Today is Valentine's Day. It's a wonderful day now dedicated to love and romance. Some people, though, are still alone. And some are thinking about performing a love spell. I made a four-part series of posts on the subject, so before you bring out your candles and spellbooks, take a look: The Secrets of Real Love Spells: Part One The Secrets of Real Love Spells: Part Two The Secrets of Real Love Spells: Part Three The Secrets of Real Love Spells: Part Four On to San Jose, California, for PantheaCon! That's it for me this week. I'm off to San Jose where I'll be giving workshops at PantheaCon. Llewellyn will have a booth there and I'll frequently be at the booth, as well as being

Many years ago I read the book Meta-talk: How to uncover hidden meanings in what people say by Gerard I. Nierenberg and Henry Calero. The basic concept is sort of like interpreting body language for the use of words. With body language, the position and motions of the body can amplify or refute the words you say. When you understand body language, you can better understand people's actual meanings, sometimes when they don't understand it themselves. With meta-talk, one of the concepts is that the choice to use certain words can amplify or refute the content of what you say or write. One of my favorite examples of this is the use of the word, "but." "But" is a conjunction that

I honestly believe that Llewellyn publishes some of the most important and valuable books around. The authors you read today may be the Gerald Gardners, Doreen Valientes, Israel Regardies, Aleister Crowleys, and Arthur Avalons of tomorrow. Which authors today will take their place in that pantheon of names? I don't know. My guess is that a mixture of good writing and great information, combined with fortunate timing and popular interest will make that choice. I'd like to see you there. I've been fortunate enough to travel all over the U.S. and Europe giving workshops. Everywhere I go I hear the same sort of thing, "I could write a better book!" Whenever I hear people say that I

In recent days I've been thinking a lot about alternative forms of divination. Most of you reading this are familiar with Tarot and astrology. Some of you may also be familiar with how to use runes, palmistry or ways to "read" a crystal ball. There are, however, some lesser-known forms of divination that are every bit as powerful as the better-known methods. One form I've been looking at has intrigued me since my parents took me to L.A.'s Chinatown when I was a child. It's a sort of silly, fatalistic game consisting of a bunch of narrow wooden strips each having a number printed on it. These were all kept within in a cylindrical container. You'd think of a question and shake the