Author, activist, and teacher extraordinaire, Parker Palmer, is one of my favorite inspirations, and his post today on Facebook seemed particularly poignant as we approach the Samhain holiday. So many of us are hiding in “the broom closet,” afraid to be identified as Witches or Pagans because of the very real ignorance, prejudice, and even … Read more
I’m a fountain of blood. In the shape of a girl. ~ Bjork (Sun, Moon, and Ascendant in Scorpio) Happy Birthday all you Scorpios! At 2:10am, Eastern Daylight time, the Sun moved into your sign! As this rather visceral characterization from triple Scorpio, the singer Bjork, shows, Scorpios are often considered the most intense, profound, … Read more
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
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
Sonnets to Orpheus, Part Two, XXIX Rainer Maria Rilke (from In Praise of Mortality, translated and edited by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy) Quiet friend who has come so far, feel how your breathing makes more space around you. Let this darkness be a bell tower and you the bell. As you ring, what batters … Read more
Sparks from the hearth Of the Queen of Death and Life Swarm through the dark, Dance through the Night. by J. Robin Gall from Second Chants, Serpentine Music Productions This is the Great Sabbat of Samhain (pronounced SAH-wen, or SOW (rhymes with cow) -wen), and is the third and final harvest, marking Summer’s end. It … Read more
Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. ~ Exodus 22:10 As you may be well aware, tomorrow is that most holy and ancient holiday of the Celtic calendar – Samhain. While our modern technology tells us what time it is, and that such-and-such is the date, to our ancestors, the time was known by … Read more
O Lady Of Mourning we call to Thee By the Cauldron of Hidden Sight O Lady of Keening we call to Thee By the Wings of Endless Flight O Lady of Wisdom we call to Thee By the Cave as dark as Night Cailleach, Crone, Beloved Guardian of the Ford Night Mother, Lover and Wise … Read more
Dash across a diamond sky And spend yourself on air Brilliant light You scratch the night And end your voyage there.. From Falling Star by David Gans (Sun in Scorpio) Today, the Sun moves into the sign of Scorpio and so we celebrate all those lovely, deep, intense Scorpio people! Symbolized by the scorpion, of … Read more
from A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman When you consider something like death, after which (there being no news flash to the contrary) we may well go out like a candle flame, then it probably doesn’t matter if we try too hard, are awkward sometimes, care for one another too deeply, are … Read more