Pagan

Pagan Astrology: Spell-Casting, Love Magic, and Shamanic Stargazing

admin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 09:01:00 +0000

Astrology and magic have been topics that I have been interested in over the years. I had my chart done years ago, and found the correlations between my sign and my personality amazingly accurate (I am truly an Aquarius). What interested me about Raven Kaldera's book, Pagan Astrology: Spell-Casting, Love Magic, and Shamanic Stargazing, was that different magic is used depending on the astrological alignment.

If you have never read anything on pagan astrology, this book can look overwhelming. Since the magic Kaldera discusses refers to charts, knowing a little about them beforehand can help greatly. Kaldera starts with a chapter on charts, explaining deciphering to beginners and goes into detail about the different glyphs on the chart. For people already quite knowledgeable, he also includes a more advanced chapter.

For each of the planets, Kaldera has in depth explanations about the planetary magic, when during the astrological cycle each planetary spell is performed, and what is the significance of each spell; for example, Jupiter magic brings out the different gifts, such as courage or ingenuity. There are spells for the eight moon phases (New, Crescent, Waxing, Quarter, Gibbous, Full, Disseminating, Waning, Quarter, and Balsamic), Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (Kaldera includes an author's note in the beginning of the book regarding Pluto). Further into the book, Kaldera describes planetary altars, which change on which sign the planet is in. Kaldera also includes magical prescriptions for Western readers, which are used for positive and negative transits of the planet.

When I started reading Pagan Astrology, I felt a tad overwhelmed, due to a lack of previous knowledge. However, Kaldera does a good job explaining every detail, making it easier for astrology amateurs, like myself, to catch up. Having your natal chart while reading this book, which can be done online, definitely helps with understanding the material. For anyone interested in pagan astrology, Pagan Astrology is an excellent resource for spells, altars, and magical prescriptions.

Written by: Elizabeth Stannard, February 16th 2010

The Witch’s Coin: Prosperity and Money Magick

admin — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 01:00:00 +0000

By Christopher Penzcak

Llewellyn Worldwide

What if you were given the opportunity to not only overcome your financial burdens, but still have enough money to spare? After ending a year filled with recession woes, 2010 is a time of hope for many of us. According to award-winning author Christopher Penczak, anyone can now earn a little green with the help of Mother Nature. In his latest book, The Witch's Coin, readers can transform poverty into prosperity through spells and lessons in Finance 101. While this book will appeal to pagans who are familiar with using herbs, candles, and oils to help better their lives, those who need guidance will greatly benefit from the many lessons Penczak provides. The Witch's Coin is a must-have for a new year of possibilities.

Penczak is no stranger to readers following the pagan religious tradition. As an eclectic Wiccan, he’s published several books that teach the basics of witchcraft, including The Inner Temple of Witchcraft and City Magick. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Penczak would finally release a book on managing one’s finances through spell work, a misunderstood subject that can be as complex as improving one’s love life. Sadly, when someone is suffering from a credit crunch, carefully wording a “prayer” to the universe can be the last thing on our minds. Fortunately, Penczak breaks down the rules of how one can learn to open up opportunities for themselves.

“Just because society sets a standard and you desire it, there is nothing evil or wrong with that desire, as long as you are clear and unattached with that desire,” he states. “New cars, big homes, vacations, and big investments are not good or bad by themselves.” Most importantly, we must learn to have balance in our lives for any spell to work. After all, what would be the purpose of having money if we can’t better ourselves with it? Finally paying off those credit card debts is a major step, but also putting some cash aside to pursue a lifelong passion that can open new doors is also another way to use magic for positive results. Best of all, Penzcak reveals numerous ways on how we can create our paths to financial victory.

One of the many wonderful things Penzcak provides in The Witch's Coin are easy-to-follow spells that not only help attract positive energy, but also assist readers in better understanding their goals. He recommends simply writing out our desires, which is a way for us to visually see what we need to make happen. “Ask for what you want, not necessarily the exact circumstance of how to get it,” he explains. “In the preceding spell, I asked for a job that is acceptable to me, fulfilling my personal criteria, and advancing my career. I didn’t ask for a specific position in a specific company. I could have, but that would close the doors to many opportunities that my magick could have manifested.”

In addition, Penzcak includes recipes for “money attraction incense” and even a “milk and honey bath,” all encompassing herbs have been used for hundreds of years. Who wouldn’t want to relax with fresh ginger and orange peel to calm our bodies and clear our minds? According to Penzcak, the scent of rich cinnamon and clove alone can “expand your consciousness, rather than contract fear and tension” when balancing the checkbook. Even if you’re creating a charm to obtain a new job, he notes, “Focus on what you want, not on what you don’t want.” Whether you’re a pagan practitioner or not, anyone can benefit from advice on realizing what we want for ourselves and how dreams can become a reality.

Real magic comes from within and goals can only come alive with work and determination. This seems obvious, but too few believe in it. Whether you’re looking to pay off pesky bills or going job hunting, The Witch's Coin is a timely hit on covering the one topic everyone should master.

Written by: Stephanie Nolasco, February 5th 2010

Feminist Spirituality: The Next Generation

admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:01:00 +0000

Edited by Chris Klassen

Lexington Books

Feminist Spirituality: The Next Generation uses the publication of Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future by Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards in 2000 as its point of departure. The co-authors embodied a third wave of feminist activism, but according to Chris Klassen, that they neglected new forms of feminist spirituality provides a rhetorical opening for a book such as this one that tries to capture a generational shift in feminist spiritual practice. The narrative the editor supplies, however, is a narrowly construed one. Mary Daly, as second wave icon, rejects traditional Christian theology, and Cynthia Eller’s work in the early 1990s helps to crystallize a movement in “contemporary Paganism and Feminist Goddess Worship” that grew out of North American spiritual experimentation in the 1960s and early 1970s.

As Baumgardner and Richards began teaching forms of activism and encouraging and re-energizing feminists of all ages, a contrapuntal phenomenon—a feminist impulse that turns inward rather than outward—exploded in our consciousness, especially because of the development of sites of worship on the web. At a conference at which these co-authors spoke, I asked whether feminism might not ultimately become a discrete religious practice—a query dismissed by those for whom feminism is essentially a political practice and also rejected by those for whom feminism is a force for change within an established religious tradition.

One of the remarkable features of this blog is the chronicling of both strands, interwoven and yet separate, in feminist thought. The growth in scholarship connected to feminist spiritual practice has been particularly remarkable, notably Danya Ruttenberg’s brilliant collection The Passionate Torah about feminism and its challenges to Judaism, Rosemary Ruether’s comprehensive study Goddesses and the Divine Feminine, and a host of books representing women’s spiritual struggles both within and without established religious traditions.

In that context, Feminist Spirituality disappoints in its reductiveness. It identifies Paganism and Goddess Worship as centrally defining “third wave” feminist spirituality. Sarah Marie Gallant contributes the first essay, essentially a review of the writings of Carol P. Christ and Starhawk. Catherine Telford-Keogh uses the tools of queer theory to help reclaim witchcraft as a part of her spiritual practice. Anna Mercedes and Jennifer Thweatt-Bates reflect on the influence of Donna Haraway’s “Cyborg Manifesto” (1985) as a harbinger of third wave spiritual practice. Gene Meldazy and Kate McCarthy reflect on the emergence of popular culture as a part of spiritual practice.

The essays, by and large, are predictable within the framework Klassen provides and offer neither the original insight nor the comprehensiveness to represent an important contribution to an amazingly fruitful discourse.

Written by: Rick Taylor, December 11th 2009