There has always been something mystical about a late summer evening for me. It is that time of day which is no longer day, yet not quite night. It was the time my Great Grandmother called, "the spiriting time." It comes as the scorching heat of a summer day finally begins to give way to the evenings cooling magick. You can see it as the bright fiery red sun begins to slowly sink behind the horizons of our childhood memories.As a child, I was raised to know the mysteries of the old ways, ...

Lovely Luna, bright and bold, glowing with the power of old…She is called by many names, worshiped in many ways. Few would argue that, whatever name you give her, the Moon is the guiding light of Witches and Pagans. She fascinates and enchants; guides and empowers. We plan our spells and plant our gardens by the phases of the Moon. The waxing and waning Moon have very different energies. Under waxing Moon the light is increasing, and the time is right to build, grow, and create. ...

Wheresoever ye turn, there is the face of God. -- KoranRecently, there has been much discussion about building a mosque near ground zero; many people feel that its location dishonors and insults the memory of those who died in the 911 tragedy. Yet, people forget that innocent Muslims died in this event, Americans fought a revolution to enjoy religious freedom, and the real place of worship is inside us. On some levels, my take on this disagreement is that it may be about racial and relig ...

For some reason, these past four months (just prior to writing this) have been devastating. My fallacy as a leader is that I try my best to accept everyone, to love everyone, to be everything for everyone. While I have been a good friend and mentor to many, I have unfortunately discovered that it is not the mode of operation for some people to accept peace, love, and harmony for what it is. An “antagonist, ” “troll, ” or even a “drama queen” is typically an unhealthy person who creates conflict ...

The beauty of the umbrella of Earth-based religion and the government-given glory of religious freedom is that we are allowed to believe what we wish and practice what we please...most of the time...provided no one gets hurt. I would venture to say that the majority of today's spiritual gatherings and groups, from Christianity to Wicca and beyond, make strong efforts to follow a "harm none" policy, albeit through different practices and methods. Yet, everyone knows I'm headed for a "yesbut", my ...

In laziness, in turning away from divine Will, there is turmoil, confusion and slavery. In service to truth and freedom and Will, there is fluidity, satisfaction, and fulfillment. There is growth and abundance in these actions.Isn’t it funny how there is such a paradox is freedom, free will, and following your divine destiny or your true Will? Whose will do you serve? To whose will are you a slave? Are you a slave to fear? Inertia? What about greed? Something I consider both nece ...

Henotheism is based on the belief that a god may take on any form at any time and still have the same essential nature. The central idea is that one name for a god may be used in a circumstance where a particular aspect of this god is being represented or worshiped while a different name may be given to or used to describe or worship yet another aspect of the same god, but under a different circumstance. This is not meant to imply superiority of one over the other; just that a god can exist in m ...

I am growing older. That’s a fact. I’m still in the Mother stage of my life, but I am fast approaching Crone. I am okay with this. More than most people, I would guess. I’ve learned that part of my contribution to society, as a Crone, is to provide wisdom and guidance to those seekers who ask. I’ve fit into this role flawlessly. Most people don’t want to hear what you have to say and if they do, they don’t listen anyway. I’m sure this is just a natural part of life. I never listened to my elders ...

Arguably, Isobel Gowdie is one of the most famous witches in Scottish history. But who was she – and why does she continue to fascinate and inspire prose, drama, poetry and song? Gowdie (sometimes spelt Goudie) was the daughter of an Auldearn lawyer, born in the early part of the 17thC, although the exact date of her birth is unclear. The family were Catholic, but converted to the Protestant Kirk. This was probably an expedient move on her father’s part to enable him to continue to make ...

Isaac came into my life approximately 2 years ago. I had always known about Isaac from reading his books and at one time, belonged to his Blackdirt group, when he lived in Warwick, NY. I wrote an email to him and asked about his services and the classes that he taught. I have a little, but very busy metaphysical store, here in Cornwall N.Y., and really wanted him to teach here. Isaac and his lovely wife Phaedra live about an hour from me, so one day, Isaac and Phae decided to take a drive up to ...

In Loving Memory PHILIP EMMONS ISAAC BONEWITSOctober 1, 1949 - August 12, 2010It was with a heavy heart I learned only today of the passing of celebrated Pagan Elder and Author, Isaac Bonewits. Though I never met Isaac in-person, I did chat with him numerous times over the Internet and was a great admirer of his work and scholarship. In no small way, it is fair to say that he brought to the exploration of Druidry/Druidism what Gerald Gardner brought to the exploration of ...

Every blogger and his brother has penned a top 10 list of their favourite science fiction movies, but when a film critic as respected as the New York Times A.O. Scott makes a list, you have to take notice. Here are his picks. It lists many of the usual suspects, but there are  few curveballs in there. Paired with his list is that of IO9's Annalee Newitz. There is some overlap, but not much. One of the movies that both of them agree on is Fritz Lang's classic Metropolis. Fans of the movie will be able to enjoy the restored version of the film which is due out soon on DVD and Blu-Ray. Metropolis recently closed the Fantasia film festival in Montreal, but what was special about the screening is that it was accomponied by live musicians with a new score. Back on the subject of movie lists for a moment, IMdb has an interesting list of the highest-rated science fiction movies as voted on by visitors to the site. A movie must have at least 1,000 votes to be listed, but wwhat happens is the newest, hot movies top the list and over time the movies with high ratings start to lose points as more people vote on it. I don't know what this statistical phenomenon is, but I've noticed it at a lot of sites that rely on public input. Possibly more interesting that the top movies, is their lst of the lowest-rated science fiction films. They look like quite the bunch of stinkers. I wonder if they qualify as the "so-bad-they're good" variety or if the are simply bad.

I've been travelling in airports lately and have noticed more and more people toting around electronic book readers and it's common to overhear their owners sing the praises of their new devices to curious people inquiring about them. Anecdotely at least, it seems that these devices are starting to gain some traction with mainstream consumers. What is interesting is how the devices are starting to change people's reading habits. This survey found that most people with ebook readers were reading the same amount as before, but a large percentage were reading more now that they had the gadgets in their pockets or purses. That sounds like it would be good news for authors and publishers, but the spectre of book piracy looms. Some think that free copies of ebooks will be good for pushing physical books, but I'm not so sure. There was a time that video files were hard to pirate because internet connections were too slow and the file sizes were too big. Now it is easy to find and download movies and TV shows and e-book files are so laughably small that they could be sent by dial-up connections in no time at all. In fact, it's not uncommon to see torrents of science fiction books that collect thousands of titles in one archive that could be downloaded with ease. How can book-sellers compete with that? The next few years are going to be interesting.

I am struggling through a book right now that is one of the Hugo finalists for best novel. It is Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente and this blogger's review pretty much reflects my own opinion, although  I haven't finished it yet so haven't made up my mind whether or not I like it, but I can say that I have considered abandoning it completely, which is rare for me. I mention it because I read this blogger who complained about what he perceives as the screwed-up priorities of the science fiction writing community to produce books for critics and not for people to enjoy. So far, Palimpsest fits into that category. So that brings up the question as to what makes a book worth reading or not. This Atlantic article looks at why many stories fail, and not just in science fiction. He concludes that bad fiction is a failure of imagination. I must say that the dreamworld of Valente has perhaps too much imagination. I wonder if the book qualifies as "SciFi Strange" a new sub-genre name coined by this fellow, although some comment that it's just another label for new weird. I'm so out of touch, I can't keep track of the labels people keep throwing out there. It's like every generation of writers is keen to pioneer some new strain of science fiction. It reminds me of the ridiculous labels you see in the music field. Electroclash? Wonky Pop? Say, what?  

There are plenty of blog posts listing history's most "under-rated" science fiction television shows, but this is one list that I think stands out. Not only does it list series that deserve to be on the list like Earth 2 and Max Headroom, but it has several other titles which you may have forgotten or never even heard about. And speaking of Max Headroom, the short-lived, but influential, TV series has finally been released on DVD. Does the show live up to the reputation that has been built up for it by fans over these long decades? According to this reviewer, it does. Best of all, she promises to write episode-by-episode reviews as she works her way through the boxed set. While shows like the X-Files and Batman are remembered by most science ficion fans, there are many crossover episodes which have been largely forgotten except by die-hard TV watchers. These are instances when characters from one show would appear on another. Do you remember when Millennium met the X-Files or when Batman and the Green Hornet crossed paths. Here's a list of 11 such meetings to get you running to your video collection.

Feeling crafty? Check out some outstanding science fiction papercraft sites that come courtesy of this blog. If you get too addicted to building these, you'll be sure to run out of ink cartridges for your printer before long, but don't worry, you can save up some of those carts to make even more science fiction crafts, like this artist did. Not good with your hands? How about a bit of Photoshop trickery? This tutorial will help you create your own pulp-inspired poster. That seems like something I need to promote teotu.com. Want to do something that won't use up paper and ink? How about hosting a science fiction-themed dinner party? Check out this example for some inspiration. A friend of mine did something similar ages ago and hosted a pot-luck dinner where each guest had to bring up some sort of dish that was disguised to look other-worldly. Most of it was edible, but some of it was too weird to digest, but all the dishes were original.

One of the features of modern neopaganism is its decentralized nature. Neopaganism as a category encompasses a large number of disparate religions, and even among what could be considered the “same” religion (such as Wicca) there are numerous sub-divisions and a near-complete lack of central authority or organization. Many neopagans view this as a strength instead of a weakness, often for reasons of self-determination and pursuit of individual truth. This ideal is found most often expressed in t ...

The central idea behind Christianity is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ by crucifixion in Jerusalem. The idea behind this sacrifice was that by dying He was washing away the sins of all mankind and saving them from the retribution of His Father. This is held up as an example of pure selflessness by an act of willing sacrifice of a God who became a man to die for humanity. Yet Christianity is not the only place where sacrifice plays an essential role to the beliefs and practices of a people. ...

The question I find myself asking is "Why is it that our kind seems to be apathetic?" While many of us are enthusiastic in our apparent "renaissance", just as many simply don't believe, or find it hard to. This is a quandary I find I face every day as I look upon the world today. And that's honestly not the only problem I see in the community these days. For more than sixteen years I've been what I term "magickfolk". During eight of those years I've been active, working through the Domai ...

The Aquarian Tabernacle Church of Wicca, after 30 years, has grown to the point where the structure model we have followed in recent years needs to be changed to accommodate our unexpected growth. A little history of the ATC is in order to better understand how ATC began, what we are doing now and how we are re-organizing the Aquarian Tabernacle. It’s more like returning to our original roots. A little reorganization of ATC will go a long way toward assuring our tradition’s future years. ...