Wicca

My Path

Merry met! I'm a semi-traditional (aren't we all?) witch who converted in 2017, after which I undertook an almost-traditional three (*four) years of study from a couple who have been practicing since approxmiately 1975. I'm an active priestess always learning more about the craft.

I consider myself a priestess of the Goddess, I earnestly believe that "all faces of divinity are equal representations of divinity." Lore is secondary... though I do love me some lore.

My Practice

Book of Shadows

My personal Book of Shadows, being my collected knowlege about the craft including ethics, tools, ritual format, holidays, and practices. My BoS is concise and somewhat spare as I practiced Wicca for years without writing much at all down. It is still a work in progress because I find I don't much enjoy writing it all down. I do enjoy html, though, so oddly I am now having an easier time writing up the BoS than I ever did before.

Rituals

These are accounts of specific rituals I have participated in. Some are summaries, some are memories, some are full or partial scripts. The list and formatting are both eclectic, but so are my memories and records of the events described.

Shrines

Below are links to shrines I have made to deities or figures that stir the blood of my heart. I will surely not build every shrine that deserves to be built. Nor will thet ever look as beautiful as they should.

I am a purposefully polytheistic witch. I do not and will not choose a deity. There is no face of the divine that has my whole heart; there are none that I find ugly or unworthy of love. I am incapable of fixed, monotheistic devotion. My worship will always shift, change, ebb and flow. When I honor deities from varied religious and origins, it is an expression of love and admiration for which I expect nothing in return. If any of these are your Gods, I promise they will save the best for true believers like you instead of fickle witches like me.

Resources

Links out to other places with good learning online.

Wiccan and Pagan Resources

Specifically websites and resources written by and for people on the Pagan path.

• Living Liminally, the personal blog of author and priestess Morgan Daimler. Daimler is one of my favorite wiccan authors alive today. Her blog provides both fine bites of scholarship at no cost and glimpses into the life of a working priestess.


• Kultapyora is unquestionably one of the finest pagan websites I've ever seen. This website is the work of a Finnish pagan who is both incredibly well-read and and active practitioner. The care evident here alone would make it a good website if it wasn't already full of otherwise-rare information and didn't happen to be beautiful too.


• Check out Cei Serith's Page. It's WILD. The webmaster here is such an old-school pagan that they're reinventing PIE paganism (ha, ha). No, really, Cei has been in the game for a long time, they're an ADF original too. This website is an endless source of fascinating pagan info and ideas. We've got classic wicca, Mathraism, some Thelema, the ADF, anything you like.


• (That reminds me, also check out this unbelievably cool article about the ash tree, mead, honey, the world-tree, and sacred visions in PIE cultures.)


• The ADF, an American druid association, has been going strong many years. They include a full guide to practicing druidry on their website that is honestly indispensible.


• Xanthe is clearly my kind of pagan. (I actually asked a few people I know if they happened to know a Xanthe after finding their site, ha ha. I'm not convinced we don't have real-world crossover.) Lovely pagan musings, shrines, and resources, fun things to discover and do, and the records of a free soul in our wonderful world all frolic in this virutal space. Hail, Xanthe!


• I can't prove that Uncle Ragnar (RIP) considered himself a pagan, but nonethless his is one of the most useful pages for Norse pagans I know. His page on the runes especially stands out as being better than 90% of books about the Futhark. Do please follow through that little link about the 'meanings of the runes' after reading the rune poems.


• Maidens of the Sky is a shrine dedicated to some very minor figures in Norse mythology, Frige's handmaidens. Similarily, Nine Sisters is devoted to the nine daughters of the waves. The root website has an impressive number of shrines, but I am more compelled by small gods and godlings than great gods myself and I love the dedication to such minor figures.


• Pagan Places is an incomplete tool, and it is a tool with biases and preoccupations, but it is nonetheless fun. A Wikipedia list cataloging similar information was what initially led me to it.

Folklore

Resources about pagan practice and divinity from days gone by.

• The Internet Sacred Text Archive is an invaluable source of legend, lore, and scripture. They can only publish things not under copyright, but they still have phenomenal archives of wiccan works (like Uncle Jerry's original Book of Shadows or the IBOS, a fantastic collection of otherwise lost early wiccan musings) as well as pagan writings (like the Finnish Kalevala, the Norse Eddas, and various tales of the Ancient Near East).


• Will Parker's fantastic translation of and scholarship about the Mabinogion, an interconnected medieval tale about pagan gods, sorcerers, bards, and beasts. Highly reccomended reading both for study and pleasure.


• Irish Sagas Online, an excellent collection of both pre- and post-Christian Irish storytelling, including some great legends about Irish gods and witches.


• Similarly, the full text of the Tain bo Cuanlge, the Cattle-Raid of Cooley, one of the finest of Irish sagas, detailing life in the court of pre-Christian Irish Queens, Kings, and Heroes, specifically the life of Cuchulainn Mac Lugh. Lugh and an Morrigan both make great cameo apperances. Naturally the CELT Studies website overall is worth perusing.


• If you want a better understanding of Greek Deities, there are so many legitimate ancient texts you can read. One place I reccomend is the personal website of Professor Ian Johnston, which contains my favorite translations of many Greek dramas. For the pagan, I reccomend the Bacchae, Hercules Furens, and the Frogs. (And, I mean, the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Metamorphoses are all here too, but those are longer projects.)


• Prof. Johnston does not include a translation of my favorite Greek Drama, Ion. Ion is a challenge not undertaken lightly, but it is a sticking discourse on religion and the Gods from pagan times that will really benefit the modern pagan.


• If you want your understanding of Norse, Saxon, and Celtic mythology all corrected, I absolutely dare you to read Alaric Hall's incredible Elves in Anglo-Saxon England:Matters of Belief, Health, Gender, and Identity. This book radically altered my understanding of valkyrie and Norse spirits before it even got to Beowulf. Please read this.


• I don't know if the author is pagan, but the humble blog titled Writing in Margins contains endless, well-rsearched, fascinating folklore. Especially good if you like fairies and fairy tales. I initially found this blog because it had the only good information about the 'tithe to hell' I had ever found and I've been following it since.


• Oh holy shit, look at this incredibly complicated and thorough website that is exclusively about unwinding the folklore influences on the carvings of the Franks Casket, this is the best website I have seen in ages, look at this

Music!

To quote the phenomenal S. J. Tucker, "You don't have to speak, you can do it in the dance."

Pagan/wiccan musicians! I have been ammassing a collection of good pagan music over the years and am now delighted to present my hoard.

• There weren't (and aren't) many like Gwyddion Pendderwen. Gone before his time, Gwydion made wiccan music in the 1970s. You can listen to his only two albums Songs for the Old Religion and The Faerie Shaman online, though not easily, and Faerie Shaman keeps going down. (The YT channel I linked to for Old Religion, however, is a fantastic channel that uploads great folk music all the time.)


• As for living musicians, there's no bard like Damh the Bard. With a decades-old backcatalog and home concerts streamed live every month, there is just no one doing it like him. Also, the music's really good. Try 'Thundersbarrow Hill' or 'The Mabon' for some personal favorites of mine!


• S. J. Tucker is a similar powerhouse of active practice paganism and good music. Her Blessings album is a pagan classic, but she has a vast and varied backcatalog with gems like this hypnotic recording of Tam Lin or the short saga Valkyrie Daughter.


• Faun is an old favorite of mine! They're a German band unafraid of multiple languages and multiple traditions, so on an album you'll get German songs about Greek or Celtic deities, English Poems, old Norse, Latin songs about old Gods, absolutely what have you. I think my favorite albums are the older Eden which has a lot of medeival influence and the newer Pagan which is stacked with solid tracks.


• I have recently fallen in love with the music of Brigandu. Her Wheel of the Year album is good, but my favorite by far is Dragonfly. I am a sucker for albums that feature songs in multiple languages, but her mix of folk music and original compositions in so many tongues and with so many moods is just catnip for me.


• Daemonia Nymphe was a Greek pagan band that made music honoring Greek deities and spirits using mostly traditional instrumentation. They're fine musicians, singers, artists; it's good, evocative stuff. You can feel the whole ritual in some of their albums. I reccomend Krataia Asterope and The Bacchic Dance.


• Seidhlaeti has a single album that is well worth your time. Thagnarthulur is a devotional album with songs devoted to every names Norse goddes (including some very obscure ones). The singer's voice is just beautiful. Give at least Freya or Bil a try.


• Kellianna is also an established bard who has been a pagan priestess and musician for a long time! She writes incredible devotional music, try her Lugh on Lughnasadh and Brigid on Imbolc.


• Ginger Ackley is in my opinion a hidden pagan gem! I can't tell you how many times I've listened through the Elf King's Horn album. Her lyricism and skill with the harp are both incredible.


• I would honestly feel odd not mentioning Inkubus Sukkubus, a classic Wiccan goth rock group that has been making music for decades. I must reluctantly admit that quality has decreased over time and will direct the new listener to the classic Wytches album for the correct introduction to the band.


• I know very little about Woodland, but I do know I've listened to the Heritage album a lot a lot. Their music has an ethereal, magical, dreamy quality I have not seen matched elsewhere. My favorite tracks in the album is The Dragon, The Well, and Morgana Moon, but it's damn hard to pick favorites when everything sounds like a ring of Aos Sidhe singing in chorus, heard on the wind.


• Roehind counts if I want them to count. Fantastic, gorgeous semi-traditional folk music from different Celtic languages and traditions. Maybe it's not exactly pagan, but listen to Yr Adar Gwylltion and tell me you don't feel pagan.


• Spiral Dance has also been in the game for a long time, and they do good work. Thirteen Notes and its gorgeous array of narrative story-songs is what made me fall but they have a great backcatalog to explore.

Booklist (In Progress)

It's harder to link to books. Some have current online storefronts associated with their authors, some do not. Let me list out books that have helped me on my way anyway.

I am still working on creating this list, it is far from done in its current form.

• The Spiral Dance by Starhawk: Starhawk's 1970s classic is sometimes called 'the witch's bible' as it did so much to spread the religion. It is still a worthwhile read and great introduction, though there are moments that make me sigh long and hard anymore (whenever Starhawk gets on her puritan anti-pornography crusade again, my urge to put the book right back down increases significantly).


• The Elements of Ritual by Deborah Lipp: Lipp's thorough, illuminating survey of every step and every tool that can possibly be used in ritual is just one of the best books for wicca, full-stop. I wouldn't reccomend this being your first read about wicca, as it presumes you are not a beginner, but I highly reccomend it being your second or third read.


• A History of Pagan Europe by Prudence Jones and Nigel Pennick: This excellent volume of nonfiction is the source of a lot of my background knowledge about pagan traditions of the past. When someone asks where a bit of historical trivia I've stated comes from, the answer, pretty often, is Pennick and Jones.


• Whatever Topic Interests You by Morgan Daimler: I said this above, but Daimler is one of my favorite modern wiccan writers. She combines solid, scholarly knowledge about traditions and lore with genuine belief and decades of practice. Two I own and use regularly are Aos Sidhe and Brigid.


• Eleusis, Dionysos, and Gods of the Greeks by Karoly/Carl Kerenyi: I imagine every time I read a new Keneryi book, I will add it to this list. Kerenyi (RIP) was a scholar of Greek Religion and such a visionary in writing about the human soul, psyche, and mythology that Jung references him (as well as the other way around). Every book I read by him expands my knowledge of not just Greek deities but all religion. (I do not have arrchive links to Eleusis or Dionysos, alas; for those I had to purchase physical books, but the purchase is worth it.)


• Twilight of the Godlings by Francis Young: This is a book of scholarship, not spirituality, but it is a work of scholarship that corrects many of the myths spread by the religious books. It will adjust many of your misapprehensions while opening many other doors to genuine pagan practice.


• Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler: This serious study of witchcraft in the United States is a fascinating read that covers many different types of pagan religion. It's a little outdated now, but that is one reason I reccomend it—it gives you an accurate look into the movement as it existed before the misinformation swamp of the digital age.


• The Witches' Goddess and The Witches' God By Stewart and Janet Farrar: These two Alexandrian classics are both windows into old-school wicca and inspiring tomes that make you want to jump up and do a ritual right now. As a word of warning, sometimes the Farrars' historical accuracy is not great when they discuss past practice or beliefs.


• The Way of Wyrd by Brian Bates: This slim volume of fiction was enchanting and inspiring to me as a young witch and remains so. Bates enlivens (and fantasizes about) a potential Anglo-Saxon pagan past and writes the journey of a Christian priest who learns about and accepts his pagan soul.


• Seidr: The Gate is Open by Katie Gerrard: It's wonderful to see a work done by someone who has done so much real-world practice. This book is an exploration of the attested Norse pagan practice of Seidr and some reccomendations for modern practice. I was impressed by the author's thorough knowledge of lore and found her experiments interesting.

Finally, never doubt the power of JSTOR. JSTOR is a databases of academic research and literature. Anyone can get a free JSTOR account that lets you read 100 free articles each month. Then you can read legitimate research about Valkyries and gender, the Irish otherworld, and pagan Greek beliefs about reincarnation and I am so serious you will be the most impressive priestess in the city. Nothing makes people realize they have to take you seriously as a religious leader like tons of verifiable and easily recalled real knowledge.

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