Thank you for reading Under the Ancient Oaks in 2025, and especially for liking, sharing, and commenting on social media and in the comments section.
Here are the top ten posts for the year on Under the Ancient Oaks, as measured by pageviews.
10. Brighid’s Fires: Comfort, Anger, Inspiration, Change (January 2025)
I rarely do guest posts – I hadn’t had one on this blog in over five years. But after I heard Cynthia Talbot’s sermon at Denton UU, I knew it needed a wider audience. This was exactly what this congregation needed to hear at this point in time, and I think her message will resonate with many of you.
May you never run out of matches.
9. When You Call The Gods… And They Show Up (March 2025)
I do my best to stay out of the arguments over who is or isn’t a witch. Even if your idea of witchcraft is strictly aesthetic, if it helps you navigate a difficult and unfriendly world, that’s a good thing and I’m not going to tell you you’re wrong. At the same time, witchcraft can be so much more.
Sometimes, that more can hit you when you don’t expect it. Sometimes you get results that are so real and tangible they challenge your assumptions about what is and isn’t possible. FAFO.
When you find out, I hope it will be a confirmation that all you’ve wanted is real and not something that sends you running back to a religion you left for very good reasons.
8. Samhain: Remember Who You Are (October 2025)
I don’t know when better days are coming. I can’t control the weather, or the climate, or the politics, or the mainstream culture.
But I can remember who I am.
I’m someone who honors the many Gods, and especially the Morrigan. I’m someone who remembers my ancestors, and who takes inspiration from their stories. I’m someone who understands that when ordinary means of change fail, we still have magic. I’m someone who accepts that death is inevitable, and who knows there is no reason to fear change.
This is who I am. When times are good, when times are bad, when times are frustrating, this is who I am.
At Samhain, remember who you are.
7. The Urgency of Celebrating the Spring Equinox (March 2025)
In a country where the government forces conformity, the rebel celebrates diversity. In a country where the government exploits nature, the rebel reveres nature. In a country where the government builds walls, the rebel practices hospitality.
Celebrating the seasons is part of what we do as Pagans. Whether the government supports it, opposes it, or ignores it, it’s what we do.
6. Paganism In A Time Of Intolerance (February 2025)
It’s hard not to be overwhelmed by what’s going on in the political sphere. We have an obligation to stay engaged with the political process and to support the most vulnerable among us. But if all we do is worry and rant on Facebook, we will accomplish nothing.
Build the kind of community that will be there for you when you need it, by being there for others when they need it. Look in on your vulnerable friends and do what you can to protect and support them. Remember who you are and keep your eyes on what you want.
In this time of growing intolerance, the best thing some of us can do is to be as openly and loudly Pagan as we can be.
5. Reality Is Not Determined By Executive Order (January 2025)
I intend to set my own agenda, to work on the things that are important to me, and to live the way I want to live in spite of him. I’m not a political activist and I’m not going to become one. I’m a Pagan, a polytheist, a Druid, a witch. This is what’s important to me. This is how I’m going to change my little corner of the world.
4. Willful Childlessness (June 2025)
At their annual meeting, the Southern Baptist Convention – the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, and one that is largely in the Trump camp – condemned “willful childlessness which contributes to a declining fertility rate.”
Willful childlessness – what an arrogant, presumptive, offensive phrase.
The choice to have children or to not have children is one of the most personal decisions any of us can make. It must always remain with the individual, and never with the church or the state.
3. Lugh Isn’t Coming To Slay Balor (February 2025)
Lugh isn’t coming to slay Balor. No one is coming to save us. The 2026 midterms and the 2028 Presidential election may make things better. Or they could make things worse. And a lot can happen between now and then. In any case, the cultural rot that got us to this point isn’t going away any time soon.
Live your life your way. Build alliances, especially close local relationships. Take care of who you can. Be kind.
And when the Morrigan speaks, listen.
2. This Is A Time For Dangerous Magic (February 2025)
I think most of us understand that magic and witchcraft and signing up to serve a Battle Goddess carry some danger. We accept the risk because we want what’s on the other side of the danger. Or at least, sometimes we do. Other times we pass on dangerous magic because we fear what might go wrong – or because we fear what it would mean if the magic actually worked.
Let’s face it – a lot of us are scared right now. Even if we aren’t in any immediate personal danger, we’re concerned about the direction of the country and the world, and what that’s going to mean for us in the future. And some of our friends are in immediate personal danger.
Here’s why now is the time to start working dangerous magic.
1. I Read Pagan Threat So You Don’t Have To (September 2025)
I wish Pagans were the threat Lucas Miles thinks we are. I wish we had the power, the influence, and the organizational competency he says we have in his new book Pagan Threat: Confronting America’s Godless Uprising.
Don’t let this book change you. This is a time to be cautious, not a time to be fearful. This is a time to tell the world who we are, not who we aren’t.
We will not be defined by people who can’t even bother to learn who we are, what we believe, what we do, and why we do it. We will not be defined by people who use a caricature of our religion to make excuses for their own failures.
If Paganism is a threat to fundamentalists, it’s because we have a path, a tradition, and a practice that’s meaningful and helpful to an increasing number of people, and they don’t.
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