Category: Commentary

Informative and thoughtful articles authored by select contributors

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The Cat’s Eye: What Is Witchcraft, Magic, Psychism, and Paganism?

By Cat Gina Cole

What is Witchcraft?

That is a question that continues to be hotly debated on social media. There is a lot of “Who gets to decide that and why?” type of questions that come with it. The answer also depends on culture, pantheon, and personal beliefs. So, you may be asking why attempt to answer such a question? Well, as a teacher, and practicing Witch for over 50 years, I am in about 40-50 “witch” groups on social media and I see many looking for direction and firm answers, so I will attempt to provide some clarity. Continue reading The Cat’s Eye: What Is Witchcraft, Magic, Psychism, and Paganism?

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From The Forum

Curated by Cat Gina Cole

The Green Egg Forum is a lively hotbed of thoughtful discourse, moderated by Cat Gina Cole. In this column, Cat shares some of the most interesting and interactive posts and threads from the forum. Want to get in on the conversation? We would love to have you! Go to: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1069823176940972/ to join.

Money & Ethics

This week in the forum there was a great discussion about money and ethics, that began with this question, “I am a victim of my own ethics. I have a hard time paying what I consider a high fee, meaning over what I myself would charge for such an event. I may very badly want to attend but as of yet, have not been able to break this ethic, and pay the fee even if I have the money it is just a hard no. I imagine the solution to my dilemma lies in my shadow work, but in the meantime what is an ethical poor Pagan to do when as a provider or a customer we have ethics that are conflicting that sometimes can hold us back? And I ask, where are you and your ethics on this issue?”

 

The responses varied and were very enlightening.

Continue reading From The Forum

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From the Forum

Curated by Cat Gina Cole

The Green Egg Forum is a lively hotbed of thoughtful discourse, moderated by Cat Gina Cole. In this column, Cat shares some of the most interesting and interactive posts and threads from the forum. Want to get in on the conversation? We would love to have you! Go to: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1069823176940972/ to join.

This week I asked the forum this question: “What do you like or enjoy about being Pagan and the Pagan community in general?”

I truly enjoyed the response and this week I am just going to let the responses speak for themselves.

Continue reading From the Forum

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Witch At The Crossroads: New Year’s Resolutions

By Katrina Rasbold

Did you make resolutions this year? Have you stayed true to them? How many times have you made the same resolutions over and over, year after year, each time more determined to succeed and more frustrated and dejected when you do not? How many times do the failures of previous years stand in the way of your success for the coming year? Repeated failures are a heavy load to bear.

If you are struggling and need to regroup on the resolutions, here are some ideas for tightening up and streamlining the process.
Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: New Year’s Resolutions

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From the Forum

Curated by Cat Gina Cole

The Green Egg Forum is a lively hotbed of thoughtful discourse, moderated by Cat Gina Cole. In this column, Cat shares some of the most interesting and interactive posts and threads from the forum. Want to get in on the conversation? We would love to have you! Go to: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1069823176940972/ to join.

Thank you all for your participation in the conversation about atheists. One comment was very skillfully laid out that I did not want to get lost in the shuffle the reply was…

Continue reading From the Forum

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The Magic of Clutter Banishing

By Lady Saoirse

Bright Blessings,

No doubt, you are all enjoying your new year, and some of you will have set New Year’s Resolutions. I remember the days before I practiced magic when “I will lose x number of pounds” was my resolution every year. Now, I have lost the weight of societal expectations and I love my body. Pass the cake and wine, please! There is something that I do every year, multiple times per year, however this year, I did find myself doing it at the beginning of January. Continue reading The Magic of Clutter Banishing

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Witch At The Crossroads: Reading for 2024

By Katrina Rasbold

I do not usually do these types of readings because when we ask the cards a question, they respond based on the current energetic climate and where things are heading. To predict out for a full year means nothing changes from the moment of the reading, which is, of course, not a reasonable assumption on which to base a forecast. Even the reading itself is potential for change.

That being the case, I am doing this for Karen. I have three Karens in my life who I completely adore. I know other Karens, but man… these three… they just have my heart: Karen Albeck, Karen Jacoby, and Karen Stanley. One of the Karens asked me to do a 2024 reading and out of love and respect, I am doing it. <3 Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: Reading for 2024

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The Cat’s Eye – Yule 2023

By Cat Gina Cole

Wow! The “New Normal” since the pandemic is really challenging for almost all of us for a variety of reasons. As a freelance writer, I spend quite a bit of time on social media and the challenges are very evident. So too are the contentions those frustrations bring as we attempt to interact with each other. I say interacting, because it is not really communication. It is more “act” and “react,” and communication is a two-way conversation. That our social media interactions have become so black and white it got me thinking about Yule.  Continue reading The Cat’s Eye – Yule 2023

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From the Forum

Curated By Cat Gina Cole

The Green Egg Forum is a lively hotbed of thoughtful discourse, moderated by Cat Gina Cole. In this column, Cat shares some of the most interesting and interactive posts and threads from the forum. Want to get in on the conversation? We would love to have you! Go to: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1069823176940972/ to join.

This week in the forum the conversation about Satanists continued with a member making this post:

Continue reading From the Forum

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The Most Sacred Magic Word: The Power of Saying No

By Lady Saoirse

“My boyfriend won’t stop spending my money!”

“My adult children won’t move out!”

“My best friend won’t let me date!”

I hear a lot of things like this from people who come for advice during tarot readings. They want to know how they can make people stop doing things they don’t want them to do. Truthfully, sometimes, we can’t control what other people do and no amount of talking, begging, or spellwork will change that. There is something you can do, however, even though we can’t force people to do what we want them to. Continue reading The Most Sacred Magic Word: The Power of Saying No

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The Pagan Agenda

By Katrina Rasbold

If you are unconvinced that everyone has an agenda, you desperately need a Facebook account. We all have agendas which we kindly refer to as “life goals.” Sure, we can parrot platitudes such as “all we want is to be treated with tolerance” and “if I don’t get a cast iron cauldron at a good price at this swap meet, I might shank someone,” but really, when it comes to it, the agenda is far more predictable than that. In fact, considering the number of Pagans I have known throughout forty plus years of active Paganism spanning multiple continents, I have found I can boil down the life goals of individual Pagans to one or more the following five things: Continue reading The Pagan Agenda

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On Words and Practices, Groups and Solitaries

By Gus diZerega

For six years, I participated in a healing center in Berkeley that integrated African Diasporic practices and Buddhism. Sometimes, I did so several times a week. Those years were as demanding (and rewarding) as the previous years I spent getting a Ph.D. in Political Science at Berkeley, but they never involved writing or reading anything.

I had already become a Wiccan when I began to work at the healing center and explained my first commitment was to the Wiccan Goddess, but so long as that was acceptable, I would love to participate. And participate I did until a growing focus on Buddhism gradually squeezed out the African Diasporic dimension of its work. I left on friendly terms and regard those years as one of the most important spiritual experiences of my life. Continue reading On Words and Practices, Groups and Solitaries

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Skills For Peaceful Living

By Cat Gina Cole

This begins with an exercise.

The first thing I would like to do for you to notice how you are feeling. Notice your mood, are you comfortable in the chair, how do you feel about others around you if there are any. Now if you will, stand up and shake it off! Yep, just shake. Now I would like you to stand and introduce yourself to the person close to you and hug them. If you are alone Stand in front of mirror, introduce yourself to yourself and hug yourself.

Did your mood change? Did you notice a change in your body or feel less tension? This is how we begin to live a life of peace, by tearing down tension, anger, hostility and fear. Continue reading Skills For Peaceful Living

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What It Means To Be Human

By Cat Gina Cole

Every day social media asks the ultimate loaded question: “What is on your mind?”

Well, in the age of instantly knowing everything at once how can we not have too much on our minds? This highlights one of many dualities: how can we care about everything going on in the world and balance that with time for ourselves? I do not mean doing fun things with friends and family here. I mean us, personally. In this fast-paced world, taking time to feel, to grieve, to be happy, to cry, to enjoy a moment alone, time to let ourselves really feel everything we need to in order to properly think and process is not encouraged…that is until Covid. Continue reading What It Means To Be Human

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Empath Survival Guide

By Katrina Rasbold

There is a reason the label of “empath” gets thrown around a good bit. It is because there are a lot of empaths out there. We could go a few rounds of “You might be an empath if…” to identify who is and is not an empath and future blog post likely will cover that very subject. For now, I want to talk about what to do if you know you are empathic or if you deny that you are empathic and just happen to experience discomfort when you are exposed to excessive energies from the people around you. Continue reading Empath Survival Guide

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Dark Magic and The Shadows

By Cat Gina Cole

For many magical practitioners, winter is the dark time and full of shadows. Technically, we have only one winter, but it has occurred to me that according to our modern calendar, winter actually comes twice a year. For most, it begins in late October and continues through December, the end of our calendar year. Then in January, the start of a new year, most of us are deep into winter, which means the new year begins with winter and the year also ends with winter.

Fall brings the slow onset of winter with the falling leaves providing a place for winter to rest. Many areas get snow which can lift our spirits or provide an opportunity for families to play and laugh together. Snow’s blanket is cold, it is crisp, and it changes the way everything looks, smells, and sounds. Continue reading Dark Magic and The Shadows

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Amazing Grace

By Katrina Rasbold

When I saw this internet meme, I literally laughed out loud with this wonderful, surprised, soul-smiling bark of a laugh. Let me tell you, I give amazing grace. I can grace like a pro in non-denominational, Christian, Heathen… I just read the room and flood that table with grace. I am grace fluent to the extreme. I will also finish before your food gets cold. It’s an art. 😉

Saying grace or as we called it when I was growing up in Kentucky “Returning the thanks” or “Saying the blessing,” is one of the traditions that sadly falls away for most people who leave the Christian Church. Personally, I am a fan of blessing the food that we eat regardless of whatever religious subscription dominates our spritual mailbox.

How do you bless the food you take into your body? How do you honor the people throughout the supply chain who helped get the food to you? How do you pay tribute to the plant or animal (or scientist) that sacrificed so you could eat? Continue reading Amazing Grace

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Pagan Voices

By Katrina Rasbold

Hello Green Egg Family! I started reading Green Egg in the 1980s when the Pagan climate and experience was somewhat different than it is now. We were not then as connected with other Pagans without the internet to draw us together. We had a limited number of resources available to us and only a handful of voices in the wilderness guiding us through the experiences. Not all of us were fortunate enough to be born into hereditary Pagan families and our only recourse was to follow the breadcrumb trails left by the people we now consider to be pioneers of Neopaganism. 

There are amazing teachers out there now and we have greater access to them than we ever could have imagined four decades ago. People like Christopher Penczak, Thorn Mooney, John Beckett, Jon Drum, Judika Illes, and so many more continue the process of developing the various Pagan religions and providing guidance to the twenty-first century Pagan community. These contemporary leaders follow a trail blazed by the ground-breaking teachers of our past.  Continue reading Pagan Voices