I found this spell online when I was looking for a spell to release my feelings after my boyfriend and I broke up:

Best done at sunrise,during a waning moon phase, Saturn day and hour.

This spell is designed to help release the stresses and worries of our day to day lives. Though best done during a waning moon phase, feel free to perform it anytime you feel blocked, sad, fearful, negative, angry or bitter.

You will need:

2 white altar candles

1 black candle

1 pink candle

Sage, frankincense or myrrh incense (for clearing) many small pieces of paper & a pen

RITUAL BATH: ADD salt to the water, or tie the following herbs in a small piece of cloth: hyssop, lavender and rosemary. Run under faucet.

As you inhale the aroma of the steaming herbs, visualize the steam breaking up any tension in your body, and exhale. Ask your body and spirit to release any thoughtforms that are not in accordance with your highest potential, and be willing to look at where you might be harboring doubt, suspicion, or fear. With each inhale, affirm that you are breathing in the healing energies of the Universe, and that you can transform yourself through meditation, patience and faith.

With each exhale, affirm that the outmoded thoughtforms are transformed into NEW ENERGY that can be utilized for growth. ENERGY is neutral, so it is up to us to REDIRECT it!

Light your white altar candles and incense. They are symbolic of peace, truth and protection. Meditate for a few minutes on what that means to you personally. Is there anything in your life now that is not in sync with your personal truth?

Light the black candle. The color black is an absence of color, and therefore ABSORBS... the black candle will represent the absorbing/transforming power of the dark moon, and as we work with it, imagine the pain or anger being pulled out of you and absorbed and transformed by the energy that is symbolized by the black candle.

Take a small piece of paper, and write WITH AS MUCH EMOTION AS YOU CAN MUSTER one thing you want to release/transform.

Light one corner of the paper, and immediately drop it into a flameproof/heatproof dish (a large ashtray or a ceramic pot with some soil on the bottom would be ideal).

Repeat with any and all emotions, fears, resentments, gripes, angers, resentments, excuses, obligations, etc. etc. etc.

Until you feel CLEAR! If you still feel bad, keep going for a while! When you've cried, griped etc as much as you can stand, put out the black candle.

Light the pink candle. Put on your favorite music: something that makes you feel energized, happy and motivated! Now you need to focus on filling up the spaces left wher the old pain was! Time to fill it in with the AFFIRMATIONS of your choice...

Always write affirmations in the PRESENT tense! Keep repeating them over and over until you feel GREAT! BREATHE IN your new TRUTH.

When you are finished, put out the pink candle, and save it and the black candle until the next time you do this exercise! For maximum effect or serious depression/apathy, do this spell 3 days in a row (finishing on New Moon day).

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:25 PM | Comments (1)

We woke up Thanksgiving morning to a covering of snow on the ground and a light but lovely snowfall that lasted most of the day. It was my first snow of the season since I had missed the October freaky snowstorm in New England thanks to my weekend in San Francisco. I was enchanted and immediately wondered if there was a goddess of snow.

A Google search for "snow goddess" yielded a number of links to two: the Tibetan Snow Goddess and Poliahu, the Hawaiian goddess of snow-capped mountains. Surely, I thought, there are more. So I searched for "winter goddess" and of course found the Viking goddesses Freya, Skadi and Holda (who is a manifestation of Freya but has some legends that seem unique to her, at least from what I read).

There also are Celtic winter goddesses. Beira, the Queen of Winter, and a variety of Caillagh, who are particular to various places, especially in Scotland, are all variations of the same old woman who brings winter storms and keeps spring from coming. Imbolc marks Brigid's triumph over these winter spirits and the return of spring.

I did find references to any number of other winter-time spirits, fairies and elementals from around the world. These ranged from nature spirits to characters who bring gifts throughout the holiday season. We could dedicate a whole site to them alone!

I would be surprised if there weren't other winter goddesses and I'd love to read about them if anyone has stories or links. For those I found, I've collected the stories here:

Tibetans believe that Mt. Everest, their sacred Mt. Qomolangma, is the Snow Goddess, or the Third Fairy. Legend says that the Himalayas were once an unending stretch of lush forests on a beautiful sea-coast - a haven for all kinds of flowers, birds, and animals, living harmoniously with humans. This was the legendary Shangri-la.??Then suddenly an enormous Five Headed Demon came from the sea. It terrorized the tranquility of Shangri-la, and frightened away all the animals. Fortunately, in answer to the prayers of Tibetans, God created Five Fairies from Five Clouds which were floating over Tibet, and sent them down to subdue the Five Headed Demon. With the Demon vanquished, Tibet became Shangri-La once again.??The animals and humans were very grateful to the Five Fairies, and asked them to stay on in Tibet. They agreed, and the Five Fairies became Mt.Lhotse, Mt.Makalu, Mt.Qomolangma, Mt.Qowowuyang and Mt.Shisha Pangma, five of the greatest peaks in the Himalayas. Mt. Qomolangma, or Mt. Everest, was the Third Goddess, the highest mountain in the world.

In Hawaiian mythology, there are stories told of the four snow goddesses who ruled over the mountains north of Kilauea. They wore elegant cloaks of snow in the high summits, which they traded for garments of golden sunshine from time to time. They were goddesses of nature who clothed mountain peaks in snow, which would melt into life-giving streams as the maidens came down from the heights and made their way to the sea.

Lilinoe, Waiau, Kahoupokane and Poliahu were their names, but the most detailed stories are of Poliahu. She was resplendent with beauty and charm. She was quick of wit, gracious in manner, and adventurous in spirit.

Poliahu was the greatest rival to Pele, goddess of fire. Like Pele, Poliahu liked to seduce handsome mortal chiefs. Pele had a fling with a fickle young Maui chief as he was traveling to the Big Island to court a mortal chiefess. Paddling along the Hana Coast, the chief saw Pele in human form as a beauty who was riding the surf. He paused for a brief affair. Then he went on to the Big Island, where Poliahu seduced him. He convinced his personal goddess to release him from his promise to his first love, and went back to Kaua'i with the snow goddess. Pele chased after them, eventually winning back the fickle chief, but Poliahu was so vindictive, she blasted the lovers with cold and heat until they separated, and the young chief was left with no lover at all.

According to Norse legend, the longest time of Darkness in the year is called "Night of the Mother", as the Goddess labors to birth Light back into the world. At Winter solstice, the sun dies. Time stops. Then as Freya spins the wheel of fate once again, "Jul" in Norse, the sun is reborn. Her hand holds the spindle, a symbol of women's wisdom and skill. From her basket, she plucks a handful of wool, freshly combed but still unformed. Placing it on her wheel, she makes the ancient sure-handed gestures of the spinners, pulling the wool, winding it about the distaff, working it to a smooth and useful shape. So doing, she reminds us of her presence in the cycle of death and rebirth.

Freya was also called Froya and Frigga in Scandinavian countries, Holda in Germany and Modir in Russia. She was a Goddess of the Winter and her sacred goose brings to mind both protection and soft, snowy white down. When snowflakes fell, she was "shaking out her bedding".

As Freya she was sister-lover-mother to the God Frey, god of Yule. As Frigga, she gave birth to Baldur, the Norse God of the Sun. Throughout Northern Europe, she has been worshiped as the multi-faceted goddess of birth, death, sex, the underworld, the earth, the stars; a goddess of magic, the Great Sow wed to the Boar, the Mistress of Cats, the leader of the Valkries. As Saga, she inspired divine poetry and as a Spinner of Fate, she was associated to the Norns.

Just as Freya-Frigga was connected most closely to birth, sex, and motherhood, her Dark Twin was known as Skadi, the "Destroyer". In the celebration of Yule we can see elements of the triple goddess Freya-Frigga-Skadi and the spinning wheel of death-birth-life.

Skadi is the Viking Goddess of winter. Her name is said to mean shadow or shade. She is the Queen of the Shades. Skadi is a huntress, a dark magician, a giantess - ruling especially over mountains, wilderness, winter, revenge, knowledge, damage, justice, and independence. It is said that she gifted hunters with the bow and the skill to use it. The scythe, wolves and venomous snakes are sacred to her. Also sacred to her are skates, skis and snowshoes. She often did her hunting while on skis. All of Scandinavia is named after the Goddess Skadi, and she is said to dwell in the high snow-covered mountains there.

Holda, or Holde, is the Viking dark goddess of winter and the moon. She also was known for leading a wild hunt with 24 hounds. Holda is a Germanic goddess whose cult has survived in the folklore of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The underlying theme of the tales surrounding her represents the lost myths of Frig. These continental folk tales give the goddess many names, Holde (merciful), Frau Holle, Perht, Berta (bright) and Frau Freke (a name connected to Frig).

Holda is described as an old woman with long teeth and tangled hair, travelling either in a wagon or bearing a plough and attended by the spirits of unborn children. She is a protector of the household and patron of the housewife and mother. In some districts she was even accredited to the task of bringing children to expectant mothers. She was also believed to rock children's cradles after the nurse had fallen asleep. Holda owned a sacred pool where she was believed to call the local children and reward any who were kind and hardworking. Young women even bathed in her pool hoping to became healthy and fertile mothers.

Holda is mainly associated with the winter season. On Christmas day a bowl of milk was set at the table for her while the family went to church. The remaining milk from Holda's bowl was given to the livestock and thought to increase fertility. Far earlier sources refer to special days set aside for such local goddesses. A procession would be made in which disguised youths would carry a large image of a goddess figure with much merrymaking and revelry.

In Celtic mythology, the Caillagh ny Groamagh (Gloomy Old Woman, also called the Caillagh ny Gueshag, Old Woman of the Spells) of the Isle of Man is a winter and storm spirit whose actions on the first of February are said to foretell the year's weather - if it is a nice day, she will come out into the sun, which brings bad luck for the year. The Cailleach Uragaig, of the Isle of Colonsay in Scotland, is also a winter spirit who holds a young woman captive, away from her lover.

The theme of winter holding spring captive is also seen in the tale that the Cailleach imprisons the beautiful young goddess Bride inside of a mountain over the winter. At Bride's release, spring comes to the world.

The Cailleach Bheur (genteel old lady) of Scotland is a blue-faced hag of winter, who ages in reverse - from old and ugly (symbolizing winter) to young and lovely (spring). The Cailleach Bhéirre of Ireland represents sovereignty over the land and is ancestress of many peoples. Like Dame Ragnell of the Arthurian legends, she appears to the hero as a hideous old woman seeking love; if she gets it, she becomes a beautiful young woman. In legends dating from early Christian times, she is sometimes said to be a nun, perhaps linked to the meaning of her name.

Another Scottish belief was that Beira, Queen of Winter, thwarted the arrival of the spirit of Spring, who was always trying to visit Scotland, by raising the storms of January and February to prolong her reign by keeping the grass from growing. Beira was regarded as a hard and cruel old woman, and the story of her exploits is the story of the weather conditions in winter and early spring. She rouses the dangerous whirlpool of Corryvreckan, she brings the snow, and she unlooses the torrents that cause rivers to overflow. According to folk belief, it was she who formed the lochs and the mountains.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 1:10 AM | Comments (2)

How do you incorporate your spirituality into your daily life?

I have a statue of Ganesh, the Hindu god who is a remover of obstacles, on my desk. He's been with me for a long time and I've turned to him many times over the past few years. My desk is creative operation central, so his position here is the most significant of any in my whole apartment.

After completing Witchcraft One, I'm much more aware of the power of thoughts and words and I've incorporated those lessons into daily life. I'm trying to live the path.

The challenge for me has been in making time for ritual and space for a permanent altar.

Does your daily life hinder or support your beliefs or practices?

It's very difficult, living in a very small apartment in the city, to practice the way I sometimes think I should. One example: After initiation we were instructed to leave our offerings of food outside for animals to eat or to wash them away in a river or ocean. I don't live particularly near the water and wasn't sure where I could accomplish a water sendoff, so I put the offering on my fire escape. Nothing touched it (which I suppose is a good thing, really). So what to do with the offering? It's currently in my refrigerator until such time as I can bury it (with what, I wonder, a tea spoon? and where? sneaking into Union Park in the middle of the night?). So urban living definitely makes magick challenging sometimes. I like Christopher Penczak's book City Magick. I'd love to find a practical guide to working magick in an urban environment.

What do you wish you could do more for your beliefs on a more regular basis?

I wish I could incorporate ritual into every day. Even if it's lighting a candle on an altar and taking a few moments to meditate on the day, it's a habit I'd like to adopt. Again, urban living presents challenges because I don't have a lot of space for an altar or to store ritual supplies. I'm going to look for resources on creative solutions to living in a small apartment - you see them in magazines all the time. I'm sure there is a way to create some sacred space using techniques they give for solving other of life's spatial issues. Then, for me, it's a matter of discipline - making the time and making ritual a priority.

Since I'm still studying, part of making time for ritual includes time for study. I do a lot of reading but I wish I were more consistent about doing the meditations and lessons from Witchraft One that I'll need to master before Witchcraft Two begins.

Thank you to Witches Weekly for the Q&A. These came from the archive; November 2004. Please add your answers to these questions in the Comments.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 9:43 AM | Comments (1)

Among the many contentious topics discussed within the pagan community, a question of spelling gets a tremendous amount of play. It's the "magic" vs. "magick" debate.

The use of "magick" is generally understood as a means to distinguish ritual and sacred work from stage magic tricks. Aleister Crowley is credited with coining the term and there are a number of esoteric bases for his choice, including numerology and ancient Greek creation mythology. Crowley defined magick as "the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with the will". The idea that Will is an essential part of magick is valid regardless of how you choose to spell it. But is the "k" really necessary?

There is a discussion thread on this subject at The Cauldron. The people who participate in that forum are a great group and have smart, thoughtful things to say:

I spell it "magick" when using English. Not to tell stage magic and "the other kind" apart, as I do not need to make such a distinction in the places where I do use written English and discuss anything related to magick.

The 'culprit' behind my usage is uncle Al. Aleister Crowley, that is. The "telling apart" -thing does not come into play, nor does any "coolness factor" whatsoever. I know why the k is there.

Crowley's writings were my introduction to modern magick (and where I always seem to return to) and the spelling stuck. Lately, I've seen moving away from spelling magick-with-the-k and even downright sneering at those who still use that particular spelling ("Oy ye ignorant fool! Trying to be cool, eh? Do you even know where it originates? It was Aleister Crowley, that evil evil man!" or something of the sorts). Oh well, I'm not inclined to change the spelling I use for others' sake.

I always spell it sans 'K' because that's the historical spelling and also, I want to differentiate it from Uncle Al. Not a diss at him, but everytime I see it spelled that way I assume that's what kind of magic the person is talking about.

Also, it seems for many people (the uniformed ones) it seems to go in hand with this weird Medieval British / 18th century Gothic novel/ New Age spelling which creeps in when ever anything occult is discussed. (sort of like Chaucer , Shakespeare and Radcliffe take LSD together and read the Bible out loud in an 'alternative' store).

Of course, others have expressed a view on the subject. This was in response to my fluffy bunny post:

Im not triying to be rude or something like that, but if its true that you are not a Fluffy Bunnie, then dont use the word magic with a K, it is only wrote like that by fluffy bunnies

I use "magick" because my teacher, Christopher Penczak, uses that spelling. For me, it's as simple as that.

I found references to "magick" and its origins at Answers.com and Thelemapedia. They are both very good sources of information and I'm sure you'll find them interesting.

So, which is it for you? Magic or Magick?

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 3:20 PM | Comments (2)

Despite yesterday's bizarrely warm day here in Boston, this morning's chill reminds me that winter will be here soon.

I was in San Francisco for New England's first snowfall (thank goddess!) so for me the shock of freezing temperatures and solid precipitation is yet to come. But the leaves that I photographed only two weeks ago have all fallen from their trees and it's only a matter of time before the bare branches are covered with blankets of snow.

And if you're curious about the title of this post...

When I sat down to write this post, musing on the rapid approach of winter, the first thing that popped into my head was this line: Winter is icumen in, all sing cuckoo. Immediately followed by the thought, where the hell did that come from? Somewhere deep in the dark recesses of my brain.

Google is a wondrous thing. It didn't take long for me to find this minstrel's song on a web page by someone with even more time on his hands than I have.

Cuckoo Song

Sumer is icumen in,
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweth sed, and bloweth med,
And springth the wude nu-
Sing cuccu!

Awe bleteth after lomb,
Lhouth after calve cu;
Bulluc sterteth, bucke verteth,
Murie sing cuccu!

Cuccu, cuccu, well singes thu, cuccu:
Ne swike thu naver nu;
Sing cuccu, nu, sing cuccu,
Sing cuccu, sing cuccu, nu!

-- Anon. (Middle English, 13th cent.)

I must have sung this as a kid, when they still had music class in public school (don't get me started on that subject). It's amazing what the mind can recall.

So this time, it is Winter that is icumen. The cuckoos have doubtless left Scotland for wherever it is they go in the winter and some other bird is singing in the morning. But we can all sing cuckoo anyway!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:34 AM | Comments (1)

I've been thinking a lot lately about the whole issue of coming out of the broom closet. We had a brief discussion about this before my last Witchcraft One class. Some of my classmates were out to coworkers but not family and some vice versa but I haven't been able to come to a decision about this.

Lots of my friends and people I know have been asking me what I've been doing with my time lately. Other than my new job, the things that I've been spending most of my time on are learning witchcraft and my blog. I haven't exactly been able to just blurt that out. What do I tell them then? It's easy enough to fudge something for purely social aquaintances, but I feel like I'm being deceptive when I'm not honest with people who are close to me.

Strangely enough, despite her Baptist upbringing, I think my mother will be cool with the fact that I'm a witch. When I first started reading tarot, I expected her to tell me something about how it was evil, but she was actually very interested. She told me that she was psychic when she was young but she rejected her gift because it scared her. I must have inherited some of my abilities from her. I'm not really close with my mother, so an opportunity to talk to her about this hasn't presented itself. I'm feeling inclined to call her just to tell her I'm a witch. It will feel good - Yay! I've told someone!

It's when I try to imagine the respone I will get from certain other people in my life that I stop to think about what the consequences might be - and the thought there actually might be consequences is sad and scary at the same time. I'm anticipating that certain of my friend's will not take the news well and reactions will vary from laughter to derision.

I don't want to hide my spirituality. Whether it discovered me or I discovered it, this path that I'm on is my truth. I would be denying that to pretend otherwise. How do you reconcile the need and the desire to be true to yourself and the equally real need and desire to be accepted?

The answer that if someone truly cares for you they will accept you no matter what is too facile. The issue is more complicated than that. I'm eager to hear how others have handled coming out of the broom closet - what you said, what they said, what the outcome was. I'm also eager to hear from others who are still struggling with this as I am.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:59 AM | Comments (3)

You've read Rachel Pollack. You've read Aleister Crowley. Now read Emmi Fredericks. In The Smart Girl's Guide to Tarot she puts a thoroughly modern twist on reading the cards that is fresh and funny.

Take, for example, her spin on The Queen of Pentacles:

Who wouldn't want to be the Queen of Pentacles? First of all, she's stinking rich. Doesn't have to worry about a thing, financially. Intelligent, talented, a woman of impeccable taste - think Jackie O. or Audrey Hepburn, that's the kind of quality we're talking about.

Truly inspired says this Taurus/Sheep with a thing for expensive shoes.

This book is not a replacement for more serious and academic resources on tarot. But for those of us who know how to read already it offers a perspective on the cards that will be certain to make reading for ourselves and our girlfriends a bit more au courant and entertaining.

Skip the part in the beginning where she spends some time helping readers rationalize why they're turning to tarot in the first place - we're already hip to the scene! You also won't need the sections on how the cards work and how to do a reading. But there's plenty of meaty content when she discusses all of the Major and Minor Arcana, including reversals. She also gives sample readings and spreads, complete with how she interpreted the cards within each context.

It's been a while since I've spent much time with the cards. I'm hoping that this charming book will inspire me to pick them up again. My only question is, where can I get the deck of Meredith Green's delightful illustrations?

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 7:35 PM | Comments (0)

It's getting dark so early these nights! Walking home as the last of the sunlight faded behind the rooftops, tonight I noticed a streetlamp near my apartment throwing light into the leaves above it. I ran upstairs to grab my camera and tripod and started roaming around taking pictures of the nearby streetlights.

I remembered what Christopher says about streetlights as Metropolitan Spirits in his book, City Magick:

Streetlights are silent sentries around the city. They see everything. They bring illumination to the darkness of the night. Unfortunately, as protectors, they can be rather impotent, since they cannot go far. Many, however, use their beacon for protection. Light spirits warn us of danger. Parking under a streetlight for safety has become a new folk remedy for protection against attackers. They are also good spirits to question, since they stay and watch all.

I should take more walks around my neighborhood in the evenings when it's dark and the streetlamps shine their magick all around.

These Autumn leaves were so beautiful against the night sky:

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 6:38 PM | Comments (2)

If you've done any reading anywhere, especially on the web, you've heard this term. Fluffy Bunny. An obviously derogatory term aimed at newbie witches. Before I began Witchcraft One, and was simply doing research on the web and reading lots of books, I saw this term and wondered if it applied to me.

It wouldn't be the first time I've been called a bunny. When I was at Smith, those of us who lived in larger houses on a quadrangle on the edge of campus were referred to as Quad Bunnies by the women who lived on central campus and watched us walk home from class on the path that lead past their houses to ours. You can imagine the various stereotypes the term encompassed, but largely I think they took us for unserious party girls. Damn right I'm a party girl! And proud of it! But that doesn't mean I can't be serious about something when I need or want to be.

Since you are reading this blog, you know that I am new to witchcraft and have just begun more formal study. My approach to learning the craft is serious, but to all outward appearance I fit the description of a fluffy bunny - or at least the characterization as I interpreted it. I'm girly and into fashion (goth is not a good look for me). Look at my site: I wanted it to be fun and a reflection of my personality. My approach to magick notwithstanding, I have to laugh when I imagine the expressions and comments I'd get from the Wicca For The Rest Of Us crowd. Needless to say, I was reluctant to post in some of the pagan forums that interested me for fear of offending anyone with my lapininess.

With a bit of experience and education to my credit, I've revisited the idea of the fluffy bunny. What does it really mean to be a fluffy bunny? Am I a fluffy bunny?

The short answer to this question is no. And I never was, much to my relief.

One of the most informative sources for a discussion of what constitutes a fluffy bunny was none other than the site that had me quaking in my pointy-toed mary janes: Wicca For the Rest of Us.

The first definition of a Fluffy Bunny is one who refuses to learn, refuses to think, and refuses to consider the possibility that they could possibly ever be wrong. Generally they find one book, author or website and follow it as if it were the holy word, denouncing anything that disagrees with it as obviously false.

The second flavor of Fluffy Bunny is the type that's into Wicca mostly for show.

It's worth reading the entire article because it's rather enlightening on this subject. As it turns out, the fact that I don't run around in goth costume is actually in my favor!

A short note on Wicca For the Rest of Us. They take a hard line on a variety of topics relating to Wicca. There are always going to be conflicting viewpoints about Wicca, as in any other area of intellectual pursuit, and you may not agree with everything they have to say. Personally, I find contradictory viewpoints make for more thought-provoking study. You should take what you will from what you read and choose for yourself what rings true in your experience.

But back to fluffy bunnies!

There was a great thread in November 2004 on the subject at The Cauldron. This site has some great discussions on their Message Board; I highly recommend it. Some of my favorite comments from the fluffy bunny thread:

Oh, yes, the "I watched 'The Craft' the other day, and I had an epiphany! I am just like that powerful, dark witch and am driven to do all my work skyclad and become the high priestest of dark sex magickkkk and bend all to my will, but only in a nice way that won't really hurt them, and my parents will just have to deal....cause this is my destiny---Oh, and I can change my eye color too! " type.

They can often be seen sporting religious symbols the size of hubcaps, or wear so many that they jingle like a belly dancer when they walk. They may affect a mode of dress to match their particular brand of fluff. All black for the "I saw 'The Craft' 100 times!" crew, or flowing gowns for the 'Mists' afficiandos. (Yes, there are those who dress in this manner who aren't fluffy, but there's something that keys you into the difference betwixt the two. Those who are dressing this way because they dress this way just look right in their clothes, while those affecting the fashion will look like they're trying too hard.)

So I'm not a fluffy bunny. Am I girly? Yes. Am I a serious witch? Yes. The cauldron is capacious enough for those of us from many walks of life. I like what Christopher Penczak has to say about the Witch's Path:

The most important quality of the witch is a healthy dose of love for life. You must seek to enjoy the pleasures of life on all levels. A key to such enjoyment is a good sense of humor. Laughter is the best form of magick. A witch who cant laugh at himself or herself is taking things a bit too seriously. The world is a place of wonder and magick. Be focused on your task, but not so focused that you do not enjoy the ride.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 4:19 PM | Comments (5)

I spent most of my Samhain on an airplane. Not the ideal way to spend the holiday, but I was returning to Boston from a weekend in San Francisco so it was just one of those things. It was nearly midnight when I got to my apartment from the airport. I unpacked, did some reading about Samhain on some of my favorite pagan blogs, read Christopher Penzcak's entry on Samhain on his website, and basically crashed.

The wedding I was in San Francisco to attend was beautiful and lots of fun. Essentially it was a weekend long series of eating opportunities punctuated by a quirky ceremony on a lawn at the Presidio. There was a flower man, the ceremony was performed by a friend who had become certified for the occasion, and the vows were written by the couple for each other and kept a secret until the ceremony. It was touching and funny and most of all it was completely them. It made me realize what kind of connection one can and should find in another person you pledge to spend your life with. Instead of making me wistful - as other recent weddings have - this one made me hopeful.

Being in San Francisco again made me feel like I'd gone home. I was feeling a very powerful pull and when I heard that it was snowing in Boston on Saturday it was nearly enough to make me turn in my ticket and stay! Recently life in Boston has taken a turn for the better - new job, new spiritual journey, new and old friends. It will be an interesting process to sort out all the complex feelings I'm having right now about where I want to live and what I want to do with my life.

I do regret missing the Samhain ritual in Cambridge. I'm sure it was wonderful and powerful and magical in every sense of the word. With the dark of the moon falling on this past weekend, I'm sure the veils were thin and the ability to walk between them strong. I feel a bit adrift, not having an outlet to explore the Sabbat with other pagans and not quite skilled or practiced enough to do it on my own. An opportunity missed. But it strengthens my resolve to improve my knowledge and skills.

Lots of old things falling away and many new ones beginning. Lots of good work to do. I wrote in the last pages of my old journal over the weekend - the one that got me through Witchcraft One. Today - the day after Samhain, November 1st, the New Moon - I opened a new Moleskine. There is something very symbolic and significant in that.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 9:02 AM | Comments (1)