Paganicon 2023, Day Two: Workshops, Shopping, and a Morrighan Meetup at the Druids of the Midwest Party Suite

On this second full day of Paganicon, March 18, I recognized that my body-mind has its limits. I did attend a full plate of workshops (four total) that began earlier in the morning than they did yesterday, but I made sure to decompress between content-heavy sessions (sometimes it’s not easy having your brain run in “sponge mode” absorbing new information for hours on end) with some walking about and stretching my legs and my dollar bills y’all in the fun-filled aisles of the Vendors’ Gallery. I called it “quits” on the workshops altogether at 3:45 p.m. so that I could quickly grab the mead offering I’d specifically brought for The Morrighan. A Morrighan Meetup was being organized by my friend Gerrie in the party suite run by the Druids of the Midwest and I didn’t want to miss out!

Tonight is also the night of the Equinox Ball and I did bring a gown and mask (my ensemble is meant to evoke a specific character) and thus do plan on attending so I’ll also have to write this post in stages. Here we go!

My Year-Wheel Tarot Reading for 2019

Happy New Year, everyone! Last night I performed my time-honored divination ritual, casting my 13-card Year-Wheel/12 Houses of the Zodiac Tarot spread to see what 2019 has in store for me month-by-month as well as filtered through the aspects of life experience denoted in the zodiacal 12 Houses of Western astrology. I carved some space and about an hour to myself amidst the revels at a friend’s house, and I think he and his two adorable Havanese dogs (sisters from the same litter) proved to be good luck charms for my reading, as I haven’t drawn such an awesome spread in a long time!

The Dark Goddess Howling: Venus Retrograde in Scorpio 2018 and October’s Key Planetary Transits

Energetically speaking, astrological events this year have really forced us into a “review and release” mode as we evaluate our lives. This past summer was an extremely challenging period for many people (myself included), dominated as it was by the Mars Retrograde and the major shake-ups brought by the eclipses. Whether we were ready for it or not, we were tasked with major, even karmic, releases. Now the shift focuses on reviewing and reevaluating our lives, including how we attract or repel the forces of abundance, as the planet Venus gets ready to station Retrograde on October 5, plunging us into the archetypal experience I liken unto the Goddess Inanna’s Descent into the Underworld. 

Movement & Momentum: The Astrology of September 2018

The golden-rod is yellow;

The corn is turning brown;

The trees in apple orchards

With fruit are bending down…

By all these lovely tokens

September days are here,

With summer’s best of weather,

And autumn’s best of cheer.

—Helen Hunt Jackson, “September” (1892)

September opens on an optimistic note, having us all breathe easier with the confidence that the Summer of Stagnation, largely caused by Mars Retrograde, is behind us. The Mutable Earth Sign of Virgo welcomes change and poises those of us in the Northern Hemisphere at the point of literal and symbolic harvest in our lives, asking us to reflect on how the year’s experiences, expected events or not, have compelled us to grow. Wisdom is the art of applying knowledge that was hard-won from experience, and the Sun’s annual transit in Virgo, which lasts until September 22, requires that we all operate from actionable insights aligned with our highest integrity (this is the “purity” of the Virgo archetype). This harvesting process is expedited by the fact that all personal planets in our zodiac are moving direct this month. As a Cosmic Bonus, Virgo’s Ruling Planet of Mercury makes His ingress into Virgo the night of September 5 (9:40 p.m. CDT) and transits until September 22, blessing us all with clarity of thought, precision in communications, and good fortune in travel. But wait—there’s more!

1st Anniversary Sale on JackalMoonDesigns This Week!

I can’t believe it’s already been a year since I opened my Polytheist-jewelry-themed Etsy shop! To express my thanks to everyone who has supported me, I’m running a sale from today through May 14: $10 off any item when you enter coupon code 1ST ANNIVERSARY! Thanks again, for your support, and may I be in business for many more years! Ashé!

This large silver-plated Ganesha shown seated and bestowing blessings features 8 mm amethyst and 6 mm lapis lazuli beads. Om Sri Ganapati Namaha!

Biljini Petak i Djurdjevdan: Vestiges of Serbian Paganism in St. George’s Day Celebrations That Welcome the Start of Summer

Today is Biljini Petak. Enjoy learning about the Serbian start of summer and the variety of customs that overlap with the Celtic Beltane. Srećan Biljini Dan! Have a Festive Day of Plant Medicine!

amor et mortem

“…Gde Djurdjev hodit, tam vam polje rodit…”

“…Where Djurdjev walks, there your field gives birth…” –Old South Slavic folk song

While much of the Pagan world in Western Europe and North America–from London to Lexington, Kentucky–celebrates the well-known Celtic festival of Beltane, the “fire of the god Bel,” this first of May (which is Lei Day in Hawaii, incidentally; I wish a very happy Lei Day to my local kine friends and followers on Oahu–Hele mei hoohiwahiwa!) is special to me as a first-generation Serbian-American with more than a passing interest in my culture’s pre-Christian beliefs. The Friday before May 6, the fixed date of St. George’s Day, the traditional start of summer, has a lot of unique customs surrounding it that attest to very old and widespread pre-Christian beliefs preserved in rural as well as urban Serbian communities. This particular Friday that comes but once a…

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People of Prayer: A Call for Submissions for the Spring 2018 Issue of Isis-Seshat Journal

Reissuing this call for submissions for Isis-Seshat’s Spring issue as the submissions deadline is March 30! Send me stuff, Polytheist peeps!

amor et mortem

Seeking Submissions for the 2018 Spring Issue of Isis-Seshat Journal on the Theme of “People of Prayer”–Deadline: Friday, March 30

If meditation is the act of listening to the Divine, prayer is the art of speaking. It’s an under-discussed topic in Polytheistic and theistic Pagan communities, which is unfortunate, as it really is the most basic component of establishing and sustaining a devotional relationship to one’s Patron Deity or multiple Holy Powers. Many people who “come home” to a Pagan spiritual path may have an aversion to prayer because they associate the practice with the undesirable (Abrahamic) religion of their upbringing, but there are ways to overcome the negative perceptions and conditioning related to former religious experiences so that one can have a thriving, judgment- and distraction-free prayer practice that sustains the spirit. Those are the issues I’d like to explore in the Spring 2018 issue of Isis-Seshat journal, a…

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The Summer 2017 Issue of Isis-Seshat Journal Is Now Available

It’s been three years since I’ve inherited the mantle of executive editorship of Isis-Seshat journal, a quarterly magazine of the worldwide Fellowship of Isis, from my former Archpriestess-Hierophant, the late Rt. Rev. Deena Butta. The Summer 2017 issue–which is 80 pages long and features zero advertisements–has been released today as a result of much stellar international collaboration, and I have to say that this is among my favorite issues to date. My deepest thanks to all writers and artists who shared their content with me to make it all happen!

The theme, “Traditions Thriving in the Cross-Currents of Global Paganism,” elicited several thought-proving responses in essays, poetry, and photography regarding the issues of culturally specific spiritual traditions, cultural appropriation, identity politics, and whether or not one’s ethnic/racial heritage ought to determine to Whom one should devote their religious sensibilities and practices. Again, I want to thank my roster of outstanding contributors.

PDFs are available for purchase at $5 USD each on my Etsy site, JackalMoonDesigns.

I’ll be releasing my Call for Submissions for the Autumn issue, so stay tuned! It will be released in late November.

Blessings!

 

Art and Evocation: Spirit and Form and Giving Form to Spirits by Anna Applegate

An excellent opening reception to this impactful and evocative exhibit, and I’m thrilled to announce that my painting of the Goetic spirit Berith has already been sold! Huzzah!

Announcing the Call for Submissions for the Spring Issue of Isis-Seshat Journal

I hope the Lunar New Year of the Fire Monkey has gotten off to a very good start for everyone! This solar transit in Aquarius has kept me very busy (both my Ascendant and Moon in my natal chart are in Aquarius), very socially engaged in Chicago’s broader Pagan and occult/magical communities, and eager to implement projects both spiritual and artistic sprung from felicitous, unanticipated idea exchanges with like-minded souls met through networking. (My mentors in the business world have always been 100% accurate about networking: It happens everywhere, not just behind office doors at planned events–so yes, always have your business cards on hand whenever you leave the house!)

I was very pleased with how the Winter issue of Isis-Seshat journal turned out; it went into production and was delivered to contributors and subscribers three days early, despite a Mercury Retrograde! And all surplus printed copies, for the first time ever, have been completely sold out, so I want to extend my deepest thanks to all new readers who have approached me both online and offline to request a copy! The issue’s theme of Divination definitely resonated with many, and from places as far away as Germany, the UK, and even Australia, FOI members heeded the call for submissions and sent me informative and thought-provoking essays that made my heart happy to print. My thanks to everyone who helped make the Winter issue the wonderful publication that it is!

And so I naturally turn my thoughts, as the journal’s Executive Editor, to the Spring issue. As I plot Isis-Seshat’s editorial calendar for all of 2016, actually, I’m happy to announce that I’ll be continuing this trajectory of having very specific themes. I’ve decided that the Spring issue’s theme is going to be “Worlds Beyond: Mapping Out the Soulscapes Encountered in Ritual.” From exploring the states of consciousness we reach in the apogee of the rituals we perform to establish and maintain contact with our Holy Powers, as well as detailing our encounters with those Powers, to discussions of various culturally specific cosmologies that delineate the Worlds inhabited by our Gods and spirits, this Spring issue is going to serve as cartography for the ardent witch, the devoted priest(ess), the selfless shaman, the courageous magician, and the neophyte newly launched on her or his journey of spiritual self-exploration.