There are many ways to call a quarter, but all of them have a common aim: to make a connection with the element.
inclusive Wicca
The Wiccan Degree System
Many people are confused or misinformed about the Wiccan degree system (including some Wiccans). The degree system is not a hierarchical structure, nor is it about keeping secrets for the sake of secrecy. It is more like an apprenticeship system.
New Discord group
Delete Facebook is trending on Twitter after Zuckerberg held a secret meeting with right wing politicians to try to prevent the breakup of Facebook as a monopoly.
I left Facebook last year after the Cambridge Analytica scandal. It’s been a very good experience for me. Admittedly I haven’t quite quit the Facebook universe as I’m still on Instagram and WhatsApp.
With all that in mind, I thought it might be a good time to try another app for discussion about inclusive Wicca.
So I’ve created a space on the social media app Discord, which was originally for gamers, but I now used by other communities. The interface is very similar to Slack. Follow this link to get an invitation.
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.
Transgender Day of Visibility
Happy Transgender Day of Visibility to all transgender, nonbinary, genderfluid, and genderqueer people.
Art print of the trans pride flag by sadiesavesit on Redbubble
Notable and quotable 5
This week I have been mostly reading The Guardian with great sadness over the horrific murder of 50 Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand, and growing incredulity at the self-inflicted wound of Brexit. So I have not been keeping up with what’s going on in the blogosphere.
However, I just spotted this excellent post about queer magic by Julian Vayne.
Happy World Book Day
To celebrate, here are some photos of my esoteric book collection.
The inclusive Wicca symbol
How the inclusive Wicca logo happened.
I was making a poster for a LGBT+ ritual in 2014, and trying to think of a symbol that expresses LGBT+ Wicca. So I took the standard Wiccan triple Moon symbol and added a heart.
🌛🌝🌜 + ❤️
I didn’t really think about it — the symbol sort of came down my arm, bypassing my brain, and manifested on the paper.
The heart could be seen as an hommage to the Sufi winged heart or Tughra Inayati symbol (and there is a connection between Sufism and Wicca, via the friendship between Gardner and Idries Shah).
The Sufi winged heart image (public domain version)
The heart mainly represents the idea that love (in all its glorious diversity) is the central mystery of Wicca. Also that Love is love, or “All acts of love and pleasure are Her rituals” — hence also the title of my 2014 book on inclusive Wicca.
If you enjoyed this post, you might enjoy my books, Dark Mirror: the inner work of witchcraft and The Night Journey: witchcraft as transformation.
Dark Mirror: the inner work of witchcraft
The night journey: witchcraft as transformation
What is a witch?
A video in which I read an excerpt from my book, The Night Journey: Witchcraft as Transformation. I was particularly pleased with this chapter, as I think it’s very poetic and has some powerful imagery in it.
The Two Chalices Ritual
One of the rituals of inclusive Wicca is the two chalices ritual. This has evolved over a couple of decades to become something more than I originally envisaged, as is often the way with traditions, which are evolving and fluid. It started life as a ritual for women-loving-women, and evolved into a ritual for everyone, but retaining its original symbolism.
