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Did you know your pantry is like a pharmacy?  Thankfully, it is far cheaper. Cumin is loaded with phyto-chemical, antioxidants, iron, copper, calcium, potassium, manganese, selenium, zinc and magnesium and contains high amounts of B-complex. Cumin helps with insomnia.  Cinnamon is truly a power spice. Just half a teaspoon daily can dramatically reduce blood glucose levels in those with type 2 diabetes and lower cholesterol. Cayennepromotes circulation and boosts metabolism. Clove is an antifungal and abets toothaches. Nutrient-rich parsley is a detoxifying herb and acts as anti-inflammatory and anti-spasmodic helping conditions from colic to indigestion. Rub it on itchy skin for instant relief! Sage is very beneficial in treating gum and throat infections. Sage tea has helped ease depression and anxiety for generations. Thyme is a cure for a hangover and doubles to alleviate colds and bronchitis. Cilantro is a good source of iron, magnesium, phytonutrients and flavonoids and is also high in dietary fiber. Cilantro has been used for thousands of years as a digestive, lowering blood sugar having hypoglycemic properties, possibly the result of stimulating insulin secretion. Ginger stimulates circulation and is an excellent digestive, aiding in absorption of food and rids bloat. Immune champion turmeric boosts production of antioxidants and reduction of inflammation. Blue Zone centenarians credit their long healthy life by drinking turmeric-root tea daily. Pack your pantry with these seasonings for optimal health and happiness.

In Asatru and other heathen traditions, receiving a house key can be part of a marriage ceremony, when a woman is starting her household by moving into a new place with her new family. For that reason, many people see it as a symbol of marriage, but it's really a symbol of property ownership. I've had the real life keys to the home in which I live for a couple of decades now, and my relationship with the landwight here is a strong and good one, but I haven't included a ceremonial key in my ritual garb. My mom was the homeowner.

Many of the adjustments I've made since my mother's death have had both a mundane and a spiritual dimension, and this is one of them. I'm not becoming the exclusive owner of my home-- my brother and I inherit it equally-- but it's close enough for me to feel that receiving the official title paper is the right time to put on the ceremonial key.

In Scotland it is National Unicorn Day, the day they celebrate the national beast. With the lockdown and everyone staying indoors, they have become plentiful again, so I hear. Thus from medieval Scots history I offer you a tale told by a unicorn (on good authority!) from The Talis of Fyve Bestes (beasts that is, not besties). The executive summary:

“The Unicornis Tale” recounts how, in his youth, a boy named Gundulfus threw a stone and broke a cockerel’s thigh bone. He leaves home to study and returns on the night before he is due to travel to Kent to receive a benefice. His family and friends convince him to stay rather than travel that night, promising that the cock’s crows will wake him in the morning. The cock refuses to crow as an act of revenge and Gundulfus loses his position.

Witch?

It's a tribal name—theedish, we would say. (In Witch, a thede is a tribe.)

Some 50 generations gone, a people called the Hwicce lived along the River Severn in what is now south-west England. (1400 years later, we still name our daughters Sabrina in Her honor.)

The Hwicce of then, you see, are the Witches of now.

It's not all lineal descent, of course. There are ways and ways of belonging, and bloodlines only one.

(You can adopt in, you can marry in. You can initiate in, acculturate in. Peoples have always been porous around the edges.)

We have our own tribal religion, though it's not witchcraft per se. (Witchcraft is our magic.) Not all Witches practice, of course, but if you're a Witch, it's your religion (and your magic), to hold to or not, as you yourself see fit.

Is it historic, you ask: Old Hwicce to New Witch?

Last time, I shared the full pantheon that we've developed for Modern Minoan Paganism. Now it's time to explore the deities one at a time and discover where we can find their iconography in Minoan art.

The pantheon begins with the Three Mothers - the mother goddesses who represent the realms of land, sky, and sea. So that's where we'll begin with this exploration. First up, Rhea, the Earth Mother goddess. We also call her Ida; there's still a mountain on Crete with this name. In fact, there are a number of sacred mountains that are said to be hers. The Minoans built cave shrines and peak sanctuaries on these sacred mountains. That gives us another of her epithets, the Mountain Mother.

Beltane's coming up in less than a Moon, and all over Pagandom, folks are gearing up for the big May Eve Zoom-ritual.

Sigh.

(One wonders what the effect on this year's harvest will be. Hopefully, enough couples will manage to make it out to—socially-distanced—fields that the crops won't be too adversely affected.)

The pagan world is a place of gradation. Skyclad ritual is better than robed ritual. (So say some.) Robed ritual is better than ritual in street clothes. Ritual in street clothes is better than no ritual at all.

To hold a ritual is better than not to hold one. For the most part, collective ritual is preferable to solo.

Is group e-ritual, then, better than solo real-world ritual?

Um: Reply hazy; try again later.

Oh well. We haven't survived for 150,000 years by being inflexible. For now, we'll set up our e-rituals and be glad to have them.

We have all had times where the challenges that life brings to us feel overwhelming. For the most part, hopefully, these are brief times of illness or misfortune, but it is a fact that each of us will have to come to terms less often with times of real challenge and even with death. As we journey through our lives, we seldom find these things occur at convenient moments, when we feel strong and equipped to endure. At such times we realise that all our lives are constantly navigated through realms of unpredictability and the chaos of a multitude of lives and circumstances co-existing and intersecting with our own. How much power we have over our fate is often woefully small. Yet there is to be found, even at such times, a wellspring of resources within us and around us, if not to cure, then certainly to provide a balm for our distress.