Category: Commentary

Informative and thoughtful articles authored by select contributors

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The Radical Act of Independence: Claiming Your Sovereign Landscape

Two hundred and fifty years ago, a group of flawed, complicated radicals sat in a humid room in Philadelphia and did something entirely treasonous: they signed a declaration claiming absolute sovereignty over their own lives, their own fortunes, and their own sacred honor. They drew a hard line of non-encroachment against a distant, dominant tyranny.

Today, as our backyards fill with the scent of charcoal and the concussive boom of fireworks, it is easy to let “Independence Day” dissolve into simple consumerism and passive nostalgia.

But if we look at the state of our world—if we hold up a mirror to the heavy, pressing realities of our current political climate—we quickly realize that independence is not a historical event we inherit. It is a radical, ongoing act of spiritual warfare that we must wage every single day.

As earth-centered practitioners, true patriotism has nothing to do with blind allegiance to a flag or a state. True patriotism is an allegiance to the land itself, to the diverse community that inhabits it, and to the fierce defense of the sovereign spaces we possess.

Continue reading The Radical Act of Independence: Claiming Your Sovereign Landscape

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Finding the Still Point: The Sacred Interlude of Midsummer

By Katrina Rasbold

Now that we have officially crested the peak of the Summer Solstice and launched the Summer 2026 issue, a unique energetic shift takes place in the natural world. The frantic, skyward momentum of spring and early summer suddenly slows. The wild weeds have done their rapid climbing, the wild berries are ripening on the vine, and the trees stand in their full, heavy cloaks of deep green. Continue reading Finding the Still Point: The Sacred Interlude of Midsummer

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Whose Sabbat Is It Anyway?

By Katrina Rasbold

Modern Pagans love a clean calendar. We dutifully mark our planners for May 1st, June 21st, or October 31st, preparing our rituals and gathering our supplies to match the rigid grid of the standard solar year. We stress over perfect timing, worrying that if we miss the exact hour of a planetary alignment or a solar peak, the magic won’t quite take root. Continue reading Whose Sabbat Is It Anyway?

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Ink, Identity, and the Pentagon: Erasing the Minority Faiths

By Katrina Rasbold

On paper, bureaucracy looks sterile. It moves in the quiet rustle of memos, the dry language of administrative updates, and the clinical scrubbing of data fields. But earlier this week, a pencil stroke at the Pentagon sent a shockwave through the global Pagan community.

The U.S. Department of Defense officially slashed its list of recognized religious affiliation codes from over 200 faith traditions down to just 31.

The administrative axe fell heavily on minority belief systems. In an instant, designations for Pagans, Wiccans, Druids, Heathens, Asatru, Unitarian Universalists, and Humanists ceased to exist in the official military tracking system. In their place, a heavily streamlined list emerged—one where nearly two-thirds of the remaining codes represent specific Christian denominations. Continue reading Ink, Identity, and the Pentagon: Erasing the Minority Faiths

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Standing at the Gates of June: The Magic of the Threshold

By Katrina Rasbold

Tomorrow night, as the sun dips below the horizon, we bid farewell to May. We stand precisely at the threshold of June, a cross-quarter transition that carries a distinct, powerful shift in the energetic landscape.

If May was the month of raw desire, frantic planting, and the ecstatic, chaotic growth of Beltane, June is the month of illumination. We are moving out of the shadows of the soil and stepping directly into the full, unyielding light of the sun. The time for hiding, planning, and whispering in the dark is over. The season of visibility has arrived. Continue reading Standing at the Gates of June: The Magic of the Threshold

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The Mid-Spring Pause: Cultivating the Garden of the Soul

By Katrina Rasbold

There is a brief, magical window of time in late May where the entire earth seems to take a collective breath. The frantic energy of early spring—the clearing of brush, the planting of seeds, and the ecstatic dancing of Beltane—has passed. The frantic heat of the Summer Solstice is not quite here yet.

Right now, we are in the thick of the growing season.

For many modern Pagans, this can actually be a difficult transition. Our community thrives on beginnings and endings; we love the clean slate of Samhain, the crisp hope of Ostara, and the bright fires of Beltane. But what do we do when the initial excitement wears off and the daily work of maintenance begins? Continue reading The Mid-Spring Pause: Cultivating the Garden of the Soul

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When the Universe is Just Being Loud: The Fine Art of Pagan Over-Thinking

By Katrina Rasbold

It starts innocently enough. You are sitting on your porch, sipping your morning coffee, when a glossy, jet-black crow lands on the railing. It tilts its head, fixes you with a bead-like eye, and lets out a solitary, booming “CAW!” – the crow sound “caw,” not the Church of All Worlds “CAW”.

A normal person might think, Oh, a crow.

But you are a Pagan. You don’t do “normal.” Everything is magical and everything means something and mostly, it does.

Continue reading When the Universe is Just Being Loud: The Fine Art of Pagan Over-Thinking

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The Cost of Silence and the Weight of Hope

By Katrina Rasbold

I feel hopeful today because of a hard truth I am finally seeing clearly: we are learning the cost of silence.

I’ve been reflecting on a line from Philippa Gregory’s Boleyn Traitor, a novel about Jane Boleyn. As she nears the end of her life, Jane realizes that Katherine Howard is destined for the same fate as those before her. Speaking of the tyranny of Henry VIII, she speculates that they all should have said “no” when the first innocent fell—to the axe or the rope—so that someone would have been there to say “no” for them at the end. It is a chilling reminder: if we do not say “no” now, there will be no one left to say “no” for us later.

Continue reading The Cost of Silence and the Weight of Hope

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Magic in Movies: Is Hollywood Reflecting Our Soul or Just Selling Our Skin?

By Katrina Rasbold

In the half-century since Green Egg first began chronicling the Awakening of Gaia, our community has moved from the shadowy fringes of the “Occult” section to the glittering center of the global marquee. In 2026, you can’t swing a ritual cord without hitting a streaming service featuring a teenage necromancer, a kitchen witch with a podcast, or a reimagined folk-horror deity.

But as the Witchy Aesthetic becomes a billion-dollar industry, we have to ask: Is Hollywood reflecting our soul, or just selling our skin?

As Pagans and Witches, our relationship with the screen is a complex one—a dance between the thrill of being seen and the sting of being distorted. Continue reading Magic in Movies: Is Hollywood Reflecting Our Soul or Just Selling Our Skin?

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The Bright Fire and the Deep Moon: Beltane 2026

By Katrina Rasbold

We are exactly one week away from the Great Fire Festival. The Maypoles are being prepped, the ribbons are being dyed, and across the Northern Hemisphere, the sap is rising with a ferocity that feels both ancient and urgent.

In the popular imagination, Beltane is often reduced to two things: a bonfire and a license to express our sexuality. And while we at Green Egg will never turn down a good fire or a celebration of sacred sensuality, to stop there is to miss the marrow of the Sabbat.

Beltane is not just a party; it is an expression of the eternal regeneration of life. And in 2026, as we face a rare alignment of the Sabbat with a Full Moon in Scorpio, the message of Beltane is deeper—and more necessary—than ever.

The Sacred Marriage of Force and Form

At its heart, Beltane is the celebration of the “Sacred Marriage”—the union of the May Queen (the Earth in her peak fertility) and the Green Man (the vital life force that surges through the wild). This isn’t just a metaphor for human romance; it is the fundamental physics of the universe. It is the moment when Potential meets Manifestation.

When we dance the Maypole, we are weaving the red and white ribbons of blood and bone, of spirit and matter. We are reminding ourselves that we are not separate from the Earth’s lust for life. Our desires, our creative projects, and our physical vitality are all part of Gaia’s own “quickening.”

Continue reading The Bright Fire and the Deep Moon: Beltane 2026

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Beyond the Blue Marble: Earth Day 2026 and the Partisans of Gaia

By Katrina Rasbold

April 22nd is right around the corner. In the secular world, Earth Day is often reduced to a few hours of picking up litter or sharing a “Blue Marble” photo on social media. But for those of us whose altar is the soil and whose scripture is the wind, Earth Day 2026 feels different. It feels less like a celebration and more like a summoning.

As we stand in mid-April, the scientific reports tell us we are at a crossroads. We are exiting a period of relative oceanic stability and entering an El Niño cycle that threatens to bring record-breaking heat and drought to much of the West. While the world debates policy, the Earth is already making her move. Continue reading Beyond the Blue Marble: Earth Day 2026 and the Partisans of Gaia

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Artemis Rising: Lunar Frontiers and the Sovereign Soul

By Katrina Rasbold

In 1969, we landed on the Moon under the banner of Apollo—the Sun God, the Archer of Light, the bringer of logic and solar clarity. It was a conquest of distance, a triumph of the straight line. But as we stand in 2026, the banner has shifted. We are returning to explore the lunar surface under the name of his twin sister: Artemis.

For the modern Pagan, this shift from Apollo to Artemis is not merely branding. It is a theological pivot. If Apollo represents the light of reason and the mastery of the external world, Artemis represents the wild, the nocturnal, and the fiercely autonomous self. As the Orion spacecraft orbits the moon, it isn’t just carrying astronauts; it is carrying a mirror to our own collective Sacred Self. Continue reading Artemis Rising: Lunar Frontiers and the Sovereign Soul

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The Un-Authorized Lexicon: An Unofficial Guide to Pagan Parlance

By Katrina Rasbold

In the early days of Neopaganism, we learned a vital lesson: if you can’t laugh at your own ritual bloopers, the Gods certainly will. Over the last several decades, the Pagan movement developed a vocabulary so dense it could sink a Viking longship. In today’s Green Egg Blog, I step out of the circle and share the Inner Court, Super Secret Squirrel definitions of some of the most common magical terms.

Welcome to the Alternate Lexicon of Magical Practice. Here is what those fancy terms actually mean when the mead starts flowing and the incense gets a bit too thick. But before we get into that, I want to tell you a story. Continue reading The Un-Authorized Lexicon: An Unofficial Guide to Pagan Parlance

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The Empty Throne: Why We Need the Goddess NOW

By Katrina Rasbold

Look at the world outside your window. No, look deeper—past the blooming daffodils of the equinox and into the marrow of the collective American psyche. Can you feel the grinding? It is the sound of a massive, ancient machine—the Patriarchal Engine—running out of oil and beginning to strip its own gears. Smell that acrid “burning clutch” scent that is part metallic and part desperation.

For two thousand years, the West has been a house with only one parent. We have been raised in a spiritual and social architecture built entirely on the concept of the Singular Father: the judge, the law-giver, the punisher, and the distant king. We were told this was the “natural order.” We were told that strength is found in hierarchy, that security is found in walls, and that divinity is strictly masculine.

But the walls are cracking. The gears are screaming. And as the patriarchal structure in America today enters its most desperate, explosive phase, we are finally realizing that we aren’t just tired—we are motherless. Continue reading The Empty Throne: Why We Need the Goddess NOW

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The Great Balancing Act: Welcoming the Spring Equinox

By Katrina Rasbold

As the wheel turns to the Vernal Equinox, the world pauses for a singular, breathtaking moment of perfect equilibrium. Day and night stand as equals, holding hands across the threshold of the seasons. Here at Green Egg, we’ve always seen the Equinox not just as a date on a calendar, but as the “hatching” of a new reality.

If your winter felt like a long hibernation of the soul, you aren’t alone. But look closely: Gaia is breathing again.

Continue reading The Great Balancing Act: Welcoming the Spring Equinox

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Many Paths to the Center: Navigating Pagan Theologies

By Katrina Rasbold

In the grand, colorful tapestry of modern Paganism, there is no single “right” way to view the Divine. For decades, Green Egg has served as a forum where these diverse perspectives—often called the “many paths to the same center”—can be explored, debated, and celebrated. Whether we see the Gods as distinct individuals, facets of a single source, or expressions of the Earth herself, our theology is as varied as the ecosystems of Gaia.

To better understand our community, let’s look at how we conceptualize the Divine, from the ancient roots of polytheism to the modern shift toward gender-expansive spirituality.

Continue reading Many Paths to the Center: Navigating Pagan Theologies

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The Liturgy of the Soil: A Permaculture Rite for the Spring Equinox

By Katrina Rasbold

The Spring Equinox is often treated as a celebration of outward growth—the first green shoots, the return of the sun, and the frantic burst of planting energy. But for the modern Pagan, the Equinox is also a moment of perfect equilibrium: the exact threshold where light and dark hold hands before the sun begins its steady climb.

This year, as you prepare your garden beds, consider moving beyond viewing your land as a resource to be managed. Instead, view it as a site of theological engagement. Permaculture—with its foundational ethics of Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share—is not just a design system; it is a profound, living liturgy. Continue reading The Liturgy of the Soil: A Permaculture Rite for the Spring Equinox

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The New Vanguard: 10 Pagan Voices Shaping Our Future

By Katrina Rasbold

As we stand at the crossroads of a shifting spiritual landscape, the torch of modern Paganism is being passed to a new generation of visionaries. While we will always honor the foundational texts of our elders, the voices rising today address the complexities of the 21st century—blending ancient wisdom with social justice, digital connectivity, and deep ecological urgency.

Unlike times in the past when we had a handful of authors defining who we are in the world as contemporary Pagans, we are now flooded with names and books to the point that it can be difficult to know who to read. Those of us who have been around for a while feel compelled to wonder who our new Janet Farrar, Laurie Cabot, Oberon Zell, Starhawk, and Raymond Buckland will be. As we begin to lose the vital icons, who steps up to continue what they began? Continue reading The New Vanguard: 10 Pagan Voices Shaping Our Future

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From Polarity to Pluralism: The Evolution of Inclusive Paganism

By Katrina Rasbold

The landscape of modern Paganism has shifted dramatically over the last fifty years. What began in the mid-20th century as a movement deeply rooted in the divine gender binary has blossomed into a diverse, decentralized spiritual umbrella that increasingly prioritizes radical inclusivity.

Continue reading From Polarity to Pluralism: The Evolution of Inclusive Paganism

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The Crossroads of Coin and Craft: Why Modern Souls are Returning to the Pagan Path

By Katrina Rasbold

In the shadow of a volatile economy and a fracturing social landscape, a quiet but profound migration is taking place. While traditional pews sit increasingly empty, the forest paths, digital altars, and moonlit circles are seeing a surge of new footprints. As we stand at the crossroads of 2026, the rise of Paganism and Witchcraft in the United States isn’t just a trend—it’s a spiritual homecoming for those whom the modern world has left behind.

Continue reading The Crossroads of Coin and Craft: Why Modern Souls are Returning to the Pagan Path