To prepare the way for letting new friends enter your life or to focus your attention on existing friendships, set up an altar where you can concentrate your energy and clarify your intentions. If you already have an altar in place, incorporate some of the following elements to enhance your relationships with others as well with yourself. The more you use your altar, the more powerful your spells will be.
Your altar can be a low table, the top of a shelf, or even a shelf. First, purify the space with the smoke of a lit sage bundle. This is called “smudging” and is an essential part of witchcraft. You can dry wild sage to use or purchase it in any herb store. Once you have smudged the space, cover your friendship altar with a pink-colored scarf or cloth and place pink and white candles in each of the four corners. (Pink is the color of affection and white represents purity.) Place rose quartz and calming fluorite stones around a vase of fresh flowers, often with poppies, daisies, or whatever connotes fun and friendship to you.
We often think of deities as being less tethered to the Earth than we are, so it only makes sense that many of them have winged creatures among their symbols and iconography.
I've written about birds in Minoan art before, but from a more general perspective, looking back toward the Minoans' ancestors in Neolithic Anatolia. But a lot happened after those people migrated down to Crete and began a new life there. So let's discover which birds - and other winged creatures - are associated with which deities in Modern Minoan Paganism.
One of the more exciting aspects of revivalist spirituality is the discovery of new-to-us deities. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, we do a little happy dance!
In this case, a happy dance is especially appropriate. Allow me to introduce you to a new deity pair: Thumia and Kaulo.
Below is a group of goddesses you can invoke and honor in your ritual work. I strongly advise placing images of a goddess on your altar when you need her aid, her strength, or her special qualities.
Alkmene is the mortal mother of legendary Greek hero Hercules. Her name means “might of the moon.”
Candrea is the Indonesian deity from a love story about princess Candra Kirana of Kediri. Candra was the incarnation of Dewi Ratih, goddess of love, and her name means “glowing like the moon.”
A form of magic handed down from antiquity is to have a domestic goddess figure in your home; archaeologists have found them amongst the most ancient artifacts. It is a wonderful energy generator to have such a figurine decorating your home altar. The most important consideration is to choose the divinity with whom you feel the deepest connection.
Which of these beneficent beings do you identify with?
Erin Lale
Fellow faculty at Harvard Divinity School posted an open letter to Wolpe in response to his article. It's available on this page, below the call for p...
Erin Lale
Here's another response. The Wild Hunt has a roundup of numerous responses on its site, but it carried this one as a separate article. It is an accoun...
Erin Lale
Here's another response. This one is by a scholar of paganism. It's unfortunately a Facebook post so this link goes to Facebook. She posted the text o...
Erin Lale
Here's another link to a pagan response to the Atlantic article. I would have included this one in my story too if I had seen it before I published it...
