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Outside the Charmed Circle

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January 2020

January 02, 2020

Outside the Charmed Circle: Coming Soon to a Bookstore Near You!

I wrote a book! And since it comes out in just a few days, this...

December 2019

December 19, 2019

Unforgivable Curses: J.K. Rowling and the Tweet of Transphobia

Harry Potter has permeated much of the popular culture, and p-words are hardly immune to...

December 18, 2019

Review: “The Eloquent Blood” by Manon Hedenborg White

Manon Hedenborg White's "The Eloquent Blood," a doctoral thesis on the goddess Babalon, is the...

August 2019

August 29, 2019

What’s in Your Appendix N? (Memories of the First Books #4)

I was ruminating on the similarities between geek culture and p-word culture, and the thought...

July 2019

July 15, 2019

A Dollop of Analysis: Further Observations on Racism and White Fragility

If the modern Pagan and polytheist communities aren't willing to be inclusive of all races...

June 2019

June 17, 2019

What Your Favorite Wheel-of-the-Year Day Says About You

I’ve noted in previous posts that my relationship with the Wheel of the Year is...

May 2019

May 21, 2019

What Your Favorite Ritual Tool Says About You: An Exercise in Humor

What DOES your favorite ritual took say about you? What messages are you unknowingly sending...

April 2019

April 08, 2019

Animism for Every Body: A Review of “Witchbody” by Sabrina Scott

The animism of Witchbody isn't joyful serenity or justifiably crabby doomsaying, but rather, a vision...

March 2019

March 29, 2019

The Unbearable Whiteness of Being Pagan: Some Observations on White Fragility in Esoteric Spiritual Movements

For some Pagans, the core of their belief system isn't Paganism, polytheism, witchcraft, or magic:...

March 25, 2019

Six Types of Pagan Book Reviews to Stop Writing Immediately

Pagans, polytheists and occultists might be the People of the Library, but if certain book-selling...

January 2019

January 17, 2019

A Not-So-Secret Project: An Update on the State of the Misha

Hello, beautiful creatures! Where've I been, and what's been going on? The answer may shock...

October 2018

October 19, 2018

Points of the Triangle: The Victim, the Persecutor, and the Rescuer

Let's dig a little deeper into how the dynamics of Karpman's drama triangle manifest in...

August 2018

August 14, 2018

Scribing the Triangle: Some Thoughts on Power Dynamics in Our Communities

If we're honest with ourselves, about ourselves, I think we'll find is that a lot...

August 13, 2018

Banishing the Boogeyman of Cultural Marxism, and Other Pastimes

Everyone's entitled to their own brand of ignorance and damnfoolishness... up to a point. For...

July 2018

July 27, 2018

Washing the Clay Feet of Broken Idols: Confronting Paganism’s TERF Problem

TERFs are of a piece with the alt-right, from their reliance on pseudo-science to their...

July 12, 2018

On the Necessary, Ineluctable Otherness of Witchcraft

Is witchcraft a set of beliefs? A set of practices? Or is it something else...

July 10, 2018

The Agenda I’m Advancing: Some Thoughts on Tolerance, Bigotry, and Discourse

We all have agendas, because we all have worlds in which we want to live,...

June 2018

June 26, 2018

The Long Haul: Managing the Everyday Magic of Resistance

You have the right and the responsibility to say, "This is what I'm working on,...

June 01, 2018

#FollowFriday: Shannon Barber, Michael Lux, and Anthony Rella

I come away from their writing feeling like I've just had my brain sand-blasted and...

May 2018

May 30, 2018

A Handle on My Cup: Some Thoughts about Labels and Identity

In the wild, wild world of Paganism, polytheism, and magical practice, we spend an awful...

May 16, 2018

A Presence Beneath Our Feet: An Anecdote on Communing with the Mountain

I remember my promise to the mountain, and I am reminded that the spirits of...

May 02, 2018

Snapshots and Sketches: A Rueful Panegyric for “The Community”

Maybe there never was a "community" after all, just an assumption of universality papering over...

April 2018

April 13, 2018

Marks of the Witch: The Bend, the Need, and the Will

It's not necessary to be born a witch or to be made one by someone...

April 06, 2018

#FollowFriday: Scarlet Magdalene, Brandy Williams, and Laura Tempest Zakroff

These are some of the sharpest, wisest, best-educated folks writing about magic right now, and...

April 04, 2018

Bedroom Temples and Broom Closets: On Praxis, Space, and Community

I enjoy group rituals and Pagan and polytheist conferences, but at the end of the...

March 2018

March 30, 2018

The Grail Question: An Annoyingly Useful Discernment Tool

Rather than simply accepting things as they are because we don't want to "rock the...

March 23, 2018

Horses and Zebras: Some Further Thoughts on Abuse in Our Communities

For a movement that places so much value on personal, spiritual, and sexual autonomy, we...

March 10, 2018

Witch-Aesthetics and the Elitism of Curmudgeonry

One of the things witchcraft is for is empowering people who've been disempowered and trodden...

March 03, 2018

Stations of the Day: Encompassing the Indefinability of Witchcraft

Sometimes, I'm asked what witchcraft is. Rather than a definition, what I have are memories,...

March 01, 2018

Answer Me These Questions Three: A Word for Discerning Seekers

The story of the Seeker is a classic, almost a folk ballad in its structure,...

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