Outside the Charmed Circle
...we are often forced either to adapt the myths and symbols the past to meet our present needs or to mold our present attitudes and practices into a shape we believe the past might've recognized. Either route has its dangers. Read more
...we are often forced either to adapt the myths and symbols the past to meet our present needs or to mold our present attitudes and practices into a shape we believe the past might've recognized. Either route has its dangers. Read more
Zakroff has taken the time and effort to ground her work in both legitimate art theory and solid magical practice, and to present her thoughts in clear, unambiguous prose devoid of pretension. The resulting book is a delight to read, chatty and erudite in equal measure, and constitutes a serious contribution to magical theory and practice. Read more
"...we're responsible for what's done with our power, whether we claim it or deny it. If we claim it, or reclaim it, we accept that responsibility, but we also get to choose. We can decide how or if that power is used, and for whom." Read more
What we call "politics" is, like any other realm of human endeavor, a way in which power is negotiated and exercised. To claim that our lives are removed from that one sphere of power is to intentionally sever ourselves from it, and from our own power in that space. This is an example of what the Anderson Feri tradition calls "giving away your power," and it's a great big no-no. Read more
Politics is, in short, another word for talking about and negotiating power... and if I've learned anything at all about the p-word community in the past couple decades, I've learned that a lot of us are really uncomfortable with power. Read more
I don't much relish being treated like Mrs. Hughes or Carson the butler, especially if I'm not being paid for my services, and I don't imagine any of the gods and spirits with whom I'm privileged to work care for it, either. Read more
Consent's a funny thing. It has the potential to start or end relationships, to create or ruin lives, to rupture or repair communities. It's a magical word, consent. It has power. Consent IS power, and human beings have a deeply ambivalent relationship to power. Read more
Samhain. Halloween. The night before the first day of Winter, the beginning of the slide into the dark of the year. A night for playing tricks, gathering treats, and wearing the skins of our fantasies... and our nightmares. A night for walking, if only for a short while, with the dead. Read more
If we're more concerned with social capital than with gnosis, that's what we'll find. On the other hand, if we're genuinely seeking gnosis, the most magical motto we can adopt is, simply, "I don't know." Read more
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Some (Obviously Belated) Administrative Rules
I'm not saying you have to nerf your badass spooky darkling witchself, or hold strong opinions, or express them passionately. I'm not even saying you can't be angry. I'm saying, while you're in my virtual living room, act as though you were in my actual living room, Read more