New Worlds of Body, Mind & Spirit Since 1901
Warding magic is often neglected by modern witches, but it is a fundamental and fairly simple part of our craft. Warding magic is protection magic, usually aimed at safeguarding homes, buildings, stables, and the people and animals within them from unwanted spiritual disturbances, negative energy, or malicious magic sent against them. It is an ancient and persistent form of magic widespread throughout the ancient world and still found in country areas up until this day. Warding magic wasn't limited to witches and the cunning folk either, but was employed by ordinary people who used witch bottles, lucky horseshoes, iron nails, witch balls, acorns, glass wands, witch marks and hex marks, ...
What does it mean to follow "The Old Ways?" As we move into the second quarter of the 21st century, we are seeing less and less of this term. Popular in the eighties and nineties, we have seen a drastic drop in the usage of this term. But why should that be? Perhaps it is a backlash of many people who have used the term incorrectly in the past. Back when it was popular, it was used as a kind of "catch-all" phrase for Pagan traditions of all kinds. As well, it was used to define aspects of both Wicca and Witchcraft that often had very little, or nothing to do with the actual old ways. Instead, people were using it to justify a modern tradition, giving it a veneer of age and authenticity. ...
The Pearl Pentacle and its predecessor (and twin) the Iron Pentacle are tools and magics that originate within the Anderson Feri Tradition. Feri (as it is often called) is an American-born form of witchcraft that arises from a syncretism of various cultural influences in the so-called USA. These influences include Hoodoo and Southern Conjure, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh folklore and magic, Hawaiian cultural understandings, Gnostic Christianity, folkloric witchery, and the modern witchcraft revival. Feri initiates are unsure of the exact provenance of the Iron or the Pearl Pentacles, with some of us noting that the Iron Pentacle exists in all Feri lineages, while the Pearl does not appear ...
I'm on my knees on the floor, deep in a process I'd call re-parenting, though the facilitators don't call it that. Around the room people grouped in threes are playing out an essential human drama, that of a child with their parents. It seems that very few of us were satisfied with the types of parenting we received as children—so that at age thirty, forty, fifty (and in my case, sixty) we still are carrying these wounds and longings. If only my parents had noticed who I was, my sensitivities and needs, if they had actively given their love and protection (though I didn't feel safe to receive it and instead built walls of protection and disguise that I thought no one could ...
