Dancing Down the Moon

On crises of faith

Sara Winn over at Pagan Godspell posed an interesting question yesterday about Pagans and crises of faith.

I started to comment on her post, but as usual got so long-winded I decided just to ramble about it here. I suggest reading her post, as well as the comments, so you'll have a better idea what I'm on about.

Grace and Gratitude

Once again I must apologize for my absence of late.  I blame Mercury.  Hey, it's as good an excuse as any, right?

I am at present toying with a couple of new book ideas (or rather, old ideas that are resurfacing because obviously I don't have enough to do with my time), and the one that I think is most likely to see print first is a book on my approach to Wiccan values, the Graces.  I believe in a system of virtue-based ethics, and "Graces" is simply my name for those virtues I feel are most in keeping with Wicca as I practice it. 

Thoughts on the Ancestors

This time of year the Pagan internet is filled with thoughts, prayers, rituals, and altars to the Ancestors and Beloved Dead.

Once upon a time, I dutifully built my altars and made noises of honor as well; a few years ago, however, I just...stopped. I had finally reached the point in my practice where I was no longer willing to go along with things just because that's how they were done; I needed a reason to do what I was doing. So I finally sat down and really thought about the concept of Ancestors, Beloved Dead, and how it all fits into my life.

The Problem of "Advanced" Wicca

A complaint I hear often—and have made myself—is that there are not enough books out there on "advanced" Wicca. There are dozens of beginner books, many of which are unnecessary repetitions of what authors like Cunningham and RavenWolf have already written.

 Whatever you may think of their work, they were forerunners of the current 101 book craze, which unfortunately is still going on. They and a few others were here first, and everyone after has been writing variations on the themes they set down. I have seen precious few voices that are genuinely unique since the 90s—and even fewer attempting to teach anything besides the standard "Chapter 1 – Why Wiccans aren’t Satanists; Chapter 2 – How to Cast a Circle; Chapter 3 – Here’s some correspondences; Chapter 4 – Why you shouldn’t cast love spells."