Laurie Cabot was born Mercedes Elizabeth Kearsey on March 6, 1933 in Wewoka, Oklahoma.  She grew up in California but later as a teen came back to the Northeast to Boston to finish school.  She later when on to be a dancer at a well known club in the city, The Latin Quarter.  In later years Laurie would teach classes at Salem State College as part of the continuing education program, she’d give lectures and classes at other schools as well, and she would do a great deal of community work as well, and earned the Paul Revere Patriot’s Award in the late 1970s from Governor Michael Dukakis for her community service work with dyslexic kids.  In 1977 Gov. Dukakis bestowed Laurie with the title of “The Official Witch of Salem”, a title that Laurie has proudly carried ever since.

Laurie says that when she was a child, around the age of 6, she became aware that she had psychic abilities.  In her book “Power of the Witch” she tells a story about an elderly neighbor Mr. Bancroft, who passes away of a heart attack.  A week before his death she was told by her friend Kenny that Mr. Bancroft died and when Laurie went home to tell her mother she told her that their neighbor was alive and well.   Not knowing what happened or how she got the information Laurie just carried on as normal.  But a week later when Mr. Bancroft did pass away Laurie talked to her friend Kenny to find out how he knew that was going to happen.  He had no idea what she was talking about and said he never told her anything of the sort.  Laurie said that she wished someone had explained to her what precognition was so she could understand these experiences since this wasn’t the first and certainly wouldn’t be the last time she’d experience this.

In 1971 Laurie opened the very first Witch shop in Salem on Derby St.  It was also the first Witch shop in the country as well.  Her shops went through a handful of incarnations, including Crow Haven Corner which was opened by Laurie, later taken over by her daughter Jody, and is still open but under the ownership of a woman named Lorelei, a well known psychic from the area.  Just this week, a few days ago on the 31st of January, Laurie closed her most recent shop, The Official Witch Shop, ending her 40 years of having a shop in Salem.  It was a something the was certainly an end of an era but it was a sign of change since Laurie’s reasons for closing the shop was to make her more available to focus on creating a physical temple for her Cabot Kent Hermetic Temple.  And I am excited for that!

Laurie also founded several Witchcraft advocacy groups over the years including the Witches’ League for Public Awareness (WLPA) in 1986 and later the Project Witches Protection (PWP).  In 1987 Laurie decided to run for mayor of Salem after incumbent mayor Anthony V. Salvo made some derogatory comments in the media about Witchcraft.  Laurie wanted to continue on the efforts to change the perceptions of the idea of who Witches are and what they are capable of, so she started her bid for the office of mayor.  She ended up dropping out of the race on August 11th, and didn’t file the signatures and nomination papers to officially join the race, stating that other obligations, including work on a book, would prevent her from fully filling the mayoral duties.

When I first read “Power of the Witch” after having only read Scott Cunningham at this point, I felt like there was a whole other level to the Craft that I was discovering.  At this point I was 15.  I had read “Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner”, “Magickal Herbalism”, and “Earth Power”.  I had read a few bits and pieces from other books at the library but these Cunningham books were onces that I had bought at a local new and used bookstore.  I was a three years or so into my exploration of Witchcraft and two into actually practicing Wicca.  My interest in Salem was growing since it was only a few hours away and it was the kind of thing that you couldn’t avoid hearing about in school, especially with it being so close.  That was how I heard about Laurie.  When I was in the bookstore in the mall one weekend I started looking to see if I could find this book and much to my happiness, I found it with ease.

The approach that Laurie takes with the Craft as a science, giving a solid basis to many of the practice and beliefs beyond just believing in them, that inspired me.  I’m a person that likes proof and facts.  I don’t tend to beleive something because someone tells me about it or even if ten people tell me.  I need to find facts, history, and then experience things on my own.  And there were some things that she presented that made sense beyond just “oh, I could believe that”.  I think that it was really reading “Power of the Witch” that made me realize that this path was right for me.

Laurie’s Crystal Countdown, which is based on Jose Silva’s “Silva Mind Control” techniques, is by far the most effective meditation technique (for me) that I’ve ever worked with (and later it would reappear somewhat modified when I would begin studying with the Temple of Witchcraft).

And years later I would meet Christopher Penczak, start reading his books, and discover that he was a student of Laurie’s, something that made complete sense because so much of the things that made sense to me from her work comes through in his as well.  Even though I’ve been on this path for 26 years, I’m a huge advocate of always learning and always studying on this path.  So three years ago when Christopher started teaching the Temple tradition on a larger scale it gave me a chance to study with him, learn more about some of the similar things that Laurie teaches that drew me in, and finally put the last piece into the puzzle of my spiritual and magickal path.

On March 5th I’ll finally get to study directly with the woman who I feel is responsible for me seriously being on this path; I’ll be taking Laurie’s Witchcraft 1 class, her first degree class, something I’ve wanted to do for some time.  I’m planning to take Witchcraft 2 as well and, as long as I’m still going to be in Salem and I don’t end up moving back to California (ugh, make it stop!) I’ll be taking Witchcraft 3.

We also have some great music this week. Be sure to check out the artist’s websites!

Circle Casting by Fiona Horne (website)
Pulse of the Earth by Hungry Lucy (website)
God Thinks by Voltaire (website)
Ice by Sarah Mclachlan (website)
The Cave by Mumford & Sons (website)
Sirena by Faun (website)
Sorcerer by Stevie Nicks & Sheryl Crow (website)

Other links for this show:
www.paganblogproject.com
Lady Liberty League
Yes to Bibles, No to Spell Books (FOX News Article)
School Bible Giveaway Protester Reports Threats (FOX New Article)

I’m working on an article for the premier issue of The Modern Witch Magazine on crafting and working with moon cords.  I love moon cords and I teach cord magick to my students as a standard method of spellwork right after teaching candle magick techniques.  However, I’m always a bit surprised at how many people don’t know anything about it.  It’s so simple and quite effective; personally I find the results to be pretty much like using simple candle magick, which any Witch will tell you with the right level of focus and intent can be quite powerful.  So I make a point to intentionally teach this work.

After working up my quick outline and did a Google Book search to find what books I should go pull from my shelves to look read through.  I ended up grabbing “Earth Magic” by Marion Weinstein (a favorite of mine because it’s an old brown and gold covered book, 4th edition printing, and it just feels nice to hold).  I also got out “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Wicca Craft” by Miria Liguana and Nina Metzner as well as “Lady of the Night” by Edain McCoy.

Marion Weinstein’s book was first published in 1980.  The editions that are out now are called “Earth Magic: A Book of Shadows for Positive Witches”; my edition is “Earth Magic: A Dianic Book of Shadows, a Guide for Witches”.   I did a quick double check with Google Books to make sure my edition was the same as the stuff that was on the site coming from the current edition, and it was.  So I read the chapter eight, “Cord and String Magic”.  It sounded really familiar to me.  I had searched for some cord magick stuff online and found a few websites (here, and then to this site which the previous one sites as a source, and here as well).  What I was reading in “Earth Magic” sounded identical to I’d see over and over on these sites.

Then I pick up the next book, “Wicca Craft”, and turn to page 59 and I almost threw the book to the floor.

Now, first, let me share the first paragraph of the chapter on cord magic from Marion Weinstein’s book.

[box type="shadow"]The idea behind Cord Magic is to embrace and preserve specific attributes of Moon Power which are available during a specific phase of the Moon. These attributes are directed into a length of cord and held there by knots; thus the attributes are available to the Witch at any time. For example, you may want to perform some magic which is appropriate for the Waxing Moon, such as drawing something into your life. Ideally, you would be wisest to wait until after the Moon is New to utilize the most compatible energies for your work. But what if you have good reason not tow wait, and what if -in linear times- up in the sky, the Moon is actually waning? No problem, if you have prepared a New Moon cord! By placing the cord on your altar as you work, you can actually draw upon the New Moon Power at any time of any month.”[/box]

[box type="shadow"]“You can prepare a cord during each phase of the Moon, and thus have available to you the Power of each phase. However, I strongly suggest that you use the cords only when absolutely necessary, and try to work with the phases of the Moon in the sky whenever you can.[/box]

If you’ve looked at those links up above this will sound really familiar to you.  Now look at the first two paragraphs of “Wicca Craft”.

[box type="shadow"]“The idea behind moon cords is to embrace and preserve specific attributes of moon power that are available during a specific moon phase. These attributes are directed into a length of cord and held there by knots; thus the attributes are available to a witch at any time.”[/box]

[box type="shadow"]“For example, you may wish to perform some magick that is appropriate to the Waning Moon. Ideally, you would be wisest to wait until three days after the moon is full to utilize the most compatible energies for your work. But what if you have good reason not to wait, and what if it’s the time of month when the moon is actually waxing? No problem! If you have prepared a Waning Moon cord, you can draw upon the Waning Moon power at any time of any month. You can prepare a cord during each phase of the moon, and have available to you the power of each phase. However, Liguana strongly suggests that you use the cords only when absolutely necessary and try to work with the phases of the moon in the sky whenever you can.” [/box]

Soooo…yeah.  The whole rest of the piece in “Wicca Craft” is essentially the chapter from “Earth Magic” with some words added and others changed around.

Like I said, this doesn’t surprise me.  It’s not as though it’s the first time I’ve been doing reading and research on a topic and come across this kind of plagiarism, but it annoys the crap out of me.  Especially given that in the Craft there are so many books out there and so little new information to be had.  It’s because it’s just really one book that people keep regurgitating and putting back out into the market with a prettier cover and nicer paper.  It’s horrible.

So I just had to point that out because it caused me to stop what I was doing and just have a moment of not only being annoyed but also wondering why so many publishers are so happy to keep putting out rehashed material.  This is why I have the concerns I do about getting my next book project published by a “real publisher” (like I talked about a little while ago after Devin harassed me about it) because it’s not a rehash which means it could be a risk.  Is anyone willing to take a risk anymore or is it seriously just all about the mighty dollar and what sells?

Here is the first episode of what we’re calling Season 3, the start of a new chapter of The Modern Witch as we join the PRN family.

The Modern Witch ~ Show Notes
Season 3 Episode 1
Air Date – January 21, 2012

On this episode we introduce the world of Pagan Radio Network listeners to us and we tackle the subject of what it means to work with the Gods verse worshiping the God, and in Rowan’s segment this week she reflects on her first experiences with hearing Pagan music and and discovering Pagan radio shows.

Music in this episode:

Witcha by S.J. Tucker (website)
Bewitched by Raquy and the Cavemen (website)
Avalon by Sully Erna (website)
Hecate by Wendy Rule (website)
Freya Shakti – Emerald Rose (website)
Aradia – Alchemy VII (website)
Monica Richards – We Go On (website)
Ghosts by Ladytron (website)

Other links to visit from this show:
www.ModernWitchMag.com
www.DevinHunter.net
www.OneWitchsWay.com
www.TheWitchsParlor.Etsy.com
www.PaganBlogProject.com

Here’s the cover of this year’s book!

The interior this year is set up with dated pages unlike last year. Here is what the calendar portion on the inside looks like this year.  (click to see a larger image)

Once I have the final proof in my hand and I can verify that everything looks as it should, I’ll be able to announce the sale details, links, etc.  I can tell you that the cost of the calendar will be $13.95 and it runs about 187 pages of so.

So stay tuned, all the final details will be out next week!

When I have these conversations with people who on that love and light side of things and who are hardcore about never casting magick that could be manipulative in any way, I give them the respect for them to practice the way they wish.  I may not agree with them, but I respect their right to practice magick how they wish.  I believe that all magick is manipulative in some way.  That’s the nature of magick, it’s the practice of bending energy to our will to get what we want.  It doesn’t matter if that’s something perceived as “light”, such as a healing spell, or something perceived more as a “darker” spell that involved trying to control another person for your gain.  All magick manipulates someone or something.  I’m also one of those people who is not of the mind that “all healing magick is positive magick”.  Healing isn’t always what people need even if it’s what you want for them.  Some people need to experience pain, illness, and strife because that’s part of their journey.  But that’s another discussion…

So these words were the way I expressed this frustration on my personal page on Facebook the other day.  If you feel the same way, feel free to download either of these graphic and use them or display them as you’d like (click on the larger picture to get the full size image). I’ll have some more regular postings coming in the next few weeks after the 2012 One Witch’s Way Datebook (which is horrible past deadline) goes to proof and I’m done with that. 

Here is the review, in its entirety, from Amazon.
(NOTE:  Since this has now come up multiple times, both here and on Facebook, let it be clear that the review listed below is a copy and paste from Amazon exactly as the reviewer wrote it, including the horrid spelling and syntax errors.  Yes, it should be “altar” not “alter”, however I felt that it was not my place to clean up the individual’s post since it just adds to the ridiculousness of the situation…and it’s how they decided to let their thoughts be known publicly.)

Skulls are not needed to be a Witch!
by S. Day “Night time Maven”

I will say that there are moments in this book where I understand his direction. The chapter on “The Alter of the DEAD” I feel sets the wrong tone for Wicca. I went from loving the chapter on “Opening the Doorway” to deciding not to finish the book after “The Alter of the Dead”.

This new wave of Witchcraft and Skull really bothers me. I threw Jade Sol Luna’s book on Hecate in the trash after I saw his picture sitting in a yoga posture with a skull and now this book. You do NOT NEED A SKULL TO BE A WITCH! I feel this type of behavior expresses the wrong idea of the modern Witch. Being a Witch does not mean that you have to scare people. I have children for goddess sake.

Stick with the greats like Cunningham, Buckland and Farrar’s of the wiccan world and throw the Christian Daye’s, Jade Sol Luna’s and the Digitalis’s out. Wicca was meant to be a safe not a scary religion.

I’m going to start out with full disclosure by saying that I started reading Christian’s book back in October while traveling during my move back to the east coast but I hit a chapter that was a bit challenging for me (I have to be in the mood for history that part of chapter 7 just hung me up at the time).  I ended up setting it aside but I’m planning to make it as one of my titles for this year’s Pagan Reading Challenge.  However I will say that I did spend a little time flipping through the rest of the book and reading over the rituals and got the gist of the rest of the book.  I have read the specific chapters that the reviewer mentioned here since they are the second and third chapters.

First of all, there’s the huge misunderstanding that in my experience seems to run rampant among some parts of the Wiccan community.  Wicca and Witchcraft are not the same thing.  It just isn’t.  It doesn’t matter if you’re a Wiccan who likes to cast spells for <insert twinkling chime music> love and healing; you being Wiccan and practicing Witchcraft doesn’t make all Witchcraft Wiccan.  So, just remember, not all Witches are Wiccan.  But at the same time not all Wiccans are Witches since there are those in the Wiccan community that do not work magick and just work with the religious and spiritual side of Wicca.  Wicca is first and foremost a religion where as Witchcraft is a magickal art, a craft, a practice.

Jade Sol Luna with a skull...OH NOES!!

This idea that all books on Witchcraft must somehow be written by an author with a Wiccan viewpoint is incredibly ignorant and shortsighted.  I think one of the last things that anyone could ever mistake Christian with is a Wiccan.  That just goes to show that the reviewer obviously knows nothing about the author of the book. And that’s OK, not everyone starts out knowing the personal views of an author before reading their book, but to assume that he is Wicca because he wrote a book on Witchcraft is, again, ignorant.

This new wave of Witchcraft and Skull really bothers me.

Again, this is something that I’ve heard before; well, not in these exact words, but with this sentiment toward Paganism that addresses the darker aspect of life.  Once again the only word that I can think of that addresses this is ignorance.  This is not a “new wave”.  The use of the skull, whether an actual human (or animal) skull as like what Christian uses, or in a symbolic sense through skull candles, crystal skulls, or skull sculptures is nothing new in Witchcraft or even in some traditions of Wicca.

The skull is not something that should be feared as this reviewer seems to see it.  In generations past the skull was seen as a symbol of wisdom, a door to someone’s spirit of the spirit world in general, and, as many modern day Pagans (and, yes) Wiccans have come to use it, a symbol of mortality, the fragility of life, and the cycles of death and rebirth.  The skull is only as scary as we make it and to demonize it as something that somehow has to be feared is terrible.

It’s funny to me knowing that there are people in other cultures all over the world, like those in Mexico, that take the skull and skeleton and make them funny, lighthearted, and at times somewhat frivolous, in order to remove the fear and add reality to it.  Let’s just face the hard and cold facts of life; one day this reviewer will be dead.  One day, in a physical sense, they will be nothing more than the skull and bones that makes up their physical structure.  Why is this something to be feared?  The reviewer talks about having children and not wanting to scare them. If you don’t want your children to be afraid of a skull then work to make it not scary!  Your children are going to take their cues on these kinds of things from you.  Make it scary and they’ll be afraid; make it magickal and a symbol of power, and they’ll see it in this way.

Honestly, I think that if the reviewer couldn’t handle Jade Sol Luna or Raven Digitalis I don’t know why they would have thought they could handle Christian Day.

Then comes my favorite part of the review, the part that I admit made me giggle.

Wicca was meant to be a safe not a scary religion.

Here I just can’t say anything but BULLSHIT.  The watered down and homogenized version of New Age Wicca that has emerged over the course of the last 20 years certainly is “safe”, but that is not the only kind of Wicca there is.  In fact much of the Wicca that is out there today would be unrecognizable to many of the early creators of the Wiccan tradition.  Wicca is meant to be a path of balance.  Balancing light and dark, life and death,God and Goddess.  Exploring the Underworld as well as the Upper World. Sometimes those things are not safe.  You have to get our of your comfort zone to explore the Underworld and commune with the Crone Goddess and the Ancestors.  It saddens me to see things like the Hag and Crone watered down to simply be seen as Grandmother figures rather than the sometimes fearsome death figures that they actually are just because some Wiccan’s find them scary and they make them uncomfortable.

I don't think Gerald Gardner would condsider a lot of what is called Wiccan today Wiccan in the sense of the tradtiion he helped create.

In a conversation I once had with a fairly new Wiccan who asked me about my patron Goddess, The Morrighan, I was asked what kind of “mother” she was.  When I explained the darker death aspect of her and her associations as a Goddess of war this person actually said to me that I was wrong and that she was taught that The Morrighan was a “dark moon mother” who was peaceful and introspective I almost snapped.  Where are these things coming from?  Why do so many Wiccans (and other Pagans, too…I’m not trying to be down on the Wiccans, really) feel the need to take anything dark and twist it into something completely different and make it lighter?

The world of the Witch, including the Wiccan Witch, is not a world of implicit safety.  Working under the notion that Wicca is somehow supposed to be “safe” and that work like what Christian and other Witches who dare delve into the deeper and darker realms makes Wiccan “unsafe” is ridiculous.

Hecate: Goddess, yes. Loving, nurturing mother? Not necessarily.

Let me say something about this idea that the reviewer has about these things giving the wrong impression of the modern Witch.  The modern Witch is not afraid to explore all facets of the Craft.  The modern Witch is not afraid to step into uncomfortable territories to learn more about the world, their spirituality, and themselves.  The modern Witch is willing to take the stigma of something like a skull, a stigma that the reviewer seems content to perpetuate, and defy people to rethink their ideas and change their view.  The modern Witch isn’t afraid to step into the shadows for a time and then return into the light.

My impression is that this individual is not “modern Witch” and instead seems more like someone with a New Age mentality that has moved to Wicca because of a desire to have a Goddess rather than a God to honor.  Obviously this person is welcome to their opinion and their beliefs; I’m not knocking them for their views.  What I’m trying to get at is that these ideas of Wicca and Witchcraft being one and that work that focuses on the death part of the life cycle somehow makes Wicca scary and unsafe is a ridiculous trend that needs to be rethought and addressed.  By closing ourselves off to this idea of working with the dead, by demonizing the symbol and power of the skull, by seeing things that are dark as scary and thus trying to suppress them, we run the risk of falling out of balance and losing a big part of our magickal and spiritual world.

Fear is truly in the eye of the beholder.

Christian Day is not everyone’s cup of tea and Christian’s book is certainly not going to appeal to everyone, but it certainly can open doors for considering why you might have these kinds of reactions (like the overreaction of wanting to throw the book in the trash).  Strong reactions are places for healing.  Find how the power of wisdom and rebirth of the skull can help heal you.  You might be surprised at what you find in those dark places that you’ve been avoiding.

All the details can be found on The Pagan Blog Project page here on the site.  I have also established a Facebook group in order to help facilitate a place for discussion, community, and support.  This is especially great for those who are new to blogging and might feel they need a little encouragement or help with the technical side.  You’ll also find that by being part of this group and learning about what other Pagan bloggers are participating you’ll be able to find new blogs to read and meet other Pagans who may be exploring and walking a similar path. And there is also a weekly newsletter to give you ideas and inspiration along the way while keeping you on track with your posts.

I highly encourage those who participate in this challenge to let the world know by displaying a badge on your page (found at the bottom on the PBP page) and following those who are doing this as well.  On Friday’s when people are making their posts as part of the Project, visit their pages and comment on their posts!  You may find that the person’s post that week is a reflective one with questions or seeking help or advice and you may know just what to suggest.  You may find that they did a research post that week and you learned something you never knew and you want to thank them for their work.

The idea with this year long initiative is to spend the time researching, studying, exploring and reflecting on our paths while taking the time to express our spirituality in a written form.  But don’t let that make you feel limited!  You’re welcome to express yourself in photos, videos, art, and audio as well!  The point is that it’s Pagan and it’s your expression of your path.

Let’s make 2012, a year that many feel will be a spiritual turning point for the world, a time for the Pagan community to come together and encourage one another while deepening our own connection to our magick and the Gods!

We all have a path to walk and most of the year we talk about wanting to that through understanding and learning to coexist.  This can be a tough thing to achieve but if it is your goal and thing that is most in your heart, you’re at least striving for the highest and best.  You can only do what you can to make it happen; remember you’re not the only one involved so you don’t have to be the only one to make an effort toward change.

It saddened me to see a few times on Facebook this year that some Pagans got upset at the thought of other Pagans celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah with their families.  I heard things like “Yule is your holiday, do not bow to Christians.”  I have seen Pagans get upset at the thought that another Pagan would wish someone a “Merry Christmas” rather than a “Merry Yule” or simply “Happy Holidays”.  Oh, to long for the days when your holiday greetings weren’t being picked apart and analyzed for possible derision.

Personally I think it’s a matter of kindness to wish someone a “Merry Christmas” if it is Christmas that they celebrate.  You know how (some of) you get upset that people wish you “Merry Christmas” in a presumptive way?  Consider that when you’re wishing everyone a “Merry Yule”.  Don’t create a double standard.

The holidays always remind us that the Pagan community is so full of opinions, varied views, and its own level of dogma.  If you really feel that by celebrating Christmas with your families that you’re somehow offending the Gods then you may need to rethink your Gods.  You may need to rethink this path your on.  And you may need to rethink why you are on the oath you’re on.

Being on a spiritual journey should be about making you a better person, an enlightened person, a more fulfilled person.  Using it to create dividing lines among friends and family is exactly the opposite of what it should do.  And for many of us we say that this is the very reason we came to this path and chose to be Witches and Pagans; there was this idea that Pagans were more open minded and that this was a path that was more willing to embrace differences and that made us happy after maybe growing up in more exclusive spiritual paths.  Yet we often find that we fall into similar traps but because it’s in the name of the Goddess or the Ancient Ones it’s somehow more justifiable.

The truth is, it isn’t.

The fact is that the holidays are a confusing time for many Pagans.  There is that question of “Do I still honor the holidays I was raised with,” for those of us that weren’t raised Wiccan, Pagan, etc.  Personally I think the answer is both simple and complicated, depending on your personal situation, but not nearly as complicated as we make it.

Remember, first and foremost, this is a time for family!
Before the Christian co-opting of Pagan winter traditions, the main focus of the winter solstice season was about gathering with friends and family as well as to honor the awesomeness of the Gods.  This honoring of the Gods was because there was this belief that if they didn’t honor the Gods with their rituals of lighting fires and whatnot that the Sun wouldn’t return and they would be shroud in cold and darkness forever.   Because of this families and whole villages gathered together to spend time with each since, in all honesty, there was a level of boredom to deal with.  These were people that spent a lot of time working outdoors all year and when winter came for many people that meant sitting inside with little to do.

But think back to Samhain.  One of the things that were honored at Samhain was the process of divining who would live and who would die during the winter.  Winter was a time of small means for many and when your Samhain harvests of roots and meats came in that’s all you had for the winter season and, quite often, there was the risk of there not being enough to make it through those months.  At Yuletime people would come together to celebrate and honor one another since there was a chance that in a month or two they might not all be together since some may have passed away from cold, hunger, disease, etc.

So this was a time for family and friends to gather and celebrate having made it this far.  With that they would do their acts of offering and sympathetic magick to hope for a safe rest of the season and a quick return of the Sun.  Obviously today we don’t have those same worries, at least for the majority of us.  But keep in mind that these were the reasons that people got together like they do and clearly we enjoy it and need it to some extent because in our modern world of abundance and convenience, we still do this!

Be a shining example of Paganism during the holiday.
And by that I mean show love, honor, and respect, “perfect love and perfect trust” if you will, to those around you of other faiths and persuasions.  You don’t have to use the holidays as a time to do spiritual battle with those that don’t agree or don’t understand your faith.  This is a special and sacred time for you as well as them.  Give them the space that you wish them to give you to honor spiritually as you wish while still being able to enjoy each other’s company for the holiday.  In other words, as Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Enjoy!
It’s really that simple. Just enjoy yourself.  Enjoy your friends and family.  Be thankful for what you have, even if it’s less than you’ve had in the past.  Know that you will have more again in the future.  Remember that it’s not just about what you call the holiday or what God you’re honoring but about who you have to spend it with.

So to answer that question, “Do I still celebrate the holidays I grew up with even though I’m now a Pagan”…
The answer, for me, is yes.  The answer for you may be no, but when you make that decision be sure you know really why you’re making that choice and be sure that you know what that might do to those around you.  Is it just that you’re going to forgo midnight mass or are you going to pass on all Christmas activities with your family?  Why?  Are you doing this just because you feel you need to take a stand or make a point or are there other reasons?  Be sure you know why you have chosen to say no to those things.

But for, it’s a yes.  I still see my family, attend dinners and parties with them, and give a few gifts.  My family knows of my chosen path and they don’t make me go to church or lay guilt on me for that.  And for that I am grateful since I know not everyone has that experience.  But if I were to say “I can’t attend Christmas dinner because I’m Pagan” would be more painful and cause more problems than for me to go, sit at the table, eat dinner and share in conversation with my family.  It’s about honor and respect and that goes both ways.

And with that I leave you with this classic by Dar Williams and I wish you a wonderful holiday season, whatever it is you’re going to celebrate and however you decide to do it.

This year I thought that for the blog I would share a ritual, well really part of a ritual, that I write for my coven for Yule in 2005.  We did this ritual in the dead of winter.  It was so cold and snowy that winter and I remember it just being freezing as we stood in the living room of my 1940s cottage home that lacked insulation.  But the ritual was beautiful and the Yule feast afterward was fantastic.  I have noted all the steps that we took in the ritual but haven’t outlined them all with specifics so that you can add your own personal twists to it if you like.  Everyone has their own ways of setting their sacred space (casting circle, calling the quarters/Watchtowers/Wards/etc) and I wanted to honor that here by leaving these steps open.

Raven’s Hearth Coven 2005 Yule Ritual  by Rowan Pendragon
- Grounding Meditation

- Besom Sweep

- Challenge and Anointing
(for those unfamiliar with this step, this is presenting each participant with a spiritual challenge before allowing them into the ritual space and then anointing them as they enter.  This is often something to the effect of “Do you enter this sacred space with an open mind and an open heart?”  Or it can be specific to the traditions, ritual, or event.  After the person responds in the affirmative they are anointed in whatever manner you choose with either blessed water or a ritual oil.)

- Circle Casting

- Calling the Quarters:

- Blessing the Water and Sealing the Circle
(During this portion the salt and water are blessed and combined and then the whole circle is aspurged with the holy water in order to set the circle and seal the space.)

- Deity Invocation
Goddess
Great Mother Goddess,
As you prepare to give birth to the Sun God,
We call to you!

In the depths of winter when all seem lost in slumber,
We call to you!

With trust that from your holy womb of night
The Sun God will return once again,
We call to you!

Mother Goddess, your children call you forth!
We seek your guidance in our rites
And your blessings on our work.
Hail and Welcome!

God
Great God of the Sun,
You shine dimly now and your children long for your return.
We have watched your time grow short
And now we await your rebirth.

From the Mother’s dark womb and wintery earth
We know you shall return as you have many times before.
God of the Sun,
We call to you!

We hail your rebirth and call you back to us!
Bless us with your return!
Hail and Welcome!

- Sabbat Observance

(Light the Sun candle and walk around the circle deosil raising it higher and higher until it is overhead, then continue to walk lowering it until it is waist height while saying:)

The God was born and grew in strength.
He joined with the Goddess and provided the harvest
And granted His children a sacrifice so that we may live.

(extinguish candle)

It is mid-winter, the shortest day of the year, and we know that the sun is gone from us.
We all die like the Sun God.
And like him we shall be reborn again and again.

(light the Sun candle)

Let us call back the Sun and rejoice in His rebirth.

(Everyone take candle from the basket that is passed and takes a moment to change the candle with blessings for the return of Sun and the returning light and warmth to the earth.)

(Starting in the east each people, moving deosil, comes and lights their candle from the flame of the Sun candle and places it on a spot around the Sun candle.  Ideally each person should place their candle in front of their position in the circle so they know which candle is theirs to light from for the next portion of the ritual.)

Chant – Infinite Sun

We are one with the infinite sun
Forever and ever and ever

(After all candles are lit and the energy is sufficient, the chant stops but the energy raised is now redirected towards the cauldron in front of the altar.)

As we have called for the rebirth of our God and the Sun,
We too shall each be reborn in at least on aspect we have chosen tonight.

On your parchments you have each placed something that you wish to return to the Goddess to be taken within Her cauldron, a symbol of the Mother’s womb, and ask that She make way for new growth in your life.

You need not tell anyone what you are giving back to Her, for She knows what is in your heart.

Light your parchment from the candle you placed on the Sun Wheel and toss it into the cauldron, adding a few pinches of the releasing herbs on the altar to the flames.

Know that as the parchment burns in the cauldron with the herbs placed upon it,

The smoke that rises carries your wishes to the Gods and the Spirits of the Universe to do what is most correct for you.

Chant – Cauldron Chant

Cauldron of Changes
Blossom of bone
Arch of Infinity
Hole in the stone.

(Once everyone has tossed their parchment into the cauldron and have taken their places back in circle, everyone joins hands and continues to chant until all the flames in the cauldron have died down and the energy has been properly raised.  Everyone, while hands raised, reaches up to the sky and releases the energy by letting go with their palms facing up…seeing the energy being set free to the Universe.)

- Cakes and Ale
(cakes and ale are blessed.  A libation made to the bowl for the Gods)

“We have come together today and given our blessings to Sun God as He beings His return.  As we wait in darkest, on this the longest night of the year, we know that the Mother will keep us warm in Her embrace and that the God will awaken the earth with His light once more.”

(cakes and ale are then passed to those in circle with the blessing “May you never hunger.  May you never thirst.”)

- Farewell to the Gods:

Goddess
Great Mother Goddess,
We thank you for being with us this night
And we thank you for aiding in our rites and
Hearing our prayers.
As you return to your realms
We ask you keep us close and safe through this mid-winter.
Stay if you will but go if you must.
Hail and Farewell!

God:   
God of the Sun
We have begun to sing you back home
And we await the arrival of the light once more.
As you make your journey
Know that your children always trust in your return.
Carry with your our blessings of love and peace.
Stay if you will but go if you must.
Hail and Farewell!

- Releasing the Quarters

- Release the Circle