Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Brandy Williams, author of Practical Magic for Beginners and the new Cord Magic. Last year I made a happiness cord. It got me through the toughest year of my life. I'd planned a great year. First, I would write my next book, Cord Magic. Then I'd take my husband Alex on a road trip to Yosemite National Park. It was the start of a new decade, the twenties, sure to inspire new ideas in art and music and culture. The road ahead seemed filled with happiness. That happiness exploded when Alex was diagnosed with a rare disease. In a flash I acquired a new identity: caregiver. I had a lot to learn, fast. What would the rest of his life look

Tarot Deciphered by T. Susan Chang and M. M. Meleen This hefty tome is a research source of such value! For each card, you will discover how astrology, mythology, alchemy, the elements, and Qabalah contribute to the cards’ overall meanings. One aspect many of us aren’t as well versed in is the Qabalah. Each Major Arcana card corresponds to a path on the Tree of Life. Chang and Meleen help us understand how the paths shape the card meanings. Here is an example from the Lovers card. The Lovers’s path extends from Binah to the “heart” sephira, Tiphareth. As the “Children of the Voice,” they carry the “voice” of the supernals straight to the heart, through the

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Jessica Marie Baumgartner, author of the new Magic of Nature. Nature is life. It is magic and it hosts powers beyond our imagination. When we listen, and connect our energies with the spaces around us we become whole. Throughout my life I have faced a lot of uncertainty. Many of us have. Somehow, no matter how frightening or frustrating our experiences become, healing magic awaits us. In the fields, the trees, the waterways; within the flames of our own fires we find eternal balance. There is a see-saw effect to existence. We are thrust up with a gust of air when following our true path, and dropped down in the mud when we veer.

  Last time we talked about identifying how we feel about individual cards so that we can eliminate biases. One card that is almost always "not liked" is the Hierophant. Maybe Kim Huggens' exploration of and exercises for this important card will help you not just make peace with the card but really value it. V The Hierophant Often depicted as a priest or person of religious authority, the Hierophant is not al- ways a well-received card by modern Tarot readers. Sadly, some people’s bad experiences of religious authority have tainted their view of this card, so it is wise to be aware of one’s own views when studying it. If the Magician is the Word of Power that