For me, the summer solstice has always been closely linked with the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Fairies! Lovers! Parties! From start to finish, this play is one giant romp, and that’s the kind of energy I want to cultivate in the summer -- starting with making offerings to the fairies. Read more
The three degrees of initiatory Witchcraft are often misunderstood by Witches and Pagans, especially those who do not study in an initiatory tradition. Sable Aradia explains what they are all about and why they would matter. Read more
Julian Betkowski introduces his new column "Syncretic Electric" and his path, Neoclassical Syncretism. Read more
The “Invocation of the Graces” is a charm or blessing that was recited over young people in the Scottish Highlands to protect them from various potential threats while endowing them with a number of virtues or powers Carmichael's translation refers to as “graces.” Read more
As a Druid, I feel it is much better to try and understand the mysteries of life on its own terms, not with reference to a speculative hereafter. To be a Druid is to live this life well, honourably, deeply. Not by the rules of an ancient book, but by pragmatic standards, humanistic standards, reasoned out as best I am able. Read more
The concept of the horizon is one that is threaded through huge amounts of Egyptian liturgical poetry. It appears in the oldest known texts, often in a context that seems to equate it with the spirit world. The gods are seen going to, dwelling within, and rising from the horizon; the king, likewise; those who enter the spirit world are “pure and living in the horizon.” Read more
I'm a religious person who believes in the reality of the divine, but I'm also a scientist. Much of what I write about here stems from my own doubts and a struggle to reconcile these two aspects of my life. This is, in its essence, a story about how I worked through doubt for myself. Read more
I think the Devil is a way of putting outside of us all the things we don’t want to admit are part of being human. We kill and torture, rape and abuse. Once we admit that evil wears human faces, then we stand a better chance of dealing with it and not becoming a manifestation of it ourselves. Read more
It was only after more than a decade as a witch that I realized I have inherited magic from my matrilineal line. I just couldn’t see it before because I expected hereditary magic to be flashy and imbued with a sense of secrecy, and so I ignored something that had been out in the open all my life. Read more
As we look back on our lives, there have been specific moments in time that deeply impacted our future. In a sitewide series, Patheos asked its writers to describe their defining moments, and Pagan contributors responded. Read more
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