All Blog Posts (1,100)

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…

This week let's go way back in time to talk about Mystery Cults! Mystery religions were religious cults in Ancient Greece and Rome. Participation was reserved to initiates and secrecy was kept as to the particulars of the initiation and the cult practice in general. But how did these sects function within their societies? Were they accepted? Were there conflicts? Talking just about this one aspect of life in Ancient Greece and Rome can give great insight into how people back then lived their…

I think a lot about music and the power that music has. So this week, let's talk about the role that music plays in ritual!

Music was important to the Chinese philosopher, Confucious, as it has been for shamans around the world and down the ages. In fact I have a little story that tell us just exactly how music came to the earth way back when.

And central to music is Rythm, singing and Dance. So we'll talk about all that stuff. And finally, we'll look at ways…

It's time for Spring Cleaning!

The idea of Spring Cleaning actually goes all the way back to ancient Egypt. We'll take a look at why Spring has become the time when we Clean House.

And, while House Cleaning IS TERRIBLY, BORINGLY mundane, it does have magickal implications, and so we'll talk about some ways we can bring our Magick into our chores in some very powerful ways.

While we're clearing out our attics, let's look for Crafty Ways to…

This week, it's Kids' stuff here on The spiral Dance! Our theme is The Inner Child and the Outer Child.

What does the Inner Child mean to you? Do you feel trustful toward your Inner Child?

These are the sorts of questions we'll be examining in the first part of the show. And pretty soon we'll listen to a recorded guided meditation from Alan Cohen for connecting with your Inner Child. This is from his album, "Journey to the Center of the Heart", and the meditation is…

I'm dedicating this weeks show to one of the Five Cardinal Elements, the Element of Air. It's a good topic for April because, by many traditions, Air is associated with Springtime and Day's Beginning.

Usually associated with Men's Mysteries, Air is most often thought of as on the Mental Plane.

The Romans gave the month of April it's name, which they called, Aprilis. For the Romans, it signifies a time of unfolding leaves and flowers.

So we'll…

In honor of April Fools Day, our theme this week is: The Trickster and Fool. We'll take a look at the history of April Fools Day, as well as the Role that the Fool and the Trickster play in Earth-Based religious practices.

And in case you didn't know, Easter occurs on April 1st this year. I have a spoken word piece by Matt McCormick,: "The Salem Witchcraft Argument Against The Resurrection Of Jesus". Matt McCormick is a professor of philosophy for…

This week on The Spiral Dance we celebrate Eostara; The Spring Equinox

Astronomically, the Equinox occurs on Tuesday, March 20. We'll be talking about the history of Spring Equinox - the role that it has played in cultures down the ages:

So, we'll talk about the Norse Goddess Eoster. Is she a bonefide Goddess, or just a fiction created by one author? Does it matter, really?

Plus ya can't talk about this time of the year without mentioning…

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was formally establihed on March 1, 1888. It's had a tremendous influence on Western Occult thought over the past century. Indeed, it's easy to say that without the Golden Dawn, Wicca - and therefore the whole Pagan revival - might never have seen the light of day.

It's really too bad that today in Greece there is a neo-fascist group calling themselves Golden Dawn. So, I think for that reason alone, since we've just had an anniversary of…

Urban myths; why do we tell eachother such stories? They're always so extreme and fantastic that, really, the rational mind knows they can't be true. But not only do we tell them anyway; we, in fact listen to them as well. Maybe these fantastic set of circumstances just might be real afterall!

The Urban myth has alot in common with traditional myths and folklore, in the way they satisfy a need for storytelling. It may be that the Urban Myth expresses a feeling that we live in…

In the general neoPagan community people - not everyone - who work with animal spirit guides talk about Animal Totems.

Purists will tell you that that's kind of a misnomer. Totems are not really spirit guides and spirit guides are not really totems.

Where do YOU stand on this immense question??

Well, I'm here to untangle the whole mess and by the time we're finished we'll all know what really is…

After we Give Thanks to the Earth, we're going to look at Earth Magick; specifically the Element of Earth - what that's meant since ancient times and what it means in ceremonial magick today. And we'll look at the tradtions of Gnomes, the Fay and Lay Lines.

And since we're celebrating The Earth, we'll celebrate the Earth Mother and specifically the Goddess Gaia.

And just to liven up the soup - Salt!

And we'll finish up with an Earth Meditation…