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I know, I know. More than anything else, you want a coven, but either there are none, or none of them will have you.

Believe me, I understand your pain. I remember it well.

I'm one of the lucky ones. For nearly 40 years now, I've been part of one of Witchdom's oldest and most stable covens. So what could I possibly have to say to the uncovened?

One thing that I can't do is to invite you in. A coven simply doesn't have the resources that a nation-state does; we can't take in refugees. At least, we can't take in many.

But I was a refugee once myself. In fact, we all were: refugees from the Island of Misfit Toys. We were the ones that nobody else wanted.

So we banded together, our little coven of misfits, and here we are today: still going strong four decades later. Meanwhile, all those groups that wouldn't have us have fallen by the wayside.

What do you do when you need a coven and you can't find one?

Here at PaganSquare, I’ll be sharing a spirit animal painting and message from my Elfin Ally Oracle Deck picked especially for the zodiac sign that Mama Moon is currently transiting. Enjoy!

As the wheel turns to spring, life begins to stir in the soil and earth magic grows more powerful with every day.

Now is the time to sow flower herb or vegetable seeds indoors for abundant new plants in the coming summer. Excellent things to try in a limited space are salads or calendula or nasturtium plants which can be directly sown into small pots and grown on the windowsill if space is short. Allow yourself to experiment and have fun, eagerly awaiting the new shoots and seedlings springing into life.

Just as the Hedge Witch follows the tides of the moon, so too does she follow the cycles of the sun.  She pays attention to the length of days, and knows where it rises and sets in her local area throughout the year through careful observation. She has spent many mornings and evening watching the sunrise and sunset from the same vantage point, so that she can pull all her solar knowledge into her Craft, and make it applicable to her work.

The tides of the sun are reflected in the eight Sabbats found in modern Witchcraft and Wicca. Not all Witches follow all eight, as some prefer to follow only the Celtic Fire Festivals which mark agricultural times, rather than solar phenomena. However, we know that our megalithic ancestors followed the solstices and equinoxes with the building of their temples and stone circles, and so today many in Modern Paganism and Witchcraft follow all eight festivals. So, we follow the path of the sun in the two equinoxes and solstices, as well as the four Fire Festivals which mark important timings in the agricultural year, as dictated by the sun’s gifts and the local weather.

 Reader Alert: Homophobic Language

I've been called "fag" many times in my life, but probably the last place in the world where I would have  expected to have it happen again was the “Paganism and the LGBTQ+ Experience” panel discussion at Paganicon.

It always hurts more when your defenses are down.

Let me hasten to add that this hate speech was no fault of either the panel's organizer or the panelists themselves. It came, rather, from an audience member who stood up to speak during the post-presentation discussion.

(Since I don't know pronoun preferences for this specific individual, I'll use “3.”)

This person, who self-identifies as Third Gender, talked—inter alia—about how, although it wasn't 3's real identity, 3 used to pass as a “fag” because it was easier.

Here at PaganSquare, I’ll be sharing a spirit animal painting and message from my Elfin Ally Oracle Deck picked especially for the zodiac sign that Mama Moon is currently transiting. Enjoy!