Beliefs are not static things, they grow and they evolve. Some beliefs can be traced back to genuinely old roots; sometimes they have been formed within the our own generation. Read more
Beliefs are not static things, they grow and they evolve. Some beliefs can be traced back to genuinely old roots; sometimes they have been formed within the our own generation. Read more
Beltane used to be easy for me. When I was new to Paganism, I knew what Beltane was all about. Sex! And by extension, romance. These days, if you ask me what Beltane means to me, I'd probably get that frown line on my forehead as I think about how to answer you, because it's more complicated. Read more
Need a simple enchantment to get the juices flowing? Here is a type of mantric sigil spell using only pen and paper, and possibly counting beads. Read more
We are called to belong. Humans evolved from communally living apes, our closest relatives in the Earth Mother’s family are the chimpanzees and the bonobos of the African continent. We live, love, eat, and sleep in groups. We tend to congregate in villages and cities. But no matter how we live, or where we go, we have one thing in common. The Earth. Read more
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
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