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The Rantin’ Raven

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October 2016

October 17, 2016

The Rantin’ Raven: Who’s Superstitious?

Years ago, I embarked on a little experiment: for an entire summer we wore clerical...

September 2016

September 19, 2016

The Rantin’ Raven: For the Love of the Gods (Book Review)

There have been a rash of more or less scholarly books about the origins of...

July 2016

July 18, 2016

The Rantin’ Raven: The Pagan America Project

All over the United States there is an enormous quantity of public art depicting Pagan...

June 2016

June 04, 2016

The Rantin’ Raven: On Choosing a Magical Name

Upon entering the Craft, it is traditional, almost required, that one choose a new name....

May 2016

May 21, 2016

The Rantin’ Raven: The Riddle of the Pentagram

Though ancient beyond belief and occurring in indigenous iconographies all over the world, the Pentagram...

May 07, 2016

The Rantin’ Raven: Old at Beltain

We just celebrated Beltain, perhaps the most "hands on" Sabbat of the year. But, what...

April 2016

April 16, 2016

The Rantin’ Raven: This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

What can we do to stop Elder Flight? What can we do to keep our...

March 2016

March 19, 2016

The Rantin’ Raven: Harry Potter and the… WTF?

Recently, Harry Potter’s creator JK Rowling has expanded her fictional ‘secret history of the world’...

March 05, 2016

The Rantin’ Raven: A Wiccan Speaks Out About Cults

Is Wicca a cult? Ask your minister, and he'll probably say yes. Ask a Wiccan...

February 2016

February 20, 2016

The Rantin’ Raven: Westernizing Our Ritual Forms

Here we have a collection of terms and a new ritual, perhaps a new way...

February 06, 2016

The Rantin’ Raven: How to use a Pendulum for Dowsing and Divination (Book Review)

When I opened the padded envelope I expected to see a book. But no --...

January 2016

January 16, 2016

The Rantin’ Raven: Celebrations of Fire and Ice

Of all the festivals of the Pagan year, Imbolc, February 2, is the most complex,...

December 2015

December 19, 2015

The Rantin’ Raven: Yule – The Turning of the Wheel

Those of us who choose to follow that spiritual "different drummer" give up a lot....

December 05, 2015

The Rantin’ Raven: The Second-Meanest Cat

Anyone who says that animals don't communicate -- that they can't form and carry out...

November 2015

November 21, 2015

The Rantin’ Raven: Not My Elder

Recently, a few prominent authors, activists, and well-known personalities in the Pagan world did something...

November 07, 2015

The Rantin’ Raven: Telling Our Stories

If you’re a member of any kind of linage, formal or informal, please ask more...

October 2015

October 27, 2015

The Rantin’ Raven: Samhain Meditation

“Lord Herne,” you whisper, “and all you spirits of the Dead, I drink to you!”

October 17, 2015

The Rantin’ Raven: Wicca Was the Tantra of the West

I’m old enough to remember what the Craft was like ‘in the day.’ It was...

October 03, 2015

The Rantin’ Raven: Faith, Hope, and Clarity

Having certainty doesn’t mean that we don’t need faith. It means we don’t need blind...

September 2015

September 19, 2015

The Rantin’ Raven: Who Was Mabon?

There’s a lot of debate over the name Mabon at the Autumn Equinox, mostly because...

September 05, 2015

The Rantin’ Raven: An Old Witch Responds to the Young Ones

Now, this is not going to be one of those “When I was your age...

August 2015

August 15, 2015

The Rantin’ Raven: You Got Some Splainin’ To Do…

So once again some bozo in some backwater police department encountered a case that squicked...

August 01, 2015

The Rantin’ Raven: Cultural Appropriation? Really?

Cultural appropriation isn’t always the misappropriation of myths and spiritual artifacts from low-technology indigenous populations...

July 2015

July 18, 2015

The Rantin’ Raven: Celebrating Wildness – a Book Review

Celebrating Wildness is a unique, exquisite, and profound book. It created in me a sort...

July 04, 2015

The Rantin’ Raven: The Perfect Couple – Ideal or Illusion?

The Goddess, alone in the universe She had created, felt a need to be companion-ed,...

June 2015

June 20, 2015

The Rantin’ Raven: Songs for the Old Religion, in Context

Something like Songs for the Old Religion could not happen in today’s Pagan world, because...

June 06, 2015

The Rantin’ Raven: Songs for the Old Religion – Part 1: the Making

In which Dana recounts the creation of a CD, Songs for the Old Religion.

May 2015

May 16, 2015

The Rantin’ Raven: I Met Bill Schnoebelen and Lived!

A recent article on the channel goes into considerable detail about the infamous Bill Schnoebelen...