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Paganism and Witchcraft, as a set of beliefs and craft, respectively, are subject to being referred to and spoken in the media. Today I plan to tackle a bit at how, Paganism and Witchcraft are viewed and portrayed by the media nowadays, mostly television, literature, media and cinema. I will use the term and quot;witch and quot; in the feminine but this applies to both women and men. Lets start with Literature. Since forever that fairy tales with witches and gnomes and dragons are a part of people's min

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... all as Moonsmith has said!

^^^^^^ Late to this topic - everything that John Mac has said!

Interesting Veggie:  not only is it the Chinese new lunar year but two of the folk in the grove on Monday have been quite ill and have missed out January.  For them too, Imbolc was the start of a new year.

I didn't make a New Years resolution for start it January this year so I'm making one for Inolc instead and that is to relax and chill out. Been far too stressy lately. And stressing out is not useful in any way it just stops you from being able to think or function so I'm giving it up best I can from now on. 

We celebrated Imbolc today.

We stood among snowdrops beside a holly tree with just a single berry left and in sight of a hawthorn whose buds are not yet moving.  Three of our four fire festivals all lined up.

I went to a moot in Shrewsbury for the first time last week where we were led through a simple candle ritual for Imbolc.  We were reminded that Imbolc is not necessarily a time for action but for preparing for action.  For our own celebration in the grove we took this idea - not yet sowing seeds but a time for looking through a sort of spiritual gardening catalogue.  All that potential and it is within our power to realise at least some of it.

It is also a new year of the pig - If astrology is significant I am a fire pig!  Sounds like crackling to me but the pig years have been wonderful.

No daffodills yet.

All as it should be this year.

There are snowdrops out in somebody gardens near me and the shoots of other bulbs pushing up. The odd tree or 2 in blossom already. I'm really looking forward to spring getting underway but at the same time hope we get a bit more snow before winter departs.

Dear Folks,

It's a normal part of initiatory Wiccan practice and has been since the tradition emerged in the years following the Second World War. Whether it "works" for individuals is always going to be a very subjective matter but if it wasn't effective and valued by most of us then I doubt it would have survived as a ritual practice for so long.

There's no single reason for it, nor should there be. Remember that it's mainly the practice of small, very private, very closely bonded, groups where everyone knows everyone else very well and there is a very high level of mutual trust. For many reasons, both practical and symbolic, it's effective in the contexts it's used for.

Feeling cold isn't really an issue. Central heating plus a few generations of Mediteranean holidays may have given many people strange ideas about what a comfortable temperature is, but for most of the year you're not going to die of exposure that quickly in Northern Europe.

BB,

John Macintyre