Mother Nature has all the remedies we need — and as witches, it’s important to know how to harness them through working with herbs and plants. Throughout this series of articles, we’ve examined some of the key herbs to work with for healing, spells, and divination rituals. After learning about the magickal properties of jasmine and clover, it’s time to look at another favorite: lavender.
Growing your coven membership can be difficult in a practice that does not proselytize or actively recruit. Plus, with paganism being a new religion that is often misunderstood by the general public, many practitioners don’t blatantly display their faith, so others might not even know they are a practitioner. But if pagans and Wiccans don’t recruit, how can they find new members? The majority of people learn about paganism and Wicca through books, online, or from close friends.
Celebrating fertility has been very important to our Pagan ancestors. It had to be, of course. Whether it was to help secure the birth of new human (or animal) life or to coax rain to fall to make the land fertile, every pagan pantheon had its own gods and goddesses of fertility — many of who are still very much celebrated to this day. As Beltane, the great Wiccan Sabbat of union and fertility, draws near, it’s a great opportunity to get to know these gods and goddesses a bit better so that you can include them in your Beltane altar and ask for their blessing.
It is often said in mysticism that we are connected to an immediate local group of spirit instances. Lifetime after lifetime, we reincarnate together. My daughter in this lifetime may have been my mother in a previous life or perhaps my military captain, or even simply a colleague in a common profession, who knows. Lifetime after lifetime, we all wear different masks-of-flesh and participate in this game of incarnate life.
Whether you are new to Wicca or have been practicing for a while, it is always a good time to brush up on your knowledge of those aspects of the Craft that are invoked frequently. In many altar setups, spells, and rituals, the four elements are called upon or used. Though Air is the least tangible and visible of the elements, we still frequently incorporate it into our practice.
Hera was worshipped in Greece way before people started speaking Greek there. She was the first deity to whom the people of that area ever dedicated a temple; she was worshipped all the way from Iran to Egypt. She’s often conflated with the Egyptian Goddess of fertility and agriculture, Hathor, and with Demeter, the Earth Goddess. Hera’s name probably comes from an older form of the word for “Lady” (Kera) but adapted to mean “Lady of the year” or “Lady of the season.” Some historians think it’s an anagram for the word for “air,” as Hera was considered the Queen of the Skies, or the Heavens. Just as Freya, the Lady of the Old Norse pantheon, played a much more important part in the past before her role was diminished to not antagonize Odin, so did Hera. Prior to her marriage to Zeus, Hera was considered a manifestation of the Great Earth Goddess in all her three aspects: Maiden, Mother, and Crone.
I recently retired from Pastoral Priestess duties, including representing the Pagan community at the regional Clergy Council. There are plenty of up and coming folks who are eager to perform the day-to-day joys and rigors of doing pastoral work within the Wiccan community. It was time to pass the proverbial torch.
As a mystical explorer, I have decided to dedicate my remaining years to documenting what I have learned about spirituality and, most especially, the magickal arts. Many of my planned writings will be articles here in Wicca Magazine.
I have received numerous requests to write a short summary of my view and perspective of forty years of Magickal and Divining Practice. Ok, here is a primer for life on a road less traveled!
The gods and goddesses of our Pagan ancestors differ from place to place — and from pantheon to pantheon. But some overarching themes can be found throughout the world: in every pantheon, there are gods and goddesses of war, wisdom, harvest and agriculture, death and rebirth. And in every pantheon, there are the gods and goddesses who preside over the most precious of human feelings: joy, happiness, and pleasure.
Fans of 90s music no doubt know the name Lilith. Lilith Fair was a music tour that featured only solo female acts or female-fronted bands. If you know the music festival, you likely already associate the name Lilith with feminism a bit. But do you know why Sarah McLachlan chose the name Lilith to begin with? Because of her history as Adam’s first wife, who was created as an equal and refused to be subservient to him. Lilith has a rich history that isn’t just tied to the myth from Judaism that saw her cast out from Eden.
Air and Water might be necessary for life, but Earth is life itself. It is the Mother Goddess, her womb full. As Witches, we are dedicated to the Earth element, protecting, respecting, and honoring all of nature. The Craft pulls on the natural magick of all the elements, but Earth provides the basis of so much of our practice.
