P - Pickingill, Old George #paganblogproject

George Pickingill ("Old George" as he was often called) is probably the most infamous Cunning Man of the 19th Century. He lived and worked in Canewdon is Essex (the southeastern part of England, for those of us not brushed up on our British geography). The town of Canewdon has a long association with witchcraft and the paranormal, dating back to the 1500's and a spinster named Rose Pye, followed shortly by another woman named Cicely Makin. In fact, local folklore holds that there will always be at least six cunning folk in Canewdon -- three of cotton (working class) and three of silk (upper class).

Old George was a laborer and is credited with being the founder of 9 covens in the counties of Essex, Hampshire, Hertforshire, Norfolk, and Sussex.

Most of the tales associated with him are incredible -- too incredible to fully believe in a great many cases. The book The Pickingill Papers is the compiled source of most of these stories. You can also read a great deal about Old George, and the book, at www.pickingill.com.

One of the most important things to remember, as you sift through tales of this notable Cunning Man's life, is that he cultivated an air of mystery and magic about himself -- that same air that so many great magicians and sorcerers, priestesses and witches have cultivated. Marie Laveau, Aleister Crowley, and Old George all knew and used a powerful tool in their work -- something many have called Grey Magic.

Paul Huson, in his book Mastering Witchcraft, discusses using half-truths and manufactured secrecy in order to inspire within your target a susceptibility to the magic you are performing. THIS is Grey Magic, for certain -- or one aspect of it -- and it is at the heart of Old George's works.

Now, don't misunderstand me. I am not in any way disputing the man's magic, for I believe him to have been quite the shapeshifter, charmer, blaster, healer, and so on. I just ALSO believe him to be a master of image and branding, to put it in today's jargon. He was a talented publicist, Old George was!

P - Patriarchy, Policy, and Pissing off Witches #paganblogproject

I'm going to be ranting about Patriarchy (witch a capital Penis), but I want to make it very clear before I start that I absolutely love and adore men. The men in my life -- my father, partner, ex-husband, son, friends -- are all questioning, egalitarian, wonderful men. They are part of what is right in our culture -- striving towards (and achieving) true partnership with women, each one enacting his/her Will, manifesting the Star within.

It is perhaps my beautiful view of the very real men in my life that makes me so perplexed and enraged when I encounter vestiges of Patriarchy, chauvinism, and male dominance in the world around me. I don't understand it. It is outside of my experience, and it feels like a betrayal -- a regression from the principals and work of my mothers and fathers over the last few generations.

Yesterday, I received notification that the major selling venue through which we have hosted all of Blade & Broom's wares has changed their product policy regarding anything that makes a "medical drug claim." In short, no seller is allowed to make any claims that "link a product to the cure or treatment of a health condition or disease. Medical drug claims are prohibited."

Okay, fine. It's a restriction for everyone's protection. We just need to throw in some CYA-language, right? Nope. They go on to say:

"Please note that this includes any historical references to medical drug uses for a given item, even if such claims are no longer widely believed. Furthermore, the presence of a disclaimer that the item is not FDA approved, will not make a medical drug claim meet our criteria."

How do I sell a tea without saying what it does? How do I list an herb without saying how and why it is used? The same questions can be asked about gemstones for healing, or poppets, talismans, candles, or other blessed items.

I'm angry with this listing service. I really am. This feels like Western medicine dominating and regulating herbalism and alternative healing. We've been here before, my friends. Midwives were restricted from their practice, and then punished, and then persecuted ... and then killed for heresy and witchcraft.

Am I over-reacting? Maybe not. It's been brought home to me recently thought I lost my teaching career because I published under my legal name while teaching in a conservative state. I'll never teach in a public school again because I'm a Witch -- at least not in Indiana. My partner, Natalie, lost her librarian post because we're openly gay. (She took bereavement leave for my grandmother's funeral last month, and they fired her for "excessive absenteeism." It was the first time she's taken off in 8 months.) There's a price for being loud and proud, and Natalie and I have already been paying it. I don't feel like I'm crying "Wolf!" on this new policy change.

Fortune teller laws still keep psychics and Witchy businesses on the outskirts of town in many places. How archaic is that? We have to label what we do "for entertainment" despite the fact that it comes from faith or belief. Tell the Baptists to write "for entertainment purposes only" at the bottom of their church signs, if you're going to make us do it! Your prayer is only as valid as my magic!

I'm a raging, Libran Witch, my friends, with a sword in one hand and scales in the other. I think I'm about to get active.

O - Oaths #paganblogproject

Oaths can be very ticklish business within Witchcraft covens and magical societies. They are not idle words, and their interpretations can be quite complicated for all involved.

I learned years ago not to take an oath lightly. The first magical oaths I made were to my first coven and Tradition, and they were made in blood. *gasp* I know. Some of my readers will be shocked and appalled that any oaths would be made in blood, while others would expect nothing less. The philosophy behind the blood oath is that every bit of your life force, your magic, your Will, is encapsulated in one single drop of blood. To give it willing is to express  a willingness to die rather than betray the oath -- to put every ounce of Will and Life and Magic into the oath.

I have no objection to blood magic or to blood oaths, but my first Trad demanded this level of commitment for students at too new a place of study -- Witches who were too young in their magic and too green on the Path. If there had been no problems, or only a few problems, with those who took these oaths, I wouldn't be complaining. But ...

*sigh*

One of the bigger issues that I saw was not in coveners breaking their oaths. No. It was in the way a HPS would interpret the oath so that a covener might be labeled "oath-breaker" if they did something with which the HPS disagreed. More accurately, if they did something with of which she disapproved and then had the audacity NOT to apologize or take their meted out punishment. All the Fiends forfend  that a Witch should Know and Dare to do her own Will!

Oh? Do I sound bitter? Probably, yes. This is a serpent coiled beneath the rose that hath indeed struck deep into my heart.

Yes, yours truly was tarred and feathered as an oath-breaker. Unjustly. Painfully. And at a time when I needed the familial support of my coven, Tradition and HPS. No need for the bloody details. But the warning is this:

My HPS believed she removed me from the Tradition. (I was initiated as a 3rd Degree HPS, by the way. Even as a 1* Initiate, "removal" from that family wouldn't have been possible -- not according to the oaths we made to each other.) That was four years ago, almost. Where do we stand now? I'm as close with my former coven sisters as I ever was. One is my coven sister again, in my current coven and Trad. My HPS and I? Are our bonds cut? I know they are not. I dream accurately of her, just as I have for a decade. I have the rage of a dis-owned daughter, but I know we are still family. I love her, and I'm hurt and angry. Our oaths to each other, though, will forever keep us connected.

Beware your oaths. You can't un-make them. A bell cannot be un-rung.

O - Ouija and Witch Boards #paganblogproject

I love the Ouija board. I really do. Natalie (Glaux) and I offer several forms of psychic or intuitive readings in the shop, but this is by far my favorite form of spirit communication and otherworldly guidance.

Divination and oracle by means of pre-printed letters, words and symbols which are then pointed to by a spirit have been known since the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. Automatic writing, the pre-cursor of the board -- has been in use since ancient China. The Ouija (TM) board was named, trade-marked and mass-produced relatively recently, but the concept of the talking board is literally ancient.

Ouija gets a bad reputation from folks who don't know how to properly protect themselves while using it. Natalie and I ALWAYS work within a circle with their OUIJA (the favorite board for both them and the spirits of the several boards in their home). Our circle (compass and caim) is actually   triple-cast, making it an extremely safe space within which to call up spirits. Furthermore, when we're calling on a spirit whose motivations and personality are known to be dubious, we create a triangle around the board. The magician's triangle is a time-honored method of confining a spirit to a specific place.

We've designed our board, based on the circle and triangle, but it isn't ready to be produced for sale yet. We have one proto-type which is still under construction.

I've also received a board as a gift from a Blade & Broom client. The make of the board was very pleased with the reading she received from me (a combo of Dark Mirror and Ouija), and she made the board as a custom tool for me.

N -- Nuit (pictures) #paganblogproject

by Jason Augustus Newcomb

by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

N - Necromancy #paganblogproject

Among the many labels that I give myself, "necromancer" is probably the most surprising for those who don't know my magic very, very well.

Merriam-Webster Online defines necromancy as the "conjuration of the spirits of the dead for purposes of magically revealing the future or influencing the course of events." It is also more generally defined as "magic, sorcery." This latter definition gets translated as "black magic" quite frequently, and a quick look at the etymology of the words in question might clear up why this is.


"Necro" comes from the Greek νεκρός (nekrós), meaning "dead body."
"Mancy" comes from the Greek μαντεία (manteía), "prophecy or divination."
The term νεκρομαντεία (nekromanteía) was first used by Origen of Alexandria in the 3rd century CE.

"nigro-," however, is Latin and means "black," and the term nigromancie was the more common term used in the Middle Ages to denote all of the forbidden magical arts, including the conjuration of spirits.

Glaux and I quite strongly believe that among the work of Witches is the communicating with the Unseen Forces -- the Dead and those Unseen Ones who never lived. I've written a little here about daemons, and I take great comfort, inspiration, knowledge, and wisdom from the Dead and the Daemons with whom I've worked. In the sense that Glaux and I conjure and request magical aid from both sorts of spirits, I suppose we fit both descriptions of necromancers -- conjurers of the Dead and black magicians.

In the same way that Glaux and I each have a couple of Daemons with whom we are particularly familiar (Samagina for me, and Issachar for her), we also have a single Ancestor with whom we work who acts as a tutelary spirit for our coven. She prefers that we call her Zeta, though she had another name in life, and she came to us at Samhain 2011 via the Ouija board. (We LOVE using the talking board as a method of spirit contact.)

As it turns out, in some parts of the UK, it has long been common practice for covens to be in contact with a departed Witch -- someone who acts as a guide and friend, a mentor if you will, ... or more poetically, as an Ancestor to the coven and its individual members. The skull that sits at the base of the stang (or on it) is thought to house this spirit, and sometimes the coven fashions a doll in the likeness of the Witch.

I'll be covering Zeta in a little more detail when we get to the end of the PBP. She is a fascinating spirit, and she has been extraordinarily helpful and sweet.

So, why did I say it is surprising for folks that I am a necromancer? My Goddess is a giver of Life. She is the embodiment of it. She is fertility and virility, Springtime, hope, and Love. I wear pink and aqua and flowers in my hair. My familiar is a rabbit, the symbol of fecundity and an icon of cuteness. But let's not forget that the rabbit is prey, and she knows of sacrifice and death. My Lady dances across the ocean, in the groves, and amongst the stars; but she also knows the Mysteries of the Underworld. She is the secret initiator, the bright gate-keeper, while her Dark Sister is the Queen of the Dead.

Christian Day has written a book called The Witches' Book of the Dead. I highly recommend it for anyone who feels drawn to the path of the necromancer. It is a fine place to start. In it, he talks about embracing life and celebrating your non-conformity -- that the Dead are drawn to Life! So ... surprise! ... Love (ie, Life) and Death are two sides of the same coin, and work them both in my magic.

M - Melissae (Bees) #paganblogproject

Bee Goddess plaque from Rhodes

"Melissa" means "bee" in Greek, and to the Ancients, a melissa was a priestess of the Goddess. Of which Goddess exactly, we can't always be certain. Some melissae were dedicated to Demeter, to be certain. Some to Artemis. But some were priestesses of Aphrodite, and there is popular lore that holds that the bee itself is the embodiment of the soul of a priestess of the Goddess of Love -- a happy, productive little maiden continuing to produce the golden nectar of the Gods.

Omphalos stone from Delphi

No animal is a better example of the power of community than the bee. Each bee in a hive has a specific function which she will perform even if it means giving her life for the hive.  There are three types of bees: workers, drones, and queens.  The worker bees are the common bees we are most familiar with.  They secrete wax to form combs, and produce honey to feed the hive. Interestingly, only the drones, whose job it is to impregnate and care for the queen, are male. The rest of the rest of the bees -- all of the ones we see -- are female.

Pendant from Palace at Knossos

Seal Ring of Bee Priestess from Knossos

Bees communicate by dancing, and those who work with bees will find themselves drawn to dance and rhythm. The bee's dance is indirect relation to the sun in the sky.  Bees are symbolic of solar celebration.

Sumerian Bee Goddess

The bee's droning buzzing can be compared to the sounds of otherworldly trance. Its hum is commemorated in many folk names for the creature, including drumbee, drummer, doombledore, hummabee, and humble-dad. In Welsh the word for harp, tellinn, is a truncated version of the word for bee, an-tseillean. This heritage can be traced back as far as Minoan and Mycenaean culture and is evident in the worship of Kybele, the Great Mother, who was honored with drum and cymbal music. In fact, the buzzing of the bee is said to be the voice of the Great Mother herself, and the sounds of drum and cymbal in the worship of Kyebele were intended to imitate her voice.

For more information on the Bee Goddess and her priestesses, read this article.