The Fall issue of Little Witch magazine has ten fabulous chantss for the modern Pagan. For those readers who read it and thought 'where is my favourite one?!', this is the spot to leave your comments and help others increase the use of their mobile phones.
9.21.2011
6.20.2011
Magickal Mobile Application
The Summer issue of Little Witch magazine has ten fabulous mobile phone applications for the modern Pagan. For those readers who read it and thought 'where is my favourite one?!', this is the spot to leave your comments and help others increase the use of their mobile phones.
2.14.2011
Meditation Techniques
There are many ways to meditate and not every technique works for every person. In this blogpost we'll discuss a couple of techniques that work well for the LWM writers.
1. Object meditation – seated, eyes open.
Object meditation works best in a silent, quiet, and darkened room. The object has to have enough details to keep the mind occupied and focused. Often we use a candle or a crystal. By focusing on the object, you empty your head enough to allow you to focus on a single question and hold it in your mind. When you have your question, you let your mind wander and associate. Try to remember what you see, feel, hear, taste and smell but don't try to steer your thoughts. When you're done you can write down what you experienced and try to find out how it applies to you question.
2. Visualization – lying on a soft surface of seated. Preferably in a darkened and quiet room or, if your mind needs some help to calm, a CD with sounds related to the place you'd like to go in your mind. Preferably no music. Close your eyes.
Visualization is a form of meditation, or an intro into a meditative state, where you build a living image in your mind with every one of your senses. When it;s build, you move your consciousness into it so you can explore and enjoy. Besides being away from yourself and your life for a little while, this is also a wonderful way to create a place where Gods and Goddesses, totem animals and other spirit folk can come to visit and help.
3. Primal meditation – seated with light movements, in front of a heat source and wrapped in a blanket. Sounds of drums and fire are helpful and if you feel like it you can add your own voice as well. Light candles at a safe distance.
This form of meditation is a shamanistic favorite. In this meditation you try to envision yourself as a primal human. It works best when you meditate next to a real campfire but when you work alone, this can be quiet dangerous. It's better to use a heater or other heat source and put some candles behind it to imitate the flicker of a a campfire.
Wrap a blanket around yourself and sit down. Lean forward a bit so your elbows rest on your legs. This meditation works best with the sounds of fire and drums through earplugs or, when you're with a group, one person drumming.
Imagine yourself in front of a fire, alone, and in the cooling evening air of the African plains. The drums come from your tribe-mates in the distance but you are alone and free to express yourself as you desire. Hum or sing a tune of nonsense works or sounds to the beat of the drum and move if you feel like moving. Keep your eyes closed at all times and go with your emotions. Let everything out.
When you're tired or sense that you are done, come out of the meditation slowly and sit quietly for a while. This meditation is meant to clear and cleanse your mind and heart completely.
Meditation is an art and not easy at all. An effective meditation lasts no more than ten minutes. Should you find it difficult to keep focused while meditating you can try guided meditations. At home you can do this with a CD where a man or woman tells you a story which you can follow to reach a meditative state. This can work wonders when your mind is full!
How do you meditate and do you use other techniques? We would love to hear about it!
1. Object meditation – seated, eyes open.
Object meditation works best in a silent, quiet, and darkened room. The object has to have enough details to keep the mind occupied and focused. Often we use a candle or a crystal. By focusing on the object, you empty your head enough to allow you to focus on a single question and hold it in your mind. When you have your question, you let your mind wander and associate. Try to remember what you see, feel, hear, taste and smell but don't try to steer your thoughts. When you're done you can write down what you experienced and try to find out how it applies to you question.
2. Visualization – lying on a soft surface of seated. Preferably in a darkened and quiet room or, if your mind needs some help to calm, a CD with sounds related to the place you'd like to go in your mind. Preferably no music. Close your eyes.
Visualization is a form of meditation, or an intro into a meditative state, where you build a living image in your mind with every one of your senses. When it;s build, you move your consciousness into it so you can explore and enjoy. Besides being away from yourself and your life for a little while, this is also a wonderful way to create a place where Gods and Goddesses, totem animals and other spirit folk can come to visit and help.
3. Primal meditation – seated with light movements, in front of a heat source and wrapped in a blanket. Sounds of drums and fire are helpful and if you feel like it you can add your own voice as well. Light candles at a safe distance.
This form of meditation is a shamanistic favorite. In this meditation you try to envision yourself as a primal human. It works best when you meditate next to a real campfire but when you work alone, this can be quiet dangerous. It's better to use a heater or other heat source and put some candles behind it to imitate the flicker of a a campfire.
Wrap a blanket around yourself and sit down. Lean forward a bit so your elbows rest on your legs. This meditation works best with the sounds of fire and drums through earplugs or, when you're with a group, one person drumming.
Imagine yourself in front of a fire, alone, and in the cooling evening air of the African plains. The drums come from your tribe-mates in the distance but you are alone and free to express yourself as you desire. Hum or sing a tune of nonsense works or sounds to the beat of the drum and move if you feel like moving. Keep your eyes closed at all times and go with your emotions. Let everything out.
When you're tired or sense that you are done, come out of the meditation slowly and sit quietly for a while. This meditation is meant to clear and cleanse your mind and heart completely.
Meditation is an art and not easy at all. An effective meditation lasts no more than ten minutes. Should you find it difficult to keep focused while meditating you can try guided meditations. At home you can do this with a CD where a man or woman tells you a story which you can follow to reach a meditative state. This can work wonders when your mind is full!
How do you meditate and do you use other techniques? We would love to hear about it!
2.03.2011
Little Witch Magazine supports Pagan coming out day!
**Disclaimer: this blog is written by Elani and has a more personal feel to it than LWM usually would because the topic warrants it.**
I have been in a lot of closets throughout my life. I realized I was gay and a Pagan around the same young age; around thirteen. Seeing as I am now twenty five, that means I have had twelve years of experience in coming out as both.
I have to admit that coming out as gay has been easier than coming out as a Wiccan. In the beginning I realized that coming out at such a young age would undoubtedly label me as a 'fluffbunny', especially because that was around the time of Buffy: the Vampire Slayer and Charmed. So I didn't come out. What I did was wear a pentagram and answer questions if anyone asked. I build an altar in my room. I studied and frequented the local spiritual bookshop.
When I was around four years into my studies, I begun to tell people on my own accord. For a course on religion, I held a presentation about Wicca. I still studied and frequented the spiritual bookstore. I begged my mom to take me to pagan supply shops in the rest of the country and while she clearly was puzzled about the whole thing, she drove me to where I wanted to go and gave me a pendulum for my birthday.
From that point on it slowly got better. As my believes were solidified, I came out of the broom closet more easily and with better results. While most around me now know (which is not the same as understand) my religious choices, I am still careful who I tell. My religion is a lot more personal to me than my sexuality. There is so much ignorance in the general population that coming out sometimes seems like such a tiresome thing to do.
It's this reason why I, and the rest of the Little Witch staff with me, support a coming out day for Pagans. Coming out in bulk is always empowering. My first LGBT coming out days certainly were.
You can read more about the initiative on the website and it has a good few warning labels attached already but I want to stress that if you are not comfortable coming out, no one can or should force you. Wait until next year or the year after that. Tell just one person if you've been wanting to for a while but leave the big announcements for a later date.
I have found that coming out days don't even have to involve actually telling anyone about your sexuality, religion or anything else you want and need to be open about; it's about judging where you are in the process of coming out and seeing if you're comfortable where you are or if you feel the need to move forward a bit. Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes it's no. Both are perfectly good answers.
But what is a coming out day? A coming out day is simply a designated day where people who share a similar plight use strength in numbers to find the strength to open up to oneself or the outside world about something which occupies their time or identifies them.
The initiative for a Pagan coming out day was taken by IPCOD's Cara Schulz a little over seven months ago. She wondered if the pagan community could use one and promptly put the idea into action. Currently the focus is on America but there is no reason why we can't be proud and empowered on Europe's side of the pond!
There is a lot you can do to show your support. Visit the website or the Facebook page for further information on that. All I can add is that it's sometimes easier to come out online than to your friends and family in the 'real world'. Don't worry about doing it wrong or not coming out enough. 2 May will be a day of pride and even if you're just proud of being Pagan without telling a soul about it, you've added your positive energy to the world and the cause. That is enough!
So will you be celebrating on the second of May and how? Do you think it's important to organize these type of events or do you think pagan acceptance will work itself out if we just let it gradually evolve? Let us know as you can leave comments now!
2.02.2011
Blessed Imbolc!
Originally posted on 01-02-2011
At the beginning of February, Neopagans on the northern hemisphere celebrate the coming of Spring in the form of Imbolc. It's a time where our ancestors could finally look towards the end of the harsh winter months. It's the time where nature begins to restore and reinvent itself and where the lambs begin to litter the fields. From a time of hardship, our ancestors could now look at there supplies and see how they had done through the winter months. Perhaps they could even splurge a little today.
Imbolc is traditionally the day of the Goddess Brighid, the Goddess of the home, of children, of smiths work, healing, inspiration and the gathering of knowledge. More on this in the winter magazine of 2010. We promised you a guide for some fun Imbolc activities and because there are so many wonderful pagans out there who have already done this, we will guide you to them.
In Wiccan myth, this is the time where the young God, reborn at Yule, becomes a radiant young child. His Mother Goddess feeds him from her own body. He is strong and thriving and the earth grows once again.
If you focus your celebration of Imbolc on Brighid, keep in mind her colors are white, red and green and she loves fire*. If you're celebrating the return of spring, add yellow to the list of colors and add seeds of any kind to your altar. Clear quartz, amber and citrine go wonderfully with this holy day.
Imbolc is a time buzzing with energy and inspiration. If you've ever wanted to create something but found yourself blocked in the process, this is the time for another attempt. You can add poetry of yours or of someone else to your altar as it is one of Brighid's greatest loves.
At Imbolc it's custom to light all lamps in the house and bring as much light as possible into any room for a couple of minutes. I tend to do this in the evening when it's dark outside or just getting dark. It's the time when Brighid's fiery energy leaves us and I feel she needs it the hardest then.
If you celebrate Imbolc or not, you can't miss the return of nature's wonders around this time of year. Take a moment to appreciate this wonder and and the Cycle of the Year. We are all connected to each other by Nature's gifts. Blessed Imbolc!
*Always be careful when working with fire and never, ever leave a flame unattended!
Happy New Year!
Originally posted on 01-01-2011
While for us Neopagans the new year may start at Samhain, our calendar year starts a good bit later, today in fact. Celebrating new year’s eve on the night of December 31th might seem a bit problematic to you. Your believes tell you there is nothing special about that day, after all. On top of that, billions of dollars of pretty pollution are shot up into the night sky every year and people get killed or injured and property destroyed in what should be a celebration of new and better times. How do you deal with new year as a pagan?
How to deal with the new year
New year celebrations are magical because they remind us of being kids, allowed to stay up late for the first time. A glass of sparkly apple juice in hand, eyes watering with exhaustion and a tummy full of food, we stood watching the fireworks and celebrating a moment in time.
As Neopagans, we celebrate the new year at Samhain; the circle is completed, the word at peace and we head into the new cycle with grace and gratitude. It is your own choice if you want to send out new year wishes then or save them until everyone else is ready to receive them.
Celebrating the new year is supposed to be about contemplating the new year and spending the day with people you want in it. Celebrating this on both Samhain and the 31th of December is really only a good thing.
Discovering Neopagan religions does not need to take away anything from the celebration of new year on December 31th. It can still be as magical and perfect as every before. Part of being a Neopagan, however, is to be aware and critical of what we are doing to our planet. Let’s face it, firework is bad for our planet.
Why do we light firework?
The tradition of lighting firework comes from 12th century China. The firework was used to ward off evil spirits as the new year arrived. It’s not odd, then, that we as Neopagans may wish to emulate this reasoning or that we just want to fire the rockets off into the air for the thrill or the beauty of it. It’s doing this without damaging our beautiful, struggling, planet much further that is the big trick here.
Fire away!
Some—not all—fireworks contain heavy metals, sulfur-coal compounds and toxins. All do, however, create smoke and leave behind paper waste that is hard to recycle. While I tend to keep blog posts in third person, I do need to mention that it hurts my heart every year when I watch the fireworks being shot up into the night’s sky. Yes, they are beautiful and sometimes I enjoy that. Stepping out into their billowing chemical residue I can’t help but get a little nauseous, however—and not just from the smell.
There are ways to minimize your pollution on new year’s eve. You can, of course, not light any fireworks yourself and even volunteer for some clean-up the day after. Many garbage collectors will appreciate the effort. As an alternative to fireworks your can light wishing balloons but they aren’t completely safe either. If you go for this option, make sure the material the balloon is made of is biodegradable. People are working on eco-friendly fireworks but it’s hard to create these at a competitive price. If you do want to go out and watch the fireworks, a lot of cities put on their own fireworks display and it’ll probably be more impressive than the neighbor’s firework.
Be safe and happy
Celebrating the new year is supposed the be about love. Spread it to those around you and take a moment to realize that the people you are with or the ones that send you messages are the people you need in your life.
Little Witch magazine is still fledgling. In our few months of life, we have received around 160 individual visitors and a little over a thousand page views. We want to thank every single person who browsed our website, read our magazine and talked to us on Twitter or by email. We wish you the very, very best in the new year and hope it is blessed and magickal. We hope you are healthy, happy and at peace and if you are not, we hope you will find acceptance and, if possible, recovery in the next year.
Blessed be and enjoy whatever is to come. Life is and adventure and should be lived to its fullest.
Lunar Eclipse December 2010
Originally posted on 21-11-2010
Today is the most magical of days; a full lunar eclipse on the winter equinox. The last time this occurred was in 1638 and a full lunar eclipse on itself isn’t a common occurrence either. The last total lunar eclipse was on February 20/21, 2008.
Here in the heart of the Netherlands it’s unfortunately too cloudy to see anything. That means we’ll be catching the eclipse from the comforts of our living rooms on a webcast.
Below are some screengrabs from the CCSSC.org webcast. We’ll be updating this page until the eclipse is fully over.
Blessed Yule everyone and enjoy this once in a lifetime experience!
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