First of all, the big news was that one of my favorite witchy authors here, Deborah Blake, won the COVR award (that’s Coalition of Visionary Resources – not the cover of the book!) in the Wicca / Paganism category for Witchcraft on a Shoestring. This is her fifth book with us, and in it Deborah gives advice on practicing the craft without breaking the bank.

Since it’s summer, here are a few suggestions from her book for ways to make your yard and garden less expensive and more satisfying.

Use seeds: Most flowers, herbs, and vegetables can be grown from seed. This is a much cheaper option than buying plants from a nursery or garden shop. In many cases (although not all, since most hybrid varieties don’t breed true from seeds), you can save the seeds a plant produces one year and use them the next. Heirloom seeds are particularly nice for this, and then you have the added benefit of growing a plant with roots in the past (you should excuse the pun). Many folks who use heirloom seeds are enthusiastic about increasing their use and will often provide them for free (or the cost of postage) to anyone who requests them. You can also trade seeds with friends who are gardeners, or take turns starting plants from seed by having one of you start all the tomato plants and one the broccoli, for instance. There are lots of plants (corn, carrots, spinach, lettuce, and radishes, for example) that require nothing more than tossing the seeds into a bit of clear ground, then keeping them relatively free of weeds.

Grow perennials and self-seeding plants: Perennials are plants that come back again year after year, and self-seeding plants are those that, while technically not necessarily perennials, tend to reseed themselves without help and show up the next year anyway. Many herbs and flowers fall into these categories. Perennials may cost more to begin with or take more effort to grow from seed, but once they are in your yard or garden, they will come back every year for free. (Be aware that some self-seeding plants are so effective at reproducing themselves that they can take over a yard or garden. Do your research before planting, and make sure that pretty flower isn’t considered to be an invasive weed in your area!)

There are five more tips on keeping your garden thrifty in the book, plus recipes, substitutions, spells, advice and much more on saving money! Check out the browse inside feature of this book for more.

Other COVR award runner-ups included Raven Digitalis’ Planetary Spells & Rituals and Michael Howard’s Modern Wicca. Congratulations to them all!

Next up in the big news department is my favorite vampire (yes, I just said that) Michelle Belanger. I’ve been lucky enough to work with Michelle on five books now (same as Deborah), the first of which was the anthology Vampires in Their Own Words, a book which offers a glimpse into the lives, thoughts and emotions of real life vampires. She has since been working with the cast and crew of the Paranormal State TV show for a few years now, and has in turn been writing some paranormal books for Llewellyn as well.

Michelle’s exciting news gets back to her core as a vampire expert – she will be commenting on season 4 of HBO’S hit show True Blood for MTV. If you’ve never heard of “real life vampires” before – they’re not the same as Dracula, Sookie and the other Hollywood vamps you might be familiar with – check out Michelle’s video introduction to the topic here. If you’re a fan of True Blood, check out all of Michelle’s ongoing commentary here and stay tuned as the season progresses. Here is a brief excerpt from her book explaining how she first began to discover she was a vampire.

My own exploration of vampirism started nearly twenty years ago. It was around that time that I began to suspect that there was something unusual about the way I interacted with other peoples’ energy. I would give massages to my school friends in band and choir and theater, always knowing just where to put my hands to relieve their tension and stress. It was not uncommon for people to fall asleep during one of my back massages, and everyone I massaged would comment on how I seemed to just pull the tension out of them with my fingers.

I had an instinctive understanding of where and how to use my hands, and I was always drawn right to the problem areas as if I could sense the knots and sore spots through the skin. The moment I put my hands on another person, I would often get images in my mind, as if I could somehow “see” inside them […] Knots and other problem areas manifested to me as dark or clogged-looking patches in the flow of energy. I would fix these by pulling the energy into myself, clearing out the gunk and leaving behind an unencumbered flow.

I always felt revitalized after giving someone a massage like this and, at first, I believed the rising, expansive sensation I felt was simply a part of the sense of satisfaction I experienced at having helped a friend. But I was sickly all through my youth and it began to be obvious that I felt physically better for a little while after I worked on someone else’s energy. Born with a life-threatening heart defect, I endured several major surgeries before the age of five; although the worst of the problem was repaired, my health was expected to be precarious. Yet somehow I improved my own vitality by touching the energy of another person and taking some of that energy in.

It took a little while for me to fully comprehend what this meant. The ability to connect with and draw upon vital energy came so easily, I never questioned it at first…

For more, check out the browse inside feature of this book.

In the last bit of author news, Katalin Koda was interviewed by the Wiccan / Pagan Times about her new book, Fire of the Goddess. It’s a long, juicy and detailed interview, focusing on everything from women opening to their inner masculine, to the connection between Reiki and shamanism in reclaiming the divine feminine. Here is a brief excerpt from her book on the archetypes she focuses on throughout:

The goddess is portrayed throughout various cultures and histories as a three-fold or triple-faced goddess. Contemporary Wicca practitioners, who practice crafting using the seasons, elements, and natural rhythms as guides, follow the cycles of the maiden or virgin, mother, and crone to guide their sacred ceremonies. This triple-fold view is connected to the three major times in a woman’s life: before menses, the years of menses, and the time of and after menopause. This is reflected in the phases of the moon: new or waxing as the white goddess of birth and growth; full as the red goddess of love and battle; and old or waning moon as the black goddess of death and divination.

After spending time working with these aspects of the goddess, I began to search further afield for varied expressions of the sacred feminine. These expressions are aspects of a wild, sacred feminine and resonate a very deep truth within our beings. This is not the feminine of gender, nor is it the feminine of biology, but the sacred feminine that connects us as human beings to life on this earth. I moved beyond the triple goddess into a nine-fold path that inspires us to access our own sacred feminine within.

When we focus our gifts and talents that are inherent to us as women, we are able to live from a place of authenticity, courage, and clarity. Using nine sacred archetypes, we unlock the rich natural resources within and develop our spiritual journey. The nine manifestations of the sacred feminine are Fire Bearer, Initiate, Warrioress, Consort, Healer, Bodhisattva, Priestess, Weaver, and Crone. Of course, there are many more aspects of the sacred feminine found both in cultures across time and space as well as within, but these are the nine I felt would be most accessible for women today. These nine archetypes are each associated with a specific goddess and one of her myths that will help to illuminate her role as the archetype. We can think of each of goddesses as an inspiration to activate our power, love, and wisdom as we develop on the path of the sacred feminine.

Well, that’s enough reading to keep you busy for the weekend. Have a good one! And Hail Lady Liberty!

Part 3 of a 3-part Series

Read Part 1 HERE ………..Read Part 2 HERE

Going by the Gut. Massive Growth. Unlimited Potential.

Historic Overview of Growth of
Occultism and Spirituality

In my previous posts in this series I have associated historical events with the advancement of spirituality in the West and the growth of Llewellyn. I contend that to really understand what was going on requires this three-fold approach. Therefore, to fully comprehend the development of Llewellyn and its impact on worldwide (and especially U.S.) spiritual growth between 1961 and the present begins with understanding the changes over time in the numbers of people interested in spirituality and the occult.

To illustrate this I’ve created the chart below. To the best of my knowledge there have been no surveys resulting in specific numbers of spiritually oriented people over time. However, based on the number of books and articles appearing in magazines and newspapers, I believe the relative concepts revealed in the chart are generally valid.

An important aspect to notice is that there are two classes of people interested in occultism. The first is what I refer to as “occult faddists.” These are people who are interested in the latest fads. They flit from one fad to another. They follow whatever their popular idols are into at the moment. And when interest wanes, they are quick to leave one fad for another. Amongst some Wiccans these occult faddists are called “fluffy bunny” Wiccans.

The number of faddists is consistently much larger than the group I’m calling “hard core occultists.” Their numbers change much faster and the line representing the hard core occultists has changes that are far less radical than those of the faddists.

Some people look down on the faddists. I do not. When fads die out, some of the faddists shift to becoming part of the dedicated, hard core of spirituality and occultism. The faddists include valuable, hard core occultists in training.

Note in the chart some basic trends. An increase in numbers based growing popularity of  Spiritualism and New Thought, as well as the loss of life with WWI and the flu pandemic at the beginning of the 20th century. This number falls with the debunkers appearing in the 1920s and 1930s, and falls even more with WWII and the need to rebuild families and the social structure. Massive growth begins again with the Baby Boomers in the 1960s, but falls with the “me” generation of the late 1970s and early 1980s. A sudden rise occurred with a few fascinating books such as Shirley Maclaine’s Out on a Limb in 1983. Although in 2006 the book and movie The Secret was popular, with the growth of the internet and the almost instant mocking and negativity that appeared, it did not achieve the popularity of previous fads, and since then little has really made it to fad level.

There are two things that are apparent from the chart:

First, as stated above, there are far more faddists than hard core occultists. For any business focused on spirituality to survive, there is a need to appeal to both groups. Although Llewellyn has published more books that would appeal to hard core occultists than any other publisher, they have also published more good books directed toward the faddists than any other publisher. Unfortunately, some people ignore the more in-depth books and criticize (falsely, in my opinion) Llewellyn for providing books to a market that has some members who will eventually become hard core occultists. In many cases, if it were not for those popular books a publisher such as Llewellyn could not afford to publish books for hard core occultists.

Second, overall, the number of occultists and people interested in spiritual topics continues to grow.

Llewellyn is Purchased
Everything Changes…and Stays on the Same Evolutionary Path

There are only a few reasons why a business owner sells the business. They don’t know how to run it and are losing money or not making much. Ill health or retirement. Being swallowed by a bigger company. That’s about it. By 1961, the founder of Llewellyn, Llewellyn George, had died and a printer was desperately trying to keep the company running. When you don’t have a lot of money, trying to run more than one business, even if they are related, can be difficulty or even impossible.

So the printer who owned the rights to the name Llewellyn Publications and the right to publish works owned by Llewellyn decided to sell. In Minnesota, even though he had been told that publishing books on astrology and occultism would be a losing proposition, Carl Weschcke decided to go with his “gut” feelings. He purchased Llewellyn and all of its holdings (except the sign from the old building as shown in my previous post in this series) and brought it back to his home in Minnesota.

Sometimes, things just happen at the right time and the right place. Perhaps it was Carl’s use of astrology to figure out the timing, but the bottom line is that the occult world was about to explode, and Llewellyn Publications was going to be the spiritual center of that growth.

Especially at that early stage, Llewellyn and Carl Weschcke were the same. He literally did everything from editing and acquisitions to sales and marketing. I have the greatest admiration for Carl and years ago called him the “Father of the New Age.” This isn’t because Carl was at the front of every new movement and writer, but because without his work with Llewellyn Publication, there wouldn’t have been a market for all of those others (or it wouldn’t have been as big as it became).

A Little-Know Story of Llewellyn Publications

Only a few years after Carl Weschcke purchased Llewellyn, a young man and recent UCLA college graduate submitted a manuscript for consideration. The topic was shamanism, something that was perfect for Llewellyn’s core topics. Carl realized that another publisher could do a much better job of promoting this important work. Llewellyn passed on the book, allowing the writer to submit it to another publisher. That writer: Carlos Castañeda. The book: The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge

Although it is really impossible to separate Carl Weschcke from Llewellyn Publications, there are other articles about Carl and the important role he’s played in everything from Minnesota politics to the birth and growth of the New Age. I’ll leave that to others to tell. For this blog post, I want to focus on what Llewellyn Publications has done. Although it could not have been done without the force of Will possessed by Mr. Weschcke, we can also look at what Llewellyn has done for spirituality and occultism and frankly, be astounded!

Rapid Growth

In the 1960s, Llewellyn continued to publish updated versions of some of George’s books and calendar.

In 1962, Llewellyn published Grant Lewi’s Heaven Knows What. Out of print for over a quarter century, this book, a modern simplification of astrology that was far above the simple sun sign astrology found in newspapers, Lewi’s book not only sold well but interested tens of thousands of people in exploring astrology, resulting in the opening of the modern interest in the subject. As a result, Lewi has been called “the father of modern astrology in America.”

Israel Regardie had published major books in the 1930s, selling the rights to the publisher, Aries Press. Llewellyn purchased the copyrights and published the second editions of some of his books which had been ignored for three decades. The Golden Dawn was published in a boxed, two-volume version rather than the original four volumes. Over the years, this became one volume with added notes and an invaluable index. Llewellyn also re-published Regardie’s The Middle Pillar, and A Garden of Pomegranates, both classic magickal and kabalistic works. Although Llewellyn had purchased the copyrights and literally owned the books, they contacted Regardie and paid him royalties on the books. Llewellyn had also purchased from Aries Press Regardie’s fourth classic book, The Tree of Life. Regardie informed Llewellyn that he had promised another publisher permission to publish that book and Llewellyn continues to allow them to do so. It was only in the year 2,000, long after Regardie’s death, that Llewellyn published an edition of that book.

Original Llewellyn two-volume Golden Dawn set.
Books one and two of Regardie’s original are combined in volume one.
Books three and four comprise volume two.
Not shown: Original slipcase

Single Volume Edition with “Psychedelic” Cover

Current Expanded Edition of The Golden Dawn
Not Shown: a Different Cover to the Hardbound Edition. Simple Blue with Gold Stamping

The communication with Regardie and the nascent “Caliphate” O.T.O. resulted in popular publishing of Aleister Crowley’s works, including Regardie’s collection of the magickal texts from Crowley’s enormous journal entitled Gems from the Equinox. Several of Crowley’s works were published by Llewellyn at this time, often with notes and comments by Regardie. Llewellyn also published Regardie’s important psychological profile of Crowley, Eye in the Triangle.

Perhaps the most famous publication of a Crowley item from this period was 1969′s first color publication of Crowley’s Thoth Tarot. Although the printing in Hong Kong was somewhat washed out, the deck, 40 years later, is still highly desired, in part because of its amazingly high quality box, a Tarot deck box with quality that few decks have ever had.

Closed Box, 1969 Thoth Tarot. Note the Publisher.

The box opened. Inside the outer box was another full box, covered with gold-colored paper.
The deck would go into the gold box, and the gold box would slide into the outer box.

Here you see the open sides of the heavy, cardboard boxes with a deck inside the gold box.
On the right is the outer box, showing its back.

But Llewellyn didn’t stop with republishing some of the 20th century’s most important magickal books, often making those works available to more people for the first time ever. Llewellyn worked to provide information from modern writers and contemporary magickal thinkers. One way to do this was in a journal of brilliant articles. This journal, called New Dimensions, was edited by Gareth Knight who went on to write the two-volume A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism.

Although it seems odd to think of it today, it was only in the late 1960s and 1970s that Wicca began to become popular in the U.S. Most of the books available in the U.S. were either republication of old books or total nonsense such as 1971′s The Do-It-Yourself Witchcraft Guide by Luba Sevarg (AKA Evelyn Silverman Graves) or 1975′s hysterical, The Naked Witch by Gay-Darlene Bidart. Llewellyn, for its part, published the first public version of Gardner’s full information in Lady Sheba’s The Book of Shadows and The Grimoire of Lady Sheba. Combined with works by authors such Raymond Buckland, no publisher, then or now, introduced more people to real Paganism than Llewellyn.

In the 1970s, Llewellyn started a school (The Gnostica School), and held some of the first Pagan festivals in the U.S. The newsletter for the school and new shop became a small newspaper and finally a magazine, perhaps the best occult-oriented magazine ever published in the U.S., Gnostica.

Llewellyn continued republishing valuable but relatively ignored books such as many of Dion Fortune’s works and Regardie’s edit of Crowley’s Magick Without Tears.

New titles were also published including Godwin’s Cabalistic Encyclopedia, a thorough updating and expansion of Crowley’s 777. Never abandoning its roots, Llewellyn published more modern books on astrology as well as one of the first modern astrological magazines, Astrology Now.

Other topics included graphology, palmistry, and the book Sexual Occultism by Dr. Jonn Mumford.

This was an amazing and important book for two major reasons. First, to the best of my knowledge it was the first modern popular explanation of ancient Traditional Tantric concepts of spirituality as well as the more popular sexual aspects of Tantra. Second, it was (and remains) one of the only books that compares and contrasts Tantric magickal concepts with those of Western magick. The book was eventually expanded and retitled Ecstasy Through Tantra, and I was honored to be allowed to write a chapter for the new edition of this book.

Contraction and Expansion

In the 1980s, things changed. The “Me Generation” wasn’t as interested in occultism as were the Baby Boomers. Llewellyn had expanded faster than was financially justifiable. The store was long closed. Others were holding Pagan festivals so Llewellyn no longer needed to do so. Llewellyn downsized. The magazines folded and were replaced by Llewellyn’s New Times, a combination catalog and magazine…with the emphasis on catalog. Still, there was enough valuable information in it that issues of New Times are now valued collectors’ items.

The popularity of occultism eventually began to grow again, and Llewellyn was ready to grow with it. A young author on Witchcraft, Scott Cunningham, become popular and prolific. He helped create the concept that people need not be part of a coven to practice Wicca, opening the religion and practices to millions of people and paving the way for authors such as Silver RavenWolf and Christopher Penczak. Denning & Phillips opened the Ogdoadic tradition of magick with their revelation of the magick of the Aurum Solis and the popular “Practical Guide” series of books they wrote on individual topics such as creative visualization, astral projection, and the first modern book on psychic self-defense.

Two other events happened in the late 1980s that I think were very important. In 1988 Llewellyn published the first edition of my Modern Magick. This has become the most popular step-by-step course of magick ever published. The other thing that happened is that FATE magazine was purchased by Llewellyn. After learning my craft by spending three years as the Editor-in-Chief of Llewellyn’s New Times, I became the new editor of FATE.

In the following years Llewellyn specialized in developing and continuing to develop authors who have become Occult, Pagan, and New Age superstars. Some of these authors include Ted Andrews, D. J. Conway, Amber K, Michael Newton, Raven Grimassi, Anodea Judith, Richard Webster, Ellen Duggan, Guy Finley, and Michelle Belanger. Llewellyn began developing its own line of Tarot decks and teamed with Italy’s Lo Scarabeo to become one of the world’s largest distributors of unique Tarot decks. FATE was eventually sold to Galde Press.

Llewellyn Publications moved from Portland Oregon to Los Angeles to Minnesota. In Minnesota it began as part of a large house in Minneapolis (a haunted house, of course!), moved to take over a floor of a large building in St. Paul, then moved to take over a remodeled soft drink plant. In 2005 Llewellyn built a new campus in Woodbury, Minnesota. It continues there, publishing some of the most important spirituality-oriented books. Note that I just wrote “important,” not “famous.” Some of Llewellyn’s authors are world famous. Some have the potential for fame. Some are not famous but have influenced writers who have achieved greater fame. The books by those authors may have reached more people, but are not more important than those published by Llewellyn.

Some people may disagree with that. Without the more famous authors, people wouldn’t know those ideas. I must respectfully disagree. As I wrote in the first of this series,

Ideas alway precede actions. Those ideas may come from our unconscious minds or from something we have seen or read. Thus, although Llewellyn is “just a publishing company,” Llewellyn has helped change the world. No, Llewellyn didn’t publish any books that started a physical revolution. Rather, from a limited beginning focused on astrology, the books published by Llewellyn have helped fire the spiritual hopes, dreams, and aspirations of millions of people, eventually coalescing into what is currently called the New Age.

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I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to any of the important people I may have accidentally omitted in these three posts. I’m sure I missed several very important authors and books, and I meant no slight or insult to you or your works. I’d also like to apologize for any mistakes in dates and history that may have occurred in these posts. Any fault is solely mine.

A major new exhibition at the British Museum hopes to shed new light on the book, which was not a single volume, but a series of spells and illustrations inked onto papyrus scrolls and designed to help the dead make the perilous journey to the afterlife.

So I headed over to the British Museum website to find out a little more about the exhibit. According to their main page on the exhibition:

Many of the examples of the Book of the Dead in the exhibition have never been seen before, and many are from the British Museum’s unparalleled collection. These beautifully illustrated spells on papyrus and linen were used for over 1,000 years, and the oldest examples are over 3,500 years old.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see these fascinating and fragile objects on display.

In addition to the unique works on papyrus and linen, superbly crafted funerary figurines (shabtis), amulets, jewelry, statues and coffins illustrate the many stages of the journey from death to the afterlife, including the day of burial, protection in the tomb, judgment, and entering the hereafter.

So if you’re planning a visit to London sometime this winter, it sounds like an amazing museum to visit. If not, the website also features a minute-and-a-half-long video summarizing the exhibit, though I’m sure it can’t compare to seeing these treasures in real life. In fact, on display in its entirety for the first time will be the longest Book of the Dead in the world, the Greenfield Papyrus, measuring 121 feet in length.

If you’re not able to travel to London but crave some Egypt-related exhibits, see if the exhibit on King Tut will be stopping in an area near you. It’s currently in Denver and New York City, and in February will move to St. Paul, MN. In April, it heads to Melbourne, Australia.

Or… do some armchair travelling! We currently have two recent books that involve pathworking and meditation with the Egyptian deities: one is Pathworking with the Egyptian Gods by Judith Page and Jan A. Malique, and the other is The Inner Guide to Egypt by Alan Richardson. In Richardson’s book you’ll be actually traveling down the Nile river in a mystical Henu boat. Both books will help you connect with your own authentic spirituality, with help from the Egyptian neters. If you’re new to all of this and would rather take a step back first to get an overview, check out Egyptian Paganism for Beginners.

Or, if it’s the Book of the Dead itself that captivates you, turn to Michelle Belanger’s “postmodern Book of the Dead,” Walking the Twilight Path. In it she compares the Egyptian and Tibetan books of the dead and shamanic lore and breaks it all down into exercises and journaling prompts that will gradually enable you to walk between worlds. (It also has great cemetery photos!) This is a wonderful choice as the wheel turns to the Dark Half of the year, and we feel the need to do some internal explorations of our own. Remember that you can use our Browse Inside function to get a better look at any book on our website.

Halloween is just around the corner, and ads for haunted hay rides and other spooky attractions are popping up all over. But with the current popularity of shows like Paranormal State and Ghost Hunters, who wants to go to a haunted schoolhouse stocked with costumed actors? Wouldn’t it be more fun to investigate a real haunting?

These days, more and more people are taking up ghost-hunting, and the month of October – with all its spectral associations – is the perfect time to do it. But before you go out seeking spirits, here are a few tips to keep your experience as safe as possible:

1. Take a flash-light. There’s nothing that says ghosts can’t show up in broad daylight, but most ghost-hunters seek their quarry in dark and shadowy locales. For some, this is part of the thrill, while seasoned investigators know that it’s easier to identify the source of mysterious sounds when fewer people are up and awake. Make sure you have a flash-light to help you navigate those dark corners!
2. Bring a friend. Ghost-hunting should operate on a buddy system, and you should never go into a haunted location alone. This isn’t because the ghosts will get you if you’re by yourself, but if you have a partner, you have someone to help you out if you get hurt. Also, you have a second witness for anything strange you might experience.
3. Dress sensibly. Ghosts can and do haunt five-star hotels, but most of the locations that are open to ghost-hunting are old buildings, like abandoned prisons or old county poorhouses. You are likely to get dirty, and you may encounter unpredictable footing. Dress appropriately. You may also want to think about pockets: a lot of ghost-hunters bring more gadgets than just a flashlight, and you need places to keep those cameras, audio recorders, EMF meters, and spare batteries.
4. Get permission. Although you may have a burning desire to investigate the ominous old cemetery down the street, most cemeteries are closed after sunset because of the real threat of vandalism. Don’t get yourself arrested for trespassing. Check with the owners of any location (or, lacking owners, the local city authorities) before you enter a property.
5. Have fun! In the world of spirits, like attracts like, so if you go out expecting to find evil or violent haunts, you just might get what you’re looking for. A moderate fear factor is part of the allure of ghost-hunting for some, but don’t fixate on your fears. Putting out too much of that kind of energy can attract unpleasant experiences.

If, after your first taste of ghost-hunting, you discover you want to learn more, there are plenty of books to sate your appetite. Check out Richard Southall’s How to Be a Ghost Hunter and my own Ghost Hunter’s Survival Guide.

At both conferences I came away with a major theme in my brain, and in this post I’d like to share with you the meaning of PantheaCon for me this year: reconnecting the tribes. PantheaCon’s official theme was “Back to Basics” this time but I think there’s a different way to frame that. It’s not about learning the basics all over again – it’s about advanced practitioners regrouping and retracing their steps with other advanced practitioners who have walked another path. Comparing notes. Exchanging information. Engaging in discussion.

An example of one such discussion: Taylor and Lupa hosted an Immanion Author Panel  titled simply “What Next?” In it, the conversation quickly turned to why there are so few advanced books, and how people develop on their paths in the absence of such upper level books. Many of the folks on the panel said they were looking for more specific information than what was available at the time (in the case of Lupa, for example, on animal magic and totemism; for Erynn Laurie, authentic Celtic practices; for Tony Mierzwicki, authentic Greco-Egyptian magic; etc.) and, not finding what they were looking for, had to devote years of research and experimentation to inform themselves. Of course this always ends with them writing the book they wish had been available when they first started out.

This is a topic that was already on my mind before PantheaCon, and my opinion is that everyone starts at point A; some move on to point B; and then a few, because of divine intervention or their guides or their own tastes and proclivities and lifestyle, shoot off onto an ultra-individualistic tangent. (This is not point C, but more like point N – an infinite number of individual paths are out there, just waiting to be claimed.)

The bright and motivated authors on stage were definitely part of that last group, and in my opinion, any one of them would have forged their own paths even if their books had been available to them at the time – simply because for some people, the journey and the process of discovery is a major part of how they both learn and integrate new material into their own lives. They may not even trust what is printed in books and need to experience things for themselves to progress. Not everyone is like this of course; many people are content to stay at point A or point B, to read books about topics that interest them and learn from others, rather than striking out and pioneering new territory on their own. Or they find their own ground but then keep it to themselves as their own custom-made, tailor-fit practice.

The problem with forging new territory and then writing books about it is that, in some cases, it has become so personal by that point that fewer people can either relate to it or are even interested in it in the first place. This is the main reason Llewellyn doesn’t do many very advanced, nichey books; for Immanion authors, it’s fine to sell hundreds of books whereas at Llewellyn we need to sell thousands to break even. So now there are tons of micro-presses that print their own materials for these ultra-individualistic paths and niches. In addition to Immanion Press, for example, Raven Kaldera publishes advanced Norse shamanistic books through his own Asphodel Press; Neos Alexandria publishes the Bibliotheca Alexandrina book series on the Greek deities; David Rankine and Sorita D’Este run Avalonia Books for advanced witchcraft and magic materials, and so on and so on.

By contrast, when I acquire advanced books for Llewellyn, I try to ensure they are not overly nichey in topic; what makes them advanced is the sheer amount of serious research poured into them; how seriously the topics are taken; and the advanced skills that are taught within their pages. For example, The Angelical Language volumes 1 & 2 are books that can be used by any serious magician interested in Enochian magic (or any linguists interested in created languages); yet they are definitely advanced because Aaron Leitch has been working on them for years and so have I! (I first got his manuscripts in 2006, the editor started editing the books last October, and finally last week we sent them to the printer. They are May releases.) What he has achieved truly constitutes a huge step forward in Enochian studies. Similarly, another forthcoming book, The Dictionary of Demons by Michelle Belanger (the book is not yet listed on our website), is possibly the most-researched book on the demons named in medieval European grimoires that has ever been or will ever be written. Yet it’s accessible to anyone, no matter where their interest in demons leans – invoking them or exorcising them. And Christopher Penczak’s very advanced books on witchcraft, The Living Temple of Witchcraft volumes 1 & 2 teach advanced skills, but are accessible to a very broad range of Pagan and Wiccan High Priests and Priestesses. (I’m biased of course, but I think these books could be used by future elders of virtually any path.) I could name plenty of other books in this vein, as well as the occasional books we publish that truly are nichey.

In my opinion, what really needs to happen in the Pagan community is for everyone to reconnect their separate threads. Come back from the long journeys to inner space and compare notes with others. Like: this is what’s working for me on a higher level with Odin, what is happening with you and Osiris, or with you and dreamwork, or with you and group dynamics? There is a need for this upper level cross-pollination so that people can go back to their own traditions and try something new, perhaps learn a new technique, or perhaps see the pervasive similarities that crop up and attempt to address them. Perhaps they’ll learn how better to deal with politics and in-fighting, power struggles and other issues within their own traditions when they see how others have dealt with it. Perhaps they’ll get a new idea of where they stand and what the next step is in their own path.

When I was later flying back to Minnesota after PantheaCon I bought a Scientific American magazine to “ground” myself after the intense immersion in spiritual realms over the weekend. And it turns out there is a similar dynamic to be seen in the scientific community: individuals specialize in extremely tiny niches and from that point onward seem to have no clue of what is going on in other disciplines around them. They may have infighting amongst themselves, but rarely look outside of their own discipline. For example, one article in the magazine enthusiastically spoke of an imagined future in which advanced biotechnology could allow us to design new living systems, like microbes that could produce non-biodegradable plastic building materials. This, in a scientific magazine! As if we needed more non-biodegradable plastics on the planet! What rock is this guy living under? Meanwhile the next article was about saving the environment from pollutants (such as plastic). A pro-plastic article followed by anti-plastic one? And yes, that’s the answer, it’s exactly that. The Scientific American is a multi-disciplinary magazine covering several branches of science. In reading a magazine like this, the unbridled enthusiasm about plastic in one article can be held in check by other scientists with differing viewpoints. While it would certainly be exciting to derive plastic from non-petroleum sources, there is still the problem of plastic itself. We do need plastic for a variety of reasons, but the counterpoints would urge us to slow down, inspect the alternatives, come together to form a better plastic (or better uses of plastic) so that we don’t kill the oceans entirely. (In other words, scrap the idea about a microbe that produces plastic – create one that eats the plastic that is currently degrading all aquatic life in the Pacific.)

Just as there must be cross-disciplinary meetings in science so that effective communication actually takes place between different branches, we need cross-disciplinary meetings in Paganism. This is one of the best reasons for attending PantheaCon, in my opinion. It allows us to cross-pollinate. Compare notes. Bring together the tribes. Engage in interdisciplinary Paganism.

So those are my thoughts after PantheaCon. Please feel free to comment – do you agree, disagree? Do you ever return to point A or point B with people who have ventured on to other paths and compare notes with them? Do you always find new points of view and nuggets of wisdom when you go to big Pagan meet-ups and festivals? How can we bring all these separate individuals back into some kind of umbrella to reconnect, especially once they’ve all found their own paths of value?

First of all I’ll be at PantheaCon in San Jose, California, from Feb. 12-15. This is a huge hotel event, and the hotel has been booked solid for months; however, if you’re interested in attending, there may still be space at the overflow hotels nearby. Attending will be authors Z Budapest, Amber K and Azrael Arynn K, Deborah Blake, Donald Michael Kraig, Kenny Klein, Gus diZerega, Brandy Williams, Ruth Barrett, Lon Milo DuQuette and many, many more. This year, for the first time ever, I will not be giving a presentation or hosting a panel discussion; but this will give me more time to actually have meetings with authors who are interested in publishing with Llewellyn. If that describes you, please let me know you’re interested in arranging a meeting.

The next weekend I’ll be almost clear across the country, but not quite, attending ConVocation in Detroit, Michigan. This is another booked-up hotel event, but again there are overflow hotels, and if you live in Michigan, you could always drive in for just one day over the weekend and pay the daily rate instead of the weekend rate. The dates are February 18-21. Presenting at this event will be authors Michelle Belanger, Andrieh Vitimus, Mya Om, and Raven Kaldera among many others. At ConVocation I will be giving my presentation on “Book Publishing 101” for those who are curious or would like to get into the business of writing books. The theme this year is The Tower, and they put on a great masquerade ball!

If February get-togethers are not your thing (brrr!) you do have the summer to look forward to. Consider Circle Sanctuary’s 30^th annual summer solstice festival, Pagan Spirit Gathering! PSG will take place June 20-27 at a camping location in Missouri. If you register by March 4^th you can get the discounted registration price; otherwise, the deadline is June 4. Deadline for presentations is May 1. The full line-up of presenters has not been posted yet, but will include T. Thorn Coyle, Jason Pitzl-Waters, and Selena Fox.

Don’t worry, we’ll be posting more festivals as they come up, but if you’d like to leave information about your favorite Pagan gatherings in the comments section, feel free!

The episode, which will air on Sunday, December 7 at 8PM CST, will feature interviews with Belanger and other members of the vampire community during the “Beyond Belief” segment, which focuses on religious and spiritual issues. Topics discussed will include the Vampire Community, the process of self-identifying as a vampire, the fundamentals of energy working, among others.

Hannity’s America is a weekly talk show hosted by Sean Hannity, and airs on the FOX News Channel. The program features several segments that focus on American politics (“2 on 2”), religion and spirituality (“Beyond Belief”), and the nation at large (“Your America.”)

New episodes can be seen Sundays at 9 PM, 8 PM Central. Click here for more information or check your local cable or satellite listings for channel information.

The episode will also be available here after it airs.

Michelle Belanger is a popular author best known for her writings on psychic vampirism and the modern vampire subculture. A self-professed energy vampire, she has appeared on several other radio and televisions shows, including the British documentary American Vampires, Peter Anthony Holder’s Soul Call, Coast to Coast, the X-Zone, as well as appearances on the History Channel, WE!, HBO, and most recently, A & E’s Paranormal State.