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PaganSquare is a community blog space where Pagans can discuss topics relevant to the life and spiritual practice of all Pagans.

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Posted by on in Paths Blogs
Who Doesn't like Witchy Fiction?

Last year I came across the Witchy, paranormal mystery and romance genre of fiction. How delighted was I when I read books that contained characters that were just like me! I was so taken with this kind of fiction, that an idea sprang up in my mind for an entire series of books, all set within the New Forest, England. 

I decided to pull on my own research and experience of Hedge Witchcraft and Druidry, and so the first three books are all about coming into one's own power as a Hedge Witch, with a Druid as the love interest. And yes, some of it is spicy!

I can honestly say that I've never had so much writing as when I wrote the first two books in this series. The first book, Hedge Witch, is now available on Amazon, and the second, The Veil Between the Worlds, is on track for a December release. I am just so excited about this series, and writing books from the perspective of many different characters that appear in the books. 

The first three books are from Hunter's perspective. She is a university professor who, alongside her sister, inherited their aunt's property on the edge of the village of Burley (a noteable hotspot for Witchy tourism in real life!). She learns about her heritage and comes into her own, with the aid of the magickal community. Her cautious nature and guarded heart is opened by the love of a Druid. Will she be able to solve the mystery of her mother's disappearance? There are some in the community, both in this world and the Otherworld, who are opposed to her...

Join me as I weave the tales of the Witches of the New Forest!

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Partners in Passion: Lover’s Oil Rub

This ritual permeates your handmade massage oil with passion. Your intention and intuition add a lovely and loving magic to your time together. Gather the following supplies:

1 cup of almond or sesame oil

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Pullover Hoodie ...

 

“So, why sixteen circles around the Wheel?”

I'm wearing my new Sun-wheel petroglyph hoodie. (In this dark time, I tend to surround myself with icons of the Sun.) Boldly displayed on my chest is the Sun-wheel itself, one of the ancestors' most sacred symbols: in each quarter thereof, a mini-Sun; around it, sixteen more.

Leave it to P, a detail-oriented guy if ever there was one, to ask about specifics.

Any teacher knows the scenario. I didn't realize that I knew the answer to his question until he'd asked it. I'm happy to tell him, but of course I owe him some attitude first.

Really P, I'm disappointed in you," I say in my most withering headmaster voice. "Isn't it obvious why sixteen?”

He gives me the look that I deserve.

“Four: it's the sacred number of the Sun. It's like nine: three threes. Sixteen is four fours: double the power.”

Such bantering play, of course, everywhere characterizes the conversation of the loreful.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs

Building a Celtic Roundhouse

 

In Bronze Age Britain, writes archaeologist David Miles in his magisterial 2005 The Tribes of Britain,

You could have any kind of house you liked provided it was round, 8 metres across and had a south-east facing entrance (96).

From the Bronze Age well into the Celtic Iron Age, ancient Britons “seem to have had a particular fondness for circular houses” (Miles 96), an architectural fashion rarely seen on the Continent.

It's hard to escape the conclusion that the circle had a deep meaning for these ancestors. Remember that these are the people who built the stone circles.

In virtually every culture, the house is an icon of the universe: floor = earth, walls = world, roof = sky.

(Cellar = underworld, one might add.) One might mention here as well the round barrow, house of the dead.

Stone circle = house = universe. Remember this next time you cast a circle.

So: the ancestral roundhouse, also—as you will appreciate—known as a "wheelhouse". (We'll leave aside the 8 meter—26 foot—diameter for now. Clearly, houses have to be of a size to hold their inhabitants.) Why did the door of the roundhouse need to face the southeast?

(One thinks of the traditional Diné [“Navaho”] hogan, always built with its door facing the rising Sun.)

Roundhouses had no windows; often, they didn't even have smoke-holes. (Smoke filtered up through the thatch.) Roundhouses were dark. A southeastward-facing doorway ensures morning light.

Southeast is also the general direction in which the Sun rises during Winter, when its warmth is most needed, and—in particular—at the Solstice, the Sun's annual rebirth. Think of the many megalithic monuments oriented to the Sun's rising (or setting) at this time of year. It's difficult not to see some deep symbolism here.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why, I would suggest, it is a roundhouse, and not, as proposed, a longhouse, that we need to build here at Sweetwood Temenos.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs

and Rawhide, Parchment, Candle Lantern ...

 

“It may be that the night will close over us in the end, but I believe that morning will come again. Morning always grows out of the darkness, though maybe not for those who saw the sun go down. We are the Lantern Bearers, my friend; for us to keep something burning, to carry what light we may forward into the darkness and the wind.”

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Posted by on in Paths Blogs
Unnatural Minoan Flowers: The Waz Lily

The Minoans were great artists, including beautiful plants and animals in their work. I've written before about their depictions of lilies - perhaps the most well-known botanical figure in Minoan art - and papyrus.

Today, I'd like to talk about an unnatural flower, one that doesn't exist in the real world but that appears in Minoan art: the waz lily. You can see two of them on the teacup above (the looped handle is facing away from the camera, so it's not visible). The waz lily is a stylized lily with a pronounced double curl, combined with a stylized papyrus bloom head.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Romance Roma Style: Heart Herbs

The folklore of the Romani people is replete with love magic, charms, and enchantments. The way to a person’s heart can truly be a dish of delight spiced up with magical herbs. Gather up:

Rye

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