Tons of authors are writing magical characters into their novels these days, whether romance, sci-fi, fantasy, or any other genre. But how much do they really know about real-life witches? Today we have a very special guest blog by bestselling Llewellyn author Ellen Dugan, talking about what happens when you teach a group of romance authors about witchcraft…through hands-on experience. Take it away, Ellen!   I am just home from the WRW (Washington Romance Writers) Retreat where I was one of the featured guest speakers this year, lecturing on the folklore and language of herbs and flowers, and on the topic of “An Intro to Witchcraft for Writers.” Just shy of 300 people came for

[caption id="attachment_2186" align="alignright" width="300" caption="photo by Johnny Jupiter Photo"][/caption] I am anxiously awaiting a new manuscript from an author of mine, Bronwen Forbes, who has promised to mail it in next week. It’s about the challenges of being a Pagan, Wiccan or Witch living in a small town. For the purposes of the book, Bronwen says that whatever you consider a small town is a small town, whether that’s population 400 or population 22,000 or population 150,000 – the point is that to you, it feels small. Same thing for Pagan – if you consider yourself a Pagan, of any stripe, then you are one for the purposes of this book. In the book she shares

I am shocked almost speechless today at a brazen attack on the religious liberties of Pagans, Wiccans, and all other followers of minority religions. Some of you may have heard of Rev. Patrick McCollum, a man who became the first government-recognized Wiccan chaplain in the United States in 1997. He has been doing outstanding work in raising visibility on legal issues involving discrimination against minority faiths in prison and elsewhere; he appeared before the US Commission on Civil Rights in Washington, DC, to speak at a briefing focused on prisoners’ religious rights; he spoke at the Parliament of World Religions in Australia in December; and he’s been invited to be part of the

This year, we’ll enjoy a rather rare occurrence – a blue moon (the second full moon in a calendar month) falling on New Year’s Eve.* Technically any full moon on the 31st of a month (such as on Samhain) will be a blue moon, since the moon’s cycle is 29.5 days – but a blue moon falling on New Year’s Eve only happens every 19 years. Last time this happened was 1990, and next time it happens it will be 2028. However, to add to the exciting mix, this full moon will come complete with a lunar eclipse (which those of us in the Americas will not be able to see, as it happens in the daytime for us) as the moon is aligned with both Earth and Sun, and will occur when the moon reaches