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July 2017

July 18, 2017

Why What I Am Takes So Many Words To Describe

There is no single term that completely and accurately describes the religion I practice. Since...

July 02, 2017

Magic: Amateurs vs. Professionals

Let’s not be satisfied with feeling magical. Let’s not be satisfied with being amateur magicians....

June 2017

June 25, 2017

A Speculative Look at the Cycles of Magic and the Otherworld

In which I look at cyclical time, the Mayan calendar, planetary alignments, ice ages and...

June 20, 2017

Who Ya Gonna Believe, Me Or Your Lying Eyes?

There has never been a greater need to ignore what the mainstream culture tells you...

June 13, 2017

A Three-Fold Understanding of Magic

I came to a three-fold understanding of magic very early on my Pagan journey, and...

May 2017

May 26, 2017

Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Men Tell No Tales

There’s a bit of formula to Dead Men Tell No Tales, and that’s not necessarily...

May 09, 2017

Stealing Fire From The Gods

The practice of magic is, in many ways, stealing fire from the Gods. Every spell...

April 2017

April 18, 2017

The Monsters that Live in the Depths

Some aren’t interested in deeper practice. Some aren’t ready for it… but when are any...

March 2017

March 26, 2017

Progressive Magic

Magic has a dilemma. It works best when it’s focused and specific, but many of...

March 14, 2017

What’s Changing: The World or Us?

What’s changing: the world or us? I’ve been arguing it’s the world, but I now...

March 05, 2017

How Do You Know Your Magic Worked?

Figuring out if your magic worked is a process of comparing what you got against...

February 2017

February 19, 2017

What Happens When You Leave A Magical Portal Open?

Leaving a gate or portal open is a bad thing. Mainly, it’s a sloppy thing....

January 2017

January 05, 2017

Wild Paganism

Some of us have prayed “teach us again to be wild and free” and we’re...

December 2016

December 18, 2016

Mercury Retrograde: Magic Tips the Scales

Mercury goes retrograde tomorrow morning will remain retrograde until January 8. It doesn’t mean gremlins...

November 2016

November 16, 2016

Be The Dark

On Sunday I encouraged my fellow UUs to be the light. But what if you...

November 10, 2016

Learning to Fly

The world as we know it is changing. The ones that survive and succeed will...

October 2016

October 06, 2016

A Legacy of Magic

Magic has been a part of religion since the beginnings of religion, and it is...

August 2016

August 28, 2016

Mission and Vision: What Your Chapter Can Learn From the 2014 Surveys

This is my keynote presentation from the CUUPS Convocation, condensed and reformatted for a blog...

August 04, 2016

Pieces of Eight

Gordon White of Rune Soup has a new book out titled Pieces of Eight: Chaos...

January 2016

January 24, 2016

What’s Wrong With Asking For a Miracle?

Magic can make the improbable more likely, but it can’t do the impossible. Rather than...

December 2015

December 22, 2015

The 4 Best Posts of 2015 You Didn’t Read

While I’ve come to accept that sometimes the Pagan community just doesn’t care about something...

December 01, 2015

What Are We Not Seeing?

Those who would control us don’t have to enslave us. It’s much easier to simply...

September 2015

September 03, 2015

4 Steps To Re-enchant The World

The desire to re-enchant the world is like a craving for a food you can’t...

August 2015

August 05, 2015

You Can’t Practice Paganism While You Look Down Your Nose At It

Paganism can restore our connections with the natural world, rebuild our ties with our communities,...

July 2015

July 30, 2015

Lammas Night

What sacrifices – of time, treasure, effort, convenience, or more – will you make to...

April 2015

April 14, 2015

Responding to the Religiously Obnoxious

I’m a big proponent of doing what it takes to get along. But at some...

December 2014

December 16, 2014

Amanda Palmer and the Art of Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding has become a seemingly magical source of money for a variety of projects and...

December 11, 2014

There Is No Supernatural

“Supernatural” is a convenient but lazy word that means “something outside the realm of what...

December 01, 2014

Does Magic Undermine the Sovereignty of Nature?

Does the practice of magic undermine the sovereignty of Nature? John Halstead thinks it does....

November 2014

November 05, 2014

Faith in the Wrong Things

Those who put their faith in Democrats – or Republicans, or Libertarians, or Communists –...