New Worlds of Body, Mind & Spirit Since 1901
April Fools Day, a light-hearted day filled with pranks and jokes, heralds the beginning, for me, of Spring Fever—that feeling of wanting to ditch work and mundane obligation in favor of adventure, preferably outdoors. After hunkering down during a long, dark, cold winter, I am ready, even if there is still a chill in the air, to wander. And this, naturally, makes me think of The Fool card. The Fool card is complex, and made no less so by the evolution of its imagery and meanings over the centuries. What began as a comical figure, base fool, often with his pants down (see the Universal Wirth Fool) has changed into something more admirable. Indeed, early meanings (in the 18th century) ...
I am often asked if there is an ultimate secret to magick. Most of the time, this is asked from a position of obtaining power, and frequently, this is based on the desire for power over others. People who stay with magick learn the truth: the real power is power over yourself. Curiously, the more you try to obtain power over others, the less likely you are to obtain it. The more you obtain power over yourself, what some call "self-mastery," the more people are willing to give their power to you. Magick is a way to understand yourself and the universe. The more you understand about yourself and the universe, the more you gain power over yourself. Therefore, the more you learn about ...
When spring finally comes around, the housecleaning we all come to crave is actually no cliché. Once the temperature finally gets warm, few things are as fulfilling as opening your clean windows widely to let all of that glorious sun and a warm breeze inside. It feels so peaceful to sit comfortably in the calm spring weather with everything in order, a clean home and an orderly state of mind. It's January as I write this, but I'm already excited to welcome in that wonderful feeling. The process of spring cleaning is about so much more than the practical effect of having a clean home. It's also about how you fit into the seasons and the rhythmic passing of time. Come spring, it's ...
I was once a stranger in a strange land without a job. Beyond that, I was broke and in a problematic relationship. At one point, I found myself wandering through the streets of Munich, looking for a place to work, for a day job that would pay the rent. Schwabing, the publishing/film/artistic part of town, had few possibilities for a so-called unskilled employee, so I went further afield. At some point, I found myself standing outside of a quaint little shop near Munich's main market, the Viktualienmarkt. In German, it was called "Kräuterhaus Helvetia, D' Original Oberbayrische Kräuter- und Wurzelsepp," which translates, with some geographical confusion, to "The Swiss Herb Shop, ...
