Something wonderful is happening in Iceland this year. Toward the end of 2018, the first heathen temple built in Nordic countries in over 1000 years will be dedicated and begin its service to the Ásatrú faithful. Iceland has seen an amazing resurgence of the old Nordic faith, especially considering how little time has passed since […]
There are some neopagan faiths that get more exposure than others. The reconstructed Irish pagan ways are embedded so deeply into Wicca that they’re nearly inextricable. The Odinists are well known, partially because of the ripple effects of television shows like Vikings. Egyptian and Greco-Roman gods are all extremely well known, and their stories are […]
Wicca is famous, and rightly so, for its deep-felt veneration for the Goddess. The Earth is our Mother, and She was the first deity that humans acknowledged, as far as we can tell. Ancient religions were Goddess-centric (although some scholars dispute this). When the patriarchal Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam came into power, […]
Finding the Goddess In most Pagan and traditional, pre-Christian faiths, there is always at least one Goddess, and it’s easy to understand why. All of us as human beings are the product of a woman giving birth. Until science creates machine incubators for human embryos, this is the most absolutely true and certain thing anyone […]
One of the activities that witches and pagans are known for the most is the act of divination. Divination, which has also been called fortune-telling, is a way of connecting human intuition with divine wisdom (“divine” is almost a pun – to tell the future is to divine, and the information comes from the Goddess, […]
Handfasting is the name for a Wiccan and pagan wedding ceremony. Some people say it dates back to the time of the ancient Celts, but this is debatable at best. It certainly dates from 17th-Century Scotland, when it was a sort of temporary marriage intended to last a year and a day. If the couple […]
In a casual tour of the Witchernet (my name for the Pagan/Wiccan/witchcraft presence on the web), I’ve found several sites where the terms “witch,” “Wiccan” and “Pagan” are used interchangeably. They’re not at all the same thing. So what’s the difference? All Witches are Pagans, but Not All Pagans are Witches “Pagan” is based on […]
Spirit Animals and Totem Animals There is a lot of talk in the Pagan community about spirit animals, total animals, and familiars. I’ve already talked a bit about familiars, so today I’d like to discuss spirit animals and totem animals. They’re not the same thing. Before we get into the differences between the two types, […]
Dealing with Negative Energy I opened part one by talking about ghost hunting shows and how they ask Wiccans to cleanse locations of negative energy. This article will be about what negative energy is, where it comes from, and how to make it go away. What Is Negative Energy? Negative energy is exactly what it […]
What is Energy? I don’t know if you’ve ever watched one of those ghost hunting television shows, but sometimes, when something particularly gnarly is haunting a particular location, the hosts and ghost hunters call in a Wiccan priestess or priest to clean things up. Do you ever wonder why Wiccans are called upon to perform […]