April was a hard month, news-wise, but May has been bringing one bit of good news after another. The latest is the surprising addition, without much fanfare, of Thor's Hammer to the list of approved religious symbols for Armed Forces memorials, headstones and graves. As you can see on the National Cemetery Administration's list of Available Emblems of Belief for Placement on Government Headstones and Markers, the Hammer of Thor is proudly displayed as number 55. It was six years ago on April 23, 2007 that the Wiccan pentacle was approved, and there have not been any new additions of Pagan symbols (such as the Awen) until now despite the efforts of groups like the Pagan Headstone

[caption id="attachment_8046" align="alignright" width="300" caption="by John-Morgan on Flickr"][/caption] Two weeks ago, I posted a Holiday gift guide for Pagans, Wiccans, and cool people, sharing some of the books I've acquired that were published within the past year or so that I figured would make nifty gifts for your favorite witches. (Only the ones who've been really good and bad this year!) But what if you don't want to give the gift of books, but you still have Pagans in your life you'd like to shop for? Cara Schultz at PNC Minnesota has very kindly done all kinds of research to round up the ultimate giving list. So much so that it had to be divided into two parts! In part

As you may recall from my post last year, Circle Sanctuary holds a yearly drive in order to send Yule care packages to Pagan and Wiccan active duty members of the military. Here is their call for aid this year, please help me in passing it along.  * * * For the fourth year in a row, Circle Sanctuary is honoring and supporting active duty Pagan service members through Operation Circle Care. This year, we are widening our focus and sending Yuletide care packages to active duty Pagan troops serving in any overseas theater of operation, including Germany, Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, or on board Navy ships.  The success of this program is due to the generous support and donations from

We still have more than a month to go, but before you know it Yule will be upon us again. While we sit at home sipping hot cocoa around the fire, shoveling the snow or snuggling into a down comforter, remember on this Veteran’s Day that many of our troops will be stationed in much hotter and much more dangerous places during the Yuletide. Instead of a quiet, dark time for reflection, they are faced with challenges many of us couldn’t imagine. There are plenty of civilian and religious organizations that support American troops by sending them care packages and cards, or donating food for their struggling families, throughout the year. Today I’m going to highlight one such group