A few years ago, I organized an event where Philip Heselton gave a talk based on his excellent multi-volume biography of Gerald Gardner. He was looking for a title and said that the talk was about the murkier aspects of Gardner’s life. I suggested calling it “He’s not the messiah, he’s a very naughty boy” which I’m sure you will recognize as a line from The Life of Brian by Monty Python. So that was the title of the talk.
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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 readingQueer Witchcraft & Magic (video)
The Witches’ Pyramid
Books I read in July
The absolutely outstanding Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender, about a trans teenager in New York. A book on Tolkien’s Oxford. Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild. And the brilliant anthology Queer Magic.
BIPOC Pagan Reading List
A reading list of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) authors covering Paganism, the occult, astrology, Tarot, and Indigenous spirituality.
Note that the deities of African diaspora religions can only be contacted through those religions and not via other religions. And that Indigenous life ways and spiritual practices are specific to their cultures and should not be culturally appropriated.
I’ve put out a call on Twitter and Instagram for more books to add to this list, and I will post updates (as I do with the Queer Pagan Reading List).
Fear and Bigotry
Excellent article by Diane Morrison in response to that transphobic article by JK Rowling.
Fear does not justify bigotry. Trans rights are human rights. This article deconstructs the arguments J.K. Rowling set forth in her opinion piece.
My Magical Thing
As mentioned in Notable and Quotable 22, Julian Vayne is doing a series of interviews in which magical practitioners share the story of one of their magical things.
Notable and quotable 22
This week’s absolute belter of a post was Christopher Penczak’s article Holding the door open.
Don’t miss Julian Vayne’s series of interviews, Our Magical Things.
And a lovely post on egg healing in Slavic magic on the Divine Multiplicity blog.
Really great post on being in mythological time from Kiya Nicoll (how was I not following Kiya’s blog before now?)
And a guest post by Ing Venning on Nimue Brown’s blog.
Notable and quotable: coronavirus (2)
The first roundup of coronavirus posts was getting a little unwieldy, so here’s a second instalment.
Various posts have been reflecting on the implications of social distancing, and being cooped up with your partner and/or house-mates.