The itsy bitsy spider. Charlotte’s web. Little Miss Muffet. What do these stories and nursery rhymes all have in common? If it wasn’t obvious, it’s the SPIDER. And yes, we know there’s plenty of folks out there who cringe at the word. Some run and scream. But ...
Paranormal
How to Work with Suburban Spirits (‘Burban Spirits Pt 2)
In the first part of this duology, we explored the metropolis of spirits present right within the suburbs. Just on the other side of the white picket fence and between the ticky tacky houses, is a realm of bustling spirits just waiting to be acknowledged. The thing is, how do we know which ...
Suburban Spirits: Types of Spirits You’ll Encounter in the ‘Burbs
Recently I was thinking how witches are naturally drawn to the country. Its wild woods, meadows, farms, creeks, and mountains. And I thought about the spirits that reside there. The elementals, fae folk, genius loci, and wild gods. Then I thought about the fact that I live in the ‘burbs ...
Gods, Fae, Elves, and Ancestors: Are They All the Same?
Gods. Fairies. Elves. Ancestors. The deeper we go into our pagan history, the more we see a blurring of the lines between the spirits. In fact, many of the sagas, legends, and lore point to the idea that our pagan gods, and the beings we call fairies and elves, might have once been living, ...
Iceland’s Gryla the Christmas Witch, the Yule Lads, and Yule Cat
When Santa Claus has abandoned you and something dark knocks at your door…beware the Gryla the Christmas witch and her ghastly horde! Did you know there’s a dark side to Christmas? Most people have heard of Krampus, but there is a whole legion of Yuletide monsters just waiting to be ...
These days when someone says Viking, Norse God, or Marvel, many of us have images of Thor and Odin conjured up with ease. But there was a third Old Norse god who was just as renowned yet not as readily portrayed in the media today. His name is Freyr and he is just as ancient and as powerful as ...
It’s midnight. Someone calls your name from down the hall. You peak from your bedroom door and notice that everyone is sound asleep in their own beds. You turn to go back to your bed and catch a glimpse of a shadow out of the corner of your eye. So you figure you’re being haunted. ...
Fire burns and protects. The fire element is one of the fiercest and yet required for our survival. Our ancestors needed it for light, to cook their food, to warm their bodies in the cold, and to ward off predators. In ancient times, they worshipped it. From fire sprang the mighty gods and ...
Maiden of Life. Bringer of Death. Goddess of the Underworld. These labels evoke strong visuals and sensations from within the magical individual. But they only begin to scratch the surface of who Persphone Goddess of Life and Death actually is. Her worship goes beyond Ancient Greece, stretching ...
Disablot: Honoring Ancestral Goddesses, Valkyries, and Norns
To our ancient ancestors in Scandinavia, the earth was alive and teeming with spirits. There were spirits of the land, gods and goddesses in the sky, and ancestors all around us. Our primitive, powerful male ancestors were the Alfar who lived in the mounds. And our nurturing, yet sometimes ...