(This article was first published in Circle Magazine, issue 95, Fall/Winter 2005.)
Mainstream medicine is finding that alternative and traditional healing methods are sometimes just as good if not better at treating illness. Scientists are "discovering" new ways of improving health by studying traditional healers and the folklore of healing. There is a lot of wisdom that mainstream medicine can learn from past generations and the healing traditions of other cultures.
When you do magick, it's often advisable to start by clearing the space where you will do your work to remove unwanted influences. It makes sense to want to try and do your work with a fresh working area.
There is no ultimate written authority in modern witchcraft, no "witches' Bible" that must be used as the basis for practice. Instead, most modern Wiccans and non-Wiccan Witches usually keep a Book of Shadows or personal grimoire detailing their philosophy and beliefs. It serves as a "ritual cookbook" outlining spells, rituals, and lore. A Book of Shadows is usually a work that the practitioner constantly adds to and revises - it is a growing record of individual development. I recommend you look at the Riders of the Crystal Wind online Book of Shadows to see what one group has done to compile a Book of Shadows. Then compare with the public domain version of the Gardnerian Book of Shadows for a more "traditional" version for more ideas for your own personal magickal journal/guidebook.
The 20th-century reclamation of Goddess traditions has evolved from a small counterculture revolution of the mid-1900s to the birthright of an entire generation of children and young teenagers. However, the parents--who were adults when they first turned to paganism--are discovering that raising children in a pagan tradition can prove difficult amidst the near void of resources to assist them in teaching this way of life. Relying on age-old learning methods, such as songs and storytelling, Circle Round fills this void with techniques that are truly rooted in traditions. This priceless resource offers guidelines for helping children discover the different facets of the Goddess tradition--from altars to sabbats--and suggests recipes, creative projects, and other activities resuscitating the values of family in our latchkey society.
Our dreams are populated with all sorts of interesting characters – friends, family, strangers, fictional characters, animals, mythical beings, Gods and Goddesses. Each night when we close our eyes and give ourselves over to dreamland we gain unique opportunities to interact with intelligences with which we normally don't have contact.
Some explain these dream figures as parts of ourselves that manifest through our subconscious when we are asleep. Others believe that these figures have their own independent existence. Perhaps they are the astral forms of living people. Maybe they are discorporate spirits or ghosts, angels or demons, perhaps even Gods and Goddesses. It doesn't really matter how we explain their existence. There are things we can learn from them regardless how we explain their presence.
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