Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Alferian Gwydion MacLir, author of Wandlore: The Art of Crafting the Ultimate Magical Tool. Lately, we have had so many tornadoes, violent storms, tsunamis, floods, and other disasters. As these events unfolded, we all mourned the dead and looked on with shocked sadness at the houses and buildings that were smashed to smithereens. The news media reports disasters in terms of millions of dollars in damage, or in terms of loss of human life. Now, I am as sorry for the human losses as the next human, but as a druid, there is another sort of loss that breaks my heart: the trees. Reporting on the recent storm in Michigan, the news broadcast said

Many years ago, before the debacle that brought down the guru known as Osho, a friend of mine was a follower of him. She went to his ashram in Pune, India, to experience him directly. Known then as Rajneesh (or more fully, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh), he had numerous allergies. Before she was allowed to see him she had to go past people who would sniff her to make sure she wasn't wearing any perfumes, scented oils, etc. When she finally met him he told her, "You don't need me any more." She returned to America and from that time rarely attended any of his groups, although she still practiced what he had taught. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho) Many Westerners don't like the very concept of

This Full Moon in Capricorn occurred today, Friday, July 15 at 2:40 am Eastern (6:40 am GMT) at 22 degrees. Full Moons represent the culmination of those things that were begun with the New Moon (in this case the July 1 New Moon in Cancer). The first Full Moon free of eclipse energy in six weeks, this Full Moon represents the work we’ve done in the past weeks to face our own personal realities and break free from past patterns that were harmful or no longer useful to us. With the Cancer-ruled Moon in the opposite sign of Capricorn, you may feel restricted with your emotions as you work towards the light at the end of this tunnel that was started at the beginning of June with the

One of my favorite blogs to follow is Jason Pitzi-Waters' The Wild Hunt. It's one of the best blogs focusing on Paganism and magick on all of the internet. In a recent post, he describes an article discussing how some younger American Hindus are attempting to create a uniquely American version of Hinduism. He mentions the Hindu American Foundation and how it has actively made an outreach to the Pagan community. Indeed, earlier this year they actively participated at Pantheacon, one of the largest Pagan events in North America. I deeply applaud this honest and sharing outreach by HAF. I have noticed more and more Pagans interested in Hinduism and would encourage any people interested to