Tag Archive | enlightenment

The “Christmas” Tree In The Pagan World

Merry Yuletide

Winter Solstice/Yuletide Decorations

Every year, at this time of the winter season, people around the world set out decorations for the holiday season. And like many different times of the year, some people begin to make comparisons between Christian holidays and Pagan feasts and festivals.

The Winter Solstice/Yuletide festival and Christmas are one such comparisons. For sure there are a lot of cross over symbology between these Pagan celebrations and the Christian Christmas. But you might be surprised that the Christmas Tree is not one of these.

The following is an excerpt from The History of Yule:

The “Christmas” Tree
The Christmas tree tradition does not come from Pagans as many believe. Some people believe the Christmas tree comes from a story of Odin hanging from Yggdrasil in order to learn about the Norse Runes. Continue reading →

Thanks To Our Veterans

Nov10

Thank You For Your Service

To all veterans Past, Present and Future.
From far away, to here at home.
On active duty or duty served.
We honor your courage and sacrifice.
We extend our gratitude for your commitment.
As we share our thanks and gratitude,
for the freedom you have protected.
Spring © 2014

U.S. Counties Want To Move Halloween

Oct27

Upsetting Witches

It happens every year. Some County official somewhere in the U.S., wants to move the observance of Halloween for little Trick-or-Treaters and I suddenly get hundreds of emails from practicing Witches about how this angers them to no end. Litterally, beginning around October 1st, I start receiving emails. By the end of the month I’ve received over 200 when all is said and done.

This year, I’m up to 167 so far. with less than a week to go. Hopefully that means word is getting out. But the general sentiment is often the same, “What right do these people have to move OUR holiday!” Here’s my question in response, Why are you upset, Halloween IS NOT our holiday?

Whether you use the Gaelic pronunciation “Sow-en”, “Sow-ween”, “Sah-ween” or the Americanized version “Sam-hain” (yes that is an acceptable pronunciation), Samhain is still the biggest holiday on the Pagan Calendar.

Samhain is a Gaelic word, and it translates to “Summer’s End”. It marks the end of the growing season and the transition into Winter. It also marks the Celtic New Year and it is observed with both reverence and of course a big party celebration. Continue reading →

It’s the 2nd Friday the 13th For 2018

Jul13

Do You Know The Origins of Friday the 13th?

Once again it’s another 13th day that lands on a Friday. Once again, news organizations are publishing articles about where the day came from and who started it. And once again, their general line is “no one knows where it started”. Yeah, um…No. What they mean is, they don’t want to look at Pagan History and find yet another thing they observe that’s based on Pagan beliefs and practices.

We know where the day came from. We know generally when it started. And we know it is NOT based in Christian lore concerning the Knights Templar.

If you’re interested in the Pagan History of this day, you’ll have to turn to indo-European pagans. And the persecution of an old peaceful religion.
History of Friday the 13th – It’s a good day for Pagans.

Artist Unknown

Oh, and I forgot. This Friday the 13th falls in the range of the New Moon celebrations. You might want to include a little Moon Magik in your celebrations. This holiday for Pagans is all about good luck and receiving blessings from the Divine (who or whatever that is to you). The New Moon phase is best used for personal growth, healing and blessing of new projects or ventures. A great time to share that energy with the good luck of the 13th. It’s also a good time to cleanse and consecrate new tools and objects you wish to use during rituals, ceremonies or an up coming festival.

May you all have a blessed and wonderful day.

Stop Mixing Mysticism with Science!

Jan29

Merlin’s Blood Moon by Springwolf 🐾

NO, IT IS NOT A FULL BLUE BLOOD MOON!

I wish these mainstream media people would stop mixing mysticism with science. If you’re going to mix spiritual mysticism with scientific explanation, you should at least get the mysticism part right.

Early Pagans coined the phrase “Blood Moon” to signify the full moon phases of the Fall Harvest. Every full moon during the harvest season was once known as the Blood Moon and it has nothing to do with the color of the Moon.

Over time, that monthly harvest celebration evolved to become the Full Moon nearest the Autumn Equinox or the first full moon of the autumn harvest, also known as the Harvest Moon. For most Pagans, that Full Harvest Moon occurs in September or October, if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere. Continue reading →

The Subtleties of Energy

Jan17

How Your Thoughts Impact Your Day

I’d like to share something about energy. It seems to be a topic of conversation this week. Most everyone who works with energy in some way sees the spiritual impact of that work. You may pull energy in for healing, send it out through prayers, summon Divine energy for blessings or clearing and cleansing etc. Spiritual practitioners also connect to it in order to provide readings or interpretations for clients. In magik, we pull in energy to manipulate it to our intent and send it back out again. But do you take time to really understand how that energy impacts you, specifically, over time?

When you’re adept at working with energy, a lot of subtle energies can be picked up on and can unexpectedly impact other things in your life. That connection to a client or another person can translate and manifest in some interesting ways. Let me explain that in a little story that happened to me that can help explain where this is going for everyone, professional and layman alike.

I was asked to provide an interpretation of something for a friend. For over a week I’ve tried to fulfill that request. But odd things kept happening blocking my ability to complete that ‘mission’. Every time I sat down to start-up my laptop to type up the interpretation and send it off, our wi-fi would go out. Continue reading →

2018 New Year Full Moon & Blue Moon

Dec29

Moonlit Newgrange Burial Chamber and Standing Stone, County Meath, Ireland.
Photographer: Tim Hannan

January 1st Full Moon

Are you ready for the Full Moon on January 1st? It’s the Winter Wolf Moon in my Clan. And because the moon is still so close to Earth in its Perigee during December 2017, a lot of folks are also calling this coming full moon the Supermoon for 2018.

Supermoons aren’t anything extra special in the world of science. It’s just a commercial name for when the Moon is closest to Earth during its regular orbit around the planet. Because the Moon is closer to Earth in its perigee, it appears to be bigger than what we’re used to seeing during any other full moon through the year.

For Pagans, these closer moons can mean GrandMother Moon is coming in close to look in on the Children of Mother Earth. Esbat rituals (special observances for the phases of the moon) may give special honor to the Old Crone aspect of the Triple Goddess.

January Blue Moon

To top it off, because the full moon is occurring so early in the month, it allows us to squeeze in a 2nd full moon for this month. A Blue Moon, which graces our presence on January 31st, 2018 at 8:27am.

Many in the media are trying to promote this Blue Moon as a “Blood Moon”. It’s not! A Blood Moon is a very specific time of the year for Pagans. And since the name comes from a Pagan observance, I think we get to say when it occurs. They need to Stop Mixing Mysticism with Science – No it’s not a Blood Moon.

There are several articles here on my blog that talk more in-depth about these special phases of the Moon that you might be interested in.

The Full Moon By Name – The Many Names of the Full Moon
Once In A Blue Moon – Explanation, History, Significance & Ritual
The Full Moon In The Southern Hemisphere – What Is The Name Of The Moon
GrandMother Moon In Perigee – The Energy Of The Moon
The Legend Of The Sun and The Moon – How The Sun Loved The Moon
Sun & Moon – Watching On Your Phone
Working With The Moon – On PagansPath.com

Happy New Year 2018

Dec29

Happy New Year!
May 2018 bring you Blessings, Joy and Happiness
All The Year Through!

The Full Blood Moon

Oct3

The Full Blood Moon

The Moon of the Autumn Equinox

The Harvest Moon is usually defined as the full moon closest to the autumn equinox. For us in the Northern Hemisphere, that usually occurs on or near September 22 each year. This year however, the nearest full moon to the equinox will occur this week on October 5, 2017.

Many people think this full moon gets its name from a reddish glow that may appear on the full moon. But that red color doesn’t happen with every Fall Full Moon. This effect is caused by the atmosphere of the earth. When sunlight is scattered by passing through Earth’s atmosphere, the other colors of the spectrum are removed. The moon will appear reddish when it’s nearer to the horizon, for the same reason a sunset or sunrise appears red. It’s all because of the Earth’s shadow.

A red moon is sometimes used to refer to four total lunar eclipses that happen in the space of two years, a phenomenon astronomers call a lunar tetrad. The eclipses in a tetrad occur six months apart with at least six Full Moons between them. So a red moon, isn’t a completely rare thing when an eclipse occurs.

A lot of Space or Astronomical journals have begun using the term “Blood Moon” to describe all these red moon occurrences. Unfortunately they didn’t do their research and made some significant assumptions about the phrase. It has nothing to do with the color of the moon at all. Continue reading →

2017 Annual Motto

Jan13

The Year Long Affirmation

Many years ago I stopped making New Years Resolutions. I was never able to stick to them and keep them going the year through. Not being able to keep up with such a lofty goal was frustrating. To say the least. And left me feeling defeated, not empowered.

I began seeing Resolutions as goals that set me up to Fail. What a negative and self-defeating concept. Setting yourself up to fail and feeling bad about not carrying through on the promise you made to yourself. How is this helpful? So I stopped making Resolutions and started making Mottoes that I could say when things got tough or when I needed a boost in my thinking!

My first motto was designed to do nothing more than get me through a day of frustration and anger. In 2001 I didn’t like my Boss, which meant I didn’t like my job either. But my Motto got me through those exceptionally rough days “I don’t care, I get paid.” And it worked. Pretty well actually. The group of people I managed at the time, took up my practice and new motto as well. Each time we hit a wall of frustration, someone would recite the motto and everyone would relax a little bit. Continue reading →

"Believe In Yourself, Even When No One Else Does."
~ Harvey McKay ~
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“Take a chance on faith. Not religion, but faith.
Not hope, but faith.
I don’t believe in hope. Hope is a beggar.
Hope walks through the fire and Faith leaps over it.”
~ Jim Carrey ☆ 2014
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“I describe myself as a simple Buddhist monk. No more, no less. And I am one of the seven billion human being. Basically we are the same… your emotion, my emotion, your mind, my mind.., same physical. So I always look [at it] that way. We are the same.”
~ Dalai Lama 2012 ~
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"Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
~ Bruce Lee 1971