Witchy Update - Issue 27

Reflection, Rest, and Regeneration

Elysia Gallo Now that Samhain has passed, we are delving deeply into the darkest part of the year. It definitely makes me want to curl up in a warm blanket and read! And really, the dark part of the year is perfect for spiritual reflection, rest, and regeneration.

One particularly effective tool for journeying into the Otherworld and aligning even more profoundly with the Wheel of the Year is The Hidden Path by Raven Grimassi, Stephanie Taylor and Mickie Mueller. The Hidden Path kit consists of a 40-card deck beautifully illustrated by Mickie Mueller, book, and black organdy pouch. As the follow-up to The Well Worn Path, the deck may be used independently or shuffled in with the previous deck. While The Well Worn Path presented the foundations of Wicca and witchcraft, The Hidden Path takes you into the Otherworld where kindred spirits lead you through the wheel of the year and different realms and finally lead you back and ground you in the material world.

The deck is completely unlike the Tarot; it focuses on the path of the Witch and presents teachings that will intensify your experience with deity, nature, and ritual. Cards include familiar themes you can get to know even better through the book and regular use of the deck, such as Sacred Bough, Faery Door, Between the Worlds, Drawing Down the Moon, Three Great Mysteries, and Charge of the Goddess. The cards can be used as teaching implements, divinatory tools, focal points for meditations or altars, and doors for journeying. If doing inner work is on your to-do list this winter season, don't miss this fantastic helper. Plus, who could possibly resist the black cat on the cover?

If you're looking to consciously create sacred space in your home, then Your Altar is another must-read. Using the tenets of numerology and the numbers one through nine, Sandra Kynes teaches you how to lay out altars that best resonate with your prayer, spellwork, or meditation intentions. Find out when to use a three-part altar, perhaps representing the Triple Goddess, versus when to step it up to a five-part altar, which could represent the five senses, for example. This comprehensive book is full of amazing ideas that will change the way you look at your altar forever. If your altar is static, never changes, or becomes a dumping ground for all your magical trinkets, this book can give you new inspiration and focus.

Respected (and witty) author Isaac Bonewits has been at it for years and should definitely be on everyone's reading list at some point. He has many titles to offer, the latest of which is Neopagan Rites. This book teaches you how to plan, organize, and hold public rituals for groups large or small of any Neopagan path. He outlines the different parts of ritual, how elements can be personalized for the occasion or the group, and what you need to keep in mind in your planning process, from accessibility for attendees with disabilities to music and props. If you are already Pagan clergy or feel an interest in leading a group and designing ritual, this concise guide should be your first stop.

And finally, a book for any Pagan men you know (hint, hint, Yule is soon approaching!). Sacred Paths for Modern Men is a brand new book by the executive director of The Pagan Pride Project and former editor of newWitch magazine, Dagonet Dewr. He brings a vast amount of experience in both Paganism and non-Pagan men's movements such as The ManKind Project and actually makes men's spirituality fun and inspiring. The book examines 12 different male archetypes, from The Lover and The Warrior to The Trickster and The Sacrificed One, but this is no Joseph Campbell! Dewr is fresh and funny, draws on pop culture references to put the archetypes in forms we can better understand, and includes rituals and magical workings for each archetype. Some rites of passage include becoming a father, seeking a partner, or becoming an elder. Sacred Paths for Modern Men is a book I am particularly excited about, so be sure to recommend it to your menfolk! I have heard some of them complain over and over that most our books are for women (which, sadly, is partly true) but here is a book that is just for them!

Well, this little reading list could keep you well occupied for all the time between the Celtic New Year and the modern New Year. Grab a hot beverage, stick your feet into some slippers, and light a cozy reading lamp - when you have time, that is! Just remember the coming "holiday season" (which now is a full-on marketing blitz from Halloween through Thanksgiving to Yule / Christmas / Chanukah / Kwanzaa / Solstice) is one of the most dangerous times of the year in terms big-time energy and resource drains. Please take time for yourself, get the rest you need, and eat right! (And don't forget to read a book once in a while.)

Llewellyn's Samhain YouTube Contest 2007

We have a winner for Llewellyn's Samhain 2007 YouTube Contest!

The award-winning video with 45 ratings and 1,622 views is Baron Samedi Samhain Spell created by YouTube user Nachtchat!

Nachtchat will be receiving a fabulous gift basket filled with witchy goodies and has selected copies of Mystical Dragon Magick by DJ Conway, my personal favorite A Kitchen Witch's Cookbook by Patricia Telesco, and Garden Witchery by Ellen Dugan.

Click here to check out Nanchtchat's prizewinning video.

The competition included 8 very unique and totally cool video entries. In addition, more than 40 users joined the Llewellyn YouTube group created for the contest.

To view all the videos submitted for the contest click here.

We had such a great time viewing all your videos we've created the YouTube group, Llewellyn's Mystical Grove where our Witchy Update readers as well as other Wiccans, Witches, and Pagans can continue to share spells, rituals, and thoughts on all things magickal.

Click here to join our new group on YouTube.

Congratulations to our first-ever Samhain YouTube contest winner and thanks to everyone who participated in the contest!

2007 Witchy Update Reader Survey

Each month Llewellyn provides our readers with things like New Worlds, our Witchy Update, and the Llewellyn Journal; we are looking to make your experience with these Llewellyn publications and websites even better.

We are currently making updates to all of our online publications, including the Witchy Update e-newsletter, and want to hear what you think!

Please click here and take a moment to answer a brief online survey. Your answers will enable us to better cater our newsletter to your desires.

Llewellyn Journal Articles

Where's My Wand?
by Jason Kitchen

Many people have a certain image of magickians, thanks in large part to pop culture and the media. But, popular to contrary thought, you simply cannot just chant a few learned words, wave a wand around, and experience some great force of magick. Magick is far more complicated than that. And, a whole lot more fun! Jason Kitchen, a beginning magician, brings you into the world of beginner's magick.

Click here to read the full article.

Make Your (Magical) Mark: Glyphs add Fresh Potency to any Spell
by Melanie Harris

Witches frustrated by mediocre results need not give up and toss their wands out with the trash. Using magical glyphs in new ways will give spellwork the boost it needs to succeed.

Click here to read the full article.

Freemasonry: Insight into the Workings of the Craft
by Mark Stavish

Since the run-away success of Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code and subsequent movie, there has been a renewed interest in Freemasonry, both by the media and the population at large, along with much wild speculation. Why is the interest so profound? Why the resulting conjectures? The answer, as you will see, is simple, and can be summed up in a single word: secrecy.

Click here to read the full article.

Magickal Elements of the Gothic Subculture
by Raven Digitalis

Do you think about the clothes you put on each day? How about your makeup? Makeup and clothing can be used each and every day to magickally transform you on many different levels. View these transformers through the lens of the Gothic subculture.

Click here to read the full article.

Excerpts

The Hidden Path
by Raven Grimassi & Stephanie Taylor & Mickie Mueller

The theme that runs through this deck is associated with the myths and legends of the Otherworld. The images in The Hidden Path deck contain the essence of mystical concepts that are both ancient and modern. In this way the deck connects you with a living tradition that spans past, present, and future.

Click here to read the full excerpt.

Your Altar: Creating a Sacred Space for Prayer & Meditation
by Sandra Kynes

The one thing that will never leave you, once you transcend all unstable mental states, is the joy of your soul.

– Paramahansa Yogananda

Meditation

Although considered by some to be a Buddhist practice, meditation is a tool used in many spiritual traditions. Texts found in 1945 at Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt describe techniques of spiritual disciplines not unlike Buddhist or Hindu practices designed to achieve enlightenment. Like the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the text called Zostrianos emphasized the importance of removing physical desires, reducing the chaos of the mind, and stilling it with meditation. Likewise, Paramahansa Yogananda called meditation "the science of being actively calm" and considered daydreaming and sleeping to be forms of passive calmness.

Click here to read the full excerpt.