Gordon at Rune Soup has presented a "game" that has been firing up the magickal blogosphere. Here is the idea: Let's say you would like to introduce someone to the world of magick using only books. This person is going to be in a deserted house with no outside communication for a month and they've agreed to read whatever you tell them, in the order that you tell them. Here, quoted from Rune Soup, are the rules: Fiction is allowed. You have to specify what brand of magician you want to build beforehand. (Hermeticist, chaos, etc.) You can’t tell the subject this. You must include books from at least three disciplines. (This is to stop you just giving the Complete Golden Dawn

I really don't like shaving, but I like the feeling of a smooth face, so I do it. I've tried about every shaver, manual and electric. They each seem to do a good job in certain areas and have problems with others. In a nearby shopping mall there is a store just for shaving products, including their own. I love their sandalwood shaving cream in a jar. It's expensive, but it lasts about 15-20 times longer than cans of cream or gel and works better for me (it's better for the environment, too). Recently, I stopped in to pick up a new tube of shaving cream for when I travel. They had on display a new multi-bladed razor that was about to come out. I asked about it and they told me its

As I write this, Apple Inc. (formerly Apple Computer) is about to announce new products. Today they are a focal point of the technology world. But it has not always been so. About 15 years ago I had left my job. The new job I was promised before I moved across the country fell through. I spent time living off the kindness of friends and eventually had to move back in with my parents. I was out of money. At that time the price of Apple stock had fallen, as I recall, to about $12 per share. I was urging everyone I knew (and who had money) to buy Apple stock. The reason for my urging was that I believed only two things could happen. First, the stock would go up in value, in which

The recent Memorial Day weekend got me thinking about the pentagram. Why? Well, read on... For as long as I can remember, my teachers (and innumerable books) have claimed that the "upright" pentagram is a positive and spiritual image. It's upright. What could be more positive than upright? It's used as a symbol for Wicca, Witchcraft, and Paganism. It's used for protection as in the famous Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram as well as in other rituals. It is said that the five points of the pentagram represent the five elements: Fire at the lower right, Earth at the lower left, Water at the upper right, Air at the upper left, and Spirit at the top. What a great symbol this