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.

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Dealing with Doubt
By Axiom

....When faith is blind and unquestioning it has no way to respond to challenge except dig in its heels and refuse to be moved. And so often the harder we fight to keep something, the sooner it slips away. Doubt grows when blind faith is questioned - and that leads to anger and defensiveness. Often the result is an attack upon your faith - mirroring in a way the internal confusion the "believer" is experiencing. You may not think you have questioned anyone's faith but your own - however the moment you stepped outside the family faith and took another path you challenged their beliefs....
Extract from Myth, Magic and Madness

The Magical Foods We Eat
By Josh P.

...Psychedelic mushrooms have an ancient reputation in the world of healing for their potency against many diseases, especially ones that affect the brain and mind. Their use as a psychedelic drug is well known - and it is precisely because of the ability of specific shrooms to alter reality and perception that the mushroom in primal medicine has been viewed as mind-medicine. If one is already lost in delusion, using a mind-altering substance to warp delusion into reality is an interesting and yet oddly logical concept....
Extract from Kitchen Witchery

The Meditrinalia
By Iphegenia and Catherine M.

"Octobri mense Meditrinalia dies dictus a medendo, quod Flaccus flamen Martialis dicebat hoc die solitum vinum novum et vetus libari et degustari medicamenti causa; quod facere solent etiam nunc multi cum dicunt: 'Novum vetus vinum bibo: novo veteri morbo medeor'."

"The day of the Meditrinalia in month October was named from 'mederi' (to be healed), as Flamen Martialis Flaccus used to say that on this day it was the custom to make a libation of new and old wine and to taste it in order to be healed. Many are accustomed to do this even now when they say: 'Wine new and old I drink, of illness new and old I'm cured'"....
Extract from Festivals and Holidays

...Samhaine is a pastoral festival held at the end of summer to assist the powers of growth and fertility, placate the dead, protect against the forces of evil, and to please the gods by various kinds of sacrifice. Traditionally a night-time festival, it starts at dusk (the beginning of the Celtic day), and is the most important and dramatic of the festivals. Samhaine marks the start of winter and the hardship to come--the celebrations are a magical way to ensure plenty will return....
Extract from Festivals and Holidays

Whispers in the Dark
By Josh P.

....My first letter to this magazine was about being a non-magic practicing Pagan. Something I was quite proud of. But over the last few months I have come to realize that I may not be what I thought I was. It started when I volunteered to write some articles for the Kitchen Witchery column. I mean, I love cooking and whipping up special dishes for ritualistic nights. I use assorted herbs and spices because of their "magical" correspondences without even blinking. I stir my soups clockwise. I sweep out my house (which has carpet) weekly to cleanse it of negative energies.

But I don't do magic. Not me....
Extract from Editorials

Samhaine - Facing Fear
By Axiom

...Seriously, think about it. Whether you call it Samhain, Sowen, Halloween, or something else, there is a strong macabre aspect to this night that a large portion of the American population gets into in a big way. (And for that matter, why the Americans and not the other parts of the Western World?) This was a night to trick or treat. Dress up a bit fancy or odd and run around collecting goodies or commiting nasty pranks. How did this become so strongly focused upon horror? That's a pretty big leap. Not to mention the enjoyment so many non-Pagans get from a supposedly Pagan celebration. You don't see the same cross-faith participation in the Solstices, or Oimelc now, do you? Even May Day kind of sneaks by. But Halloween? It may be hard to ignore today, but it wasn't always like this - and it was the (mainly) Christian contingent who made it this way....
Extract from Crossroads of the Pagans

Calling Cards for Divinity: Drums
By Micah Barnsley

...Now a days, drums have taken on a more meditative and prayerful connotation. People use drums in Native American tradition-based ceremony to lead the mind into a meditative state, with regular beats, for spirit journeys into the Overworld and Underworld. When the beat changes, it either signifies an end to the meditation, or signals the transition to deeper or shallower meditation. Others use drums when there is a certain kind of emotion to be stirred by a large group of people - such as rituals involving dance and honoring the Gods and Goddesses dealing with the rhythms of life....
Extract from Tools of the Trade

From the Desk of
Albineus Equinus

Samhaine is an interesting time for me. A time to examine one's innards, as it were, and clean out the dross to leave the mind and spirit fresh and renewed. How many of us really do this I wonder? And how many take this as an opportunity to eat lots of lollies and dress up?

Not that there's anything wrong with chocolate and fancy masks - I certainly enjoy the whole kit and caboodle. But this year, watching my children preparing for the parties and trick or treating during our local Mischief Night festivities, I wondered how much they really understood - or wanted to.

Pig out or gaze at your navel lint - an unequal competition for most children and this has left me at odds finding ways to ensure Samhaine isn't lost in the crinkle of chocolate foil wrappers.

Like many Pagans I separate Samhaine from Mischief Night (or Halloween), reserving one for the fun and the other for the more serious aspects. But I have learnt with children that if I want their participation in and desire to comprehend Samhaine, I must tone down the spirituality and throw in some games.

You think I'd understand that naturally, but in my years of practicing as an adult - especially during my oh-so-serious early days - it was the solemnity and contemplative nature of Samhaine that appealed. I didn't miss the fun and games.

Some of my friends ask when I will resume rituals sans offspring, as if my children are some burden to be shed if possible. Once I would have agreed with them, eager to escape and have adult time. But times, and people, change. (I can be a bit slow on the uptake as my wife delights in telling me). Not these days.

I cherish my time alone, but ritual and religious observation is not that time. I finally realised that if I want my children to grow up to be spiritual adults and active participants in their faith, I need to involve them in my observations. And that means child-friendly rituals. So we have apple bobbing and candle leaping, divination and scary stories intermingled with the ritual.

And you know what? I have discovered that those "childish entertainments" really do bring a certain reality to the ritual. There are times when I am bobbing for apples in a pail of icy water (it is afterall November in Scotland) that I feel I am touching the face of God. A reminder that in this time of darkness and contemplation, it is joy and a desire for life that ensure we survive the winter.

In light and love,
Albi
Managing Editor
   

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