Queen Anne’s Lace Haiku – July
shoulder height, queen anne waves her lacy head. blackbird rises from her feet
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Garden of Images – Women’s Circle Seaside Retreat Mandala
I drew this mandala during a seaside retreat with the Women’s Sacred Circle in Maine this September. We were there during the autumn equinox (Mabon in the Wiccan calendar) and it was a pretty magical...
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Review of Mark of Voodoo, by Sharon Caulder
There are a lot of books on the market about pagan and neo-pagan traditions like Wicca and Asatruar. There’s a smaller number of books about Afro-Carribean syncretic religions like Santeria, Voodoo,...
View ArticleTrigger Warning: Jesus is Lord, Francis is Pope
Pope Francis’s recent visit to the United States raised a lot of complicated feelings for me. On the one hand, I’m glad he walks the walk of his namesake. In the other hand, it’s far too little and far...
View ArticleOn Samhain and Being a Bad Witch
Think of the year as a wheel. Then divide that wheel at the Solstices and Equinoxes. Then divide it again between each of those days. That is the wheel of the year, and those eight holidays are the...
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(In)Gratitude on Thanksgiving
I recently heard a historian giving an interview about the original Thanksgiving. She pointed out that what made the English colonists so thankful was the awful year that had come before. The Pilgrims...
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Annie Finch, Author of Spells: New and Selected Poems
Annie Finch, author of Spells, and her cat Merlin Fearless in its lyricism and expansive in its range, Annie Finch’s work spans four decades and encompasses eight books of poetry, a translation, and...
View ArticleSome Notes on Imbolc
Imbolc means “in milk,” or “in the belly.” The Wheel of the Year turns to Imbolc on February 2. If it is warm and sunny on this day, it will be cold for six more weeks. If it is cold and cloudy on...
View ArticleA Close Reading of “Elegy for My Father,” by Annie Finch
Annie Finch titled her 2013 volume of selected poems Spells for good reason. A Wiccan as well as a poet, she recognizes the power of incantation in creating an altered consciousness, a state in which a...
View ArticleOn Marriage Equality and Why I’m No Longer a Catholic
I’m happy for LGBTQ+ Catholics that Pope Francis said that monogamous, same-sex families are kinda sorta okay. Since the initial story broke, it turns out that he was endorsing civil unions while...
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