Synchronicity is a mysterious muse who has always danced in periphery of my life. I have seen her out of the corner of my eye on what often seems to be a daily basis. Today was no different except to say, this time she danced across my news feed.

The other night as I scrolled through my Facebook news feed and came across a post by Witches & Pagans editor Anne Newkirk Niven. She had written that she had just gotten her a** handed to her by some readers regarding her editorial. Being no stranger to having my a** handed to me, I was among the first to offer a supportive comment.

The next morning I found a related link to Peter Dybing's Pagan In Paradise post about Pagan Intolerance. And Being no stranger to having my a** handed to me, I was quite happy the issue is finally being addressed. And I am a huge proponent of "Sacred Regard."

One of the first articles I ever wrote was for Witchvox way back in 2009. It was titled Kangaroo Magic, and I'm resurrecting the message of that article here because the need for it has returned.

In that article I mentioned that among my travels to numerous countries, by far my favorite was Australia. Mostly because I had spent my life as a student of indigenous Magical practices and has always been fascinated with aboriginal culture and the concept of the dreamtime.

Did you know that the Aboriginal Didgeridoo was the first musical instrument in human history?

An addendum is something added, a small supplement to the original. This post is a small addendum to the last post on Doing Dangerous Magic. First I'd like to mention how pleasantly surprise I was by how well this piece was accepted. I received a lot of feedback, all of which I viewed as positive. Including validation from a psychiatric nurse who commented on how she sees the sort of "Wand Waving" I mentions on a regular basis. She is one of those who cleans up the mess and undoes the damage done.

In that post I also mentioned that I am a certified administrator, operating a residential facility and providing direct care for developmental disabled. I also mentioned that I am required to attend 40 hours of continuing education to re-certify. And that's where I was yesterday. I spent the entire day of Ostara inside an all day re-certification seminar. Yes, you can say it, "Spiritual coma."

But we did spend some time going over new medication issues, I always perk up for this subject because if I mess it up, I could go to prison or worse, someone could die. So meds should be attended with the utmost respect, caution and concern. We talked about dangerous interactions of medications and the instructor really focused on looking "outside the box."

I must admit that I've been avoiding this post for quite some time now, but the circumstances have synchronized thereby producing the perfect storm. So buckle up, I'm about to go off.

In my defense, "going off" is not something I normally do. My preferred mode of persuasion has always been a heartfelt appeal to emotion, complemented with a modest and very casual stimulation of reason. And while my prevailing demeanor has always been one of unceasing happiness; I do have my "up-to-here" moments.

So it's new moon, and as with my tradition, I am internalizing the lunar phase and focusing on my shadow, in the Jungian sense. I'm reading a pretty good Jungian-ish book on shadow work and utilizing what I consider the most effective system of magick there is.

Years ago I started a little blog called The Ink Blot Tarot, and most people know me from that blog as WitchDoctorJoe (all one word, please just humor me.) It started as a publicly-private journal of one of my second degree CraftWork projects. I may not a good writer, but I know I'm not very good at writing. I'm very self-aware that my spelling is a borderline disability, that I am punctuationally impaired and that I drive the grammar Nazis completely insane. Mostly because I tend to make up my own words, which I enjoy, because somehow you always know what I mean when I do it. My favorite thing is to take a few words, capitalize them, and then smash them together into one word like CraftWork. Regardless of how bad of a writer I may be, I am in fact extremely comfortable writing.

Or at least I was until I realized how many people were reading my blog, then I became nervous, uncertain and uncomfortable. I became very careful and very guarded with my words and feelings; and my interest began to wane. I am simply not the guarded type. I have no problem spilling my guts, sharing my intimate thoughts, feelings and fears. For example, I love chick flicks like My Big Fat Greek Wedding and I wet the bed until I was almost ten.

So being a little Wiccan fish in a big Pagan pond, I was very honored and excited to be ask to write for Witches & Pagans. But I've hardly written much here, until recently. I haven't written much here because I again felt myself become guarded, because for me, this is the big time, and I really need to bring my *A* game. And because everyone will see it, so I really need to be careful about what I say and how I say it. Right? But I was invited to come and contribute here in this space for a reason, and I suspect that reason may possibly have something to do with what and how I was writing back at the RattleBone. So I'm going back to doing what got me here in the first place, just being me, unguarded.

As promised this the second edition of my new series about the more subtle nuances of Pagan Chaplaincy within the field of corrections, "Spells for Cells."

Over at the Wild Hunt today, Jason Pitzl-Waters posted A Quick Note on Avoiding Bottom-Feeding Trolls in Mass Media.  Pause for applause, because as always Jason is spot on in his perspective and approach to an issue. I'm a big fan of Trollspotting, it's required reading in our Coven, and I think it should so be everywhere elsewhere. Just sayin.

Much like one commenter, I'm also "as guilty as the next guy" of feeding the trolls of my past. And I had a very difficult time not dropping a house on Debra. But I commend myself, on my ability not too, and I'll be talking about how I did that below (whoop). But sometimes Trolls can serve a greater good. Like many people, she really pissed me off, which got the blood pumping, carrying fresh oxygen to my cobweb shrouded brain. There was a cough of dust and smoke, and I began firing on all pistons.

Back in July 2012 I wrote a piece announcing the establishment of the National Pagan Correctional Chaplains Association. Since then the association has accrued a decent number of members. Considering how few Pagan Chaplains there are, we're looking pretty good. A little over a week ago we held our first annual forum at PantheaCon  and again I was pleasantly surprised by the turn out. Among those in attendance were Patrick McCollum, Selena Fox, Macha Nightmare and Glenn Turner. I personally felt honored by their presence.

Our presentation consisted of a brief introduction to the association; its mission, vision, membership, structure and development plans. I gave a short instructional vignette on essential texts related to chaplaincy within the field of corrections. This transitioned into an open discussion forum which covered a wide range of topics. Both Patrick and Selena shared valuable experience and insight on the past, present and future of Pagan Chaplaincy. The highlight of the evening for me personally was Patrick's heartfelt expression of support for the success of the association. And in the interest of full disclosure, I got a little misty eyed.

By the time we got back home and began unpacking the news that California may have to hire a Wiccan Chaplain was already well on its way to going viral. And given my obvious investment in the subject matter everyone I know began forwarding links to news feed via Facebook, instant messages and email. My computer lit up like a Samhain altar.

Nona Sabbata is my Latin jargon for "The Ninth Sabbat."

For over five years now our Coven has been providing open public [Wiccan] community rituals a minimum of twice a month. In all that time, of all of those rituals, we only cancel one of them each year. Because we're at PantheaCon. And by "we're" I mean over eight of us. We all load up one very large van, and pile into one very nice hotel suite. It's like a non-stop four day slumber party with your best friends, at your favorite intergalactic spiritual space station. Which no one seems surprised to find located in California's Silicon Valley.

Our events are an opportunity to disseminate important information in our community. We are always promoting articles from Witches & Pagans, Newly released books, news and current events via The Wild Hunt or the Newswire Collective and anything else we can remember. We start promoting PantheaCon at our circles fairly early in the season, read off some the the events when the schedule is released and keep reminding everyone that "we won't be here that weekend."

It's funny when I think about it. Each of those days always begins the same, I spend the whole morning in hesitant anticipation. I often consider creating a scheduling conflict or just "oversleeping." Anything to postpone the appointment. But I always seem to arrive on time, often taking my seat in the waiting room only seconds before he turns the corner and calls me back to his office.

He's quite frank with his questions, gentle but direct, he frames them in a way that require explanations to be answered. He noticed when I became uncomfortable with where the conversation was going, it's always obvious because I rub my silver pendant with my thumb. So he shifted gears and asked about my spirituality, if and how that played a role in my experiences in Iraq. Did my experiences there cause me to question my beliefs? Did I have a crisis of faith?

"No, but I knew someone who did."

  Over the years I have noticed a natural rhythm, an ebb and flow of activity and attendance to annual celebrations of the Wheel of the Year. Many seem to skip Imbolc, perhaps it the weather or perhaps we're still shaking off the winter hibernation. Still some confess not really being sure how to celebrate Imbolc, regardless, we usually seem to warm up by Ostara and are always in full swing for the Maypole Dance at Beltane. We cruise along through the wheel at a steady even pace until Samhain when we turn up the juice full throttle for everyone's favorite holiday. 

   It's really no surprise the Samhain is arguably the most popular of the Sabbats, it perhaps one of the most fun and memorable social events of our childhood. It is not a far stretch to assume the positive experiences of dressing up like our favorite hero or villain and canvassing the neighborhood collecting candy found a comfortable place to nest in the psyche of our young minds. It can be a dream come true for many who grow up, come to Paganism and discover one of their favorite childhood holidays has deep cultural and spiritual roots which complements their religious beliefs and practices.

   I had a good childhood, great parents and a close, strong family ties. My childhood experiences have always had a significant influence on my personal spiritual beliefs and practices. The most significant influence was from my Grandmother, from whom I learned how to cast my Circles and how to celebrate Samhain.

It has been my experience that the biggest obstacle facing Pagans in the correctional environment is two fold, ignorance and apathy. Generally speaking correctional staff does not know much at all about minority faiths, and more often than naught, what they know is based on stereotypes, movies and many, many years of bad press. The apathy also has its own two fold, inmates are convicted felons, so one would say the deck is already stacked against them enough, but to be a one of those Pagans too? Too often that only serves to further broaden the gap of indifference.

There is no lime light to be found on a prison yard. Prison ministry is a unique calling in itself, but Pagan prison ministry is another thing all together. We most often lack resources, support and most of all funding, i.e., gas money. Over the years I have had many people express an interest in prison chaplaincy, enough to necessitate the development of our own orientation packet. That orientation begins with a single yet profoundly significant question:

Gandhi said "Be the change you wish to see in the world," and it has become my own personal mantra. It has been almost six years ago since I first sat across the table from Rev. Patrick McCollum in a roadside diner as he told me the story of how he became the first Wiccan chaplain for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He had a way of telling a story that kept me on the edge of my seat as he recounted the relentless onslaught of religious discrimination he personally experienced trying to provide religious services to Wiccan inmates.

I was shocked to hear that the first time he attempted to enter a prison to provide religious services he was spit on by a uniformed correctional officer. The frustrating irony was that it was institutional staff that had called him and asked for his help. Wiccan inmates had won a legal suit and the prison was required to provide them with religious accommodations, so officials requested that Patrick volunteer his time and money, make the long journey to their somewhat remote location to assist them. But when he did, they did everything they could to stop him.

He warned me about the various challenges of the mission, should I choose to accept it. But I had just moved back home after almost ten years in the United States Army, including a tour in Iraq. So I was more than confident, I was cocky. I remember Patrick saying he thought I had what it took to do services at Corcoran State Prison, I always took that as an enormous compliment and hoped I would someday live up to that impression.

     The Genius Loci or Spirit of a Place has always held great emphasis and value in my personal spirituality, world view and cosmology. I have always purposefully sought out to engage the spirit of any land I have held residence with. As a veteran this includes numerous civilian domiciles and military bases both foreign and domestic. In my experience I have often found the most direct route to connecting with Genius Loci is through the community market places, like the local Farmers’ market.

     It was only recently that I heard the term Locavore, which is someone who makes an effort to consume from locally produced food sources. There are many benefits to being a locavore and shopping at a Farmers’ market; the food is often organic or at the very least, fresher, much healthier and always seems to just taste better. Every one benefits financially as well when you buy direct from local growers, the cost is lower, the money stays in the community and stimulates the local economy. But for me, the greatest benefits are by far more Magical.

Geomancy, of all divination systems seems to be perhaps the most unappreciated and by far the least popular. I have always found this odd as it is incorporated in the teachings of Western Hermetic Traditions and many magical orders such as the Golden Dawn.  I have personally dedicated much time to it over the last several years, and have found it to be an incredibly accurate, yet simple system. But what I have always loved about geomancy is its mysticism. Geomancy literally means “earth-divination,” the concept is that the practitioner tunes into and receives messages from the Anima Terra or the “soul of the Earth.”

   Unlike most forms of divination geomancy can be performed both operatively and speculatively. Meaning the figures can be produced by physically casting objects using a variety of techniques; or by Mano Caligo, the “ghost hand” which is a form of automatic writing. Mano Caligo is always my preferred and recommended method. The theology of mano caligo is that the practitioner establishes a direct or ambiant connection with the anima Terra through a local telluric current or earth current. This link allows geomantic signals to be conveyed similar to Morse code through telegraph lines. It only requires pen and paper, a general understanding of the figures and how they are generated.