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

One of the things that has always intrigued me about the Kabalah is the focus by many Kabalists on the Sephiroht of the famous symbolic image, the Tree of Life. The Sephiroht (the ten spheres shown in the image of the Tree below) are less than 1/3 of the 32 aspects of the Tree, the others being the paths between the Sephiroht. Why focus on only ten rather than on the other 22? (That's like some people who focus on the 10 Commandments of the Jewish bible and ignore the more than 600 others.) Many books on the Kabalah and the Tree of Life, such as Dion Fortune's famous Mystical Qabalah, spend almost their entire length covering the Sephiroht and ignoring or at least slighting the

I have the sad news to report that Isaac Bonewits—author, Druid, and a leader of the occult community for decades—is reportedly in the hospital and not doing well. My best wishes to him, all of his loved ones, those who care about him, and all who have learned from him. Please add him to your prayers and rituals.