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C A U L D R O N A N D C A N D L E #107 -- July 2011 A Publication of The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum website: http://www.ecauldron.com/ message board: http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/ newsletter: http://www.ecauldron.net/cnc/ Please DONATE to Support our SERVER http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/view.php?pg=tcdonations In this Issue: [00] Editorial Notes: New vBulletin Message Board [01] Cauldron News * The Cauldron Moves to a New vBulletin Message Board * Settings on our New vBulletin Board * Social Networking at The Cauldron * The Cauldron's Fan Page On Facebook [02] Interesting Recent Cauldron Discussions * What sorts of things do you do magic for? * "Model Train" altars--how close is yours? * "Hecate is a Crone Goddess" and Other 'Myth'conceptions * When deities DON'T like your offerings? * Where to start with Feri? * What do the Gods do for you? * Discovering What's Missing? * Worship? Honor? Venerate? What? * Making the Mundane Sacred * Who do you work with? * What Pagans and Christians Can Learn from Each Other [03] Phyllis Vega's Astro Talk: Venus in Astrology [04] Flamekeeping: On Love (and I mean the mushy stuff) [05] Articles and Reviews * A Coin For the Ferryman: The Death and Life of Alex Sanders * Where Science and Magic Meet * Aradia or The Gospel of the Witches * Wiccecraeft: Shamanic Magic from the Dark Ages [06] Support The Cauldron with Donations [07] Support The Cauldron with Assistance [08] Newsletter Information (Including How To Subscribe/Unsubscribe) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++ Please support our sponsor +++ LOOKING FOR PAGAN SUPPLIES? Visit The Cauldron's Pagan Supply Store http://www.ecauldron.net/esesf.php +++ Please support our sponsor +++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [00] ========= ========= EDITORIAL NOTES ========= Welcome to the July 2011 issue of Cauldron and Candle. You are receiving this issue because you subscribed. To learn how to unsubscribe, see the last section of this newsletter We haven't put out a newsletter since last summer. The reason is simple and is the same as we listed last year: few article submissions. It's hard to publish a newsletter when there aren't many submissions. We do have several book reviews for this issue, a new column from Phyllis Vega and a lot of news about The Cauldron's new vBulletin forum. I hope you enjoy this issue. We'll do another when we have enough articles to make it worth reading. With luck, that will be sooner than a year from now. Be sure to visit us on our new vBulletin message board: http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/ Note that if you had an account on our old SMF board, you will have to register a new account for our new vBulletin board. You old SMF board account will not work on our new vBulletin board. Randall Sapphire Editor and Publisher, Cauldron and Candle Co-Host, The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum [01] ========= ========= CAULDRON NEWS ========= by The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum Staff ========= ===== ===== The Cauldron Moves to a New vBulletin Message Board ===== On July 5th, The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum closed the SMF message board (at http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/ ) we had used since March 2007 to new posts and opened a new vBulletin forum at http://www.ecauldron.com/forum Our new software is the most used commercial forum software and should be familiar to most Internet message board users. Our copy was paid for by donations from members of The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum. Our old SMF board is still there, but is now a read-only archive of messages from March 2007 to June 2001. If you had an account on our old SMF board, you will have to register a new account for our new vBulletin board. You old SMF board account will not work on our new vBulletin board. Like our old SMF forum, we've added a number of modifications to our copy to give it more features which make it more useful to our members. Here are some of the more interesting features of our new message board: * Multiple styles: Nothing fancy but members will have a choice in the way the forum looks color-wise. As I have used more basic (css-only) styles, there are not all the problems with things working right on some styles and weird on others. This mean the styles don't vary as much as they did on the test board, but I don't have to limit support to just the default style either. * Lightweight Style: This is a special style for mobile devices. It is lightweight in size and in features. This means it does not support all the fancy features nor all of our mods, but it should be great for people who just want to read (and reply) to messages from their phone. Unfortunately for staff, most staff features do not work. Troublemakers may have to be blocked from this style as it may also let them avoid some of the limitations some mods allow us to place on problem members. * Tapatalk: Tapatalk is a mobile forum app available for many smartphones and pad computers. It is enabled as an experimental feature on our new forum. This means we do not support it and if it causes problems it may be disabled without warning. So far, however is working well and people using it seem to like it. * Thread Prefixes: Certain forums (e.g. the Pagan Religions forum) will require people starting threads to select a "thread prefix" classifying their new thread (as about a "specific" religion in this case. This will make it clear which threads are about which religion. Also members and visitors will be able to click on a thread prefix to only see threads with that prefix (for example, click on the thread prefix of any message with the "Wicca (Trad)" prefix and you will then only see threads in the forum that are about Trad Wicca. Click on a prefix again and you will see all the threads in the forum again. * Articles: Our article area will allow members to write articles and post them directly. No need to submit them to me and wait for me to find time to convent them to HTML and put them on our web site. There are be multiple categories for articles. Members with "editor" powers will be able to edit articles for grammar, spelling, style, etc. * Gallery: Members will be able to upload pictures to their own gallery. (Size limits will apply). * Social Groups: Members in good standing are able to create their own mini-forums with their own message area, gallery, group calendar, and wiki-like web pages. Groups can be public or private and are moderated by the group owner (subject to TC's rules, of course) -- much like groups on our various incarnations of TCN, only as a part of our board, no separate login needed. * Quizzes: A mod allows members to create various types of quizzes that other members can take. * Media Section: A special section of the board for posting and viewing videos on Youtube and the like. This isn't so much for funny videos that we post in threads here (they can still go in threads on the new board), but for creating a library of helpful videos on Pagan and related topics. The linked videos play on the web page and members and comment on them and discuss them. You can do this on the video's site, of course. But here it will just be members -- no spammers, Pagan haters, etc. * Reputation: Members can give other members reputation points (with comments on why) for good posts. We aren't sure how we will implement this yet as we do not want it to become a popularity contest. That's divisive and pointless. So we will probably be tweaking this feature during the first few months on the new board. * Calendars: We never use the Calendar feature on SMF because the Calendar is so overloaded with the Birthdays of thousands of members that it would be hard to use for anything else as any events would get lost with all the birthday. vBulletin allows multiple calendars. The birthdays can have their own calendar. SIGs can have their own calendar. Calendars can be public or private. * FAQ: Most boards have a FAQ style help area (SMF's help area, for example). vBulletin's is a real FAQ. It allows the addition of new categories and new questions and answers. This will allow us to do new FAQ areas on various Pagan religions and the like if we want -- and we can give select members permission to edit them directly on the board so no one has to wait for the hosts to have time. The Vaultwiki will be better for this in some cases, however, as multiple people can easily work on the same page with revision history tracked and the like. * Post Edit History: Each post stores the history of (almost) all edits which the staff can supposedly view. This may make it possible to -- at some future date -- relax our 3 minute editing timeout back to the 30 minutes we started with as we would be able to check to be sure that any edits after a few minutes were indeed just typos and no large changes were made that were not clearly repeated in a new post. Members will be forced to actually enter something in the "Reason for Editing" field when they edit a post. * Spam Prevention: The spam prevention for vBulletin is much better, especially with a couple of nice mods. The first mod let's vBulletin use Bad Behavior to simply block a number of bad robots (that harvest emails and the like) and known spammer IPs, including using Project Honeypot to check spammer IPs. The Stop Forum Spam mod checks new registrations against the Stop Forum Spam database and automatically blocks those with emails or IPs that are listed as spammers in the Stop Forum Spam database. We have this ability thanks to a mod here but I have to check those it thinks are spammers manually because it will also block on a username used anywhere on the net by a spammer (which generates FAR too many false positives). Also the Stop Forum Spam mod can be set to put new members in a special "New Members" usergroup (which can have more limited privileges) until a new user has posted X messages. While in that special usergroup, it can be set to scan their messages for obvious spam and put any it thinks are spam in the moderation queue instead of making them visible. We will not be using the special usergroup feature for a few weeks after opening to give most of our current members a chance to create an account on the new board without being stuck in the "New Members" usergroup until they post 5 or 10 messages. * Member Limits: The limit on how many PMs one can send, how many PMs one can store, how big a signature or avatar can be, how much attachment space, gallery space, and a few other things can vary by usergroup. This means that members with a donor subscription can be given most of the above than regular members. This is something we could not do in SMF. * Friends: You can "friend" other members in your profile. Like on Facebook the other person has to accept. You can also just listen them as a "contact" in your profile -- that's one-way so they do not have to accept. The board also has activity feed mod that lists the last things your friends have done on the board. * Links: We have a "Link Directory" on the new board where regular members can list their personal weblogs and web sites -- with descriptions. You'll no longer have to get me to add your weblog to the list. * Bookmarking: You could bookmark threads on SMF. With the new vBulletin board, you can bookmark threads and individual posts and access your them in Settings area. * Ignore Forums: We've added a mod that allows members to ignore forums they are not interested in, but it works differently than the one on SMF did. The SMF version completely hides forums -- if you add a forum to your ignore list it disappears completely. If you want to follow a link to a message on that forum, you have to go remove the board from your ignore list before you can enter the board to see the message. The mod on vBulletin only removes messages from the ignored forums from the "unread messages" lists. The forums remain in the forum list and you can follow links to them, you simply don't have new messages from those boards in your "unread messages" lists. * More Moderation Options: With vBulletin we will have a few more options for dealing with problem members. A member can be put in moderation which means ALL that members posts are held in a queue until they are approved by a staff member (when they will appear on the board). We can also ban a member from posting a specific thread. * Avatars: We have over 1200 avatars you can select from. You can also upload your own (small, not animated) image for an avatar If you do not select or upload an avatar, a "monster face" avatar will be created from a number generated from your board email address and will be used in many areas of the board. As you can see, our new board has a large number of nice features. We hope you will join us on our new board soon. As you can see in the recent discussions section below, we already have a number of interesting discussions on the new board -- thousands of messages have already been posted. Come join us today at: http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/ IMPORTANT NOTE: The new board knows nothing about any account you might have on our old message board. You will need to register a new account on the new board if you wish to post on the new board. ADVERTISING NOTE: While you have to become a supporting or donor member for all advertising to disappear, just joining the board and using the board as a logged in member will make some of the advertising go away -- including the somewhat annoying in message ad that appears randomly in the first message you view on a page. ===== ===== Settings on our New vBulletin Board ===== If you are used to our old SMF board there is one thing that may confuse you. On SMF you change your settings without your profile page. On vBulletin, your profile page just displays information. If you want to change this information or change other setting for how you use the board, you need to go to the Settings menu. It's located in the top right menu area. From the board usage F.A.Q: The Settings Control Panel is where you control your personal settings, options and preferences. To visit the Settings Control Panel, you must have first registered on the forums. Once logged in, click on 'Settings' in the header bar in the top-right corner of the page. The Settings main page will list any new notifications, including new private messages and pending friend requests. Additional pages and forms allow you to control: * Your email address and password * Privacy Settings * Custom public profile settings * Your Signature and Avatar * Private messages * General Settings * Ignored Users and Ignored Boards * Subscribed threads and forums * Friends and Contacts * Friends Activity Stream * Social Groups * Thread and Post Bookmarks ===== ===== Social Networking at The Cauldron ===== Over the past couple of years, we have tried a number of third party social network (like Ning) for our members. They either did not work well, were more friendly to spammers than members, and/or went from free to very expensive. We then tried running Elgg on our server. It worked okay (although some things were counter-intuitive), but turned out to have no way to stop spammers from registering a hundred bot accounts every day. We finally gave up on it. Our new vBulletin board has enough social networking features built in (or added with mods) that we no longer need a separate social network. Your member board account gives you access to our social network features. You can use them if you wish, or ignore them completely. Your choice. === Contacts and Friends vBulletin allows you to mark other members as contacts or a friends. You can mark anyone as a contact. Making someone a contact is like added them to your address book in email, it just makes it easier for you to find them to view their profile, sent them a PM, etc. It's a unilaterial thing. The other person does not have to agree to be your contact. Friends, however, is a reciprocal arrangement. When you make someone your friend, the system notifies the person and allows them to accept or reject your request. Please do not get upset if people reject your request. Yes, rejecting your friend request might mean they do not like you. More likely it means they are not participating in the board's friend system at all or that they are limiting the number of friends they have as the system gets somewhat hard to handle if one has too many people in one's friend list. You can follow what your friends do on the message board with Friends Activity Stream in the Networking area of your Settings area on the message board. (Friend requests that are pended, rejected, or broken are listed as contacts.) === Social Groups Social Groups are mini-forums which can be started by any regular member of the message board. You can access all the available Social Groups from the Groups tab in the Navigation Tab area at the top left of the message board. You can list the groups by the number of members, messages or pictures, the group name, when the group was created or by the date of the most recent message posted. You can use the controls provided to search for a group. The Groups page is also where you create a new group. (You can get to the list through 'Group Memberships' section on your public profile.) There are three types of Social Groups: * Public - open to everyone. There is no restriction on who can join or who can post messages to it * Invite Only - require an invitation to be sent to join them. Invitations can only be sent by the group creator or forum moderators and administrators. Invitations are sent by clicking 'Pending & Invited Members' at the bottom of the page for that individual group * Moderated - open to everyone to join but messages need to be moderated before they will appear. They are moderated by the group creator and the site moderators and administrators Groups have a member list and a thread-like message area. At the option of the group creator they can also have a photo album, a group calendar, and pages in the Social Groups area of our wiki. The message system is not quite as complete as in a regular forum, but it is easy enough to use. A Social Group creator has moderator powers in his group and can establish special rules for the group (so long as they do not conflict with the letter or spirit of The Cauldron's overall rules). Social groups can be about anything of interest to members -- so long as it does not violate The Cauldron's rules. Social Groups need not be Pagan or even religion oriented. === Facebook Account Linking While we have not enabled Facebook Account Linking as of this writing, vBulletin has a way to allow members to link their TC message board accounts to their Facebook accounts if they elect to do so. This makes it easy to post yiour activities on TC to your Facebook account. We plan to activate this sometime in the near future, at least for a trial period. When activated, linking your Cauldron message board account to your Facebook account will be COMPLETELY OPTIONAL. If you do not take the steps to link your accounts, they will not be linked. (We know many members will not want to link their accounts for privacy reasons. Facebook broadcasts entirely too much information to the world for many people.) ===== ===== The Cauldron's Fan Page On Facebook ===== The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum now has a fan page on Facebook. You can Like us there if you wish -- but it is more important to bookmark the page. At the moment, we are not using this page for much, but it is a way for us to communicate with our membership in case of server issues. We decided to set up a Facebook fan page after one of our advertisers had their ad server hacked and Google marked our site as hacked because of the malware the ad server was displaying on our site. While this was cleared up within 24 hours, we discovered we need a way to communicate with our members when the server was having issues. Given that a large majority of our active members are on Facebook, a Facebook fan page seemed the way to go. Please bookmark this page so you can find it if you cannot access the TC server for some reason for a lengthy period of time. If the server is having prolonged problems, we will post what is going on on our fan page. Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/thecauldronforum ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++ Please support our sponsor +++ PAGAN-FRIENDLY WEB HOSTING http://www.ecauldron.net/web/zdreamhost.php Dreamhost offers high-quality, low cost web hosting with a dedication to free speech. Pagan sites are welcome! Read why we used Dreamhost for The Cauldron's web site: http://www.ecauldron.net/web/whydreamhost.php Plan Features * unlimited web space * unlimited bandwidth * unlimited email boxes (POP3/IMAP) * unlimited ftp/shell accounts * host unlimited domains/subdomains * php4, php5, cgi, fastcgi, ssi * zend optimizer, ruby on rails * unlimited MySQL databases * announcement lists * discussion (aka mailing) lists * Jabber server * Crontab and Shell access * Web-based Control Panel * One-Click installs of the Wordpress blog & PhpBB forum * 1 free domain name * helpful tech support * and much more! All for $10.95 a month with a $49.95 setup fee. Pay for a year in advance (only 9.95/month) and there is no setup fee. Pay two years in advance and the price drops to $8.95 a month. (And there is a 97 day money back guarantee!) Visit Dreamhost for Affordable, Pagan-Friendly Hosting http://www.ecauldron.net/web/zdreamhost.php +++ Please support our sponsor +++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [02] ========= ========= INTERESTING RECENT CAULDRON DISCUSSIONS ========= Recent Discussion Topics on our Message Board ========= In an average month, over 200 new discussion topics are started on The Cauldron's message board. Here are a few of the more interesting recent discussions. It's not too late to join in. Thanks to Feedburner, you can now receive an email every night on days we post new site news items to the main page of The Cauldron's web site. These emails contain a link to the new item and the first couple of lines of the news text. You can sign up for Feedburner's free news delivery via the form at the end of the site "News and Updates" section of The Cauldron's main web page. ===== ===== What sorts of things do you do magic for? ===== I have to admit the thought of magic has always intimidated me. I've read up a little on it and my HPS and I have talked about it. But when it comes time to do magic, I'm a bit at a loss. What do I do magic for? My personal ethics prohibit love/weather/money spells. And I don't find myself needing anything in particular. I've thumbed through spell books to see what sorts of spells are in there but nothing jumps out at me that clicks so I go "oooh, so that's what I can use it for!" I just don't think I'm recognizing the uses for magic in my life and I think I would if I just practiced more (or any!). But I don't know what to start on. Any thoughts or advice would be welcome. * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/showthread.php?450 ===== ===== "Model Train" altars--how close is yours? ===== While poking around at the Buddhist forum I've joined recently, I came across a discussion of ritual items and altar setups. One of the longer-term posters commented that he'd once been told to be cautious, lest he fall prey to the "model train" trap: putting EVERYTHING he could possibly ever, ever need or want on the altar, always feeling like something's missing or not quite perfect, constantly looking for "just one more thing" to complete the setup. With a Tibetan Buddhist altar this is a very dangerous slope, indeed. I find myself doing quite a bit of online window-shopping for various items--and I admit, I don't necessarily NEED anything more than what I have, but I would LIKE to have a set of water offering bowls, and a butter lamp, and another set of prayer flags, and . . . So, is anyone else familiar with this scenario? Is there a "bare mininum" amount of items that's acceptable (either to you, or to your deities or practice)? Is less better than more? Or, is more More MORE required? I'm curious. I never felt this way when I was Wiccish. Weird, that. * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/showthread.php?436 ===== ===== "Hecate is a Crone Goddess" and Other 'Myth'conceptions... ===== I wasn't sure whether to put this in "Alternate and Revisionist History" but this is a companion thread to my "What are some doozies you've heard?" over in that section. What strange/odd/blatantly untrue things have you heard regarding the gods? For instance, there's the 'Hecate is a crone goddess,' one that seems to annoy Hellenics everywhere, but one I've seen is that Hecate is a goddess of cats, and the story that is cited is when she (or another goddess) turns a sorceress into a cat as punishment for her wicked ways (a variation is that she took pity on the poor animal and adopted it as her own). I was curious to see if this story had any basis in textual sources, so I looked it up at Theoi.com: http://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Hekate.html Now, what is interesting is that the word that is commonly accepted to mean "cat" is here translated as "polecat", which aren't cats, they're weasels! I guess "goddess of weasels" doesn't sound as glamorous or "witchy" as "goddess of cats". Off the top of my head, I've heard: "Freyja is a mother goddess/an earth goddess/a sun goddess/a moon goddess." Everyone, just because a goddess has children doesn't mean that they are automatically a mother goddess type. I can see Freyja being an earth goddess in a sense, but not say, in the way that Gaia is an earth goddess. It is a stretch to think of her as a sun goddess, IMO, since Sunna already fills that role, but I can't for the life of me connect her to the moon (or celestial phenomena in general). "Inanna/Ishtar is a goddess of peace." This is one that one of my professors told us about as part of a discussion on feminist interpretations of the Goddess/goddesses in general, and even then it seemed...odd. It sounds almost Orwellian: "War is Peace" and such. I've also heard variations of "Pan isn't a lustful god." Really? So what was he doing chasing all those nymphs around? Let me guess, it was a friendly game of tag, right? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/showthread.php?414 ===== ===== When deities DON'T like your offerings? ===== Have you noticed anything when the deities your offering, don't particularly love what your offering? I just noticed this tonight, I was trying to offer some lavender incense that I had just bought to Aphrodite, and after 5 consistent tries it absolutely would not stay lit. I use incense all the time, and this has never been a problem. Perhaps Aphrodite doesn't like lavender incense? Anybody have a similar problem, or a story to share? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/showthread.php?431 ===== ===== Where to start with Feri? ===== I'd like to learn more about Feri and would appreciate recommendations for the fundamentals. I'd like to get a stronger sense of whether or not it's for me before I seek a teacher or class. So far, I'm halfway through "The Spiral Path," but the book reads to me like Starhawk's own eclectic blend of Feri and other traditions, techniques, and mythologies. Am I misunderstanding the text, and this is actually the best Feri starter book? I've also read through feritradition.org site and am beginning to check out the external links one by one. I see a book listing on the site, but would like to start with something straightforward like Cunningham's "Solitary Practitioner," if such a thing is even available, and don't know which (if any) of these books is like that. Is this site (feritradition.org) credible, and/or are there other credible sites I should look at? Any help with Feri-specific starter resources would be greatly appreciated. * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/showthread.php?307 ===== ===== What do the Gods do for you? ===== Maybe a bit of an irreverent question! But I've noticed a few threads asking, more or less, "What do you do for your gods, what gifts do you offer them?" So I thought I'd turn it on its head. What do the gods do for you? What gifts or blessings have you received from them or from your work with them? What keeps you coming back (instead of throwing up your hands and just becoming an animist)? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/showthread.php?250 ===== ===== Discovering What's Missing? ===== A thread in the Reformed Kemeticism SIG, particularly Devo's first post, got me thinking: Recently, I've been suffering from a spiritual block. I recognize the connection I have with my Gods, but I don't have the motivation to practice as I want to in the typical Kemetic sense. Meanwhile, I have always been incredibly moved by the power and energy I feel around Shinto shrines. After studying in Japan, I returned home with a renewed respect for and interest in the pervasiveness of Shinto in the Japanese culture. While suffering this spiritual block, I thought that if I forced myself to make offerings and do ritual as I've always done them, I'd break through the block. However, Devo's post made me wonder if following a different path is actually the answer, and if it could help me find what I feel is missing. I'm not sure what I'm asking in this thread. I guess, if anyone has felt this way before, what did you do? I'm not looking to leave Kemeticism; I love my Gods and my Patron especially. Yet I feel like Kemeticism is not inspiring me to put that spirituality and love into practice. * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/showthread.php?256 ===== ===== Worship? Honor? Venerate? What? ===== This jumps off from the "Who do you work with" thread elsewhere, which Sage started over the weekend. In my response there I explained that as a Vajrayana Buddhist, I don't "worship" in the sense that most folks use that term. I honor, yes, I venerate, yes--but I don't worship. I don't supplicate. I don't pray for guidance, or assistance, or what have you. I chant, to align myself more completely with a given emanation of Buddha (be that one of the 21 Taras, or Avalokiteshvara, or Medicine Buddha, or another). I chant, to focus and center myself in a place of calm. I light candles and/or incense, to honor Buddha's gift of the Dharma. I light a candle for HHDL, the incarnation of Avalokiteshvara and the head of Tibetan Buddhists around the world. But don't tell me I worship. I know what worship feels like--and this ain't it, as they say. So--what do YOU do? How do you define your interactions with the divine, for lack of a more comprehensive term? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/showthread.php?169 ===== ===== Making the Mundane Sacred ===== I've never been good at keeping up with a regular worship, devotional, or ritual schedule. The closest I come to any religious routine is a quick morning petition of "Bless, guide, and protect me on this day and all my days." I also manage to mark the seasonal changes, but hey, those are hard to miss. In lieu of regularly scheduled practice, I try to find ways to incorporate the sacred (spiritual, divine, whatever-you-call-it) into my day-to-day activities. My daily walk becomes a time less focused on exercise than on connecting with the local land spirits. Stitches in sewing projects are set to the rhythm of chanted prayers and blessings. Specific flowers and plants are put in the garden as offerings. I think you get the picture. Does anyone else do this? In what ways to you turn seemingly mundane acts into spiritual/religious ones? Do you think that this sort of multi-tasking diminishes or enhances your spiritual/religious experience? Should religious/spiritual activities be separated from those that are mundane? Or should just the opposite be true - that we should try to integrate our mundane and spiritual/religious lives as much as possible? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/showthread.php?121 ===== ===== Who do you work with? ===== Because I never tire of hearing about people's divine relationships. Which deity or deities do you work with closely or worship? (This can also expand to any type of spirit like a loa or bodhisattva, so don't feel left out if the guy/gal/other you work with isn't technically a deity.) Primarily I work with Brighid with a few other Celtic contacts (namely Manannan and sometimes Danu). I've also started exploring Buddhism and think Kwan Yin is a pretty neat lady. And though I'm no longer Hellenic in practice, Dionysus will always always always have a special place in my heart as my first Pagan deity - I even think he reached out to me before I figured out Christianity wasn't my home. * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/showthread.php?109 ===== ===== What Pagans and Christians Can Learn from Each Other ===== At the end of June, I had the opportunity to attend the Wild Goose Festival down in North Carolina, a festival of progressive and emergent Christians interested in exploring social justice, peace, art, interfaith dialogue and Celtic spirituality. A friend of mine, the author Carl McColman (who used to be a Pagan and has since converted to Catholicism and studies as a contemplative and lay-monk) was one of the presenters at the festival, and one of the head organizers of the event was Gareth Higgins, who ran a Celtic Spirituality & Peacemaking retreat in Northern Ireland that I attended last summer. All in all, the event was really amazing, and even laid to rest my anxieties about being pretty much the only Pagan (other than my partner Jeff) among 1500+ Christians. Since getting back home, I've been thinking a lot about my experiences from the festival and what it taught me about the places where Pagans and Christians (especially progressive and emergent Christians) can really benefit from interfaith conversation with one another. So I decided to write a 3-part essay about the topic! I just posted the first part of the essay to my website, "What Pagans and Christians Can Learn from Each Other." In short, the three things I looked at were: 1. Pagans can share with Christians a deeper understanding of the role of nature, wilderness and wildness in the spiritual life. 2. Pagans can remind Christians to view time as a cyclical dance, and not simply as a linear history. 3. Pagans can help Christians revive and restore a sense of enchantment and value in ritual and religious aesthetics. I wanted to invite TC folks to check out the essay - hopefully it'll spark some good conversation and discussion! I think it's really important for Pagans to realize that not all Christians are the conservative/fundamentalist type. (One thing that really amazed me, for instance, was that the Publicity Coordinator for the festival found out I was coming, and bragged about it on their Facebook and Twitter pages. You know we're making progress when a Christian festival is excited about being "cool enough" for Pagans to attend. ) Anyway, I plan on writing two more parts, "3 Things Pagans Can Learn from Christians" and "3 Things Pagans and Christians Can Work On Together." I can post links to those parts once they're up, if folks are interested! * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=12898.0 [03] ========= ========= PHYLLIS VEGA'S TAROT TALK ========= VENUS IN ASTROLOGY ========= by Phyllis Vega ========= Venus is love. Venus is romance. Venus is beauty. Its planetary energy is peaceable, harmonious, unifying, and creative. Venus’ zodiacal sign defines your romantic persona. The planet’s position in your birth chart exerts a strong influence on your sensuality, self-image, and attachments to others. Venus’ natal placement is a clear indicator of the manner in which you approach relationships of the heart. Venus’ sign determines what gives you pleasure, how you express that pleasure, and how you go about sharing it. The planet Venus also denotes sensuality. Venusian energy relates to the principles of love and attraction, and the drawing together of two separate individuals to create a unified whole. If you don’t know the sign positions of Venus on the day of your birth, you can look them up on the World Wide Web at CaféAstrology.com: Venus Ephemeris Tables: http://www.cafeastrology.com/venussignstables.html The way Venus manifests itself in your chart is a clear indicator of what gives you joy. Your Venus sign defines the various ways in which you express your sensuality, how you attract love and affection, and how you go about satisfying your lover’s needs and desires. Venus also relates to the many different sides of a close relationship, and denotes friendship, compassion, and understanding between lovers. People with Venus in the Fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) are romantics. They love extravagantly, passionately, and dramatically. Spontaneous, impulsive, and full of surprises, they are never boring. Since subtlety is not their style, they are very open about their feelings. Fire sign Venusian natives are bold and usually willing to risk rejection. Their attitude is that there are always more fish in the sea. Those with Venus in the Earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) are serious minded and practical. Their happiness lies in the material realm and they derive great pleasure from a comfortable, settled home life. Cautious and controlled, Earth sign Venusians take love seriously. Sensuous, tactile, and very aware of physical sensations, they have well a developed sensual side and a strong need for physical contact. Individuals with Venus in the Air signs (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) flirt with love and romance. Airy Venusians want a relationship that provides intellectual stimulation, companionship, and witty, engaging conversation. Emotionally cool, the air signs feel as much with their minds as their bodies. They need to connect on a mental level. For them, the exchange of ideas is paramount in a love union. People who have Venus in the Water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) are sensitive, emotional, responsive, intuitive, and empathetic. Psychically, there are few barriers between them and others, and they often pick up on what those around them are feeling. Watery natives tend to over-use their imaginations, and the combination of intuition and imagination can make them feel exceedingly vulnerable in a romantic relationship. === Venus in Aries Individuals with this placement are assertive, enthusiastic, self- expressive, and cheerful. You want excitement and adventure in your love life. Since you are passionate and idealistic, sex and romance are equally important to you. You're likely to experience some inner conflict between your desire for a committed relationship and your need for freedom and independence. Naturally daring and flirtatious, you tend to become competitive when seeking the attentions and affections of others. Aries is impulsive and hopelessly addicted to conquest. Venus falls in and out of love quickly. The result of this mix is lack of foresight and a general instability where long-term unions are concerned. === Venus in Taurus The planet Venus is generally well placed in sweet-tempered, indulgent Taurus. Thanks to your deep appreciation of the physical world and its pleasures, you experience love in a straightforward, sensual, tactile manner. You enjoy good sex in much the same way you take pleasure in good food and drink, luxurious surroundings, and beautiful things. Easygoing and cheerful most of the time, you know how to have a good time and to help others to do the same. Venusian bulls need a certain measure of predictability and dependability in their romantic relationships. Basically a materialist who dislikes disruption and change, you can be quite possessive of the people and things you love. === Venus in Gemini For the sociable individual with Venus in Gemini, friendship is as important as romance in a love relationship. Driven by a powerful intellectual curiosity, you yearn to taste whatever life has to offer. With your restless nature and diversity of interests, you're difficult to pin down. Easily bored, you resist relationships that might become too settled and comfortable. Variety, change, and excitement provide the spice you're looking for in your love life. You have an excitable, playful attitude toward romance and approach each new affair with optimism and high-expectation. Communication and mental stimulation are your absolute musts for any relationship to have a chance of becoming permanent. === Venus in Cancer The emotional Venusian crab is sentimental, nostalgic, kindhearted, moody, and unpredictable. Easily hurt, and extremely self-protective, you're seeking a safe, secure, solid love relationship with few surprises. Deeply sensitive and easily hurt, you try to hide your vulnerability behind a dignified facade. Despite your total emotional involvement in a loving union, there is a sense of caution as well. Love to you is all about home and family, and your relationship style is nurturing and motherly. You can be clingy and rather possessive of those you care about. Rationality leaves you cold. You want a life partner who is romantic and affectionate and not afraid to show it. === Venus in Leo In Leo, Venus is dramatic, enthusiastic, and self-confident. Warm- hearted and exceedingly generous, you are lavish with your affections and attentions. Glamour, excitement, and charm mark your courting style, and you relish your role as star of your own romantic drama. Venusian lions make passionate, ardent partners, and your love is sincere and whole-hearted. A born show person, with tons of physical and emotional magnetism, you enjoy being noticed and popular. Although never one to discourage or ignore your admirers, you are innately loyal and faithful in love. Your pride and ego are so wrapped up in your relationships that any break-up is likely to be extremely difficult. === Venus in Virgo The Venus in Virgo person is seeking an ideal lover on the one hand, and a solid, down-to-earth partnership on the other. The perfectionist in you yearns to place your beloved on a pedestal and worship from afar. Your earthy, practical side wants a loving union that functions orderly and efficiently from day to day. Either way, you are extremely selective in your relationships. Despite a sensual, romantic nature, you would rather be alone than with someone who does not measure up to your high standards. You need to feel needed and appreciated by your loved ones; you demonstrate your affection by working hard for them. === Venus in Libra The gracious peacemaker with Venus in Libra is polite, tactful, considerate, and generally aware of what other people are feeling. Innately civilized and refined, you are upset by bad manners and go out of your way to avoid disagreements or discord. An aesthetic as well as a romantic, you like being surrounded by beauty and harmony. Love makes your world go around, and you tend to fall in love easily and often. You are charming and agreeable, traits that attract many admirers. In Libra, Venus is at her most seductive. However, your seductiveness manifests in subtle ways that are never vulgar or overtly sexual. === Venus in Scorpio In Scorpio, Venus confers magnetic intensity and a deeply emotional romantic and sexual nature. In a love union, you're straightforward, direct, and determined. An extremist in life and in love, you give yourself totally and demand the same type of involvement in return. Your intimate relationships are based on loyalty, commitment, and complete focus on your partner. Because your desires are so powerful and overwhelming, you can become very jealous and possessive of your loved one. When Scorpio is involved, control is almost always an issue. Although you may express your domination in minor ways, there is little doubt that you're the one pulling the strings. === Venus in Sagittarius The idealistic roamers and seekers with Venus in Sagittarius have a rather carefree attitude toward relationships. You are upbeat and easy to like, but not particularly dependable where affections are concerned. In fact, you can be downright fickle, and your flirtatious behavior may cause problems with potential partners. You fall in love easily, but prefer that things stay casual for as long as possible. Threats to your freedom make you extremely nervous. The key to your romantic nature is companionship and shared interests. Your ideal partner is easy-going, open-minded, willing to accept you on your own terms, and respects your need for some personal space. === Venus in Capricorn Venusian goats are proud, dependable, loyal, and controlled. Your romantic feelings can be very strong on the inside, yet you respond with reserve and caution when it comes to expressing them. You want a loving, committed relationship, but you're basically insecure and fearful of rejection. You would rather repress your emotions than risk exposing yourself to ridicule. Consequently, you tend to come across as lacking in warmth and spontaneity. In truth, you're a rather romantic soul who yearns for a caring partner to share your life. When you find that person, you expect your spouse to be a helpmate as well as a lover. === Venus in Aquarius In Aquarius, Venus is emotionally challenged. Essentially an intellectual, you live more in your mind than in your body. Despite a friendly, open nature you come off as cool and detached. Your freewheeling attitude concerning standards of behavior is unusual to the point of eccentricity. You set your own rules, with little regard for what others think. With a sex drive that is not particularly strong, romance is often the last thing on your mind. Since your head is usually off somewhere in the clouds, you may be totally oblivious when someone is attracted to you. When you do find love, it's likely to be rooted in friendship and companionship. === Venus in Pisces Venus in this sign is romantic, idealistic, sensitive, dreamy, and sentimental. You possess a type of vulnerability and ethereal charm that is both attractive and attracting. Naturally kind and unselfish, you willingly give whatever is necessary to help others. Yet you're highly dependent yourself, and very much in need of a caring, nurturing mate or partner. In your search for someone to share your deep, intense feelings, you spend a lot of time falling in and out of love. Strong emotions and a vivid imagination sometimes cloud your reality. What you are seeking is an otherworldly romance that is exceedingly difficult to find on the Earth plane. === === About Phyllis Vega === Phyllis Vega is a practicing astrologer and tarot reader and has been a New Age counselor and teacher for 37 years. The author of eleven books, including the soon to be released What Your Birthday Reveals About Your Sex Life (Adams Media). Contact Phyllis via email at pvega@bellsouth.net or through her website at http://phyllisvega.geocities.com/. Astrology and Tarot columns and other works by Phyllis are archived at http://tarottalk.ecauldron.net/. Phyllis Vega's Astro Talk copyright (c) 2011 by Phyllis Vega. All rights reserved. [04] ========= ========= FLAMEKEEPING ========= FIFTEEN MINUTES OF EMPTINESS ========= by HeartShadow ========= HeartShadow is following her own religious path. She calls it FlameKeeping. This regular column will present articles on FlameKeeping, many taken from HeartShadow's FlameKeeping blog at: http://flamekeeping.blogspot.com/ ===== ===== On Love (and I mean the mushy stuff) ===== Love is a goal and desire for many people. We fall in love with love, with the idea of finding a perfect person to fill the holes in our lives. It's the focus of much of our artwork, our efforts, our stories. We can't conceive of a world that doesn't involve the romantic love story. But what is the truth behind the story? How do we balance the story of a perfect love with the reality of our lives, with an appreciation of the sacredness of the one we love? The story involves two people becoming one whole, never complete again without the other person. In reality, though, this is a terrifying thought. Finding happiness with someone is desirable, but losing your identity to get there isn't. Love needs to be seen as two people coming together and finding strength and joy in that companionship. No identity loss, no one person being absorbed by the other. Love is people choosing to walk together, finding strength and comfort in that companionship. As soon as it stops being separate people, though, and becomes me- and-shadow, it's not love. It's using a person. When the identity of the other person becomes irrelevant, and all that matters is that someone is there, you're not in love with the person. You're in love with love. Romance is a wonderful thing. Being in love can be life changing. I have a husband I adore and would give up for nothing. But love in and of itself is not enough. There needs to be respect of the other person as individual, with his own needs and desires. Each person needs their own space at times, as well as time together. If we lose our identity in love, we become inherently unlovable, because there's nothing there to be loved. In no other aspect in life are we as likely to try to change ourselves and other people than we are for romantic love. People give up their hobbies, their jobs, pieces of themselves, all for the hopes of a perfect love that will rescue them from their lives. But there is no rescue. If we take an offer that involves sacrificing ourselves for love, what we get is neither ourselves nor love, but instead a prison of our own choosing. We need to find ourselves before we can find a partner. Or all we are is sacrificing ourselves and ignoring our Flame. ===== ===== Questions: ===== * How does being Divine relate to your love life? How does your partner being Divine relate? Which is harder to deal with? * What happens when you don't see both yourself and your partner as Divine? * If you had to choose between being whole yourself, or being in love, which would you choose? Why? [05] ========= ========= ARTICLES ========= ===== ===== A COIN FOR THE FERRYMAN: THE DEATH AND LIFE OF ALEX SANDERS ===== Reviewed by Mike Gleason ===== A Coin For the Ferryman: The Death and Life of Alex Sanders Author: Jimahl di Fiosa published 2010 by Logios ISBN-10: 1456359886 ISBN-13: 978-1456359881 Paperback, 235 pages List: $21.95 View this book on Amazon: http://www.ecauldron.com/cncbook.php?asin=1456359886 I admit to a few biases before I begin this review. First, I am a trained, initiated follower of the Alexandrian tradition; Second, I had a written correspondence with Alex at the start of my involvement in Wicca; and Third, I know the author of this book (not closely, but we have met). Having said that, you may feel that I am prejudiced in my review (I don't feel that way, but who am I to judge?). This is not a conventional biography, Jimahl says so in a note which precedes the actual work. Like other religious leaders from mainstream religions to those less known and understood, there is an element of myth in the story, and people seldom react logically when dealing with myth. There are those who swore by Alex, and those who swore at him; there are those who believed every word which came from his mouth, and those who automatically disbelieved; he was loved and he was despised. All of that means this book is sure to displease many readers. The basic facts of Alex's life are available in a number of places, but you won't find them discussed in great depth here. This book is drawn from people's memories of the man and the legend. This is not Jimahl's first book about Alex, which is not surprising as he is an Alexandrian initiate, His first book was A Voice in the Forest (which consisted of "conversations" with Alex after his death). I reviewed the revised and expanded edition in 2004. That was followed by All the King's Children (reviewed last year) which was stories from initiates of the tradition. Jimahl has a breezy, informative style of writing which makes reading his books a real pleasure. In fact, my one "complaint" about them is that I have difficulty slowing down and savoring the writing. Once I get started, I find it hard to stop to do other things. That was the case with this current offering. I picked it up to begin reading at about 7:30 in the morning and three hours later, after taking time to make breakfast, I was already nearing the midpoint of the book. As to the validity of the memories contained within the covers of this book, I cannot speak. Memories are notoriously fickle things and are easily influenced by what follows (and quite often, by what precedes) them. Alex was, in many ways, larger than life. He was a showman. He was also, according to those who knew him best, intensely private. He had a public persona which was highly visible, but once out of the public eye, even those closest to him were often in the dark as to his motivations. All of that comes through in this thoughtful, enlightening book. Jimahl has done the Wiccan community a great service by assembling the contents of this book (as well as the contents of All the King's Children. Those individuals who knew Alex first hand are becoming rare on this side of the veil, and soon there will only be memories of memories, unless such memories are recorded for posterity. This book is yet another entry in that short list. For that matter, there are really very few memoirs in print about (or by) the individuals who were responsible for bringing the Craft out of the shadows and into the public eye. I would hope to more such works in print. Let's learn more about Gardner, Valiente, Herman Slater, Monique Wilson, and many others. Discuss and Comment on this Review: http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/showthread.php?241 ===== ===== WHERE SCIENCE AND MAGIC MEET ===== Reviewed by Mike Gleason ===== Where Science and Magic Meet Author: Serena Roney-Dougal published 2010 by Green Magic ISBN-10: 0956188613 ISBN-13: 978-0956188618 Paperback, 299 pages List: $22.99 View this Book on Amazon http://www.ecauldron.com/cncbook.php?asin=0956188613 It seems that most of my reviews thus far this year have had a bit of a preface, and this is another one in that list. I am one of the "old school" generation (the baby boomers) and never really got into the whole quantum- and/or neuro-science fields. Therefore I am at a bit of a disadvantage when tackling these subjects. Many of you reading this review are undoubtedly more familiar with these topics than I am. Therefore, I ask that you keep that in mind while reading this review. Ms Roney-Dougal presents a broad overview of the field of parapsychology (an in-depth overview would be impossible in a single volume) in this revised and updated third edition. The original publication was 20 years ago and the major difference between then and now is the level of acceptance of the subject by the scientific community as well as the general public. On the scientific front, there has been a lot of research done showing the inter-connectedness of all aspects of the universe (the simultaneous existence of a photon as both a particle and a wave, as well as the reaction of non- connected particles – if I understand the theory correctly) which would have dismissed out of hand 20 years ago. On the general population front, there are large numbers of shows (particularly on cable) dealing with ghosts and paranormal topics in general which draw large numbers of viewers on a regular basis. Unfortunately, I found it difficult to get into this book. It wasn't the writing, as Ms Roney-Dougal has no difficulty making herself clear. It may simply have been my lack of familiarity with the subject matter, but I kept slogging away at it, and it was worth the effort. As a rank novice in at least one of the primary topics of the book, I found it to be well worth the effort. As a practical book, it has little value - that is, you won't learn any magic from it. What you will learn from it is how societies have seen the function of magick, as well as those techniques which tend to facilitate the actual occurrence of those events which are perceived as magickal. It is one of those books which work on your perceptions for a long time after you finish reading it. It helps to alter how you perceive the world, and what you expect of it. It easily falls into the category of books which serve to help to build a solid foundation for magickal workings. As such, it (like many of the books from Green Magic) deserves to find its way into your library. I have yet to be disappointed by a book I have gotten from them. This review is, at best, incomplete at this time, as I am still working through a great deal of what I read. I hope to release an updated, more in-depth review in a few months, when I have been able to integrate more of it into my intellectual understanding. Discuss and Comment on this Review: http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/showthread.php?242 ===== ===== ARADIA OR THE GOSPEL OF THE WITCHES ===== Reviewed by Mike Gleason ===== Aradia or The Gospel of the Witches Author: Charles Leland Published 2010 by The Witches Almanac, Ltd. ISBN-10: 0982432356 ISBN-13: 978-0982432358 Paperback, 178 Pages List: $16.95 (U.S.) View this Book on Amazon http://www.ecauldron.com/cncbook.php?asin=0982432356 The back cover of this book pretty much says it all: "If Gerald Brosseau Gardner is the father of the religion that calls itself Wicca, then Charles Godfrey Leland is the grandfather of Witchcraft as a religion in the English-speaking world, and his small book Aradia, is that religion's birth announcement. This 1899 classic has become a foundational document of modern Wicca and is the first work in English in which Witchcraft is portrayed as an underground old religion, surviving in secret from ancient Pagan times." That statement sums up the importance of Aradia, and that importance has not diminished during the past 112 years. That importance has, unfortunately (in my opinion), become more theoretical since there are large numbers of modern practitioners who know OF this book, but who have never bothered to actually read it. This, in spite of the fact that have been several reprints of it throughout the past 50 years or so. Part of the problem may be that, to the modern reader, it is a somewhat difficult book. It was, after all, written in a time and a culture with a very different emphasis and perception of how things should be presented. That is compounded by the fact that most reprints were rendered from an incomplete copy of the original work (it was missing the final page). This edition contains all of the original work which includes material not included by the original informant, as well as being followed by commentaries by some highly-respected members of the Witchcraft community. It is these modern, original, commentaries which add so much to the value of this edition. It is important to realize several important facts about the author and the work itself. Most importantly, Leland was an American folklorist. His interest in Witchcraft was minimal, while his interest in collecting and recording folk-tales was primary. Secondly, there were questions raised about the authenticity of his informant (which have been somewhat settled over the intervening years), and her sources of information. Finally, this work was intended for a somewhat scholarly audience who had NO interest in Witchcraft, since there was no (known) Witch community in the United States, and thus was unlikely to stir up too much controversy. I cannot speak to the accuracy of Leland's translations from the original Italian, but since Italian is not a dead (or unknown) language, I will assume that any inaccuracies would have been caught and commented upon, if not corrected, before this edition went to press. Some of the instructions contained within this book have caused a certain amount of consternation among modern practitioners of the Old Religion, since they advocate behavior which is deemed unacceptable under the precept of "An it harm none..." Because of that, there are those individuals who feel that this seminal work should be disavowed by every "real" Wiccan. Such a decision must be reached by each person for themselves. Considering that this book was published half a century before Gardner's contributions to the Craft it is not unusual that there are disagreements with more modern thinking. Because of the fact that this book was written well before the modern Craft revival, it should be viewed as a snapshot of the thinking prevalent at the time, not as a reflection of modern sensibilities. Much like the use of the "N" word in Mark Twain's works, it reflects how things were perceived and presented at the time of writing. It falls to the commentaries to reflect the changes which have become obvious between then and now. Even if you have read Aradia before, take the time to re-read it, so that the commentaries which comprise the final 30 pages of this book will be more easily understood. Discuss and Comment on this Review: http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/showthread.php?240 ===== ===== WICCECRAEFT: SHAMANIC MAGIC FROM THE DARK AGES ===== Reviewed by Mike Gleason ===== Wiccecraeft: Shamanic Magic from the Dark Ages Author: Sinead Spearing Published 2011 by Green Magic ISBN-10: none listed ISBN-13: 978-0956188625 Paperback, 184 pages List $19.95 View this Book on Amazon http://www.ecauldron.com/cncbook.php?asin=0956188621 Over years of discussion with family members and other initiates, I have come to the conclusion that perhaps the biggest problems faced by members of non-Abrahamic faiths is not opposition (both from within their own movements and from without), but the language we use to express ourselves. That is apparent twice within the title of this book. "Wiccecraeft" is bound to both confuse people (Did the author mean Wicca craft or witchcraft?) and turn people away (if it is about Wicca witches won't look at it and if it is about witchcraft the Wiccans will spurn it). Looked at another way, however, it is obviously intended to make people stop and think about the subject. The second sticking point is "Shamanic Magic." Purists will insist that shamans only exist with the extreme northern reaches of the inhabited work. There are other words to describe indigenous religious practitioners from other regions. "Shaman," however, within the academic community in such a non-specific way for decades, so its use is probably guaranteed for the foreseeable future. The Introduction serves to clear up any misunderstandings concerning the use of the word shaman, although the perceived differences between Wicca and witchcraft are not really addressed. Ms Spearing also makes it clear that she is aware of the fact that our perception of the world is very different from that experienced by our ancestors. While we may acknowledge this on some levels, it does not make it easy to shift to a more primitive perception. Meditations and exercises are provided to help facilitate this altering of perception, but it is, ultimately, up to the individual to make the experience their own. This book has been "padded" a bit by the inclusion of quotations, spells and remedies in the original Old English as well as the modern English translations. Quite honestly, I can't imagine that there are too many people who are going to be making the effort, even though a five page appendix is provided to start you on your way to reading and speaking Old English. The book is broken down into six sections, three of which deal with specific activities which are of interest to the practitioner – Healing, Divination and Prophecy, and Shapeshifting. There is an introductory chapter dealing with the Otherworld and the Alchemical Imagination, which helps to set the stage for altering your perceptions of the world around us, and there are two final chapters dealing with a semi-fictional "Initiation Diary of a Shamanic Witch", and a wrap-up chapter which covers the inexorable nature of fate. This book has a lot to offer but, unfortunately, I suspect it will be passed over by the majority of readers and that is a loss. While I don't think it is necessary for everyone to read it, it does offer a great deal of insight into the thinking of our ancestors. Many modern followers of Wicca could benefit from such a perspective. As well as presenting ancestral views, there are some speculations regarding more modern developments. It is the contention of the author that religion has attached itself to witchcraft, but is not an integral part of it since the roots of witchcraft are shamanic, and thus existed a priori to religion. She feels that, if Gardner was doing his work today, he would emphasize the shamanic aspects and downplay the religious orientation he gave to modern witchcraft. She accepts the idea of individuals who belong to religious groups being able to combine those religious thoughts with witchcraft (thus accepting the concept of Christian witches, Jewish witches, Muslim witches, etc.), while admitting that this is a fairly controversial subject. So, if you think you would benefit from a very different view; if you are willing to challenge your own perceptions; if you are (in other words) open-minded, you will find this book intriguing and well worth the time and energy involved in reading and experiencing it. You will probably find things to disagree with while reading it (Gods know I did), but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Challenging your current way of thinking is a sure way to prevent yourself falling into a rut. Challenge yourself. Discuss and Comment on this Review: http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/showthread.php?231 [06] ========= ========= Cauldron Info ========= SUPPORT THE CAULDRON'S SERVER WITH DONATIONS ========= As mentioned in the October 2008 newsletter, we now need over US$60 in donations every month to keep the server online. No donations, no server. No server, no message board. Well, not really "no message board" as there is always the free backup board, but the limitations of the free backup board drive staff and many members nuts. Your donations are needed to keep The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum's message board up. We now have two ways you can donate. OPTION 1: Make An "Anonymous" Donation in Any Amount If you are not a member of the message board -- or are a member but do not want a donor button to appear on your posts or wish to donate a non-standard amount, you can make an "anonymous" donation (which will not cause any "donor" notation on your posts) in any amount via the Paypal link below. You do NOT need a Paypal account to donate. After Paypal fees, we get 85% to 90% of the money you donate. http://www.ecauldron.com/donatepaypal.php OPTION 2: Message Board Member? Donate Through Your Profile: Get Bronze/Silver/Gold Donor Levels and Benefits If you are logged into the message board, you can make a donation (via Donation Subscriptions in your Profile) at the Bronze Donor (US$5.00), Silver Donor (US$10.00) or Gold Donor (US$15.00) level and get a special button that will appear on your posts as well have access to our Donor only areas. Donor members also receive increased space for personal messages, photographs, etc on our message board as well as the right to create more social groups. Silver and Gold Donors also are allowed slightly larger (file size) avatars. These special benefits will last for one month (or one year if you elect the annual donation option) and can be renewed by extending your subscription. You can elect to make a one time donation or to set up a Paypal subscription that will automatically renew your donation each month or year until you cancel the subscription at Paypal. You can find the "Paid Subscription" link in the "Settings" area when you are logged into the message board. Payments are made via Paypal but you do not need a Paypal account to donate (unless you wish to set up a recurring donation subscription). If you are a member of our message board, this link will take you directly to the subscription area of your account Settings (with a stop to log in if you are not already logged in): http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/payments.php [07] ========= ========= Cauldron Info ========= SUPPORT THE CAULDRON BY VOLUNTEERING TO HELP ========= The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum was founded in December 1997 to provide a friendly but serious discussion area for Pagans on the Internet. We've grown a bit over the years. We now have an active message area, a large web site with around 700 pages of information (including over 300 book and divination deck reviews), and a monthly email newsletter. To continue to provide and expand these services, The Cauldron needs lots of volunteer help from our members and supporters. Here are some of the things members and supporters can do to help The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum thrive: ===== ===== Actively Participate In Our Message Board ===== While our new message board welcomes readers, we encourage members to actively participate by posting their comments and views in our discussions. One of the easiest ways to help The Cauldron is to actively participate in our message board. The staff especially appreciates members who start new topics for discussion based on their own questions, opinions, or interests. http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/ ===== ===== Articles! Essays! Tutorials! ===== We are in constant need of original, well-written and accurate articles, essays, tutorials, and other written items for both our web site and for our Cauldron and Candle newsletter. There's no real limit on length for web site articles. Here are a few areas in which we always need articles: * information on the beliefs and theology of the various Pagan religions, especially non-Wiccan religions * information on holidays and festivals of the various Pagan religions, especially non-Wiccan religions * recipes for oils, incenses, and food for the various Pagan holidays * magick, spells, and ritual information * herbal information * positive articles on dealing with other faiths * information on historical pagan cultures * editorial/opinion pieces Non-Wiccan material is stressed not because we don't want Wiccan material but because good non-Wiccan material has been hard to find. We have a web form you can use to submit an article for consideration: http://www.ecauldron.net/bnbarticleform.php ===== ===== Book Reviews ===== While The Cauldron receives some review copies from a couple of Pagan publishers, there are many books that can only be reviewed on our web site if a member has a copy and writes a good, objective review. The Cauldron is interested in reviews on the more academic books used by reconstructionist Pagan religions as well as on the books one finds on the Pagan/New Age shelf in the bookstore. We have a web form you can use to submit a book review for consideration: http://www.ecauldron.net/bnbbkreviewform.php ===== ===== Graphic Assistance ===== The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum is purposely a low graphics site as we value page download speed over flashy graphics. However, we are always willing to talk with artists who have ideas for well-designed small graphics (small in both physical dimensions and file size) that might enhance a specific article or page. ===== ===== Invite Your Friends ===== If you have friends or acquaintances who you believe would find The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum useful, please tell them about our site. If you are active in our message board and have friends who might enjoy them or have information to contribute, please invite them. ===== ===== Link To The Cauldron ===== If you have a web site where linking to The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum would be appropriate, simply providing a link to this web site is a big help. Our Link to this Site page explains how you can do this if you need help or want some simple graphic buttons to use: http://www.ecauldron.net/linktous.php ===== ===== Amazon Purchases ===== The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum also receives a small percentage (usually 5%) from most items purchased from Amazon.com when you go to Amazon.com from one of the links to Amazon on our web site. If you purchase a lot of books, CDs, and other items from Amazon.com as many members do, going to Amazon.com through one of our links when you are going to make a purchase there is a painless way to help fund this web site. http://www.ecauldron.net/zamazon.php If you are a regular user of the US version of Amazon, you can help The Cauldron by replacing the URL of your ebay bookmark in your browser with the above link so that TC gets credit every time you visit Amazon.com. To do this in Internet Explorer or Firefox, find Amazon in your bookmark list. RIGHT click on it and select Properties from the popup menu which will appear. A dialog box describing your bookmark will appear. You'll see the standard Amazon url -- probably http://www.amazon.com/ -- in an edit box (labeled "Location" in FireFox and "URL" in IE). Erase that url completely and replace with one listed above, then click on OK. If you use Amazon UK, you can use this address http://www.ecauldron.net/zamazonuk.php If you use Amazon Canada, you can use this addess: http://www.ecauldron.net/zamazonca.php ===== ===== Pagan Supplies Purchases ===== You can now order from Meta Pot via our affiliate links and get the items you need while helping to fund TC (at no extra cost to you). You can go to this page -- Buy Pagan Supplies -- to start shopping. If you like Meta Pot, please bookmark our Buy Pagan Supplies page and use it to shop from so we get credit for your purchases. * Buy Pagan Supplies http://www.ecauldron.net/esesf.php They have a wide variety of Pagan Supplies as this list of Meta Pot item categories shows: * 3 x 6.5 Inches Pillar Candles * 7 Knob Candles * Altar Cloths * Amulets & Talismans * Anklets * Anna Riva Oils * Athames * Bags and Boxes * Bath Oils and Salts * Beeswax Candles * Blank Books, Book of Shadows * Bottles and Containers * Bowls and Chalices * Bracelets * Bumper Stickers A-G * Bumper Stickers H-M * Bumper Stickers N-Z * Candle Holders * Candle Snuffers * Cat Candles * Charmed Ritual Candles * Cloaks & Cologne * Crystal Balls and Runes * Dripless Candles * Earrings * Essential Oils * Foxcraft Oils * Gemstones * Head & Hair * Herbal Teas * Herbs and Powders * Human Figure Candles * Incense Burners * Incense Cast Iron Cauldrons & Charcoal * Incense Cone * Incense Granular * Incense Holders * Incense Powder * Incense Sticks by Others * Incense Sticks by Us * Indian Oils * Jar Candles * Mixes & Aids * Mortar And Pestle * Necklaces * Oil Diffusers, Oil Rings * Oil Essences * Original Oils * Other Candles * Other Wiccan Jewelry * Patches * Pendants * Pentagrams * Pins * Posters * Rings * Ritual Kits * Ritual Tools * Scented Votive Candles * Smoking Herbs * Smudge Sticks * Statues * Taper Candles * Tea Bags & Strainers * Unscented Votive Candles * Wands, Brooms, Mirrors * Writing Tools * Ziplock Herbal Storage Bags Remember, click on the "Buy Pagan Supplies" in the left hand menu of any The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum web page to visit Meta Pot and The Cauldron will get credit for any purchases you make. ===== ===== Have Questions or Suggestions? ===== If you have specific questions, proposals or other ideas we haven't mentioned here, please email them to rssapphire00@ecauldron.GETRIDOFEME.com. (Unfortunately, Randall has to answer general "Tell me more?" type questions with a request for a more specific question. He's not trying to be rude, he just can't think of anything general and useful to say that isn't said here.) [08] ========= ========= NEWSLETTER INFORMATION ========= (Including how to subscribe and unsubscribe) ========= Cauldron and Candle is a free publication of The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum. The Cauldron intends to publish this newsletter once a month and often actually succeeds in doing so. We tried to publish it twice a month for a while, but real life interfered too often. This issue of Cauldron and Candle as a whole is copyright (c) 2010 by The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum. Copyrights on individual items in this newsletter are retained by their author, please contact the editors if you need to contact an author for permission to reprint an article and the editors will do their best to put you in touch with him or her. The opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of newsletter, The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum, or its staff. Publication of an article in this newsletter is not an endorsement of the authors position or any products and companies mentioned therein. No one involved in producing this newsletter has any money to speak of so suing us if you don't like something we do is a waste of time and money. ===== ===== HOW TO SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE OR CHANGE EMAIL ADDRESS ===== You are receiving a copy of this newsletter because you signed up to receive it. You can subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter via your web browser at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cauldronandcandle/join Or you can unsubscribe via email by sending a blank message to cauldronandcandle-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Be sure to send this message from the email account actually subscribed to the newsletter. If you have trouble unsubscribing by email, please use the web browser method mentioned above. If you need to change your subscription to a new email address, unsubscribe your old email address and subscribe your new email address. Note that you have to make these changes yourself. Yahoo Groups does not allow the list owner to make them for you. ===== ===== NEWSLETTER WEB SITE AND BACK ISSUE ARCHIVE ===== The Cauldron and Candle web site contains information on this newsletter and an archive of back issues. http://www.ecauldron.net/cnc/ ===== ===== PLEASE INVITE YOUR FRIENDS TO SUBSCRIBE ===== If you have Pagan friends who you believe would be interested in Cauldron and Candle please invite them to subscribe. You can either drop them a note yourself or -- better yet -- send them one of The Cauldron's email postcards with the information. You are also welcome to forward a copies of this newsletter to interested friends and associates provided you forward the entire newsletter. ===== ===== SUGGESTIONS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME ===== Don't forget that your suggestions for this newsletter are always welcome, either posted on the message board or via email to LyricFox (lyricfox01@ecauldron.GETRIDOFME.com) or Randall Sapphire (rssapphire01@.ecauldron.GETRIDOFME.com). Typos are, as usual, courtesy of the Goddess Eris.

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