Night of the Black Mirror

Hold up the crystal.

See who will die this winter.

Catch a floating apple.

See who will die this winter.

Cut the moneyed cake.

See who dies this winter.

This is the night of games.

This is the night when the curtain

lifts briefly in the wind of stars.

This is the night when the veil

shreds in the wine’s shards.

This is the night when we gaze

Into the face of the black mirror.

This is the night of prophecies.

The black mirror is a glass

Veil over a deep well.

This black mirror is a glass.

Eye from an old skull.

The black mirror is a glass

Jewel in the ring of time.

This is the night the glass breaks.

From the book Seasons of the Witch by Patricia Monaghan 2004, page 138

Last Harvest of the Year for Northern Hemisphere

According to legend and some pagan path gradations the last day to harvest all fruits and vegetables this year is Tuesday, October 30th. After this date we are to leave anything still growing on trees, plants, shrubs, and vines for three main reasons. First reason. Is as an offering to the Gods, Goddesses, and Elements that helped the fruits and vegetables to mature from the seedlings in the spring until their fruition in the fall. The second reason is to allow the Fae Folk (if you are blessed with them in your yard or close, that help us tend our gardens, trees, shrubs, and flower beds. The third reason is so our wildlife brother and sisters can eat them where they are or bring them into their place of waiting out the cold, rainy, and snowy days ahead.

So think upon these things are you finish harvesting what you have grown and leave a few of whatever you do not have to have to feed your family there to honor the Gods, Goddesses, Elements and to help feed the Fea Folk, animals, and birds.

This is another way for us to honor the energy that contacts all things be the part of Mother Earth and/or a deity.

Also when you are done with your harvesting do a short ritual to thank everything and everyone for what you have been able to gather through out the growing season. Give the part of Mother Earth you used as a home vegetable garden a good sprinkling with water, add your homemade or if you have to buy compost make sure it is organic.

Do not forget to gather and dry your cooking, medicinal, and ritual herbs that are grown outdoors by this date also. For indoor growing herbs just snip some off and sprinkle it in your yard as a thanks and offering.

COVEN LIFE STUDENTS ONLY; Write to me if you are not sure how to do a thankfulness ritual. We have chat this Sarurday from 5:00 to 8:00 PM CT where we can discuss this topic further.

Magic During Samhain: What Types Of Magic Are Best To Do?

Samhain is the time of year when the veils are thinnest, and consequently the spirit world and our world are closer together and communication is more readily and frequently available to us. It’s also a time of year when some of us who are already psychically sensitive to spirits and daimons find that our senses are heightened.

So how we do best take advantage of this time of year? What types of magic are best to practice during this period?

First type that readily comes to mind: divination. Divination is one of those talents which lies both in the psychic and magical realms, and while there are certain forms of divination which fall under one versus the other, either way this is a great thing to practice right now. This especially goes for those who regularly work with a particular daimon or deity when they perform divinations. Deities and daimons associated with divinations, oracles, dreams, omens, and prophecy include Apollo, Zeus, Hekate, Hermes, Pan, Brigid, the Morrigan, Horus, Thoth, and Gabriel.

To continue reading…..

Salem & The Magick of Halloween Costumes

There is perhaps no other holiday so closely tied to wearing costumes as Samhain or Halloween. In Mickie Mueller’s Little Book of Halloween, she traces the tradition of costume wearing and trick-or-treating and how they were introduced by Pagans and kept alive despite the Christian Church’s transformation of Samhain into All Souls’ Day in an attempt to divert the people’s attention from pagan practices of honoring the deceased ancestors. She writes that:

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Writing Beltane

There are certain sabbats on the calendar that are just bigger than the rest. Obviously Samhain is one of those. For many Pagans it’s the annual “reset” button, and its associations with death and the final harvest give it an extra degree of gravitas that most sabbats just don’t have. Add in its overlap with the secular Halloween and you’ve got the makings of very big holiday. The other “big” sabbat is generally Beltane for a variety of reasons. In colder climes it’s a “coming out” party, plus there are all the goings on about new life, the first planting, and of course sex. Sex is always a big seller.

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8 Things To Do For Beltane As a Solitary Pagan

Many Pagans are solitary practitioners, either by choice or by necessity. But most traditional activities for Beltane are designed for either large groups or for couples (and straight couples at that). In 2014 and 2015 I wrote a series of rituals for those working alone on the Wheel of the Year. Every year they’re near the top of the list of most popular posts – especially the Beltane ritual.

But what if you’d like to celebrate Beltane with something other than a ritual? Maybe you’re part of a group that holds its rituals on the Saturday nearest the holiday and you don’t want to do a second ritual. Or maybe you’re just feel the need to do something other than a ritual this time.

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Individualistic Witchcraft: Is the Craft Atheistic?

Putting the “I” in W(I)tchcraft

Witchcraft is highly individualistic. Is it more practitioner centered than we give ourselves credit for? Pagan devotional practices are centered around the gods, and are closely aligned with magical practices, one often being called the other. However, the actual craft and art of sorcery is a skill unique to the practitioner like any other artform. This is the individualistic witchcraft that I am talking about. Of course there are those practices that call upon the aid of spirits, deities and other non-physical entities, but are they in fact the real power behind these rituals? I’m not so sure.

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Beltane: Beginning the Growing Season

It is during this time of year that the green magician and herbalist begin laying the sacred plot of the apothecary garden, awakening sleeping roots with offerings of milk and honey and collecting the early blossoms and buds of springtime for the altar and the creation of lustral waters. This year it has stayed cold longer than it normally does, making it feel more like winter than spring. Although the signs of the coming summer are beginning to make themselves known. There are many things to be done both indoors and outdoors to prepare for the growing season.

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