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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in Books and Reading

One of the most important virtues a magician can cultivate is curiosity. While the old saying that curiosity kills the cat comes to mind, we should consider that such a saying really is a response to curiosity that favors the status quo. It discourages exploration in favor of keeping things the same. Such an attitude should be an anathema to the magician.

Curiosity is at the core of my spiritual practice. When I was much younger I was a born again Christian and I left because I realized that I couldn't find all the answers in one book and that allowing myself to be limited to what I considered to be a narrow perspective of the universe was not good. So when I discovered that magic was real I voraciously began to read books and I allowed my curiosity to explore and experiment with what I learned. Curiosity motivates me to discover my questions and answers and it is an emotion that I couldn't imagine being without.

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  • Janet Boyer
    Janet Boyer says #
    Well said! If you think about it, any seeker wanting growth and spiritual health needs curiosity. It's the only way to expand our
  • Carolina Gonzalez
    Carolina Gonzalez says #
    I couldn't agree more with your every word. I follow the same approach and give the same advice that you are giving here to my own
  • Taylor Ellwood
    Taylor Ellwood says #
    Thanks Carolina! It's important to encourage curiosity...it's how we grow.

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
'Devil's Night'

Some slightly more modern history and a slight indulgence: witches always end up in the news around this time of year. Suddenly every news paper or local news station wants to do a 'did you know there are real witches?!' story.

It all gets a bit tiresome.

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  • Tommy wright
    Tommy wright says #
    Loved the poem aS a former Christian can appreciate its meaning I. Now realize how judgemental I was

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

As I do twice a month, I got together today with some magical women from Columbia's District and did some political magic.  What's political magic?  Well, I think that we all know what magic is, but a good working definition is <a href=http://hecatedemetersdatter.blogspot.com/2006/02/ability-to-change-consciousness-at.html>the ability to change consciousness at will</a>.  And politics?  Well, Oxford Dictionaries on line defines politics as: 

  • 1 the activities associated with the governance of a country or area, especially the debate between parties having power
  • 2activities aimed at improving someone’s status or increasing power within an organization.
     
    So political magic, for me, is magic that changes consciousness related to governance, that shifts the debate about power, and that influences activities aimed at improving status or increasing power.  As a woman, a Witch, and a Crone (as someone with little power) I'm interested in increasing my power, my ability to influence the conversation about governing.  And as a white, educated person who earns a good income and  moves within the corridors of power, (as someone with a lot of privilege) I'm interested in using my influence in ways that assist Mamma Gaia.
     
    I'm an old feminist, and I do believe that the personal is the political (and, vice versa).  So a working to find a home that my Sister can afford to buy is political magic.  A ritual to send healing to a woman going through breast cancer is political.  And, a ritual to influence the election is political.  A ritual to protect the Code Pink house is political magic.  
     
    What's political magic to you?
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  • june-marie
    june-marie says #
    Clearly, I overdid the magic !!!
  • june-marie
    june-marie says #
    OK, I just tried to post, but it didn't seem to work, so maybe I'll try again with a little magic this time. (Which may or may not
  • june-marie
    june-marie says #
    Why do you say of yourself that, as a 'woman, a witch and a crone', you are of 'little power' ? If you believe that, you will, ind
  • Anne Newkirk Niven
    Anne Newkirk Niven says #
    http://hecatedemetersdatter.blogspot.com/2006/02/ability-to-change-consciousness-at.html Here is the link in a less mashed up form

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

I thought I’d share this poem I wrote a couple of years ago. It was inspired by Pinkola Estes’ telling of the La Loba story–the woman who sings over the bones.

 

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs

Warning: blatant self-promotion ahead! But, there is a really good reason for said self-promotion, so please bear with me.

Science fiction as a genre is both extremely popular and notoriously difficult to define. It is often a case of "I'll know it when I see it." Stars Wars? Yes. Star Trek? Yes. McCaffrey's Pern books? Yes. KA Laity's Owl Stretching? Considering the people-eating aliens and near-future setting, yes. Devon Monk's The Age of Steam series? Um ... it's set in the Wild West, but it's steampunk, which is often considered a subgenre of science fiction, but it's got faeries and magic, too, so ... maybe? Lucian of Samosata's True History? Um ... second century fable-ish proto-science fiction? 

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  • Eli Effinger-Weintraub
    Eli Effinger-Weintraub says #
    Hey, Rebecca. I wanted to mention The Pagan Anthology of Short Fiction, a co-effort of Llewellyn and our own Witches&Pagans. Sever
  • Ryan Musgrave-Evans
    Ryan Musgrave-Evans says #
    Hey guys. If there's a free-for-all on self promotion going at the moment, I'll mention my own works. "Dead Stars" is a 110,000 wo
  • Sophie Gale
    Sophie Gale says #
    Now you've got me hunting for Pagan authors! SF is a labor of love for JMG, not necessarily a paying gig. Patricia Kennealy-Morr
  • Rebecca Buchanan
    Rebecca Buchanan says #
    @Sophie: Ack! I had no idea Greer was writing science fiction. I love his "A World Full of Gods." Adding "Star's Reach" to my To R
  • Rebecca Buchanan
    Rebecca Buchanan says #
    @Sophie: Williams and Barrette, got it. Isn't Barrette the former editor of SageWoman or PanGaia? I have not read anything by Ha

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

Every month, the members of Neos Alexandria study three different Deities for our Gods of the Month Club. Originally, the Deities were limited to the official Hellenistic-oriented pantheon of Neos Alexandria itself. This year, though, members agreed that we could start looking into Deities outside ancient Alexandria, allowing for some very lively discussions (is Brigid three Goddesses or a trinity?) and comparisons (who knew Athena and Kali had so much in common?).

Early on in the GMC program -- though I can't remember exactly when -- I made a capital-P Promise that I would write at least one poem in honor of each Deity for that month. So far, I have managed to keep that promise. And, I have to admit, I have been very surprised to discover that it is not my matron and patron Deities that I am most excited to write for (though I will take any chance to pen a poem for Hermes or The Charites), but rather those Deities with whom I have only a passing familiarity or no familiarity at all.

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  • Elani Temperance
    Elani Temperance says #
    I am absolutely terrible at poetry. Brighid was my matron for years and still, I never grew out of the fourteen year old emo poems

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

A few weeks back, I listed the how-to writing guides which I found most useful. Among them was Corrine Kenner's Tarot for Writers. Throughout her text, Kenner references the traditional Rider-Waite deck -- a deck which I have never owned or used. Nonetheless, Kenner's exercises and suggested spreads work with (virtually) any deck.

That (virtually) there is important. The book has proven most useful not just with the decks with which I am most familiar, but also those decks that contain the most densely packed imagery.

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  • Rebecca Buchanan
    Rebecca Buchanan says #
    Three hundred?!
  • Arwen Lynch
    Arwen Lynch says #
    Yes on the Wildwood but no on the Oracle. I have close to 300 decks. I am loving the Zirkus Magi (selfie) but haven't used it wi
  • Rebecca Buchanan
    Rebecca Buchanan says #
    I'm not familiar with either of those decks. Maybe I can find a used copy online. Have you looked into The Wildwood Tarot or the
  • Arwen Lynch
    Arwen Lynch says #
    I love Corinne Kenner's book. I use Tarot for writing a lot (teach a course on it even). A deck that is surprisingly fun for me i
  • Rebecca Buchanan
    Rebecca Buchanan says #
    Thanks for mentioning Dugan's new tarot deck. I will have to see if I can find a copy.

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