Awakening Self Love
What do Imbolc and Valentine’s Day have in common? They’re both celebrated at the start of spring in...
Discovering the Power of Daffodils
The Trumpet of Spring. The first flower of March. Daffodils have had many monikers among farmers, Pagan folks...
Snow Magick
Snow in itself is a magickal component of winter. When everything is deeply at rest and dormant, its white...
The Spirit of the Stag
The Spirit of the Stag With its majestic antlers crowning the Moon, the stag cuts a breathtaking figure...
Power Animals
The term ‘spirit animal’ is fairly well-known. Humorous claims that cartoon characters or celebrities ‘are my...
Moon Salts
Salt is an indispensable ingredient in our daily lives and witchcraft. Ritual salts add to our craft and can be...
The Power of Indigo
There’s much speculation about the color indigo. Some say it’s a combination of purple and blue, others claim it leans towards blue, and others see it as more purple. Most will tell you it’s situated between blue and purple on the color wheel. The truth is that indigo doesn’t feature on the color wheel.
Mercury Retrograde
Mercury Retrograde gets what we colloquially call a “bad rep,” especially from people who don’t really understand how astrology, or magick for that matter, works. Mercury Retrograde tends to be blamed for everything from communication and technological breakdowns (possible) to breakups, accidents, and all kinds of disasters or bad luck (not very possible, unless you believe it is so, and thus, bring this upon yourself).
Spiritual Places to Visit in the United States
When sacred, spiritual, and mystical places are discussed in Wicca and Paganism, the focus tends to be on sites in Europe. Stonehenge, Greek temples, and other historical sites are often brought up as places Wiccans and Pagans should make pilgrimages to. Though the United States is young, the land is old, and sacred spaces exist here just as in other, older countries. Some are naturally occurring spaces with strong mystical and spiritual energies, while others are human-made and of great significance to the cultures that built them. For the created sites, even if you don’t share the religion of the builders, you can recognize and respect the power of the place, and a visit to pay respects is a balm for your spirit.
Mabon ap Modron
Mabon ap Modron comes to us from the Welsh pantheon, but different versions of this deity and the archetypes he represents are found in Celtic, Gaulish, and Irish legends. Mabon’s name seems to be derived from Maponos (“Great Son”), a Gallo-Brittonic deity developed as the local counterpart of Apollo. In fact, several historians believe Mabon himself is the Brittonic counterpart of Apollo, the God of Light. According to sources, Roman soldiers that were posted along Hadrian’s Wall in the 2nd century CE (in what is now Northern England) recognized one of the local gods of the Britons as ‘Apollo Mabon,’ a version of their own Sun God. Mabon is also referred to as Mabon ab Mellt, Mabuz, and Mabonagrain in Celtic mythologies, Pryderi fab Pwyll in Demetian mythologies, and Mac ind Óg and Óengus in Irish mythologies.
