Several years ago, I took a trip out into the sticks for a Beltane ritual. Some folks out there needed a May Queen, and through a sequence of coincidences I happened to be both available and qualified. It was a short-term gig in sacral rulership, with my blessing sought to help with the fertility and health of the land. It's one of the things that I think about when I poke my nose into debates and discussions about sacred kings. Read more
What is the meaning of this column’s title, The Blooming Staff? For a long time I tried, and failed, to choose: between decadence and morality, between paganism and Christianity, between individualism and the collective good. Certain dualities—the constant back and forth between division and unity, between devotion and blasphemy—recur frequently, an unresolved dialectic. Read more
If you’re genuinely asking yourself, once part of a group, ‘Why am I here?’, then I suggest that after the initial response and reaction to your own question, you ask yourself again: ‘Why am I really here?’ Read more
This is MODERN witchcraft, where we strip off the mask of the obvious, and glory in the rich, chocolatey layers of occult mystery that peel away all labels and norms to bite down to the sweet, cream-filled, cherry center of this Beltane bonbon. Read more
The eve of May is also called Walspurgis Night (from Walspurgisnact in German and Dutch) and Hexennact or Witches Night. According to various folktales witches fly to buck mountains and have a dance party around bonfires on the peaks. The next day, May Day (or Beltane) signals the beginning of summer, therefore, May Eve is the last night of Winter's influence. Read more
In times of trouble, our own wishes, needs, hopes, and fears are easily conflated with those of another. In such a time, I was ethically obligated to separate my friend’s spiritual needs from my own and act based on what I knew of them. Read more
For everything there is a season, and Beltane is the time to embrace your life-making instincts for the new and beautiful to take root and flourish in your world. Whatever you seek, the Green Man will give to you, for He is the lover-God whose ardor can spark new life and possibilities. Read more
There’s been quite a buzz going about the Heathen community about the three "newly discovered" Viking sites in Canada. Already there have been some pretty wild claims and suppositions made by people who are understandably excited by these discoveries, but it’s important to keep the facts in mind. Read more
Bealtaine is a holiday that celebrates both the dark and the light, just as life is ultimately about finding a balance between the two that works for each of us individually. Read more
Issues with boundaries come up a lot with leadership, but that's because they come up in life. Whether I'm joining a new group, or in a new relationship, boundaries have to be negotiated. If not, they are just a ticking time bomb toward a conflict. Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In