Writing archive from previous iterations of this site (2019-2025).
n Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) utters important words to a young Will Turner (Orlando Bloom): “The only rules that really matter are these: what a man can do and what a man can’t do.” This philosophy is of utmost importance in realizing your personal sovereignty…
The ritual of Cakes and Wine (also called Cakes and Ale or the Simple Feast) seems like it was ripped directly from the Christian Eucharist. And to a certain extent, it was. The early practitioners of Wicca were brought up in the Church of England, where weekly Communion is a hallmark of the faith. But…
In honor of National Coming Out Day, I wanted to tell my story. I have a secret. Sometimes I wish I were a straight woman. It would be so much easier, less complicated, more accepted than being a Queer person. I didn’t ask to be pansexual. I didn’t ask to be nonbinary. I didn’t ask…
Witchcraft is the recourse of the oppressed, and it always has been. It is subversive, countercultural, revolutionary. It breaks unjust bonds. It uplifts the downtrodden. It punishes the wicked. And the real danger for the Craft in the 21st Century is that mainstreaming it and becoming respectable in the eyes of the overculture — which…
In Wicca, it seems like everyone wants to be the High Priestess. There’s a level of prestige implied in the title, harkening back to The Mists of Avalon and Vivienne with her commanding presence as she ruled benevolently over the Holy Isle. Some people are more impressed with the title than they are with anything…
As a child I was fascinated with Gregorian chants. I thought it was so cool that there were people who dressed in robes and sang all day. Now, of course, I realize that there’s far more to the monastic life than that, but I can’t help but want to capture that experience of ordered and…
The planetary hours are an ancient magickal tool that arises from Hellenistic and Babylonian astrology. It operates on the premise that each magickal hour of the day (that is, one-twelfth the time between sunrise and sunset, or sunset and sunrise) is ruled by one of the seven classical planets, and that the energies of this…
Priestesshood is more than having a mature spirituality and a calling. It’s also having the courage and grace to serve others humbly and compassionately knowing that you will never be compensated for your physical, mental, and emotional labor. It’s giving up your plans. It’s giving up your anonymity. It’s being the bad guy sometimes when…
It’s been said that Wicca doesn’t have sacred texts. I disagree. While it’s true that Wicca is an experiential religion, relying on one’s personal experience of Deity to define one’s beliefs, it does have sacred texts: Gardner’s original Book of Shadows, Valiente’s Charge of the Goddess, and the bits of sacred writing of early Gardnerians…
Having a devotional practice can be challenging, especially if you’re just starting out on the Pagan path or you’ve got a lot of mundane commitments. If you’re new, there may be so many options of things to do that you don’t know which to incorporate first. And everyone has work or family or community commitments…