Celebrating the Great Mother: A Handbook of Earth-Honoring Activities for Parents and Children


Cait Johnson - 1995
    But what if they want to include their children? Here is a handbook to help parents, caregivers, teachers, and counselors create meaningful spiritual experiences that will inspire children of all ages. The ideas, suggestions, and activities collected here show how to bring children into rituals that celebrate seasonal cycles and help reclaim the spiritual roots of today's modern holidays. With surprisingly little effort, earth-centered activities and rituals can be incorporated into simple daily routines. Part 1, “Handbook for Earth-Connected Parenting,” gives techniques for developing a child's inner wisdom and sense of the sacred: dream journals, visualization, Tarot play, talismans, and interactions with the natural world Part 2 is a guide to the specific seasonal festivals, and offers a comprehensive collection of practical and enjoyable ways to celebrate the sacred days of our ancestors. Make a bean rune divination system, gather smudge sticks, grow grass pots, assemble a “dream pillow,” create altars the authors offer easy-to-follow suggestions. Includes suggested reading and resource sections for locating additional information and materials for creative projects.

Magic in the Middle Ages


Richard Kieckhefer - 1989
    He examines its relation to religion, science, philosophy, art, literature and politics before introducing us to the different types of magic, the kinds of people who practiced magic, and the reasoning behind their beliefs. This book places magic at the crossroads of medieval culture, shedding light on many other aspects of life in the Middle Ages.

Witches, Sluts, Feminists: Conjuring the Sex Positive


Kristen J. Sollee - 2017
    This innovative primer highlights sexual liberation as it traces the lineage of “witch feminism.” Juxtaposing scholarly research on the demonization of women and female sexuality that has continued since the witch hunts of the early modern era with pop occulture analyses and interviews with activists, artists, scholars, and practitioners of witchcraft, this book enriches our contemporary conversations about reproductive rights, sexual pleasure, queer identity, pornography, sex work, and more.Kristen J. Sollee is instructor at The New School and founding editrix of Slutist, an award-winning sex positive feminist website."

The Book of Goddesses & Heroines


Patricia Monaghan - 1981
    This is the only complete, one-volume recitation of their legends in any available source. Also contains an index of associations and groupings of goddess "families". With photos from the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.

Making Magic: Weaving Together the Everyday and the Extraordinary


Briana Saussy - 2019
    "We all have a deep capacity to make magic . . . . . . and to do it as easily as we breathe or open our eyes. This is not a matter of belief. You can discover your own capacity for magic in your own direct experience." —Briana Saussy When you think of magic, do you imagine something supernatural, extraordinary, or beyond your everyday reality? Many of us are drawn to magic because we think there’s something "out there" that can bring enchantment and wonder back into our lives. Yet there’s a secret to real magic: the extraordinary is much closer than you may think. With Making Magic, expert teacher Briana Saussy invites you to discover a practice of magic that will bring a new depth and power to each moment, act, and choice of your life. Through teaching stories, wisdom from a wide variety of world traditions, and no-nonsense practices you can easily weave into your daily routine, Briana will help you reconnect with the wild and creative force of magic that is always around and within you, waiting for you to remember. As you explore this path of transformation, you’ll discover resources of magic that permeate your life, including: • Doors and thresholds—ways we "cross between worlds" • Communication—creating magic with your voice, body, intentions, and relationships • Holy helpers—ancestors, angels, saints, and spirit beings who guide and support you • Water and washing—access the revitalizing energy of water when you drink or bathe • Textiles and threads—how to loosen, mend, or bind up supportive energies • Candles and fire—elemental power to bring light to darkness and burn away what no longer serves you • Kitchen magic—using food to nourish your whole self and reconnect you with nature • Talismans—infuse your beloved objects with sacred purpose and supportive power "Magic is the most real part of any ‘real life’—the spark illuminating the authentic core of every experience," writes Briana Saussy. If you are ready to enter a world that is ripe with possibility and rediscover the electric wildness of your life, here is an essential resource for Making Magic as only you can.

Encyclopedia of Gods: Over 2,500 Deities of the World


Michael Jordan - 1992
    They have attempted to explain the mysteries and allay the fears in the same way - through the worship of gods. Deities have been identified with the human psyche for at least 60,000 years. Encyclopedia of Gods offers concise information on more than 2,500 of these deities, from the most ancient gods of polytheistic societies - Hittite, Sumerian, Mesopotamian - to the most contemporary gods of the major monotheistic religions - Allah, God, Yahweh. Among the cultures included are African peoples, Albanian, Pre-Islamic Arabian, Aztec, Babylonian, Buddhist, Canaanite, Celtic, Egyptian, Native American, Etruscan, Germanic, Greek, Roman, Hindu, Persian, Polynesian, and Shinto. The Encyclopedia includes not only the most significant gods of each culture but minor deities as well. Here you will find information not only on Zeus, Thor and Astarte but also on Tozi, the Aztec goddess of healing, Annamurti, the Hindu patron deity of the kitchen, and Nyakaya, the Shilluk crocodile goddess. Each entry provides details on what culture worshiped the god, the role of the god, and the characteristics and symbols used in identification. In the case of the more important personalities, references in art and literature and known dates of worship are also provided. Indexes by civilization and role of the god enable the researcher to compare gods across cultures or to find information on specific topics of interest. Encyclopedia of Gods will be indispensable to students and researchers in religions, anthropology, history and archaeology. It will also provide endless information for thereader interested in mythology and legend.

The Cailleach (Pagan Portals)


Rachel Patterson - 2016
    Within the pages of this book Rachel Patterson gives the reader an introduction to the mysteries, myths, legends and magic of the ancient hag goddess The Cailleach, drawing upon ancient legends, stories told and her own experiences.

Witch: Unleashed. Untamed. Unapologetic.


Lisa Lister - 2017
    Yet for so long the word “witch” has had negative connotations. In this book, third generation hereditary witch Lisa Lister explains the history behind witchcraft, why identifying as a healer in past centuries led women to be burned at the stake, and why the witch is reawakening in women across the world today.   All women are witches, and when they connect to source, trust their intuition, and use their magic, they can make medicine to heal themselves and the world. This book is a re-telling of Herstory, an overview of the different schools of witchcraft and the core principles and practices within them.  Discover ancient wisdom made relevant for modern witches:   The wheel of the year, the sabbats, the cycles of the moon.Tools to enhance your intuition, including oracle cards and dowsing, so that you can make decisions quickly and comfortably.Understanding the ancient use of the word “medicine”.How to work with herbs, crystals, and power animals so that you have support in your spiritual work.How to build and use a home altar to focus your intentions and align you with seasonal cycles, the moon cycles, and your own intentions for growth.Cleanse, purify, and create sacred space.Work with the elements to achieve deep connection with the world around you.In addition, Lisa teaches personal, hands-on rituals and spells from her family lineage of gypsy witch magic to help you heal, manifest, and rediscover your powers. Above all, Lisa shows that we really are “the granddaughters of the witches that they couldn't burn”.

Natural Magic


Doreen Valiente - 1975
    All we need is the ability to see it, understand it, and apply it. Magic works because of nature's laws, not in spite of them, and Valiente shows how to practice the age-old white magic which has been familiar to the Wise Ones for centuries.

The Witch Cult in Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology


Margaret Alice Murray - 1921
    Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

The Celtic Twilight: Faerie and Folklore


W.B. Yeats - 1893
    Yeats took a particular interest in the tales' mythic and magical roots. The Celtic Twilight ventures into the eerie and puckish world of fairies, ghosts, and spirits. "This handful of dreams," as the author referred to it, first appeared in 1893, and its title refers to the pre-dawn hours, when the Druids performed their rituals. It consists of stories recounted to the poet by his friends, neighbors, and acquaintances. Yeats' faithful transcription of their narratives includes his own visionary experiences, appended to the storytellers' words as a form of commentary.

To Walk a Pagan Path: Practical Spirituality for Every Day


Alaric Albertsson - 2013
    With practical tips for incorporating Pagan spirituality into every aspect of life, To Walk a Pagan Path teaches readers how to:•Have a meaningful Pagan practice by following seven simple steps.•Develop a sacred calendar customized for your beliefs, lifestyle, and environment.•Make daily activities sacred with quick and easy rituals. Connect with the earth in a very real way by producing a portion of your own food—even if you live in an apartment!•Express Pagan spirituality through a variety of craft projects: candles, scrying mirrors, solar wreaths, recipes, and more.

Motherpeace: A Way to the Goddess Through Myth, Art, and Tarot


Vicki Noble - 1984
    Motherpeace recovers the positive, nurturing peace-oriented values of prepatriarchal times, and brilliantly combines art, history, mythology, folklore, philosophy, and comparative religion with an informed spiritual and feminist perspective.Vicki Noble challenges us to celebrate our ancient peaceful heritage and to reclaim our right as a people to a life without war. The book is a vision of hope and transformation, made even more powerful by the vibrant pictorial images of the seventy-eight Motherpeace tarot cards.Motherpeace shows how traditional myths and symbols can provide ideas and images for understanding the meaning and power of the Goddess for women and men today.

Witching Culture: Folklore and Neo-Paganism in America


Sabina Magliocco - 2004
    Magliocco examines the roots that this religious movement has in a Western spiritual tradition of mysticism disavowed by the Enlightenment. She explores, too, how modern Pagans and Witches are imaginatively reclaiming discarded practices and beliefs to create religions more in keeping with their personal experience of the world as sacred and filled with meaning. Neo-Pagan religions focus on experience, rather than belief, and many contemporary practitioners have had mystical experiences. They seek a context that normalizes them and creates in them new spiritual dimensions that involve change in ordinary consciousness.Magliocco analyzes magical practices and rituals of Neo-Paganism as art forms that reanimate the cosmos and stimulate the imagination of its practitioners. She discusses rituals that are put together using materials from a variety of cultural and historical sources, and examines the cultural politics surrounding the movement--how the Neo-Pagan movement creates identity by contrasting itself against the dominant culture and how it can be understood in the context of early twenty-first-century identity politics.Witching Culture is the first ethnography of this religious movement to focus specifically on the role of anthropology and folklore in its formation, on experiences that are central to its practice, and on what it reveals about identity and belief in twenty-first-century North America.

The Meaning of Witchcraft


Gerald B. Gardner - 1959
    It was the first sympathetic book written from the point of view of a practicing witch."The meaning of witchcraft is to be found, not in strange religious theories about God and Satan, but in the deepest levels of the human mind, the collective unconscious, and the earliest developments of human society. It is the deepness of the roots that has preserved the tree."