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Owen Davies

Grimoires: A History of Magic Books
TWPT talks to Owen Davies

Owen Davies is Reader in Social History at the University of Hertfordshire. He has written extensively on the history of popular magic, witchcraft, and ghosts. The history of grimoires is more than just the history of magic - it illuminates many of the most important developments in European history, from the spread of Christianity to the settlement of the New World.  Davies traces the history of this remarkably resilient and adaptable genre, from the ancient Middle East to modern America, offering a new perspective on the fundamental developments of western civilization over the past two thousand years. Grimoires shows the influence magic and magical writing has had on the cultures of the world, richly demonstrating the role they have played in the spread of Christianity, the growth of literacy, and the influence of western traditions from colonial times to the present.

Click here to go to the Author's Corner home.

Mark Eadicicco

The Witch Shoppe of Staten Island

Staten Island native Mark Eadicicco is a witch, psychic and business man - proprotier of "Practical Magick" a witch shoppe on Staten Island.  Mark has been reading tarot cards for over twenty years and has always been drawn to the paranormal since he was a young child. Mark has worked his way up the ropes working in various "New Age" shoppes in New York City and has been successfully running his own witch shop since 2005. 

Mark Eadicicco, a hereditary and Cabot witch, is also proud to be the only certified witch teaching classes and running a business on Staten Island. Mark Eadicicco is a Third Degree High Priest in the Cabot tradition of Witchcraft - personally taught and trained by Laurie Cabot, "The Official Witch of Salem". 

 Read the rest of this interview by clicking here.

Imajicka
Editor TWPT

This past week the headlines have been filled with the news of the devastation in Haiti after the 7.0 earthquake struck on Tuesday January 12, 2010. Sometimes it is easier to visualize a tragedy when it falls within what we are able to comprehend such as when a family loses a single loved one or even when a family is tragically killed in some sort of accident. We can grieve with the victims because it is something that most of us have some experience with during our lifetimes as we have lost family members to natural causes or tragic circumstances. I have heard that the death toll in Haiti might reach into the hundreds of thousands and that is when many of us start to lose the ability to even comprehend what has happened there. The city where I live has a population of around 60,000 people and that really helps me put things into a perspective that I can understand. It is like having every man woman and child in my city all killed by a natural disaster at once.

For the rest of Imajicka's Thoughts click here. 

From the Goddess
by Robert Gass &
On Wings of Song

Maybe you have heard of Lala.com and maybe not. If you love music you should know about it. You can listen to all the songs on lala.com for free one time through before you have to buy them. After that you can buy the tunes to listen on the web for .10 and as mp3's for .79. I am going to be bringing you some of Boudica and Imajicka's favorites.  Enjoy!!  

Sitara Haye

Next Holiday:
Imbolc
February 2, 2010

It seems quite impossible that the holiday of Candlemas should be considered the beginning of spring. Here in the Heartland, February 2 may see a blanket of snow mantling the Mother. Or, if the snows have gone, you may be sure the days are filled with drizzle, slush, and steel-grey skies—the dreariest weather of the year. In short, the perfect time for a Pagan Festival of Lights. And as for spring, although this may seem a tenuous beginning, all the little buds, flowers, and leaves will have arrived on schedule before spring runs its course to Beltane.

For the rest of Mike Nichols' article on Imbolc  click here.

Link

Creating Your Own Mythic Animals

When we look at the myths of old, remember that old tales were once quite new. People, not much different than you or I, created stories about animals to explain their surroundings. They dreamt of great birds that rose up from the ashes, or fire-breathing beasts who tested our courage. They lulled children off to sleep on the wings of great white horses who flew like clouds in the sky.

Today we can bring to life our own private menagerie of mythic animals. We can create our own nature tales colored with animal images -- whether a modern-day dragon, or a simple fire-fly glowing in a glass jar.

 Read the rest of this article by clicking here.

News and Announcements for the Wiccan/Pagan community

Winter 2009

Witches & Pagans is the new 96-page pan-Pagan magazine lovechild of our titles newWitch and PanGaia. The zine (a complete relaunch and redesign of newWitch) will debut August 1 with the "Faerie" issue; combining the fire and passion of newWitch with the gravitas and depth of PanGaia. Look for interviews of Pagan artists, thinkers, writers, musicians and celebrities, plus practical magick (beginning, intermediary and advanced), AstroSpell, Pagan muses and mentors including R.J. Stewart, Isaac Bonewits, Galina Krasskova, Kenaz Filan, Judy Harrow, Good Witch/Bad Witch and much, much more.


Click the cover or here to visit W&P's website for more information.

July 2009

Thorn is a new quarterly print magazine about paganism and modern culture. Through a combination of news articles and investigative research, photographic spreads and academic essays, comic strips, original illustration and historical analysis, we hope to illuminate the joys and complications of living ancient paths in the wired era.

Click the cover or here to visit Thorn's website for more information.

Living the Wican Life:
Margot Adler

Sabrina
the Ink Witch

Sabrina the Ink Witch:
TWPT Talks to Sabrina

Sabrina, better known as The Ink Witch has been crafting Old Style Pen & Ink for over 30 years. Her beautiful artwork has been published in many magazines all over the world. Her artwork also appears in several published books and most recently she has been included as the illustration artist for a Pagan Based Traditional Publishing House; Spiral Publishing, Inc.

Click here to read the interview.

TWPT's Earth Magic

This month Jesse's new article is entitled
Pitfalls on the Magical or Spiritual Path.   

Otherwise benign New Spiritual practices can suffer from some of the same pitfalls as conventional organized religion.  Fortunately, once we’re aware of these diversions we can make the informed choices that reunite us with the inspirited world, rather than contribute to our estrangement.   

In my life of pilgrimage the voices of the earthen Anima have repeatedly contradicted what I’ve read, was taught, once thought, and so badly wanted to believe... Thus as I became a teacher myself, I deferred again and again— not to presumed authorities or established traditions, but to the actual Source of every real truth they contain.  Our realization of wholeness/holiness begins not in contemplation or conclusion but in a great listening.  It begins in a vulnerable condition of openness, with fierce focus, gentle humility, and the overwhelming gratitude that makes us worthy of such gifts.    

Read Jesse's column on TWPT

Boudica

Updated 01-25-2009

TWPT's Bookviews

Crafting Wiccan Traditions by
Raven Grimassi

I enjoyed this book because of the concept.  I was surprised at the amount of material that Grimassi covers for this process.  The contents of this book puts it all together to show you how it's done. 

Tradition is the foundation of our spiritual system.  Each person sees the Wiccan path as a personal path.  Gardner did it, Buckland did it, even Grimassi did it; establishing a system of spirituality that worked for them, and enabling it to work for others. 

Raven Grimassi presents a “system” here to establish your own Tradition.  In it he also includes all the trappings and tools and beliefs and reasons to do so.  It is a complex method, with all the basics, all the elements and all the workings that we may want to include.

Read Boudica's review of Crafting Wiccan Traditions by Raven Grimassi