All Blog Posts (1,131)

This week here on The Spiral Dance, we celebrate the Full Moons of Winter.

All the full moons have names, as you know. But during the Winter, the Dark time of the year the moon has an ever stronger effect on us.

Each of the Full Moons of December, January, February and March have different qualities. So we'll take a look at each moon's quality.

This year's December full moon is on Saturday, the 22nd, the day after Yule! It will be the longest…

This week we talk about what in the scientific community is known as Cognitive Flexibility. Try to wrap your mind around that!

With a flexible mind you could do all sorts of things, like increase your creativity, get yourself unstuck from Pain and generally be happier and more productive in your life.

So, here's to all the things the mind can do for you if you only just let it!.

Be well. Do good. Enjoy the show!

Some of…

I once thought I was going to Live Hard and Die Young. That didn't work out! Maybe I didn't live hard enough, I don't know. But here I am, looking back at everything.

So, now what? Well, first thing, of course I DEMAND RESPECT!

But, Eldering isn't really something you are; it's something you DO. The idea around Eldering is how older people can relate and function in the world. But in order to do that at all, there has to be some understanding of how their society looks at them,…

"Now is the Night of November Eve, as the Samhain rites begin.

Spirits step from the World Beyond, this night when the Veil is thin.

Coming through the Land of Shadows, awakening from the World of Dreams,

joining hands with the Children of Midnight as the Moonlight Lantern gleams.

Drifting in the Wind of Evening, Chanting words in an ancient tongue,

dancing light to the music of Fearies, as the Sacred Prayer is…

This week we look at the so-called Holy Grail.

What is this thing that people are so enamored of? Did it even exist? People have been searching for it for hundreds of years, and it seems whenever they decide they can't find it, they create stories about it.

So, let's travel back to the 12th century, where the myth of the Holy Grail seems to have it's beginnings. And we'll take a look at some of the embellishments that have been attached to it over time.

There does seem…

This week, we continue our celebration of Autumn as we look at some of the season's important associations.

Water is one of the elements in ancient Greek philosophy, and in Occult circles it's associated with the Western Quarter of the Circle, and with the season of Autumn. So we'll look at how and why Water got associated with the Autumn as we tie in some of their similar Magickal Properties.

Then we'll take a walk into an Autumn Garden with Ellen Dugan, well known…

This week here on The Spiral Dance, let's create Magick through Masking. If you went to a Halloween party recently, what would you GO AS?

We all wear masks, although the extent to which we layer ourselves or are aware of them varies greatly.

Masks are a familiar and vivid element in many folk and traditional pageants, ceremonies, rituals and festivals, and are often of an ancient origin.

One reason for wearing a mask is to pretend to be someone…

If you're the creative type, you probably spend way too much time beating yourself up about how UNCREATIVE you are. Well, your friend Hawthorne is here to help. Many people think they have a clear idea of what it means to be creative, and a whole lot of myths have been built up around that notion. It may be too much to say that Everything You Thought You Knew About Creativity is Wrong, but this week we'll bust some creativity myths that, hopefully, once you see past them, will unleash your…

This week on The Spiral Dance, let's give a welcome to the month of September! It's the ninth month of the year, but it's name suggests that it's the seventh. Leave it to the Romans to come up with that, and leave it to us to maintain it.

Of course the main feature of September is the Equinox, which is coming up in a couple of weeks. And we'll have our Mabon show at that time.

Meanwhile, let's talk about the Roman festival which was known as the Ludi Romani,…

We're all about Sacred Geometry this week. The idea that an omnipotent diety created the universe according to a geometric plan has ancient origins. I'm not so sure that anything created the universe - or more accurately, the Multi-verse - I kind of believe that it created itself, or in a word, it's come-of itself.

But, whatever the case may be I think it's fair-enough to say that there is an intelligence - perhaps an intelligence WE would consider to be Devine - that seems…

Just what kind of a world DO we want? I think most of us really do have an answer to that. The bigger question is how do we achieve it.

New Age people would tell you that the world IS changing - the paradym is shifting away from violence fear and selfishness and toward caring and something that is more on the Soul level. But, like all upheavals - changes for the better are met with resistance from the other perspective; thus the increase in violence and chaos…

Blessed Lammas, everyone! At this Sabbat many Wiccans and Pagans celebrate the First harvest. This Sabbat is about the cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth -- the grain god dies, but will be reborn again in the spring.

Depending on your tradition, you may also observe this Sabbat as the day of the Celtic craftsman god, Lugh. Lugh was known to the Celts as a god of craftsmanship and skill -- in fact, he was known as the Many-Skilled God, because he was good at so many…

Here we are, in the middle of summer; it's time to go out and see the world!

As the song says, "A week in Paris will ease the bite of it", but the Sacred Traveler tries to go a bit deeper. The Sacred Traveler looks for the transcendental, the numinous, making time off from his day gig a life learning process or even an exercise in self-realization.

Well, what is it that attracts people to places…

This week, the Spiral Dance is just a Day at the Beach! We'll start with the Charge of the Sea Goddess and we'll explore the role that Water has always had in religion.

From there we'll look at a few Sea Gods and Goddesses. Then I want to share a story. This is a spoken word peice presented by Mara Freeman. It's called, The Selkie!

Finally, we'll get right down to the shore and do some actual beach magick!

Be well. Do good. Enjoy the…

Let's take advantage of these Hot Summer Days! We'll head off to the Southern Quarter and do some Fire Magick!. It's Summertime, with Fire and the South!

We'll take a look at the Qualities that the Element of Fire posseses; how they're used in Occult Traditions.

Does that sound like Pyrolatry to you? If you worship Fire it just might. Fire is worshipped by itself in many cultures, but more commonly it's associated with Fire Dieties. As you might…

Let's take advantage of these Hot Summer Days! We'll head off to the Southern Quarter and do some Fire Magick!. It's Summertime, with Fire and the South!

We'll take a look at the Qualities that the Element of Fire posseses; how they're used in Occult Traditions.

Does that sound like Pyrolatry to you? If you worship Fire it just might. Fire is worshipped by itself in many cultures, but more commonly it's associated with Fire Dieties. As you might…

Happy Midsummer, everyone! The sun is high in the sky, the air is all warm and friendly. Let's stay up real late, then we can build some fires and roll them down the hills!.

It's been done forever, it's still being done now and it will always be done. We'll talk about where the word Litha comes from and what the holiday means for modern Pagans. Also, interestingly, Midsummer continues to be very important in mainstream societies in different cultures around the world! There…

Have you ever thought about the role that Fruit plays in myth and magick? Well, this week we'll compare apples to oranges.

Fruit appears in myths from around the world. Often it is a symbol of abundance, associated with goddesses of fertility, plenty, and the harvest.

And, as you may expect, many of the most significant fruits in world mythology, such as the apple, have different meanings to different cultures. We'll take a short look at many of…

This week's show is dedicated to a specific part of the World of Magick; Amulets and Talismans.

What's so great about talismans, or amulets? Simply the fact that they've always been around and we use them to this very day. In fact people in mainstream religions knowingly use them.

To start we're going to try to delinate the difference between an amulet and a talisman. Then we'll look at examples of amulets and talismans down the ages.

Then,…

Have you seen them?

It's springtime, and Fearies abound. Let's see if we can't catch us one!

The Leprechaun is one of the major images that the Mainstream Culture has of what a Feary is, or what a Feary looks like. The other, of course, is Disney's Tinkerbell. Whatever Pagan path you may be following, I'm sure I don't have to tell you that neither of those images fullfills the whole tradition of the Fearie.

But anyway, the Leprechaun has a…