Well, I'm back after spending a wonderful weekend at the Pagan Unity Festival with about 300+ other people. A great time was had by all. Being a boy from L.A. I wasn't used to the humidity, but when it rained it cut that out and was a pleasant relief. The lightning made a great show, too. I'd like to thank the wonderful people who put on PUF and would certainly encourage people to attend in coming years. They put this great sign on my cabin door: My only disappointment was that Raven and Stephanie Grimassi didn't make it. Apparently there was mechanical problems with three planes. I gave workshops on the evocation of spirits and psychic self-defence. I also volunteered to stand in

It's Wednesday afternoon, May 12. This time tomorrow I'll be at PUF—the Pagan Unity Festival—in Tennessee. Besides me (I'm giving two workshops) there will also be Edain McCoy, Raven and Stephanie Grimassi, Dorothy Morrison, M.R. Sellars, and other speakers. There will be workshops, classes, entertainment (I'm looking forward to seeing Skinny White Chick again), vendors (including "Gretchen's Good and Smelly Fairy F@rts." Gotta love that name!) and lots of good people. I hope to see you there. If you attend, please come by and say hello! I'd like to meet you.

You may not know this, but Llewellyn has one of the most extensive on-line metaphysical encyclopedias around. You can reach its home page by clicking on this link. This encyclopedia is absolutely free to the community. And I have the honor of being its editor. I just entered over 120 new terms. That's in addition to the thousands of terms that were already there. One of the terms I researched and just entered was Bell, Book, and Candle. Here is the entry that explains it: Originally a form of excommunication from the Catholic Church instituted in the late ninth century c.e. It included the ringing of a bell, the closing of the Bible, and the snuffing of a candle. In 1950, a romantic

A few months ago I was talking to a person involved with publishing books on magick. He wanted to know why so many people claiming to be great magickians were so very poor. I was reminded of this conversation this morning when I received an email from a friend who was joining a magickal order and worried because many of the members were out of work and didn't have their own places to live. She wondered if, by joining the group, she was bringing poverty into her life. She wondered why so many occultists who claimed to be magicians were broke. I pointed out that this was true among ceremonial magickians and Pagans. Some magickal people respond by saying, "I've got more important and