Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Pagan

The Balancing Path

Select a Category A Lakeside Hearth Adventures in Wortcunning Alone In Her Presence Arts, Crafts & Cooking Birthing Hereditary Witchcraft Book of Blackbirds Book Reviews Born-Again Witch Cauldron, Sword, Spear, & Stone Cermony and Liturgy Columns Community Dandelion Seeds Dear Jasmine Druid Thoughts Editor's Picks Everyday Pagan Family & Household Practice Family Traditions Full Frontal Magic Gateway Goddess Guest Articles Happily Heathen Health and Wellness Hearth of Hellenism Heathen Woman Hills of the Horizon History Holidays Horse Goddesses Interfaith Interviews Irish-American Witchcraft Jewish Witch Lamp & Labyrinth Letters from Midgard Literature, Media, Film, Music Loop of Brighid Love, Sex & Relationships Magic or Magick Making Light Naturalistic Traditions Nature News Outside The Circle Pantheisticon Politics Prayers, Poems, Blessings & Stories Queer Femme Mystic Queer of Swords Recipes Ritual and Practice Science and Research Seekers and Guides Seeking the Grail Socially Responsible Magic Spear of Athena Star Made Witch Syncretic Electric Technology The Blooming Staff The Busy Witch The Cartomancer The Crow's Nest The Dance of Pagan Recovery The Hearth of Hellenism The Lady's Quill The Other Side of the Hedge The Path of She The Rantin' Raven The Witches Next Door The Zen Pagan Theology, Ethics, Philosophy Tree City Witch Urban Earthwitch Wayfaring Woman Witch on Fire Wyrd Words

Select a Month January 2026 March 2025 December 2024 June 2024 April 2024 March 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 August 2023 July 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012

June 2020

June 09, 2020

The Balancing Path: Spells for Black Lives Matter

We need to put effort and energy into social justice both now and into the...

June 08, 2020

The Balancing Path: Color Magic – White is Not Justice for BLM

Color associations are complex, multi-layered things. In the context of Black Lives Matter, white color...

June 02, 2020

The Balancing Path: No Wrong Way to Grieve

Grief is love with nowhere to go. There is a lot to grieve right now,...

May 2020

May 26, 2020

The Balancing Path: Why and How to Use Gender Neutral Language

When hurtful and exclusionary words come from authorities in pagan, pword, and magical circles, that...

May 21, 2020

The Balancing Path: Elemental Spirit and Animism

Spirit is hard to define, since it is intangible and subject to personal experience and...

May 15, 2020

The Balancing Path: Interconnected Elements (Fire, Water, Earth, & Air)

The elements are worlds away from isolated energetic bastions of oppositional power. No matter how...

May 06, 2020

The Balancing Path: Scientifically Minded Witchcraft

Practicing scientifically minded witchcraft means acknowledging the validity and veracity of both science and magic....

April 2020

April 29, 2020

The Balancing Path: Healthy Bloodflow Sigil

This sigil is NOT a substitute for proper medical care! It is designed to help...

April 26, 2020

The Balancing Path: Stress and Anxiety Management Sigil

This is a sigil to help support efforts at managing prolonged stress and anxiety. I...

April 23, 2020

The Balancing Path: Book Review – Outside the Charmed Circle

Outside the Charmed Circle speaks to the human experience, in all its diversity. It is...

April 21, 2020

The Balancing Path: Meeting Aradia

An older looking woman looked up from stirring the cauldron to give me a warm...

April 14, 2020

The Balancing Path: Magic is Will vs Will

All of energy manipulation and metaphysical manifestation is will vs will. When you don’t see...

April 07, 2020

The Balancing Path: Not All Meditations Are Created Equal

I have frequently seen people state that they hate meditation and it doesn’t work for...

April 03, 2020

The Balancing Path: Moon Water with No Moonlight

It is easiest to make moon water by bathing it in moonlight at night, but...

April 01, 2020

The Balancing Path: Productive Ways to Panic

What about when you can’t stop panicking, no matter how much you breathe and try...

March 2020

March 25, 2020

The Balancing Path: Seeking Balance During Extremes

COVID-19 has dealt the entire world an unbalancing upset. Even in cases where this pandemic...

March 12, 2020

The Balancing Path: Including Queer and Genderqueer Fertility

Ostara through Beltane in pagan circles tends to include a deluge of fertility themes. This time...

March 04, 2020

The Balancing Path: (Not So) Arbitrary Symbolic Correspondences

There are a lot of symbolic associations in pagan and magical practice which are often...

February 2020

February 19, 2020

The Balancing Path: My Nonbinary Liminal Pantheacon Experience

Nonbinary pathways are often inherently liminal because they defy the standard paths and perspectives of...

February 13, 2020

The Balancing Path: Public Ritual Should Never be Exclusionary . . .

If you are involved in running an event that includes presentations and rituals given by...

February 10, 2020

The Balancing Path: Can Pets Be Familiars . . .

Familiars are not especially common, even in pagan and witchy circles, although a huge portion...

January 2020

January 24, 2020

The Balancing Path: Nonbinary Perspective on Gendered Divinity

Having a nonbinary perspective is for anyone, of any gender identity. It is about framing...

December 2019

December 28, 2019

The Balancing Path: Resting in the Darkness…

This 2019 solstice season demanded that I stop, rest, and shelter in the darkness. I needed...

December 10, 2019

The Balancing Path: Touching in Ritual

When is it OK to touch another person in ritual? The answer is the same...

December 03, 2019

The Balancing Path: Death is Required for Living . . .

Unless you are solely eating items that are cast off or harvested from still-living plants...

November 2019

November 22, 2019

The Balancing Path: Transgender Awareness and Living Personal Truths

We all have personal Truths, whether we have no idea yet what they are, we...

November 18, 2019

The Balancing Path: Unconventional Tools and Altar Supplies

The only essential for magical or p-word practice is yourself. Everything else is icing on...

November 11, 2019

The Balancing Path: Calling the Fates to Hex

For me, the question of ethics comes in with whether or not the recipient truly...

November 05, 2019

The Balancing Path: Many Ways to Perceive Energy

How do you perceive energies? Do you predominantly filter those perceptions through one physical sense,...

October 2019

October 29, 2019

The Balancing Path: Mourning & Commemorating Transitions at Samhain

We don’t get to choose to what we mourn. We can’t help the fact that...