Recently I was contacted by someone from the USA looking for an inclusive coven. Having ascertained what state they’re in, we started trawling through the coven listings on Mandragora Magika. It’s hard to figure out from the listings which covens are inclusive.
Continue readinginclusion
Queer Magic Interviews
I’m doing a series of interviews with queer magical practitioners. So far there are three published: River Enodian, Fire Lyte, and Misha Magdalene.
Coming soon: Enfys Book, Cassandra Snow, Soli, Julian Vayne, and more. Subscribe to my YouTube channel so as not to miss them.
Continue readingSame sex initiation
Fantastic article from Katie Gerrard. I agree 100%. Same sexual initiation should be valid in Wicca.
Continue readingReviews of Dark Mirror
Dark Mirror: the inner work of witchcraft by Yvonne Aburrow
This is a new, revised and expanded edition of Dark Mirror, with new sections and new insights.
Inner work is a name commonly given to the inner processes that happen in ritual. It can also mean the transformation of the psyche that comes about through engaging in religious ritual. However, the best kind of inner work also has an effect outside the individual and outside the circle. When rituals are focused only on self-development, they tend to be a bit too introspective. Ritual is about creating and maintaining relationships and connections – between body, mind, and spirit; with the Earth, Nature, the land, the spirit world, the community, and friends. It is about making meaning, weaving a web of symbolism, story, mythology, meaning, community, and love. Creating a community that welcomes and celebrates diversity. Creating strong and authentic identity to resist the pressures of consumerism and commercialism and capitalism. Weaving relationship with other beings: humans, animals, birds, spirits, deities.
Available for preorder now from the Doreen Valiente Foundation shop
Continue reading Available for preorder now from the Doreen Valiente Foundation shop
Cakes and wine in a pandemic
Most religions that share food and drink have been having discussions about how to modify these practices to make them safe during the coronavirus pandemic. Mostly that means not meeting at all.
A Queer Pagan Reading List (2020)
Pride is a Protest
Pride started as a riot. As everyone knows (or should know by now), Pride commemorates a riot at the Stonewall Inn. A riot that lasted six whole days, and changed the course of the gay rights movement from one of assimilationism to the celebration of queerness. And two of the main leaders, Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P Johnson, were Latinx and Black drag queens.
Beltane is coming
Everyone’s getting ready for Beltane. In the face of climate change, the Anthropocene, mass extinction, and all the scary stuff, it feels important to celebrate Nature and all its diversity. That does not imply to me in any way that we should focus only on heterosexual fecundity. Nature is diverse, and that includes humans. All acts of love and pleasure are Her rituals.
Beltane fires and maypoles
Beltane is coming, and with it, the celebration of love. Spare a thought for those who are left out of all the joyous coupling, and those who are marginalised by less inclusive ways of celebrating love.
Fertility can be re-purposed into a theme of caring for the environment, or of general creativity. And as Doreen Valiente wrote in The Charge of the Goddess, “All acts of love and pleasure are My rituals”.
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Why inclusive Wicca?
There is still considerable confusion over what inclusive Wicca actually is. In part, this could be because the people who are confused about it haven’t read my book, All acts of love and pleasure: inclusive Wicca (available on Kindle and in paperback), or the short guide to being an inclusive coven.
