He felt that achieving purity by avoiding meat and refraining from committing harm further promoted the pursuit of a peaceful life. Elements of the worship of Dionysus, such as shape-shifting and ritualistic ecstasy, were fused with Orphic beliefs to produce a powerful and illuminating new religion that found expression in the mystery cults. Practitioners of this new religion composed a great body of poetry, much of which is translated in The Orphic Hymns.The hymns presented in this book were anonymously composed somewhere in Asia Minor, most likely in the middle of the third century AD. At this turbulent time, the Hellenic past was fighting for its survival, while the new Christian faith was spreading everywhere. The Orphic Hymns thus reflect a pious spirituality in the form of traditional literary conventions. The hymns themselves are devoted to specific divinities as well as to cosmic elements. Prefaced with offerings, strings of epithets invoke the various attributes of the divinity and prayers ask for peace and health to the initiate. Apostolos N. Athanassakis and Benjamin M. Wolkow have produced an accurate and elegant translation accompanied by rich commentary.

    The grief and anger that were born inside her that day, soon turned into a hatred for all Immortals. Instead of finding a way to let go, she nurtured it with time. A year later, ready to take on the world and filled with excitement about her new adventure, Ivy is finally off to college after being homeschooled her whole life. But the one thing she didn't expect, happened. She attracted the attention of a fighter and his Immortal friend when she inadvertently stumbled into an underground fight. Dustin grew up being tossed from foster home to foster home and fighting to survive… literally. While his friends ended up turning to crime and drugs, Dustin used his fists and fought for cash instead of stealing. The ring became his release and the one thing in life that made him feel as if he were actually alive. He vowed he wouldn’t follow in the footsteps of the many who came before him. He got a job, took online college classes, and worked his way up in the world. He swore to never let anything get in the way of his plans for success. Until she came along. A pretty girl who didn’t belong in his world, yet he couldn’t get her out of his mind. Fate has not been kind to these broken souls and it has yet to deal them the final blow. Will they ever be able to find peace within themselves, or will peace come from each other.

    

    She attended the right prep schools and right colleges. She made sure to make all the right contacts, ingratiating herself into the right circles. But all those rights hadn’t been enough. In the end, she’d needed her mother. And now it was time to repay that debt.

    From justice spells to protective charms, Frankie Castanea brings her fresh style to an ancient practice, showing that contemporary witchcraft is a powerful force for good and a tool for manifesting positive change.Modern-day witches are a blend of the old and the new. They travel to the grocery store, work nine-to-five jobs, and teach in our classrooms. They also carry black tourmaline and quartz, and wave bay and rosemary bundles over their doorways.Within an ancient and sacred practice, a new type of Craft has taken hold: one that combines the power of action with energy and intent, prioritizes self-realization, and matches its activism with manifestation.With chapters on meditation, grounding, cleansing, banishing, binding, and more, Spells for Change will help the modern witch create change within the hearth, the heart, and the world—one spell at a time.

    A collection of articles, essays and interviews focusing on the life and art of Austin Osman Spare.

    Here, a kindly old woman sits at her table within the whitewashed rough stone walls of her cottage. A small fire glows in the large open hearth, strange substances, herbs and magical charms adorn the shelves and hang from the low wooden beams, whilst in the shadows, various creatures lurk and keep her company: for this is the cottage of a wise woman of yesteryear.The wise woman, or Old Joan as she is known, speaks to her visitors of the ways of her trade, reciting many traditional 19th century charms and spells along the way that were once a feature of life in the small villages of Devon and Cornwall.In Spells from the Wise Woman’s Cottage, folklorist Steve Patterson gives us these very charms and spells, and guides us through their history and meaning.The cottage tableaux itself, the history of its construction, artefacts, and the fascinating stories behind the genuine familiar spirits who reside there are all revealed within the pages of this book.The trade and character of the working witch through the Ages is thoroughly explored, as is the role of the museum in the world of witchcraft and its revival, along with the ‘wayside witches’ whose artefacts, magic and wisdom were so central to the museum’s foundation.

    

    Into the abyss of forgetting goes also an entire way of seeing humans, animals, gods, and the rest of nature, as well as the relationships these things constantly forge with each other.These were also the worldviews of ancient Pagan cultures before the dominance of writing and monotheism supplanted them. Organic pluralism, an embrace of multiple, conflicting truths, and a deep understanding of the interconnection between humans and the natural world: all were core values of oral and animist cultures.As global climate change and the collapse of Empire throw the earth and our modern societies into crisis, these core values are what humanity and the nature it destroys desperately need again.In True To The Earth: Pagan Political Theology, author and professor of philosophy Kadmus weaves a narrative from the lore of Celtic, Greek, Norse, and indigenous traditions to show us how we once saw the world and how we can see it again. He unveils the modern assumptions which blind us from seeing the past and what we've lost, challenges the core foundations of literal, universalist thinking, and shakes us free from the unseen bonds monotheism has placed upon our understanding of ourselves and the world.Well-researched and erudite, yet written in an engaging and accessible manner, True To The Earth offers back to us what we have lost, and gives us fertile soil from which a new earth-centered political understanding can arise.

    This booklet is perfect for anyone wishing to get to know Loki better or to integrate His worship into their religious life. Stepping away from a specifically reconstructionist perspective, this book aims to empower modern worshipers with practical information that can be put to use right away.This book contains information on altar building, offerings, prayer, worship, ritual, and more. Advice about cultivating discernment and deepening your practice is also included.A special bonus section explores Loki's feminine aspect in detail. Different aspects of Lady Loki's personality are explored and a short rite of contact is provided to aid worshipers in getting to know Her.