I look back with gladness to the day when I found the path tothe land of heart’s desire, and thank Fate ceaselessly with aloud voice that she did not permit town to sap all the yearsaway while the heart was turning to wind-voices andflower-faces and the hands of kindly earth. — Mrs. George Cran, The … Read more
Let us be silent, that we may hear the whispers of the gods.— Ralph Waldo Emerson As we continue to explore the pathways to Grace, I’ve been discussing the customs of many traditions who use the time between Imbolc and Ostara to undergo a period of renunciation, fasting, and cleansing. Besides the obvious food editing, … Read more
©The glorious art of Willow ArleneaWe have come to be dancedNot the pretty danceNot the pretty pretty, pick me, pick me danceBut the claw our way back into the bellyOf the sacred, sensual animal danceThe unhinged, unplugged, cat is out of its box danceThe holding the precious moment in the palmsOf our hands and feet … 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 barred the IRS from granting tax-exempt status to groups that promote Witchcraft. And on this day in 1998, less than ten years ago, the Vatican finally took responsibility … Read more
A Harvest Idylby John Greenleaf Whittier For Susanna Martin I call the old time back: I bring my layin tender memory of the summer dayWhen, where our native river lapsed away, We dreamed it over, while the thrushes madeSongs of their own, and the great pine-trees laidOn warm noonlights the masses of their shade. And … Read more
Once more the liberal year laughs outO’er richer stores than gems or gold:Once more with harvest song and shoutIs nature’s boldest triumph told.— John Greenleaf Whittier This morning, before most North Americans had rolled out of bed, we moved into the time of perfect balance, the Equinox, taken from the Latin for “equal night.” It … Read more
Reclaiming Tradition WitchcraftPrinciples of Unity“My law is love unto all beings…”The Charge of the Goddess The values of the Reclaiming tradition stem from our understanding that the earth is alive and all of life is sacred and interconnected. We see the Goddess as immanent in the earth’s cycles of birth, growth, death, decay and regeneration. … Read more
Charge of the Goddess Traditional by Doreen Valiente, as adapted by Starhawk: Listen to the words of the Great Mother, Who of old was called Artemis, Astarte, Dione, Melusine, Aphrodite, Cerridwen, Diana, Arionrhod, Brigid, and by many other names: Whenever you have need of anything, once a month, and better it be when the moon … Read more
Little Summer Poem Touching the Subject of Faithby Mary Oliver Every summerI listen and lookunder the sun’s brass and eveninto the moonlight, but I can’t hear anything, I can’t see anything —not the pale roots digging down, nor the green stalks muscling up,nor the leavesdeepening their damp pleats, nor the tassels making,nor the shucks, nor … Read more
When in still air and still in summertimeA leaf has had enough of this, it seemsTo make up its mind to go; fine as a sageIts drifting in detachment down the road. — Howard Nemerov, Threshold This is the eve of Lughnassadh, also called Lammas in the Christian revision of the Pagan rites. It is … Read more