Fall is one of my favorite times of the year, even with winter looming in the distance. The trees show off their beautiful colors and apples are getting ready to pick. The kids are back at school, so we're starting to fall into a different rhythm. I tend to get so busy that I forget to stop and open my eyes to the world around me. To enjoy the sunlight on my face, the wind in my hair and the sound of the ocean, river or even pond that is nearby.
Now is the time to enjoy the rewards of the summer's work. Of course, it may not be OUR work, but we can join in by going to the farmers market and eat some of the fresh locally grown food that is so delicious because it is full of the earth's energy. Time to prepare for Mabon and another turn of the wheel of the year.
I'm starting to take this time to learn about herbal healing and nurturing your bodies with plants and "weeds" that grow everywhere around us. I plan on making salves, tinctures, infusions, and dried herbs for teas, and other things to keep me going through the winter when the earth is resting for spring. I'm eager to get out and connect with Mother Nature and gain more knowledge about her many gifts.
living it ecclectic pagan and vegan - rituals, recipes, struggles, and fun
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Friday, September 7, 2012
Kaeng Raeng Cleanse
It hardly seems possible but Gwen and I took the veg plege a year ago next month! Time has flown and I don't miss eggs or dairy at all (I had been vegetarian for fifteen years and I never missed meat once I decided to stop eating it).
I had seen info on the Kaeng Raeng vegan cleanse on Alicia Silverstone's blog (http://thekindlife.com) and then forgotten all about it for a while. But recently I decided to do it. I thought a cleanse would be a nice "reset button" for my body as I celebrate one year vegan. Hopefully it will help me clean out the old toxins and junk still left in my system and start fresh eating even more whole foods and good stuff. Oh, I used to be known for my coffee bingeing and I've also been coffee free since Februrary! I did it out of concern for my blood pressure. Sometimes I miss the coffee but not much. Too bad most of the people who know me still give me bags of gourmet coffee anytime a present is called for. ;0)
Anyhow, I took the Kaeng Raeng quiz and they suggested I do the six day master cleanse. Of course I wondered if they tell everyone to take that one, or at least everyone who is vegan, but a friend took the quiz and got a three day answer. I wound up getting the 6 day master cleanse and I'm in the afternoon of day four.
Bottom line: it's great. The cleanse is not a "fast" or anything. You drink three very filling shakes a day, which are filled with nutrients. Between the fiber and the nutrients you really aren't physically hungry at all. You are also "allowed" to eat as much fresh, raw, fruit and veg as you wish. So it isn't deprivation. Any sense of that is primarily psychological and perhaps to do with some food addictions. So breaking that cycle is exactly what I signed on for.
There are some detox symptoms, which kaeng raeng explains and tries to prepare us for. I had gone off caffienated tea three days before the cleanse to get that withdrawal out of the way. But I did have some headaches and cramping in the first three days. It wasn't bad...mostly it was psychological because I was at work and afraid that withdrawal would affect my ability to get things done but that wasn't the case. I did meditations on my lunchbreaks and those helped with any headaches or fatique.
Day three was the hardest so far. It wasn't bad, mind you. Just the hardest. Part of this may have been that I was at a very intense, draining day-long work meeting so that may have given me a headache anyway! But I did have a bad one and overall flushed face, shaky hands...it felt like drinking too much coffee and then suddenly stopping. Also not being able to eat lunch with my peers bothered me more that day but I went out to my car and did a meditation, which totally turned it around. Then that evening I was meeting a friend for a walk and I felt a little run down so I regretted setting myself up for a lot of running around. Also I felt bad about the social aspect of not eating with her, but bless her heart she showed up toting her own green juice. Solidarity! :0)
Today I have had no symptoms, no hunger, and despite a pretty busy workday I feel really good. Maybe I've rounded the detox corner? We'll see. Two more days to go!
-- Addition: Here I am the following week. I successfully completed the cleanse! Yay! Days four and five were fairly easy but day six was a bit tough. I think part of it was psychological because I felt I had to do some meal planning for the next week to get off to a good start, and thinking about food made me hungry. Plus I think I was entering a deeper level of detox on day 6 - I had another bad headache that actually lingered for a couple days, tho meditating helped. I also had a really bad aftertaste in my mouth all day (which I have heard may be due to detox). But I got thru it and I was so proud afterwards!
The next day I only had vegetable soups and a salad to try to bring my system back to regular food easily. Since the cleanse I am eating better, don't crave sweets or fat (as much), and get full much faster. I lost 3 1/2 pounds on the cleanse, which sounds about average from other testimonials. My blood pressure is still pre-hypertensive but a tad lower. I hope to keep the good improvements up now! I definitely recommend kaeng raeng and plan to do it again...probably a three day cleanse after New Year's.
I had seen info on the Kaeng Raeng vegan cleanse on Alicia Silverstone's blog (http://thekindlife.com) and then forgotten all about it for a while. But recently I decided to do it. I thought a cleanse would be a nice "reset button" for my body as I celebrate one year vegan. Hopefully it will help me clean out the old toxins and junk still left in my system and start fresh eating even more whole foods and good stuff. Oh, I used to be known for my coffee bingeing and I've also been coffee free since Februrary! I did it out of concern for my blood pressure. Sometimes I miss the coffee but not much. Too bad most of the people who know me still give me bags of gourmet coffee anytime a present is called for. ;0)
Anyhow, I took the Kaeng Raeng quiz and they suggested I do the six day master cleanse. Of course I wondered if they tell everyone to take that one, or at least everyone who is vegan, but a friend took the quiz and got a three day answer. I wound up getting the 6 day master cleanse and I'm in the afternoon of day four.
Bottom line: it's great. The cleanse is not a "fast" or anything. You drink three very filling shakes a day, which are filled with nutrients. Between the fiber and the nutrients you really aren't physically hungry at all. You are also "allowed" to eat as much fresh, raw, fruit and veg as you wish. So it isn't deprivation. Any sense of that is primarily psychological and perhaps to do with some food addictions. So breaking that cycle is exactly what I signed on for.
There are some detox symptoms, which kaeng raeng explains and tries to prepare us for. I had gone off caffienated tea three days before the cleanse to get that withdrawal out of the way. But I did have some headaches and cramping in the first three days. It wasn't bad...mostly it was psychological because I was at work and afraid that withdrawal would affect my ability to get things done but that wasn't the case. I did meditations on my lunchbreaks and those helped with any headaches or fatique.
Day three was the hardest so far. It wasn't bad, mind you. Just the hardest. Part of this may have been that I was at a very intense, draining day-long work meeting so that may have given me a headache anyway! But I did have a bad one and overall flushed face, shaky hands...it felt like drinking too much coffee and then suddenly stopping. Also not being able to eat lunch with my peers bothered me more that day but I went out to my car and did a meditation, which totally turned it around. Then that evening I was meeting a friend for a walk and I felt a little run down so I regretted setting myself up for a lot of running around. Also I felt bad about the social aspect of not eating with her, but bless her heart she showed up toting her own green juice. Solidarity! :0)
-- Addition: Here I am the following week. I successfully completed the cleanse! Yay! Days four and five were fairly easy but day six was a bit tough. I think part of it was psychological because I felt I had to do some meal planning for the next week to get off to a good start, and thinking about food made me hungry. Plus I think I was entering a deeper level of detox on day 6 - I had another bad headache that actually lingered for a couple days, tho meditating helped. I also had a really bad aftertaste in my mouth all day (which I have heard may be due to detox). But I got thru it and I was so proud afterwards!
The next day I only had vegetable soups and a salad to try to bring my system back to regular food easily. Since the cleanse I am eating better, don't crave sweets or fat (as much), and get full much faster. I lost 3 1/2 pounds on the cleanse, which sounds about average from other testimonials. My blood pressure is still pre-hypertensive but a tad lower. I hope to keep the good improvements up now! I definitely recommend kaeng raeng and plan to do it again...probably a three day cleanse after New Year's.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Hermetic Teachings and how they can inform vegan paganism
Laurie Cabot, one of my teachers (and a great one), uses the Kybalion as a text to educate her students on the laws of nature/the universe/magick. The language is arcane and the authorship is controversial, but what I like about the Kybalion is that is has the potential to serve as a framework to discuss spirituality, magick and religion from a perspective outside any of our current religious "labels." The texts are attributed to and/or inspired by the original teachings of Hermes Trismegistus. Hermes Trismegistus himself is a mysterious figure...who may have been a great teacher/adept or was a personification of the messenger God, Hermes (and also often assimilated with the Egyption God, Thoth).
The core of the Kybalion is what the authors called the seven laws or principles. Here they are in a summary:
The Law of Mentalism: the Universe is mental, or of the mind. It is “a mental creation of the ALL” – everything is thought into existence by God/dess the ALL or in scientific terms, “the objective intelligence.”
The Law of Correspondence: “As above, So below. As below, so above.”
New physics = every particle of matter contains all others. Same with our concept of time: “as then, so now” posits this may explain many “hauntings.”
Herbs, gems, etc. for spells and rituals have specific energies and qualities to draw in what we seek, also colors, etc. – all of this is to do with the Law of Correspondence.
The Law of Vibration: Nothing is at rest. Energy moves. Matter is never inert. Different rates of vibration = different texture, temperature, etc. Same with brain waves – alpha, beta, theta, etc are different rates of vibration.
Kirilian Photography measures vibration (aura photographs)
Our aura is part of our vibrational quality. We send messages thru the vibrational quality of energy and work magick by sending vibrational messages that participate in creation.
Law of Polarity: polarity is the key to power in the hermetic system. Kybalion = everything is dual – everything contains its opposite. Opposites are really two extremes of the same thing.
All objects, moods, and states have positive and negative poles, like circuits, thru which energy passes. You need never be stuck in one spot. Magick works with this polarized energy circuit.
Being centered is powerful because it taps both poles.
“In the middle is virtue.” – Roman proverb.
Einstein said: “Time and space are modes by which we think, not conditions in which we live.”
Law of Rhythm: How polarized, ever vibrating energy moves is a rhythmic dance. Energy moves in circles. Like ripples in water. There is an ebb and flow movement in spirals.
Rhythm = the measured motion between extremes. Everything is continually becoming its opposite. We are in constant change of “becoming” (Heraclitus)
The Kybalion says “the pendulum or rhythm swings ever toward first one pole and then the other.” And, “the pendulum ever swings, but we may escape being carried along with it.”
Self mastery = directing our own energy. Yet still working with the rhythms of nature. The great wheel of life. Birth/death/rebirth of all things – moon cycles, tides, seasons – are all the natural expressions of rhythm. We need to find a way to integrate our rhythms into the larger rhythms while still achieving our goals.
Law of Gender: everything has masculine and feminine components. Tied to polarity. Use of gendered terms to explain polarized qualities of energy (yin/yang).
Feminine = receptive
Masculine = projective
This is not about locking us into gendered roles of our culture – actually the opposite because it suggests all people contain both qualities/genders.
Due to the value of balance a certain androgyny is valued in lots of magicks and magical systems/cultures.
Look at many creation myths – how the goddess contained the god within herself, etc.
Law of Cause and Effect: everything causes everything else. Not always directly but thru the ripple effect of how energy moves and because ALL is connected.
The Universe is a web – not separate but all connected and part of a whole. Magicks seek to utilize this cause and effect intentionally.
So thru magick we seek to solve our own problems, reach our own goals – but we are also held in check by the greater whole of which we are a part and regulated by ethics. The Rede, which is an expression of cause and effect, says what we send out we get back threefold.
I think the Kybalion and its principles speak to veganism when we look at cause and effect. The concept of the whole System as connected (in fact inherently One) speaks to how we treat each other, other animals, plants, and the earth itself.
Laurie Cabot comments on the lessons of the Kybalion in her early book, "The Power of the Witch," in a way that seems to me to draw a clear link to veganism:
“As witches we believe we are meant to know how everything works – earth, air, fire, water, stars, planets, spirits. This knowledge is available to us. Furthermore, we are responsible for knowing how everything in the universe works because we are responsible for the universe.
“Our mission is ecological; we are here to balance energies, reconcile opposites, and right wrongs by mentally projecting that all things be corrected. It is our responsibility and yours to promote health and life in all its forms.” (pg 176)
My idea of how to pull all this together is to say we are here to learn, to evolve spiritually, and to raise vibrations of good/spirit for all. Of course they all overlap because of the ways we are all connected. This includes:
Healing for earth: sustainability, repair, reduce environmental impact
Healing for creatures: veganism/reduction, animal welfare with the goal of animal abolition
Healing for people: equality, rights, sexual education/reproductive rights, sustainable food markets/environmentalism, veganism to increase the global food accessibility (to grains, other plants), education to spread healthy and sustainable practices
Healing for spirit: helping damaged spirits cross over, doing ritual to create balance and raise vibrations, support other entities in their work
Healing for ALL: do the best we can to correct imbalances, which all ties together to benefit the ALL, which of course includes ourselves and our loved ones
Makes us healthier personally (feel better, have more energy and ability to do all the work, also more well being, etc)
I will probably talk about magick, activism, and veganism more in connection to the Kybalion so I just wanted to put some of this out there. So, the the words of that work, "As above, So below." blessed be!
The core of the Kybalion is what the authors called the seven laws or principles. Here they are in a summary:
The Law of Mentalism: the Universe is mental, or of the mind. It is “a mental creation of the ALL” – everything is thought into existence by God/dess the ALL or in scientific terms, “the objective intelligence.”
The Law of Correspondence: “As above, So below. As below, so above.”
New physics = every particle of matter contains all others. Same with our concept of time: “as then, so now” posits this may explain many “hauntings.”
Herbs, gems, etc. for spells and rituals have specific energies and qualities to draw in what we seek, also colors, etc. – all of this is to do with the Law of Correspondence.
The Law of Vibration: Nothing is at rest. Energy moves. Matter is never inert. Different rates of vibration = different texture, temperature, etc. Same with brain waves – alpha, beta, theta, etc are different rates of vibration.
Kirilian Photography measures vibration (aura photographs)
Our aura is part of our vibrational quality. We send messages thru the vibrational quality of energy and work magick by sending vibrational messages that participate in creation.
Law of Polarity: polarity is the key to power in the hermetic system. Kybalion = everything is dual – everything contains its opposite. Opposites are really two extremes of the same thing.
All objects, moods, and states have positive and negative poles, like circuits, thru which energy passes. You need never be stuck in one spot. Magick works with this polarized energy circuit.
Being centered is powerful because it taps both poles.
“In the middle is virtue.” – Roman proverb.
Einstein said: “Time and space are modes by which we think, not conditions in which we live.”
Law of Rhythm: How polarized, ever vibrating energy moves is a rhythmic dance. Energy moves in circles. Like ripples in water. There is an ebb and flow movement in spirals.
Rhythm = the measured motion between extremes. Everything is continually becoming its opposite. We are in constant change of “becoming” (Heraclitus)
The Kybalion says “the pendulum or rhythm swings ever toward first one pole and then the other.” And, “the pendulum ever swings, but we may escape being carried along with it.”
Self mastery = directing our own energy. Yet still working with the rhythms of nature. The great wheel of life. Birth/death/rebirth of all things – moon cycles, tides, seasons – are all the natural expressions of rhythm. We need to find a way to integrate our rhythms into the larger rhythms while still achieving our goals.
Law of Gender: everything has masculine and feminine components. Tied to polarity. Use of gendered terms to explain polarized qualities of energy (yin/yang).
Feminine = receptive
Masculine = projective
This is not about locking us into gendered roles of our culture – actually the opposite because it suggests all people contain both qualities/genders.
Due to the value of balance a certain androgyny is valued in lots of magicks and magical systems/cultures.
Look at many creation myths – how the goddess contained the god within herself, etc.
Law of Cause and Effect: everything causes everything else. Not always directly but thru the ripple effect of how energy moves and because ALL is connected.
The Universe is a web – not separate but all connected and part of a whole. Magicks seek to utilize this cause and effect intentionally.
So thru magick we seek to solve our own problems, reach our own goals – but we are also held in check by the greater whole of which we are a part and regulated by ethics. The Rede, which is an expression of cause and effect, says what we send out we get back threefold.
I think the Kybalion and its principles speak to veganism when we look at cause and effect. The concept of the whole System as connected (in fact inherently One) speaks to how we treat each other, other animals, plants, and the earth itself.
Laurie Cabot comments on the lessons of the Kybalion in her early book, "The Power of the Witch," in a way that seems to me to draw a clear link to veganism:
“As witches we believe we are meant to know how everything works – earth, air, fire, water, stars, planets, spirits. This knowledge is available to us. Furthermore, we are responsible for knowing how everything in the universe works because we are responsible for the universe.
“Our mission is ecological; we are here to balance energies, reconcile opposites, and right wrongs by mentally projecting that all things be corrected. It is our responsibility and yours to promote health and life in all its forms.” (pg 176)
My idea of how to pull all this together is to say we are here to learn, to evolve spiritually, and to raise vibrations of good/spirit for all. Of course they all overlap because of the ways we are all connected. This includes:
Healing for earth: sustainability, repair, reduce environmental impact
Healing for creatures: veganism/reduction, animal welfare with the goal of animal abolition
Healing for people: equality, rights, sexual education/reproductive rights, sustainable food markets/environmentalism, veganism to increase the global food accessibility (to grains, other plants), education to spread healthy and sustainable practices
Healing for spirit: helping damaged spirits cross over, doing ritual to create balance and raise vibrations, support other entities in their work
Healing for ALL: do the best we can to correct imbalances, which all ties together to benefit the ALL, which of course includes ourselves and our loved ones
Veganism is a great path to all this because it:
Makes us healthier personally (feel better, have more energy and ability to do all the work, also more well being, etc)
Makes us “cleaner” channels for spirit to work with and help us do the work
Reduces environmental impact on the earth, other creatures, and other people
Is a major part of the solution for world hunger, climate change, animal cruelty/exploitation, & health crises in many populations
I will probably talk about magick, activism, and veganism more in connection to the Kybalion so I just wanted to put some of this out there. So, the the words of that work, "As above, So below." blessed be!
Kitchen Witchery: Food Blessing
Like the mainstream tradition of “saying grace,” this is about blessing our food and being thankful for it. Blessing food can be done at all stages of preparation – even harvest. Some kitchen witches perform blessings over their crops as the grow, bless bulk ingredients (like flour, sugar, spices) before putting them in the pantry, or etc. Yet anyone can bless their plate before eating at least.
Here is a simple pentacle invocation and food blessing. You can use it over ingredients while you cook and/or over the plate before you eat.
Draw a pentacle in the air over the food with your finger or a cooking implement:
Say a few words of your choice. You may develop a set kind of little saying which you repeat automatically before each meal or you could wing it based on the day (or a bit of both). Here is an example:
“I bless this food and I thank the God and Goddess for the nourishment I am being given. Bless the earth for feeding me and for caring for us all. In the correct way and for the good of all, blessed be.”
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Lammas Blessings (taking stock of the bounty in our lives)
I'm a bit late posting about Lammas, but it is because I have been kind of taking the holiday season in and contemplating what to write. I looked around at what lots of other pagans online wrote about their holidays and a certain theme resonated with me.
It has to do with the bounty of the harvest...not only material, which is great (I'm a badass farm-stand stalker this time of year)...but also spiritual bounty.
At Imbolc especially, I attended a ritual where we stood before a priestess invoking Brede and said aloud my goals for the coming seasons. I can see how taking stock of the bounty my ritual and lived - workings has given so many gifts to me.
I became vegan after years of being vegetarian last October (as you will know if you have read Gwen's and my earlier posts). At Lammas I can be thankful for all the blessings the vegan path has given to me. I feel healthier, my allergies are improved, I have better focus and less stress. I feel that I am more in tune with my conscience in terms of my personal relationship with animals and my consumer patterns. My vegan journey has been a huge blessing to my paganism. That's why I blog about vegan paganism in the first place, and there is so much rich bounty still to be harvested.
It has to do with the bounty of the harvest...not only material, which is great (I'm a badass farm-stand stalker this time of year)...but also spiritual bounty.
At Imbolc especially, I attended a ritual where we stood before a priestess invoking Brede and said aloud my goals for the coming seasons. I can see how taking stock of the bounty my ritual and lived - workings has given so many gifts to me.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Ideas for vegan-pagan activism and a note on kitchen witchery
• Clean up a beach then do a ritual to connect with the elemental spirits and animal spirits of the area. Follow this with a yummy vegan potluck.
• Do a volunteer workday at an animal sanctuary, followed by a ritual to connect to the spirits of farmed animals, and then of course also follow this with a yummy vegan potluck!
• Do a local clothing-swap so that members of your community get what they need in a greener way. Spread the word about veganism with pamphlets, a vegan bake sale, etc.
• Have a pet food drive at public rituals and donate it to local food pantries and/or animal shelters and sanctuaries in the name of your group. This builds your community relations as pagans.
I was laughing as I made this list about how central food is to paganism, which of course fits right into a vegan dietary and activist lifestyle. This made me think about the concept of the kitchen witch.
There's a big trend toward "kitchen witchery" right now and it couldn't fit better with vegan paganism if we tried. Cooking and meal planning are such huge necessities for vegans, especially in rural areas. Seeing food prep as "alchemy" and a magickal practice can really enrich our path.
I think we tend to devalue kitchen work as "mundane" instead of magickal...at least I sometimes have. Yet when you think about it, most of the craft has always been making use of mundane tools and daily realities with a deliberate, magickal intent. The broom and cauldron, the knife were common household items but became symbols of craft.
"Alchemy" is defined as:
a seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination (Oxford Dictionary online)
So as vegan pagans it can be fun to explore how our making of a healthy recipe that sustains ourselves and our friends/family is actual "magick" - no different than following a recipe in a book of shadows to make a potion or perform a spell.
The current (Spring 2012) issue of Circle Sanctuary Magazine (from which I borrowed this notion of alchemy) is all about Kitchen Witchery and I found it a fun read. It can be downloaded for $5 if you are interested:
http://www.circlesanctuary.org/store/
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Green Witch Reading List
I hope everyone is having a great Summer now that the Solstice has passed us and we are trying to make the most of this warm, joyous time before slipping into Fall. I love Halloween more than any other time of year but let's not rush!
Speaking of Halloween (Samhain), Gwen and I plan to go to Salem for a week in October. I also plan to take Witchcraft II from Laurie Cabot as soon as I can. It will probably be next year. Check out her website for info on her great classes at http://www.lauriecabot.com/ or her Salem Temple at http://www.cabotkenthermetictemple.org/
I just thought it was time to put up a small book list for Green Witchcraft and related studies. Paganism is a very personal journey and lots of ecclectic study is the norm. Yet if you go to a bookstore or website and start searching the topic it can be a little overwhelming. That's why I'm putting up a small reading list here...only books I own and have read...to help narrow it down. I will try to do so every now and then. This list is books I feel relate most strongly to my vegan path as well as my spiritual one. Although most paganism involves elements of embodied spirituality and ecological ethics, I think these books are very strongly connected to environmental and animal rights lifestyle.
Earth Centered Spirituality (Joyce and River Higginbotham): this is a great place to start if you are totally new to paganism and may not even be sure if it is the path for you. The book is deliberately ecclectic and uses "paganism" as umbrella term for many trads without getting into the specifics of any one. For example, I tend to use "paganism" as a general term also but I personally am a witch, initiated in the Cabot-Kent Trad and also fairly ecclectic in my personal journey. The Higginbotham book mentions several different trads that people might want to look into but stays very general about magic, ethics, deities, and so on. It is also a great book to refer your curious friends and family to if you come out of the broom closet and they have a lot of questions (and/or misconceptions) about paganism.
Earth Magic: This is a audio CD by Starhawk, which is also a very basic primer but focuses on what I would call ecclectic Wicca. It has several chapters of basic informaiton and a couple of guided meditations. It is slightly less general than the Higginbotham book because it is grounded in one trad (Wicca) but it is also very general in the sense that it is basic info that would apply to most more localized trads within Wicca. The term Wicca is often used as if it was a general term for all pagans but this is not really the case. Wicca is a specific path that differs from say Asatru (Norse) or Druidry (Celtic).
The Earth Path (Starhawk): This is one of many great Wicca primers by Starhawk and it deals with ecology, ethics, permaculture, etc. Starhawk tries to write from a fairly general Wicca standpoint in order to make her writing meaningful to many readers. She is also a leader in the trad of Reclaiming Witchcraft.
I also recommend Starhawk's books Spiral Dance and Twelve Wild Swans or -- let's face it -- anything with her name on it. These two books are primers in a very Reclaiming Witch style of Wicca that focuses on magical empowerment, activism, and ethics.
Circle Round is a Reclaiming-grounded book of ritual songs with an accompanying CD if you want to learn some songs for your first trip to a public ritual.
Grimoire for the Green Witch (Ann Moura) is a thick how-to full of fun info like Theban and Futhark runes, spells, ways to celebrate Sabbats (the big pagan holidays) and Esbats (full moons), incense recipes, and teas.
Druidry (Emma Restall Orr) this is a short, glossy hardcover that serves as a good basic intro to Druidry. I suggest this one as a first stop because Druidry is a huge trad with tons of books and it can be hard to choose material until you have some basic idea of what the trad is all about. Druidry has a especially European personality and can be a bit hard for Americans to get hold of at first but it is a very, very "green" trad with deep roots.
The Deva Handbook: How to Work with Nature's Subtle Energies (Nathaniel Altman): This book introduces the reader to the concept of Elemental Spirits or Energies and how pagans can relate to them. Ever heard of the Findhorn community in Scotland? The Deva handbook is an intro to that kind of stuff. The Elementals are basically what we often refer to as "fairies," but without the sparkle and wings. Without the fluff, actually. Work with Elementals is a very interesting path to explore and touches on some very primal magical work. It is also very easy to connect Elemental work with veganism/animal rights.
While we're on the subject of fairies, there are plenty of other pagan practices that work with Earth Spirits/Elementals/the Fey. One of the most intriquing is the trad of Feri Witchcraft, which is notoriously secretive about its inner workings and definitely has nothing to do with Tinkerbell. T. Thorn Coyle has written an excellent primer for public-consumption called "Evolutionary Witchcraft."
Well, that's what I have for now. Enjoy! :0)
Speaking of Halloween (Samhain), Gwen and I plan to go to Salem for a week in October. I also plan to take Witchcraft II from Laurie Cabot as soon as I can. It will probably be next year. Check out her website for info on her great classes at http://www.lauriecabot.com/ or her Salem Temple at http://www.cabotkenthermetictemple.org/
I just thought it was time to put up a small book list for Green Witchcraft and related studies. Paganism is a very personal journey and lots of ecclectic study is the norm. Yet if you go to a bookstore or website and start searching the topic it can be a little overwhelming. That's why I'm putting up a small reading list here...only books I own and have read...to help narrow it down. I will try to do so every now and then. This list is books I feel relate most strongly to my vegan path as well as my spiritual one. Although most paganism involves elements of embodied spirituality and ecological ethics, I think these books are very strongly connected to environmental and animal rights lifestyle.
Earth Centered Spirituality (Joyce and River Higginbotham): this is a great place to start if you are totally new to paganism and may not even be sure if it is the path for you. The book is deliberately ecclectic and uses "paganism" as umbrella term for many trads without getting into the specifics of any one. For example, I tend to use "paganism" as a general term also but I personally am a witch, initiated in the Cabot-Kent Trad and also fairly ecclectic in my personal journey. The Higginbotham book mentions several different trads that people might want to look into but stays very general about magic, ethics, deities, and so on. It is also a great book to refer your curious friends and family to if you come out of the broom closet and they have a lot of questions (and/or misconceptions) about paganism.
Earth Magic: This is a audio CD by Starhawk, which is also a very basic primer but focuses on what I would call ecclectic Wicca. It has several chapters of basic informaiton and a couple of guided meditations. It is slightly less general than the Higginbotham book because it is grounded in one trad (Wicca) but it is also very general in the sense that it is basic info that would apply to most more localized trads within Wicca. The term Wicca is often used as if it was a general term for all pagans but this is not really the case. Wicca is a specific path that differs from say Asatru (Norse) or Druidry (Celtic).
The Earth Path (Starhawk): This is one of many great Wicca primers by Starhawk and it deals with ecology, ethics, permaculture, etc. Starhawk tries to write from a fairly general Wicca standpoint in order to make her writing meaningful to many readers. She is also a leader in the trad of Reclaiming Witchcraft.
I also recommend Starhawk's books Spiral Dance and Twelve Wild Swans or -- let's face it -- anything with her name on it. These two books are primers in a very Reclaiming Witch style of Wicca that focuses on magical empowerment, activism, and ethics.
Circle Round is a Reclaiming-grounded book of ritual songs with an accompanying CD if you want to learn some songs for your first trip to a public ritual.
Grimoire for the Green Witch (Ann Moura) is a thick how-to full of fun info like Theban and Futhark runes, spells, ways to celebrate Sabbats (the big pagan holidays) and Esbats (full moons), incense recipes, and teas.
Druidry (Emma Restall Orr) this is a short, glossy hardcover that serves as a good basic intro to Druidry. I suggest this one as a first stop because Druidry is a huge trad with tons of books and it can be hard to choose material until you have some basic idea of what the trad is all about. Druidry has a especially European personality and can be a bit hard for Americans to get hold of at first but it is a very, very "green" trad with deep roots.
The Deva Handbook: How to Work with Nature's Subtle Energies (Nathaniel Altman): This book introduces the reader to the concept of Elemental Spirits or Energies and how pagans can relate to them. Ever heard of the Findhorn community in Scotland? The Deva handbook is an intro to that kind of stuff. The Elementals are basically what we often refer to as "fairies," but without the sparkle and wings. Without the fluff, actually. Work with Elementals is a very interesting path to explore and touches on some very primal magical work. It is also very easy to connect Elemental work with veganism/animal rights.
While we're on the subject of fairies, there are plenty of other pagan practices that work with Earth Spirits/Elementals/the Fey. One of the most intriquing is the trad of Feri Witchcraft, which is notoriously secretive about its inner workings and definitely has nothing to do with Tinkerbell. T. Thorn Coyle has written an excellent primer for public-consumption called "Evolutionary Witchcraft."
Well, that's what I have for now. Enjoy! :0)
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