The Pagan Community is one filled with diversity and individuality - characteristics we celebrate. Our religious beliefs are often quite disparate. Yet, although we walk different paths, we do so in harmony with one another. We connect - often deeply - on a spiritual level. And it is through our spirituality that we become more than just a community. We become a family.

Open the Magazine Now

The Green Man
By Anne S.

This time of year - whether summer or winter - there is a traditional deity that crops up in many Celtic-derived Paths...the Green Man, good of the woods, wild animals, humanity's passionate and primal nature. Called by a variety of names such as Herne, Kernunnos, John, Pan, indeed pretty much any male deity associated with the wilderness and the hunt has at one time or another been seen as a face of the Green Man. But these are faces. Who is the Green Man himself?

The Green Man - that eponymous term for some archetypal ancient Celtic deity of the woods, right? Well, not really it seems....
Extract from Diversified Paths

The Sun Stands Still
By Catherine M.

....Summer is the mid-season between planting and harvest, the life that occurs between birth and death, and is the time of ripening. As such, it is the traditional month to handfast and wed

Being the Sun God's festival, it is naturally a fire festival, with the lighting of bonfires at sundown (the start of Midsummer's Eve) to bring the Father's light and heat to the night and to ward his people from malevolence. Known as "setting the watch", this is the first part of a triad of fire rituals....
Extract from Festivals and Holidays

Winter Solstice
By Catherine M.

Yule or Winter Solstice is a time of new beginnings just as is its counterpart - Litha or Summer Solstice. With the solstice point comes the turning of the wheel and we step onto the ascending slope once more. Still deepest winter, the midpoint has been passed and summer is on its way back. The Winter Solstice has long been associated with the birth of a "Divine Sun King" - millennia before Jesus walked the Earth legends tell of other Sun Gods, and even in the case of the Baltic States, a Sun Goddess, reborn to us.
Extract from Festivals and Holidays

The Adversary
By Axiom

With the winter solstice comes the myth of the Adversary...the Dark God. The one who forces change, brings death, and opens the door to the subconscious.

Many Pagan Paths have stories at this time that deal with the conflict between light and dark,night and day, life and death. In each case we are looking at the natural cycle not a battle of good versus evil. This is a time when chaos must break free or we risk sliding into stagnant sameness.
Extract from Myth, Magic, and Madness
   

Greenman
   

From the Desk of
Albineus Equinus

Solstice Blessings, everyone. Hope you had a wonderful Summer or Winter festival with your friends and family.

It's been a trying time here - I spent the month before the Solstice solo-parenting with my wife out of the country. Gave me a new appreciation for those who do this all the time. And an appreciation for the communities we build around us. The support they offer can be a life-saver, not only when we are alone, but also during the rest of the year.

Who do you turn to when family drives you mad? Or you just need to get away for a cuppa? Do you also share the fun times? Have a boozy evening at the local Indian restaurant or a lazy afternoon picnic while the kids run wild?

This time of year - both summer and winter - I find myself thinking a lot about the roles my friends play in my life. They are in many ways our chosen family, and they strengthen us all.

In light and love,
Albi
Managing Editor

Sat Chit Ananda Marga
By Axiom

Chakra meditation is an incredible experience, especially when done properly. It can be done purely on an internal level (no sound, movement, or external attention), or it can be performed using aids. I find mudras and chanting to be the simplest and most powerful form - a method the novice and experienced practitioner can both utilise.
Extract from Tools of the Trade

Research
By Axiom

....So we have new traditions. We have fragments of old ones and older still stories to pick at. But we lack an eons old faith grounded in traditions and rituals that evolved and grew with the people. What we have instead is the continual effort of people to reinvent, alter, and create rituals with meaning for us today. And this makes us to an extent rather self-conscious. We don't yet (as a group) have that easy comfortableness of practice that comes with time as a group....
Extract from Crossroads of the Pagans

Festival Colors
By D. Jason Cooper

Several Pagan traditions lay particular emphasis on the eight festivals of the wheel of the year. These celebrate the path of the Sun in our sky and its influence on our days. They celebrate the Sun at its apogee (the longest day), perigee (the shortest day) and the two midpoints in the path (the days when light and dark are equal).

The other four festivals are on days halfway between the adjacent celestial evens. These celebrate the change of seasons. It's possible the seasonal festivals came first and were tied to local weather rather than dates....
Extract from Festivals and Holidays

Tarot
By Catherine M.

Many Pagans today use Tarot decks as a way to tap into power. Some for better inner knowledge, others to tap into the future. But how many actually understand the Tarot in its full complexity? And if you don't, can you be certain you are using it to its full potential?

There are many rumours and thoughts as to the origins of the Tarot and its purpose. Some think the Romni or Gypsies created the deck. Others that it's grounded in Jewish Kabbalah. While these various sources have had an impact over the years on the evolution of the Tarot, they are not the originators. So where does it really come from?
Extract from Tools of the Trade

The Art of the Kitchen Witch
By Onomaris

I practice a lot of kitchen magic and I tend to read a fair chuck of books on the topic. Something I've noticed is the focus upon ingredients and technique and the absence of commentary on the workroom itself. Now, if I am setting up a ritual space for a traditional event - with the circle casting and corner calling and altar arranging, I can pull pretty much any book off the shelf and there will be suggestions through to directions of how I should set up my space prior to beginning as well as how I should maintain it.

So why so little on the kitchen?
Extract from Kitchen Witchery

Death of Baldr
By Catherine M.

One cold night long long ago the goddess Frigg gave birth to a beautiful little boy. She called him Baldr. As he grew Baldr showed skill in everything he attempted, and his beauty shone brighter than the sun. His parents, Frigg and Odinn, the All-Father, felt great pride in their son. But then they learnt that Baldr was doomed to die.
Extract from Diversified Paths

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