Candle Magik

Merry Meet,

The topic this evening is candle magik. Candle magik is an ancient practice and it survives in most cultures in one form or anoher. Even people who would never consciously practice magik, do so when they light candles on a birthday cake and then blow them out. How many of you, when you were married, lit a unity candle? How many of you have had the misfortune of lighting a candle at the shrine of a terrible event, like 9-11? How many of you light candles at church or at home in front of an icon or statue?

Candle magik is one of the easiest ways to send out a spell. You can make the ritual of preparing the candle as elaborate or as simple as you want. White candles are good universal candles for all needs but some people find it useful to correspond the color of the candle with the specific need of the person for whom the spell is being worked. Spices, herbs and oils can be rubbed onto the surface of the candle and the candle can be inscribed with a pin or a knife or, if you are very strict, a boline. The thing that you have to remember is that you have to have a clear intent...what do you expect the spell to do? Then, you have to visualize it happening. And as you work the spell, you have to ask for the help of your sacred spirit. Because the candle is only a representation of your spell, the sacred spirit is the one who makes or empowers the spell, through you. You should allow the candle to burn itself safely out.

Here is a hint....tea lights are great candles and they only last for about four hours but if you are doing a spell and it must be completed quickly, use a birthday candle. You can buy them cheaply at the grocery store in various colors and they burn down in no time at all.

How do you anoint a candle? If you do not have a lot of expensive oils on hand, a good olive oil will do the trick. Just dip your finger in it and rub it on the candle. If the spell is to draw something to you, you rub the oil from the wick end to the bottom. If you want to cast it away from you, like a protection spell or a health spell to someone far away, you anoint bottom to wick. It's that simple.

So give candle magik a try and until we meet again,
Brightest Blessings Be

Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk

On Writing this Christian Witch Blog

Merry Meet,

I keep writing these blogs in the hope there are people reading it, and not just to criticize, but to try to puzzle out this work we do in the Craft. I don't mind people contributing to my blog, but I do mind when someone steals one of my entries to make fun of it or to discount my work.

I mention this because just for the sake of interest, I googled my magickal name and found there was a dot com called The Hull Pagans from Hull, England. They had lifted my article on Ostara and then proceded to criticize me. Not on my own blog, but on theirs, so they would not have to be open for any discussion from me. For those of you on the Hull Pagans bulletin board, remember that as ye reap, so shall ye sow, the cruelty you give, the cruelty you'll know. As I will it, mote it be so. This is especially for you, Librarian. Thou shalt not steal.

Brightest Blessings Be
Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk

Which Witch is Which: Multiple Traditions in the Christian Craft Community

Merry Meet

One of the things that is interesting about the notion of Christian Witchery is the various incarnations of the Craft within the community. This is both a good thing and a bad thing . It is a good thing in that we have multiple experiences that enrich our practice, but it can be troublesome because of the way we define not only witchcraft, but Christianity. The way we define Christianity is the cause of much strife, not only in the way Christians deal with the utside world, but deal with eachother. We, myself included, become egocentric.

See, I traveled through many Christian congregations before I became a Roman Catholic. And then from Roman Catholic, I moved into the Christian Witch practice of my faith. I am known by many names: Catholic Crafter, Christian Santero, Catholic Brujeria, but I love the designation a Wiccan gave to me and my practice and what I call this Blog: Christian Wicce.

So how do we resolve this conundrum? How do we bring together the various Christian Craft disciplines? We might start by doing what Jesus told us to do: Love one another and judge not, because we, historically, have demonstrated that we neither love one another (The Crusades, The Inquisition, The Burning Times, The Holocaust) and we severly judge one another (see the list above).

The next thing we have to do is understand we who practice Craft and Chrisitianity come from our own individual experiences with both Christian Faith and the Craft. Some of us are cradle Christians who wandered into Wicca maybe and shifted back. Some are Wiccans who may have become Christians or have learned to blend the two religions. Some of us may not have grown up with much of a religious upbringing and have wandered in and out of churches, temples, mosques and covens looking for the perfect place for us.

I propose that we sit down and write a set of Christian Witch notions. I like that word better than rules or commandments, but just a set of ideas that loosely define what this means to be a Christian Witch.

Brightest Blessings Be

Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk

Celebrating the Summer Solstice and Celebrating our Fathers

June the 21^st was the summer solstice, but June is also the month that we celebrate Father's Day. There are many ways to celebrate our Fathers and there are many men we may wish to celebrate beyond our biological fathers. We should, of course, celebrate our relationship with our God above all others. But, Father's Day is a wonderful day to celebrate not only the our birth fathers or the men who raised us, but also a chance to acknowledge our spiritual fathers and that can include our teachers, like Scott Cunningham and Raven Grimassi and Gerald Gardner Raymond Buckland.

I don't know what I would have done without Scott Cunningham. As a Christian Witch out there trying to find my way through the Craft often through a forest of Christian unfriendly books and writings, Scott taught that the Craft can be more than the art of pagans and Wiccans but can be accessible to any person of spirit who wishes to work the Craft and embrace the natural world around them. He wrote primarily for his own pagan faith, but he made his Craft open to anyone who wanted to learn.

Father Gardner was also a Craft teacher for me though he was less concerned with the possibility of a Christian Witch than some writers. If he had not written down his knowledge and his scholarship in his Book of Shadows and his other books, there would be little in the way of Craft as religion today.

Then there is Raymond Buckland who gave us so much more than the Big Blue Book, but acknowledged the need of people to study and initiate on their own because of the lack of a local Craft Community and the differing disciplines that were arising out of the world wide Craft community.

Celebrating the Witch in Me

I am
Healer
Advisor
Thinker
Fortune Teller
Spell Caster
Petitioner to God
Scryer
Believer
Faerie Seer
Talisman Maker
Student
Master
Moon Phaser
Crystal Gazer
Witch

Why would people fear?
They fear the words they hear.
Witch, Crone, Hag
Warlock, Sorcerer
Whore of the devil
Evil Necromancer
Notice, these words are not on my list
Only theirs
except
Witch
I am

Witch in the Workplace

OK, you are at work in one of this little cubicles or you are a teacher in the classroom, or some other profession is it okay to display a small altar (a framed picture of the elements or a pentacle or just a candle with a symbol on it)?

Some people would say that it is inappropriate to display anything of a religious or spiritual matter in the workplace. This may be to protect people's rights to practice the religion of their choice or it may be a way to keep down "witnessing" or proselytizing. Others do it for professional reasons. At the same times, these businesses may not even permit family photos or other objects that present a cluttered workspace.

Generally, however, I recommend that witches play it low key. If you are allowed some personal objects in the work space, you may want to just have a small picture or a small potted plant or simply wear something that represents the sacred for you and would have no meaning to the casual observer.

The truth of the matter is that while the mundane world may not be actively burning us at the stake right now, there are other ways we can be persecuted. And remember, one of the ways of the witch is know, to do and to keep silent.

Love and the Craft

Well, I fooled around and fell in love. A few of my circle sisters have met this wonderful man and they introduced me to him. He is a Christo-Pagan, which means he honors the old gods as well the Christian God. He is 45 and I never thought I would meet someone I could care about after all of this time.

So what do you do, if you are Craft and fall in love? If you are both Craft, you begin practicing majik together, first small then greater as you get closer. But what if you are meeting someone who is not Craft, what if you are dating someone who is not Craft? What then? What if you are Crafting and one is one sort of Craft discipline and the other is another?

Honesty is always the best policy. It hurts, but sometimes knowing right away if the person has some objection to your practicing Craft is the best thing to happen. If you are both Crafters but one is one certain discipline and the other is another, find some commonalities....do the ubiquitous venn diagram and find out what is alike, what is the difference, and how there might be wonderful blending and how there can be some compromise. But above all, discussion and sharing, communication is the thing that we need the most and that is doubly true in our intimate relationships.

May love and wonder fill your lives together and may all good things come from the glory of your love.

Brightest Blessings Be

Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk

Beltaine: The Month of the Mothers: Mary and Earth

Merry Meet!

Ah spring in all her glory gowning mother earth in her billion shades of green. The coming of the season of planting flowers and herbs and vegetables. It is also the time to celebrate the feminine in the earth, being our Mother Earth, our birth Mother, important women in our lives, or Mary the mother of Jesus or any female goddess that is a part of your spiritual or magikal tradition.

I never paid much mind to the spring before I bacme involved with Craft in my life. Now I mark my calender for full moons, for planting times, for harvest times and for the celebrations. I now bless the coming of warmer days and nights, where I can sit in the sun during the day and sit in the gazebo during the night and watch the night things creep and listen for frogs and crickets and just be a part of the night in the warm temperatures that I can't truly be in the winter time.

But particularly for me, May first is the day I crown the Blessed Virgin with her crown of flowers and contemplate her gentleness and her compassion for all of us. I think that I shall write more outside this summer so I can quietly libate my Mothers, Mary and Earth and thank them for the love and tenderness they give me now and in the time when I go back to the both of them in my death.

Thank your sacred spirit for the mothers in your life,

Bright Blessing Be,
Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk

Ostara

Merry Meet,

Ah, that strange, wonderful, mixed up time for the Christian. Ostara or Easter, is the feast of spring and the growing time and the celebration of fertility and Mother Earth. When Christianity came into play, the pagan holiday was replaced by Easter. The resurrection of Christ is the only date that we as Christians celebrate with any certainty. Jesus was tried and crucufied in the days leading up to and through the Jewish passover, which is a moveable feast, coming late in March and early in April. This year, it is in April. Ostara and Easter became intertwined closely more so than even Christmas. We celebrate in the Christian religion with Sunday School or Mass, palm crosses, candles, and joy and we also celebrate with the visitation of the Easter Bunny, or the fertility hare, with gifts of eggs, which are symbols of fertility, and chocolate, a food which is supposed to induce desire and a wish to reproduce.

For the Christian Wicce, we celebrate the season of not only the Savior's resurrection, but the redemption of our old parents, Adam and Eve. The old blood libel against Eve as the weak vessel who succombed to the temptation of the Devil and Adam as being less of a man and being beguiled by an evil and vain woman are redeemed by the love, generosity and sacrifice of Mary, the Mother of God and her Son, Jesus, the living God. Mary is the new Eve, following the instructions of the Lord and Jesus is the new Adam, without the stain of sin, serving God the Father.

It is ironic, perhaps, that in the beginning, there was Adam, and from a rib, was made Eve. And yet it is the reverse, Mary is the perfect being, sinless and Jesus comes from her womb. The cycle is complete, we are all reunited, humanity and God, part of each other and inheritors to the heavens.

So, this Ostara I celebrate not only Jesus and his life, but the redemption of our old parents and I celebrate the new year of growth and warmth and healing.

Brightest Blessings be

Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk

Coming of Age: Croning

Merry Meet!

I turn 40 for my birthday. Forty. I have mixed feelings about that. There is a part of me that is glad that I am turning forty. Less is expected of me in many ways. In someways more is expected of me. I am no longer young, but I am not old. I have different priorities. At thirty, I wanted to find romantic love, but now I want to just love people around me and I want to love myself more. I want to be still, no more of that hoping around and hair pulling. I am far more interested in my interior world.

I want to devote myself to my personal studies and get ready to go to that next step, that next level in the world of the Craft. I am Croning this summer. It is a bitter sweet prospect. My dear friend who has made the journey to the Summerland was to have croned me. I am still being croned, but I will miss my friend.

For those who do not know what croning is, it is when a female witch has reached spiritual and chronological maturity and can be considered one of the wise ones. Men are eldered. It is a happy celebration, acknowledging the wealth of wisdom, experience and work the witch has done in his and her lifetime.

That does not mean that I will stop growing as a person or a witch, it just means that I have reached the highest level attainable in my spiritual practices. So in August think of me as I go through my croning and bright blessings be.

Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk

How do you define Witch? Part Two

Merry Meet

After much thought I came up with this. It is by no means complete but it is a jumping off place. Maybe this is the way it should be, always evolving as we grow. We are never the person we were from one year to the next, so perhaps this truth should also apply to being a witch and how we see ourselves as witches.

A witch is someone who has a personal relationship with their sacred spirit, who acknowledges, embraces, and loves the energy endowed to them by their sacred spirit. A witch is someone who seeks not only to serve themselves but help others explore, embrace, and cherish the sacred for themselves.

A witch studies and enriches themselves and emerse themselves in multiple traditions and disciplines so they have a wealth of wisdom from which to draw protective, healing and intuitive powers to help others from diverse paths find their own notion of the sacred.

A witch serves their sacred spirit through their Craft and from their sacred spirit comes their Craft. A witch, above all things is a believer.

So throw away all those stereotypes of the witch. Accept and love yourself and your sacred spirit and your witch self.

I am a witch

And I love the peson I am.


Brightest Blessings Be,
Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk

How do you define Witch?

I was reading Judika Illes book, The Element Encyclopedia of the Magical World A-Z, and she begins her book with a question "How do you define the word witch?" And I had to really think about it. How do I define the word that I and others would apply when describing myself? To tell you the truth, I had more ideas about what a witch is not:

1. I do not cast spells to control people.
2. I do not worship the devil.
3. I do not sacrifice animals or people to the afforementioned devil.
4. I do not play quiddich
5. I am not a hag (though I might soon be a crone)
6. I have a black cat but he is not my familiar spirit or daemon (which is not the same as
the devil)
7. I am not Wiccan (but not all Wiccans are witches)
8. I am not one of the Charmed Ones

But If I am none of these things, what am I? What is a witch anyway? You tell me, and I'll think about it and try to answer that question the next time I blog.

Coming soon: More good books, more spells and more lore!!!!

Bright Blessings Be
Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk

Coming out of the Broom Closet: Don't ask, don't spell

Merry Meet!

I have had conversations with many witches of diverse traditions. I have also met many gay folk. Many gay folk who practice the Craft and they all say the same thing: I was easier for me to come out of the sexual closet than the broom closet. I thought to myself why that is, and with hopes that I don't offend any gay folk, this is what I have come up with.

Gay folk are looked at as misguided folks who may be sinners but have done nothing that God cannot forgive, but tell your family that you are a witch and images of grotesque blasphemies rise up in the minds of your family. They assume you have done something to commit the unforgivable sin and that is "Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit".

And this simply comes from a place of ignorance. They believe all those scary stories that have been told since the Middle Ages that we sacrifice children and have sex with the devil and attend black masses. The thing is, a true witch would find that distasteful to do something to insult another religion, the second thing is that the activities themselves would have very little meaning to a true witch, as their religious beliefs do not acknowledge the importance to such things as the black mass, as these are simply parodies of a Christian activity. And no witch would harm a child, it is against the rede and the legends of child sacrifice exist as a part of testimony only after torture by the Inquisition.

For me, I believe that I will likely be in the broom closet all of my life. It doesn't bother me, it simply is this way. The Craft does not require me to convert, in fact the Craft is esoteric, but it is sad that the reason I can't be more up front about my practice is that people refuse to accept the diversity of the world.

Brightest Blessings Be
Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk

Imbolc for the Christian Crafter

Merry Meet


Imbolc lands during an auspicious time for the Christian Crafter, especially one who is Catholic. This year, Imbolc lands just before the Lenten season, the time of sacrifice in preparation for the Easter Holiday when we Christian Crafters celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. The theme should be familiar for Wiccan and Pagan folk, as they celebrated the death and resurrection of their god at Yule.

Imbolc for our Pagan and Wiccan friends is the celebration of the first signs of spring. It is the milk festival, when the lambs are born and begin to suckle. It is also called Brigantia, the Feast of Brede, or Bridget. This is a feast to bring honor to the earth goddess of the Celts or Druids. The Irish have since Christianized Bridget, but this is not the way I celebrate Imbolc. For me, Imbolc is the waiting time, when I mark not only my Christian fsting, but my Wicce fasting, to purify myself and prepare for Ostara, where I shed the old self and prepare for the new growing season of spring. It is during this time that I get ready to plant my herbs and my flowers and I clean my home and my sacred space and get ready for a summer of preparing new potions, new ingredients, and getting ready for another year of healing, creativity and rest. I may also be reading books I have bought through the winter and did not have time to read and study and I may be buying more books. I will be also adding to my Book of Shadows.

Imbolc is my signal to begin the process of getting rid of things I no longer need. I may be giving away books, if I haven't marked them up badly, which is something I do when I study, I can't help it. I may be cataloging things and making note of things that I need and what I don't need anymore.

I will be fasting. I will cut back on heavy, greasy food, drinking more water, definitely passing up meat on Friday and giving up something like chocolate, which is full of fat anyway, and spending more time in meditation and contemplation.

Imbolc is a time of purification, so I may be purifying tools, old and new, rededicating old tools and dedicating new ones. I may be on the search for new statues for my altar or a new incense burner or new cauldron.

So whatever you do in your Imbolc practices, dedicate them to your Sacred Spirit and prepare for the most festive of seasons.

Brightest Blessings Be

Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk

Happy News Years....Next Holiday: Imbolc

Merry Meet!

Hello. I have just a bit of time to say hello to anyone who may be checking out my blog. For the coming year I will be working on my blog more and getting more from my book of shadows on line and do some more with the holidays.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful New Years.....

Brightest Blessings Be
Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk

Christmas and Yule

Merry Meet!

It's that wonderful time of the year again, the winter season and holiday season. My Wiccan and Pagan friends are celebrating Yule, reinacting the death and resurrection of their god and the ritual joining of god and goddess. As a Christian Wicce, I too celebrate Yule. During my Yule celebration, I remember the the three Magi, the wonderful astronomers and astrologers who sought the baby Jesus. I include astrologer because they not only navigated by the star, but they knew the quality of the person who was born under that star. I also take time to thank God for the wonderful teachers that I have had, either people I have met, or people who have taught me through their writings. I have a Yule log and I light candles and play holiday music and I burn my regrets and my hopes and dreams and wishes. I usually treat myself with some new magical tool or even a new Book of Shadows or a new book to read. It is also the time I give thanks for the opportunity to work and to be generous and show love and compassion to my fellow man.

So, on this wonderous Yule, thank your own Sacred Spirit for what ever blessings they have bestowed on you and give love and compassion now and the whole year through.

Brightest Blessings Be

Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk

Experiencing Resistance: How to deal with rejection, even inside the Wiccan/Pagan Community

Merry Meet!

Every human organization has its down side and this is also true about the Craft. As a Christian Wicce, I have experienced many different problems with other disciplines who close their door and knowledge to me because I am a Christian Crafter. Because of this, I have always looked at any human organized group with a sort of healthy skepticism. I have a feeling this is why I love and cherish my solitary practice.

Just as I have experienced resistance and prejudice for my Catholicism, so have I experienced problems with some members of the Crafting community. While I don't take it personally, because I know there are some Crafters who look down on solitaries and gay witches as well, I see this as a sad state of affairs because because there is so much we can learn from each other.

I remember I went to a Metaphysical Fair years ago in the central part of the state while I was in college. This was just when I was Craft curious and searching. I was having a wonderful time, buying celtic crafts and music and incense and candles and broomstick skirts and blouses. I was talking to a lady who was selling tarot decks and I was looking to buy an inexpensive set with a guide book. I bought them and started toward a booth that caught my eye. This lady was selling beautiful pewter cups, swords and athames and crystal balls.

Everything at her stand was very beautiful and somewhat expensive and beyond the Crystal Ball, I really hadn't a clue how one would use a chalice or an athame. The propriatress was a gothic Stevie Nicks type in a black corset tied with red silk ribbon and leather boots. She came over to the place where I was standing. I could feel her looking at my Celtic style Crucifix. I knew I was in trouble. I said hi.

"I'm Lady Midnight Gloomy Gus," (that was not her real name, I don't remember what she said her name was, but I am a big fan of Dickens, who gave his characters names that sort of described who they were.) "I belong to the celebrated Temple of the Insufferably Doomed. To what magikal tradition do you belong and what is your magikal name?" I was a bit taken aback, as you can imagine.

"I don't have a magikal name. I study with my friend, Celeste, over there," I answered, nodding my head toward Celeste, who was juggling wax candles to amuse a small group of kids while she taught them about spiritual concentration and balance. She was always good about a teachable moment.

"What discipline?" she asked. Now, Celeste had been the one to call me a Christian Witch or Wicce, so, I said : "Christian Witch," You know how you have just committed a faux pas and you know you have offended someone? This lady certainly had that look on her face. Sort of a face that I would recognize later as the look Malfoy gives Hermione just before he calls her a mudblood.

On the way home, as I fingered the holes of the wooden flute I had bought, I told my friend Celeste about the woman. She shook her head and rolled her eyes a bit as I told her about the single blemish on my day.

"Aslinn," she said, as she explained her take on this situation. "The Craft comunity is split into two groups. One group is very militant and very public and confrontational. They are primarily men and women who are angry and have come into the Wicca/Pagan religion as angry former Christians. They want to be the direct opposite of their families. The usual Lord and Lady of Darkness are the witches the newspapers and TV reporters want to interview. They dress like Dracula and Vampira 24/7/365. They tend to do what they claim to hate about Christianity, they hate anyone who is not like them," she said. "Then you have us. We're the hippy dippy witchies, the fluffy bunny witches. We are more tolerant but not any less passionate about our beliefs. But we acknowledge magik exists in all religions. We may look side ways at your pentacle and your cross and your Marian devotions but we also know that we can rely on you to help us with a magikal problem and you kow how to use most any herb. You are a part of what I call the universal coven and your Craft is just as important as anyone elses." she finished finally.

From then on I was never self conscious with my Craft and I offer no explanations or apologies. I always strive to be better as a person in and out of the realm of the Craft. I believe there will be hard times ahead and we will all be in trouble, regardless of what you believe in. Someday it will be against the law to practice any form of religion, whether you are Christian or Pagan, Wiccan or Jew, Muslim or Buddhist or a little mix of everything and we will all have to stand together with whatever magikal or spiritual tools we have and fight a monster that would have no God before him at all. Let us all be Brothers and Sisters, in and out of the Craft and may we all stand together.

And to all I say,

Bright Blessings Be

Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk

Update on Patrick Stewart

The federal branch of the Department of Veteran's Affairs has decided that it is up the the State Department of Veteran's Affairs to decide whether or not to honor Sgt Stewart with a Wiccan Star. So far the Nevada State DVA has made statements suggesting that this would rectified and Sgt Stewart would have the appropriate religious emblem placed on his memorial.

Three Cheers and a Blessed Be

I'll keep you posted...
Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk

More Books for your Perusal

Merry Meet!

Hello, here are some additions to the book lists I have been posting for you. Of course, these books are just suggested reading but I encourage all of you whether you are just starting your magical education or are an experienced witch, these books can only enhance your knowledge and help you develop a wider range of knowledge. Remember, you can only grow through study and practice. If you are practicing without studying, you can get yourself into real trouble.

The first books I am going to tell you about this evening are a pair in a series. They are written by Ashleen O'Gaea and they are entitled Celebrating the Seasons of life: Samhain to Ostara and Celebrating the Seasons of life: Beltaine to Mabon . Both of these books are designed to help you understand where these holidays come from, the symbols used in the celebrations and even suggestions as to how to celebrate them and how develop your own rituals. They are both published by New Page Books and they were both $14.99.

The next book I want to suggest leans a little on the Christian side, but can still be useful to anyone and it is called The Magic Shield by Francis Melville. It is chock full of interesting anecdotes and it is very well illustrated with lovely old woodcut prints. It is a small book but is a bit pricey at $19.99 and is published by Barron's.

The next couple of books have loads of general info, but is very educational to read. The Giant Book of Magic by Cassandra Eason is an interesting book to read though it is a bit static to read and a little under organized. The section on Gypsy magic and lore was great. Published by Magpie Books in London. It was 4.95 on sale but was probably regularly priced at 12.00. Check your local Borders Books, they may have it discounted as well.

The next book was Witchcraft and Practical Magic by Susan Greenwood and Raje Airey. It is full of the history of magic and has all sorts of chapters on gems. metals, dreams, meditation, tools and the like. Fantastic book, very well illustrated, again, was on sale for 4.55 and published by Hermes House. Regular price 10.39.

A couple of good all purpose spell books is The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Spells and Magic edited by Nancy Bailey, is a small, very fun to read book full of arcana that really encourages the witch to understand old notions about spells and casting and how to write your spells and rituals. It is published by Sterling Publishers and sells for 9.95. The second book is The Spells Bible written by Ann-Marie Gallagher. She breaks down spells by season, by the optimal day and by purpose. Well organized little book, full of great information. Published by Walking Stick Press,
for 19.95

Here are a couple of books all witches should have. It is not because they are great books of magic, but because they are great books chronicling the Burning Times. Just as there are Jewish Scholars who study the Holocaust and have a copy of Mein Kampf on their shelves, so should witches have these books on their shelves. The first is The Malleus Malficarum by Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger at 14.95 and The Compendium Malficarum by Francesco Maria Guazzo at 11.95. Both books are published by Dover Publications. Get them, own them, read them and know them. They may save our Craft community someday.

The next book in my book shelf I recommend for you is Magic in the Middle Ages by Richard Kieckhefer. It is very good history, if a little scholarly, published by Cambridge University Press. I bought it used for 5.00 at a flea market but I think it would sell new for about 15.00. May be out of print so you may want try your local library or if you live near a college campus, browse the bookstore sale bins and library book sales.

I'll quit for now. Keep checking in for new book lists.

Bright Blessings Be

Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk

Warriors and Today's War and the Witchcrafter

Merry Meet!

Veteran's day has come and gone and we have had on our minds the present war in Iraq and past wars in the Gulf, Vietnam, Korea, in Japan, and Europe and America and those who are serving and have served in these wars and those who died in these conflicts. There are some differing views about whether it is ethical for a person who practices the Craft to be involved with war. I have no arguement with either side. I understand that not all wars are worthy wars, but I also accept that some of us, whether we are crafters or not, to prove themselves on the field of battle.

Crafters who go into the military believe they fulfilling an act of soldiery, to become warriors of the craft and fulfill their spiritual and physical training through a contest of the wills to do so and earn the degree of warrior priest of the various Craft, Wiccan, or Pagan discplines. It does hurt my heart, however when I hear Wiccans say that they are wrong to desire the chance to be warriors and do what they feel is right. After all, if it were not the will of the fates, or God or gods and goddesses of that warrior's faith system, then they would not be allowed to do so.

So On this Weekend, when we honor the living and the dead who have fought for our freedom, and our flag, I honor also all Crafters in uniform, particularly Patrick Stewart, a faithful Wiccan who gave his life and now the government refuses to honor him with the symbol of his faith, the Pentacle Star, on his headstone. This post is dedicated you Patrick.

Brightest Blessings Be,

Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk