Groundhog's Day is American for Imbolc [BellaDonna Saberhagen]

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:24:36 +0200

One of my favorite pod-casters once mentioned that one of the holidays in the Wheel of the Year that she just can’t seem to “get” is Imbolc. She doesn’t raise sheep, so the milk-giving aspect is beyond her and where she lives, it’s still the middle of cold-as-Hel winter in early February. Having a hard time connecting to a holiday makes it very hard to want to celebrate it. If you don’t feel it, you’re just going through the motions because “to be a good Pagan, you’re supposed to.” (Don’t feel y

Read More...

Solitary Spirituality [Jess]

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:24:36 +0200

Being a solitary Witch does not mean that you have to do everything alone. I myself have been a member of a coven and practiced on my own as well, finding that not everyone is meant to perform rituals and works of magic with others. Sure, sometimes it is nice to be joined with others of your own faith. But being a part of a coven is not for everyone.I found my path about ten years ago. A friend in high school introduced paganism to me. Mind you, this was also during a time when the movie

Read More...

Mundane Magick [Soull the University Witch]

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:24:36 +0200

There are days in which I find myself feeling as if I have forgotten that I am, indeed, a Witch.When I walk past the living room, I spare a glance with brown eyes at the small altar my partner Lore and I have crafted together using beautiful objects I have collected over the year of us being together. Our first chalice of red and clear glass, the miniature cast iron cauldron, and the brass lantern I had acquired years ago when I was thirteen. I still had it in my possession, even after o

Read More...

Building a Wiccan Library as a Broke College Student [Luna]

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:24:36 +0200

I just recently read Peg Aloi’s article Leaves of Gold: Finding Those Rare Occult Books here on the Witches’ Voice again, and there’s always one statement she makes that pops out to me: “Pagans like books.” Well, I can’t really deny that that statement definitely applies to me. Even before I came to Wicca, I loved books. I’d always beg my parents for a trip to Barnes and Noble or whatever bookstore we happened to be close to. I kept flashlights and little book lights in my room and would

Read More...

Prayers in the Wind [Verda Smedley]

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:24:36 +0200

“The Ancient Ones clearly saw what was coming and with complete devotion and love made prayers for us. Their words were sent out into the cosmos so that someday we would catch up to them.”I found this to be a surprisingly common theme throughout hunter-gatherer shamanism. Those old spirit handlers seemed to have an extraordinary reach into what we call the future. They seemed to have uncanny foresight into the demise of their own people and the impending doom of our planet. I can’t imagi

Read More...

Teach Me: Helping our Children Avoid Abuse of Power [Cilsant]

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:24:36 +0200

**I feel the need to preface this, as others have done, with what should be obvious: these are my personal experiences and personal opinions and truths, and should hold absolutely no threat to those with differing opinions or truths. There are portions of my life where Wicca was not a good experience; that does not mean it cannot be a good, fulfilling, and safe experience for others, if provided the right spiritual seeds. Aside from the academic and historical honesty portion of this essay, ever

Read More...

Our True 'Magical Tools' [Solonius]

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:24:36 +0200

Our ‘magical items’ are only mundane objects without inherent power! After much deliberation, I’ve decided that I must toss that match into the gasoline can. I feel that there is an undue amount of romanticism attached to what are only supposed to be the tools of the witch’s trade. We are supposed to be wise enough to know that it is our minds, through our focused thoughts, that perform our spells and ceremonies, not our tools.Wren composed a very thorough and thoughtful essay on the typ

Read More...

The Lost Tools of the Witch [BellaDonna Saberhagen]

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:24:36 +0200

When you ask your average neo-Pagan or Wiccan what tools are on their altar (or are important to their craft) , you typically get the following list: athame, wand, pentacle, chalice, besom, cauldron, candles, incense, sometimes herbs and stones, sometimes a “white-handled knife” or boline. That’s about it though. A great number of the tools are things that would have been common household implements during the early-Modern Witchcraft trials. Every household needed a cup, a knife, a pot, a broom

Read More...