One of Mother Nature’s most effective healers is aloe. When I lived in colder areas with frost and snow, I grew aloe in a wide pot with good drainage and placed it in the sunniest spot in the kitchen, where it thrived with very little water. I am truly fortunate to live where it never gets below freezing, so I have a towering aloe in the left garden corner that is growing to tree-like proportions. When anyone in the household gets a burn, a bug bite, a rash, a scratch, an itch, or a sunburn, I march back and grab a piece, slice parallel with its flat side, and apply the juice liberally. We us ..read more

 Earth Day is here, and in many globally conscientious folks’ minds out there, every day should really be dedicated to Mother Earth and treating her well. Even if you hadn’t had time over the weekend to participate in a riverside cleanup or other related project, simply getting outside, going for a walk, and picking up a piece of trash to deposit in its proper receptacle, is one small act of kindness that does make a difference that you can perform. I’d also add chatting up a neighborhood squirrel or robin, just for the heck of it. These suggestions are actually brought up in a lovely pa ..read more

Dear Boss Warlock, I'm cooking up my first batch of flying ointment, but I'm really having a difficult time finding the human fat that I need for the recipe. I'm not into human sacrifice, and I'm afraid I just don't have the stamina for grave robbing these days. Not to mention: how do I reconcile this with 'An it harm none'? Stymied in Sturgis   Dear Sty, Seriously? Grave robbing? Human sacrifice? How 1980s. Read More ..read more

People are fascinated by Minoan clothing, but they're also confused by it. I thought I would take a little time to explain and show you some images from Minoan art so we can all enjoy the lovely garments the Minoans wore. Please note that this is a two-part blog post (Part Two coming next week) but it's NOT divided into men's vs. women's clothing, because there is considerable overlap in some of the styles of clothing worn by different genders. Please also be aware that in Minoan art, men are depicted with dark red skin and women with unnaturally white skin. These colors are not meant to be r ..read more

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In Which Miss Bunny Finally Gets Her Witch-Name All my cats down the years have come to me with other names: out-names, you could call them, names for everyday. Though sometimes it's taken a while, they've all got proper witch-names eventually. I acquired Miss Bunny (AKA the Bun, Bun-bun, the Bunster, Bunny Butt, and—of course—Bad Bunny) just after Lunasa last year. Being a Manx cat with a stumpy little tail, the name fit well enough, but—from the beginning—it struck me as a prose name, a name-from-without. “Well,” I thought, “the inner name will come.” The first lesson of Witchery is patienc ..read more

  Satanism. You simply read or hear the word and myriad images, connotations and beliefs instantly flood the mind, perhaps even the very heart and spirit. Perhaps you feel dismissive of it as a simple, showy rebellion. Perhaps you feel neutral or uninterested. Perhaps you are appalled. Does Satanism (specifically true, LaVeyan Satanism) have a place in modern paganism? Are they naturally related? Of course they are. In fact, many modern pagans are far more religious in their practice than even members of the Church of Satan. It is fair to say that the term “church” is used here loosely ..read more

MONTH: JANUARY LUCKY DATES: 3, 10, 27, 31 UNLUCKY DATES: 12, 23 MONTH: FEBRUARY LUCKY DATES: 7, 8, 18 UNLUCKY DATES: 2, 10, 17, 22 MONTH: MARCH LUCKY DATES: 3, 9, 12, 14, 16 UNLUCKY DATES: 13, 19, 23, 28 MONTH: APRIL LUCKY DATES: 5, 17 UNLUCKY DATES: 18, 20, 29, 30 MONTH: MAY LUCKY DATES: 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 14 UNLUCKY DATES: 10, 17, 20 MONTH: JUNE LUCKY DATES: 3, 5, 7, 9, 13, 23 UNLUCKY DATES: 4, 20 MONTH: JULY LUCKY DATES: 2, 6, 10, 23, 30 UNLUCKY DATES: 5, 13, 27   MONTH: AUGUST LUCKY DATES: 5, 7, 10, 14 UNLUCKY DATES: 2, 13, 27, 31 MONTH: SEPTEMBER LUCKY DATES: 6, 10, 13, 18, 30 UNLUCKY D ..read more

  Keywords: Independence, Courage, Balance, Sacrifice, Restoration Shadows: Betrayal, Death, Punishment, Exile Sedna is the Mother of the Deep, the Sea Woman, the Big Bad Woman. She was a woman of her own power, identity and determination and she suffered greatly for it. She made a sacrifice and became the very spirit and guardian of the sea – the global womb from which we are born. Her lessons can be as harsh as the tundra, but not without fierce love. There are a few different versions of her story, but what they all have in common is Sedna – either the daughter of a deity, an abused ..read more

Time for some personal gnosis here on Gnosis Diary. And also some opinion. And news.  First up, a gnosis experience I had with an ancestor. After that, I reflect on the marketing of AI/ML chat programs as chats with your beloved dead. I rarely receive gnosis about ancestors because my ancestor practice is pretty minimal compared to most heathens. I'm tasked with increasing the feminine energy in heathenry to balance the excessive masculine energy, and to try to balance heathenry closer to 50/50 male/female membership. (Of course it's never going to be a perfect 50/50 because there are som ..read more