Practice
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You Have Permission to be Witchy
All of us in the nontheist/SASS*/Atheopagan sphere start out having to contend with that pesky internal Critic Voice that says, as we begin to move out of our ordinary mental states and towards creating or participating in ritual, “THIS IS STUPID. YOU’RE MAKING A FOOL OF YOURSELF.” For we are practical, rational folk, yes? We sift the world for evidence to make our determinations. So actions for no concretely definable reason become questionable at best. Ergo, the Voice. Yes, that voice speaks JUST LIKE THE CHARACTER DEATH in the late lamented Sir Terry Pratchett’s novels, with as much authority and gravitas and certainty. The difference between Death and your inner…
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Hallows 2021
Welcome to the Witchiest Sabbath, everyone! It’s been another hell of a year, and it’s hard to get my mind around the fact that it is already Hallows season again. 2020 seemed to take forever, but 2021 has just flown by. As I write, torrential rain pours blessedly on the parched land of California. We’re in a drought and desperately need this, but it’s a Class 5 atmospheric river storm (only 10 have ever been recorded here) and there is widespread local flooding. Famine or feast, it seems. My partner Nemea and I are in pretty dire financial straits right now, but today, in a cozy little place with food…
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Autumn: The Drawing Down
Now that the equinox has passed, things seem to be happening more quickly, somehow. The days are markedly shorter (here in the northern hemisphere), and there is a chill in the air at night despite wan, warm days. Growing global heat means that the coastal fog cycles that cool us off in the mornings have persisted long past when they used to–to see that fog at the end of September used to be unthinkable. I light the candles on my Focus each evening at dark and it seems so early now; touching the flame to the wick of the candle in the World section of the Focus with the words…
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Happy Harvest 2021!
Today is the Equinox, when day and night are (within a few minutes, depending on latitude) equal in length. It is the Atheopagan Sabbath of Harvest (or High Spring, in the southern hemisphere), and a time for feasting with loved ones. With the pandemic, of course, this is challenging unless all of you are vaccinated and have been safe. But I hope that you will find time today to celebrate the abundance the world pours out for us, as well as the elderly folk in your life, as Harvest time is the metaphorical point in the wheel of the year equivalent to old age. That’s how my wheel of the…
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Yule Metheglin Recipe
Brew this delicious sparkling mead now and have it ready for Yule! Ingredients Montrachet yeast (1 packet) Yeast nutrient, 1 oz. 12 lbs. high-quality honey (thyme, thistle, or wildflower honeys are nice for this recipe) Zest of four large or eight small oranges 5 cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces 12 cloves, broken 10 large slices fresh ginger, bruised with a hammer to release flavor 5 gallons water Equipment Large cooking kettle Candy thermometer Jar Muslin Rubber band Food-grade five-gallon fermenting bucket Brewing airlock Racking (siphoning) cane Glass carboy, 5 gallon Champagne bottles Caps and capping press Method Start the yeast 2 days ahead. Take a sterilized jar and add a…
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Into the Season of Harvest
We picked our tomatoes this week. They were all ripe and ready to go, so Nemea cut them off the plants and we have them in our kitchen now. Other than a basil plant we keep indoors, this is our harvest: grown in half wine-barrels, the tomatoes are fine varieties, rich and filled with flavor. The light has become more oblique, now, and the days end more quickly. Summer’s Waning is long past and Harvest looms on the 20th. Though it’s 96 degrees F. (35.5 C.) outside, Autumn is coming. Autumn is here. I can feel it in the land. After months of no rain, the brown hills creak and…
