Blessings from the Other Side o’ the Solar Eclipse!

“Belief in Mysteries, all manner of Mysteries, is the only lasting luxury in life.”

—Zilpha Keatley Snyder, The Witches of Worm (1972)

Words cannot adequately describe the state of post-ritual, post-eclipse experience of complete euphoria that is surging through my body-mind-spirit as I type this. I truly hope that everyone who sought to marshal and direct the powerful energies at work during the profound astronomical phenomenon that only just recently concluded experiences the manifestation of their magical intentions. I feel so powered-up it’s as though I might be capable of fueling the city of Chicago’s electrical grid all by myself! Wow! Thank you, total solar eclipse at 19 degrees Aries Conjunct Chiron! What a profoundly healing event I will forever treasure in my soul. ❤️

Happy Spring/Autumn Equinox, Folks!

I wish all my fellow dwellers in the Northern Hemisphere a joyful Spring Equinox / Ostara and my friends and followers in the Southern Hemisphere an abundant Autumn Equinox / Mabon! Blessings of Balance, no matter where you are! May prosperity, pleasure, and peace be yours! And so it is!

Hail, Holy Powers, Bestowers of Blessings too numerous to count! Hail, the Deathless Gods! Hail, fecund Earth! May we be ever mindful to tread lightly upon You!

Paganicon 2024, Day Two

What a profoundly satisfying and wonderful day this has been! I am very pleased to say that my “Hands-On Heka; Magic in Ancient Egypt” workshop was a resounding success!

A Blessed Mithrasmas to All Celebrating!

The area where I live has been given a Dense Fog Advisory from the National Weather Service, warning of very low visibility, especially for homes like mine that are subject to Lake Michigan’s tempestuous moods. Surrounding farmlands and forests are enveloped in a thick, obfuscating pea soup fog, and with yet another day (I hate El Niño winters!) of heavy cloud cover and zero sunshine during the day (the sixth in a row!), it feels more important than ever to honor the Roman/Persian God, Mithras, Whose birthday of December 25 was plagiarized by Christendom since the reign of Pope Gregory VI and grafted unto Christ’s Nativity.

Helping Midwife the Infant Sun This Mothers’ Night

Organically developing devotional and seasonal observance rituals of an ecstatic nature are my favorite types of rituals. My annual Mothers’ Night observance blends both types of rituals—devotional and seasonal—in an ecstatic, worlds-traversing and Wyrd-shaping way.

Nemoralia, Day 2

Yesterday, August 14, was a super-soaking rain and thunderstorm event where I live. I’m not complaining, as my pollinator/native plant gardens, like our local family farmers’ fields, have been in dire need of rain. All told, 2.27 inches fell in less than 24 hours, and it was something to celebrate! But it definitely meant Day 2 of my Nemoralia observances would have to shift indoors to my home temple space.

Summer Solstice Prayer to Herakles

Solstice Sovereign,

Glory of Hera,

I greet You with praise as You take Your place upon the high throne of the firmament!

Exalted Hero of Golden Glory,

You have bestowed upon all the blessings of Your bronze-beamed brightness as You completed Your Twelve Labors,

Coaxing forth flowers and fruit from the hidden treasures of seed and vine.

Thus with a heart full of gladness do I

Hail You in this season of Your ascendancy,

For Your exalted radiance becomes a gleaming guarantee that Light shall never forsake the Earth.

Lord, may I achieve Arēte (“Excellence”) in all my undertakings.

Strengthen my mind, set right my path, and drive away all evil-doers from my midst.

Son of Righteousness,

Though my offerings are humble, they are freely given.

Glory and praise unto You,

Hallowed Blaze of the Heavens,

For You are truly the Living Light!

Io, Herakles!

A Blessed Mothers’ Night to All Celebrating!

From Oak & Aconite Coven to all of you, have a blessed Mothers’ Night and a bright and joyful Winter Solstice!

Án Mórrígan: My Praise Poem/Ritual Invocation to the Great Irish Goddess of War and Prophecy, Samhain 2022

This is the most spiritually significant time of the year for me, Samhaintide. For many weeks I’ve been pondering the overlap in calendrical calculations of seasonal shifts as well as cultural customs between the ancient Celts and the Slavs. Any Celtic linguist as well as any modern Witch will tell you that the Gaelic Samhain denotes “Summer’s End,” and the time to honor the dead and prepare for the trying season of Winter occurs in early November.

Happy Fall, Y’all

We’re nearly three hours into the Autumnal Equinox from my Northern Hemisphere vantage point in Chicagoland. Fall Equinox, or Second Harvest, is one of my favorite Sabbats to celebrate. I honor my Holy Powers in this gilded season and watch the foliage of my local treescape transform from green to gold. The dying year is prepared for its final resting place in Winter’s embrace. With every falling leaf, I submit to Divine Mystery and ask for the guidance of my Goddesses and Gods to see me through the season of lengthening shadows, while I remember with thankfulness all the forms of abundance my Holy Powers have bestowed upon me.