O Mother blessings manifold On this day given birth Protector kept the harvest safe As it grew up from the Earth
Author: Katrina Rasbold
A Mabon Ritual
The Mabon ritual welcomes the coming second harvest and gives thanks for the first harvest. A designated leader may say the words that guide the group through the ritual or the speaking portions may be divided among group members. If you enjoy this ritual, you can learn more about the CUSP (Climbing Up the Spiral…
Kim Davis: Everybody Must Get Stoned
With offerings such as Kim Davis and Mitch McConnell, I am courting the idea of inventing a new life story where instead of hailing from my beloved home state of Kentucky, I was instead born to gypsies who raised me in an RV, moving all over the United States and stocking my mental larders with exciting adventures.
Josh Duggar: Why He Is Relevant to Pagans
This week, several articles on Josh Duggar popped up on my Patheos feed as news of his marital unfaithfulness spread across the interwebs. Not on Patheos Pagan, mind you, but throughout the other religious channels. Pagans are not much talking about him since he is not one of us and it is hard to see any…
Dealing With Pagan Assholes
Within the past two weeks, I have seen several articles by Pagan columnists whose work I enjoy expressing surprise and dismay at how other Pagans speak to one another in online message boards. Honestly, I can only look stunned whenever I hear this. Like this: O_O
Defending the Realm
Jupiter is such a delight. On August 12, it began a year long trip through Virgo and the aspecting of Jupiter in one’s sun sign is always a blessing. It empowers. It brings luck and miracles. It brings money and stability. Love me some Jupiter. It is no accident that I came out of one…
Falling With Style
I learned when I turned ten that my purpose on this earth was as a utility…a tool for the benefit of others. My mother was often ill and as the oldest and the only daughter in the family, it fell to me to care for my brothers and my father. What I wanted, what dreams…
High Emotion Magic: Bonus or Bad News?
Emotion is what fuels magical practice because spell work begins with what you want to have happen. If you cannot feel, then you cannot want and feeling is emotion. All intense emotion is high energy and you can, with rational thought and careful planning, direct all the intensity of that energy toward your goal. Passion will…
Harm None: Paralysis & Hypocrisy
“An it harm none do what ye will.” We cling to these words, among other reasons, because they are our battle cry to legitimize us to other faiths. “Oh, no… We aren’t bad people. We even have a law that says ‘harm none.’” I saw this again with recent comments an ill-informed Florida sheriff made attributing ritualistic murders to…
Time Needs Its Wings Clipped
It is hard for me to believe that just a couple of short years ago, I had the house to myself all day long and wrote books. That was my job. It was a glorious moment as I turn 54 in September, I am trying not to imagine that it was the pinnacle best time…
A Lammas Ritual
Set Up: The ritual area is decorated with sheaves of wheat, corn on the husks, fresh vegetables, and brooms. The participants make corn dollies ahead of time. Corn dollies are actually, in our limited artistic ability, more often “corn joints” than “corn dollies,” so the aesthetics are not vital to the magic. We use corn husks,…
Check, Please!
So this year I already did something I promised myself I would never do again and although it was likely for the best, I am not proud of it and hope to avoid it in the future. I totally checked out. I think the last time I did that was in 1992 and I had…
Harvest: Bringing In Those Sheaves
For those of us who follow the CUSP (Climbing Up the Spiral Pathway) spiritual tradition, Harvest is a time of reward and celebration when all of our hard work through the year pays off. During this time, the “crops” are tall and strong in the field, heavy with the fruit of the first harvest. Far from…
Halfway
First, a musical interlude: Now, a little over halfway through my 2015, it seems like as decent a place as any to evaluate. I was told by several independent sources that this is “my year,” whatever that means, and I invested in the idea. I can honestly say I have never worked as hard in…
The Third Eye: Gateway to the Divine
The “third eye” is a concept embraced by many cultures. This uniquely empowered area of the physical body is associated with the brow chakra and with the color purple. Friar Richard Rohr speculates that “First Eye” is what we perceive with the five physical senses. The “Second Eye” is our reasoning and reflection. The “Third Eye” goes further…
10 Favorite Witchy Movies
Welcome to the list of my own 10 Favorite Witchy Movies. Are they predictable? Absolutely. They are at once predictable and cliche. There glaring omissions that will cause readers to say, “But what about…?” and “YOU LEFT OUT..!” This is not a list of ALL Witchy movies or the BEST Witchy movies, but my own favorite Witchy movies….
Moon Magic: The Ultimate Versatility
Slowly, silently, now the moon Walks the night in her silver shoon; This way, and that, she peers, and sees Silver fruit upon silver trees. – Walter de la Mare From the first moment that humans looked up into the sky, they felt an intense draw to the ever-changing moon. While the sun offers us…
Ceremonial Interruptus: When Rituals Fail
It can happen to all of us, although thankfully, not usually to the degree we see in the graphic above. Rituals fail. It is easy to raise one knowing eyebrow and say that it failed because it was intended to fail and all things are exactly as they should be and blah, blah, blah, but…
Weather Witchery: High Sun Magic
“It’s HOT!” “Um, you live in California!” “BUT IT’S HAWT!” There is little I enjoy less than a day out in the hot sun. My husband puts on his “Aztec Princess oil” and sits in the sun to bake, reading, surfing the internet with wi-fi, or playing his didgeridoo. He will plow around the lake…
Midsummer Ritual: How I Kick It Litha-Style
Author’s Note: My group and my spiritual path are both called CUSP (Climbing Up the Spiral Pathway), detailed in the books CUSP: A New Way to Walk the Old Path, The Real Magic, and Energy Magic Compleat and on the website, www.thecuspway.com. We use the ancient agricultural cycle of planning, planting, nurturing, and harvesting in conjunction with the eight…