 250 species of bee in the UK and around 4,000 native species in the United States. Even humble bumblebees have at least 24 separate species, from orange and black red-tailed bumblebees to the classic white, yellow, and black tree bumblebees. However, it’s the honeybee that gets the most attention, generally, when it comes to…
-
GoodGod!
Meet the Gods: Krishna Krishna is a major deity in Hinduism, one of the most popular and widely revered. He is worshipped as the eighth incarnation or avatar of Lord Vishnu and also as the supreme God in his own right. He is the god of love, compassion and tenderness. Hindu mythology portrays him as a prankster, gentle lover, universal supreme being and child-like God. People consider Krishna their leader, hero, protector, philosopher, teacher and friend all in one. He’s influenced Indian life and culture – not only its religion and philosophy, but also its folklore, painting, sculptures, literature, music, dance, poetry, and mysticism. He is…
