Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Ember Grant, author of Magical Candle Crafting and the new Book of Crystal Spells Most people who travel bring home souvenirs—some people collect coffee mugs or post cards. I collect rocks. Or stone jewelry. Sometimes both. In crystal magic, stones we find in special places often hold memories that we cherish for a lifetime. We always remember finding that certain pendant or ring, and every time we wear the piece, we are reminded of that journey. I invite you to consider this in your crystal magic practice: use the pieces you buy on vacations or other adventures to work spells that keep that association strong. Here's an example. When I

Yesterday, Sunday, June 2, I gave my first worldwide webinar. The subject was Magickal Self-Defense. We had people participating from all over the world. This included students from the U.S. and Canada as well as from Germany, England, Israel, South Africa, and even the United Arab Emirates. I would like to thank everyone who attended. It meant a lot to me and I hope you enjoyed the presentation and the material. I have been giving workshops for many years. I've given them for as few as two people and for as many as 600. Every one has been unique and fun. This webinar, however, was different: Although there were breaks during the live webinar for questions and audience

In Israel Regardie's The Golden Dawn, there is a paper entitled "The Tattwas of the Eastern School." It was addressed to the members of the Philosophus Grade of the Order by Frater De Profundis ad Lucem (Latin for “From the depths to the light,” the motto of Frederick Leigh Gardner, 1857–1930). It was dated August, 1894. This document was withdrawn from circulation within the branch of the Golden Dawn into which Regardie had been initiated (the Stella Matutina), but continued to be given to members of the American branch of the Order, as well as to those who remained loyal to co-founder Macgregor Mathers after the Order's schism in the early 1900s. There are some other instructions

I am really proud of the court cards for both volumes of the Book of Shadows Tarot. Because Lo Scarabeo encouraged me to push the boundaries and explore new possibilities, I tried to meet the challenge. Because Book of Shadows, vol. 2: So Below is meant to be closer to the RWS tradition (whereas As Above was meant to be a kind of re-imagining of what tarot can be), the court cards are grounded in the familiar Rider-Waite-Smith tradition. However, I did two things that I think shake things up and mess with our expectations. Instead of letting rank decide the gender of the characters, I let the suits decide. And to play with our heads even more, I designed the “passive” suits (Cups