🔮 Welcome to The Curated Witch, where magic meets modern living! Join us as we delve into the mystical realms and explore a wide range of enchanting topics of discovery, empowerment, and transformation! 🌟🔮✨s:
Isis
In autumn last year, the Chicago chapter of the Fellowship of Isis celebrated their 30th annual Autumnal Goddess Festival with dances, oracle readings, lectures, and a sharing of cultural history on September 29th, 2023. They recently sat down with The Wild Hunt to talk about their mission and their accomplishments in their three decades of work.
Queen of Heka was the first novel I wrote, but is the third to be published. I hope you enjoy the video.
Witches & Pagans
Barbara Millette, Willow Violette, and Iris Chausse perform a ritual at the Church of Eternal Light.
As Tony Griego stood alone in the woods, frost began to form over his altar water. It was 8 p.m., March 23, 1997, and the Hale-Bopp comet was near its closest point to Earth.
Griego, a U.S. Army veteran and New Haven police officer at the time, was dedicating himself to a goddess, part of the ritual of converting to paganism.
This is a claim of a particularly awful meme making its rounds online.
It’s not as though meme’s are every a good way of getting spiritual information, but some of them are truly terrible.
Today I witnessed such a terrible meme that proclaimed: Witches didn’t do that 500 years ago! They didn’t need stores!
Each year, perhaps, has her passing becomes further and further etched in history, the legend surrounding the life and death of Moll Dyer continues to grow. And this weekend the town of Leonardtown will once again pay tribute to those memories by offering three days of events commencing Feb. 23.
IN THE QUIET NORDNES NEIGHBORHOOD of Bergen, there is a small stone memorial known as Heksestein, or the Witch Stone. It remembers where 350 people condemned for witchcraft were burned at the stake during the country’s bloody witch trials in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Pagan or Witch altars are some of the most evocative images out there that get people interested in what a pagan practice might entail . . .
Altars are also a hotly debated topic. Some claim there are ‘rules’ on how to set one up – which tends to be the case in Wiccan practice – with the location of the altar, the accoutrement, the statues and so on, all having to be “just so.”
A new temple dedicated to the Norse gods is being built in Iceland, the first in over a millennium. This architectural marvel symbolizes the growth of Ásatrú, currently the second most practiced faith in Iceland. Despite debates around its continuity with historical practices, the temple stands as a testament to the resilience and adaptability of human belief.
Some would say feng shui is an art form while others would say it is a skill. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Like in Wicca or in the Wiccan way of life, Feng shui too is concerned with creating sacred space, concerned with making the world around us into a balanced place where energy or 'chi' can flow and we can be happier, healthier and more prosperous.
...One of my newer employees is an atheist with occasional agnostic leanings, and recently, an old roommate of his resurfaced to cause annoyances in his life. So he was venting to me (I encourage open and honest communication in the workplace), reciting a laundry list of this person’s character flaws personality quirks, and towards the end of his rant, he was like, “… And he says he’s a witch.”
I flinched a little at that, like, “Oy, I don’t think I want to know where this goes.” But then he was all, “I don’t mean to gatekeep, but you are a real witch. He is not.”
A woman who climbed to the top of Pendle Hill said she came across a "ghostly type person" who could only be described as a "witch".
These images were taken by Katie Berry, 38, and her brother Michael, from Farnworth, who were visiting Pendle Hill for the first time on Thursday. Pendle Hill has been named one of the most "haunted spots" in the UK.
Photo David McIntyre
Members of the city's witchcraft community gathered outside the Witchcraft District Bazaar on Mount Carmel Place.
Poughkeepsie’s Witchcraft District wouldn’t exist without Joe Mendillo. Known as Joe Netherworld by his peers, Mendillo was a multifaceted individual and an influential figure to fellow witches. Among many titles, he was a witch, a tarot reader, and a Satanist with a background in sculpting and stage prop design. In 1999, he purchased and renovated an 1870 Gothic house on the corner of South Clinton and Church streets in the city. Over time, Mendillo’s residence gained fame as the “Halloween House” and the “House of Netherworld” due to his elaborate decorations, drawing like-minded folks to settle in nearby historic homes. He coined the term “Witchcraft District” to describe not just the cluster of Victorian houses but also the collective mindset of the community that chose to call them home.
Tarot
Traditionally, folk have taken Leap Day as a time when women, instead of men, can ‘do’ the proposing.
This is an old Irish custom based on a legend of Saint Bridget and Saint Patrick. It once had legal basis in Scotland and England. Nowadays, of course, anyone can ‘do’ the proposing.
But let’s use that theme of unusual, unexpected, or out-there proposals and draw a tarot card to see what surprise your star sign might be receiving this February 29!
A few weeks ago I wrote a story about XV the Devil. In the comments, fellow Kossak MollyBloom shared a picture of V the High Priest (Hierophant) card from the DruidCraft deck. It was the most beautiful version of that card that I've ever seen. That one picture was enough to convince me to buy the deck. (Especially amazing considering the fact that that particular card is one I've never liked). So, thank you, MollyBloom.
I decided to treat myself to the boxed set. The book was highly recommended, and buying the set is less expensive than buying the book separately later.
The Tower card from the Rider-Waite tarot deck, art by Pamela Coleman Smith, 1909.
Because sh*t happens.
Recently I wrote about the Devil card, and how it (along with the Death card) tends to freak people out. A couple of commenters noted, and I agree, that if there's one card that is potentially really frightening, it's this one. The Tower.
This is the card of bad things happen, to good people and awful people alike. It's not necessarily deserved or what we might consider just. It can be bewildering because if there were any warning signs, we somehow missed them. Something happens- even several "somethings"- and it all comes crashing down.
I'm no stranger to traditional therapy. . .
However, I eventually got to a point in therapy where I found myself with very little to say during my sessions. .. .
That's why I was surprised to find myself crying in a tent last summer, opening up about my feelings and experiences - as I have in therapy sessions - during my first-ever Tarot reading.
Miscellaneous
The pagan worldview is structured around the turning of the agricultural year. Right now we are between two holidays: Imbolc, on Feb. 2, and Ostara, on the vernal equinox in March. . . One of my favorite activities during this window of time is to dream about, and then select, a destination for pilgrimage.
We are constantly being barraged with negative energy. From the moment we wake up in the morning to the moment we lay down our heads at night (and sometimes beyond!), we have been the recipients of negative energies from the world around us in many forms. We suffer stress as we try to manage our modern lives, and while we may feel we have a handle on things, these issues can fester under the surface and turn into real problems on a psychic level . . . it becomes important to learn how to cleanse away unwanted or harmful influences regardless of their source. When suffering from crossed conditions the way forward is clear: only an Uncrossing will do.
Pentheus being torn by maenads. Roman fresco from the northern wall of the triclinium in the Casa dei Vettii (VI 15,1) in Pompeii. [public domain]
There’s a memory I have of myself as a child, the kind so old and scuffed that it’s almost impossible to make out these days. Maybe it happened just this way, or maybe revisiting it so often has worn it away, blurring lines until the image is unrecognizable to anyone but me. I come back to it again and again, examining it until the colors wear off on my hands and stain everything I touch.
The memory is this. I am young, not yet in middle school, trying to make sense of the world around me. “What does ‘the fear of God’ mean?” I ask. “If God is love – why does he want us to be afraid of him?”
There’s something undeniably exciting about a moonless sky—it evokes feelings of the great unknown, of limitless possibility. A blank sky means that soon, that great big rock that's always looking down on you will start to take shape again, sliver by silver sliver, beginning a cycle that feels like the first page of a new chapter. A moonless sky means starting fresh. I mean, it’s called the 'new moon' for a reason, right?
Once upon a time people lived in a world of magic and wonder, a world where anything could happen and often did. But then something went wrong – something was lost. And now we live in a bland world filled with drudgery, a world where “magical thinking” is an insult of the highest order. Our world has become disenchanted and we need to re-enchant it.
Photo by Valentin Salja on Unsplash
Find a way to bring enchantment into your life every day.
As a psychologist-magician (or psyche-magician as I like to call it) a question I often hear is, “How can I balance my magical practice with the demands of mundane daily life?” Or, “How do I balance having heightened awareness of the world’s subtle realms with the fact that I have to, like, pay bills and buy groceries?”
. . . it’s a good idea to plan time weekly, ideally daily, for our spiritual self.
Books, Films, Music, and Other Fun Stuff
Lentils made us who we are.
One of the eight “neolithic founder crops” domesticated in the fertile crescent 12,000 years ago, lentils are protein and fibre rich, full of necessary vitamins and minerals, making them an incredibly important food source for our early agrarian ancestors. . . By the Bronze Age, lentils, as an abundant, nutrient dense crop, had become a poverty food, one relied on by those who couldn’t afford a diet of meat and wheat bread instead.
Despite, or perhaps because of, this, lentils are associated with wealth and good fortune when it comes to folk magic, with a soup intended to improve the family fortunes over the coming year just one of the ways this ancient legume has played a magical role in our lives.
With an imaginative blend of ancient, traditional and modern, Huartan bring something new to Ireland’s musical landscape, says Robert McMillen.
The Devil Presenting Saint Augustine with the Book of Vices’; painting by Michael Pacher, fifteenth century
The figure of the devil, the Black Man of the Sabbat, the adversarial force that presides over all witchery, has become a popular topic for discussion of late. The Witch Compass: Working with the Winds in Traditional Witchcraft was published by Llewellyn. Signed copies are also available from the Surrey Cunning website.
.
Your fate is in the cards. Check out the terrifying trailer for Tarot, an upcoming horror movie starring Harriet Slater, Adain Bradley, Avantika, and Jacob Batalon.
When a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings – never use someone else’s deck – they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards. One by one, they come face to face with fate and end up in a race against death to escape the future foretold in their readings.
Margaret McMahon’s witchy tales have been flying off the shelves at shop in city centre.
A Belfast author has been embraced by the pagan community in Northern Ireland due to the popularity of her book series set in a mysterious world of witches and warlocks
If you want to read Crescent Witches, you can either go to Belfast (if you have the budget) or get the Kindle version from Amazon.
Studio and Freedom Games announced their Openworld RPG life-sim, The Witch of Fern Island. The game ‘will begin on February 27th, where players can take tours of the titular island. With emphasis on the importance of magic, exploration and social interaction for players – in this game their freedom can be revealed by learning from different locations around which they go to take part. The official trailer shows a glimpse of what people can expect from the game.