Samhain Blessings to All! Today is the Great Festival of Samhain (pronounced SAH-wen, or SOW-wen), which marks the third and final harvest and summer’s end. This is the ancient Celtic New Year and also the New Year for many traditions of modern Pagans and Witches. This is the midpoint between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice … Read more
Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. – Exodus 22:18 On this day in 1985, the American House and Senate dropped the “Helms amendment,” which would have specifically barred the IRS from granting tax-exempt status to groups that promote Witchcraft. And on this day in 1998, only fourteen years ago, the Vatican finally took … Read more
What I am is a humanist before anything — before I’m a Jew, before I’m black, before I’m a woman. And my beliefs are for the human race — they don’t exclude anyone. ~ Whoopi Goldberg (Sun, Moon, Mercury, and Saturn in Scorpio) Happy Birthday, Scorpio Scorpios are often considered the most intense, profound, powerful … Read more
Hail! Journeyer of the Heavens, Queen of Brightness, King of Beauty! Gifts of gladness richly bringing, Autumn sheaves and red leaves’ fall. Generous be the heart within us, Open be our hands to all, Justice to be in equal measure, Harvest thankfulness our call. ~ Greeting to the Autumn Equinox Caitlín Matthews, A Celtic Devotional … Read more
Peace and justice are two sides of the same coin. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower (Sun and Moon in Libra) On this date, which is also the Equinox, the Sun enters the sign of Libra, fittingly, the sign of the balanced scales. Like the scales, Libras prefer to be on an even keel. They easily tune … Read more
As you may know, on the last day of each month, I like to give honor to the Goddess Hecate. Hecate is a Greek Triple Goddess of magical crossroads and the three realms of Earth, Sea and Sky. She is a guardian of the household, protector of everything newly born, and the Goddess of Witches. … Read more
Lammas Bread Blessing Bless the earth that grows the grain, Bless the water that gives us rain, Bless the wind that helps seed spread, Bless the fire that bakes our bread. – Words by Diane Baker, music by Anne Hill, Serpentine Music The Wheel of the Year turns today, and across the Northern Hemisphere, we … Read more
Merry Meet! This day simply crackles with magic. It brings the celebration of the Aquarius Full Moon, and the first of the three ancient Harvest Festivals, Lughnasadh (also called by some, Lammas). The next ones will be Mabon (Autumn Equinox) and then Samhain. (It also is the beginning of “The Days Between,” which Grateful Deadheads … Read more
Goddess Sunday is taking a break, as I prepare for my holiday and holy days of retreat. I will be offline for several weeks (!), except for the Tarot Card of the Week, and, who knows, the occasional drop-by. As the cross-quarter holiday of Lughnasadh approaches, I am reminded of dear Caitlín Matthews’ post for … Read more
This week, I am featuring a Goddess whose feast day Americans will be celebrating on Wednesday (whether they realize it or not). No one can explain Her better than one of Her most public, devoted Priestesses, Selena Fox. So today, I offer Selena’s own article, almost in its entirety — a loving homage to this … Read more