Author & Professional Witch, Katrina Rasbold, writes this blog for Green Egg
By Katrina Rasbold
Humans often consider the power of speech and written word to be the defining quality that sets us apart from the rest of the animal world. With the exception of some animals specially trained to communicate, Koko the Gorilla, for instance, humans alone possess the demonstrated ability for the ongoing use of language. There is little denying the power of words. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: The Power of Words
By Katrina Rasbold
There are two things that almost universally Pagans, and especially those who also identify as Witches, love to do: Burn stuff and put smaller things into bigger things. All seventh-grade tittering aside, you can summon a Witch by leaving a box of various sized jars on the side of the road with a “free” sign on them. Oh yes. We will stop. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: Container Magic
By Katrina Rasbold
Of all of the holidays, it can be argued that most cultures at some time or another celebrated Midsummer. The Sun reigns at its full power and dominates the sky for the longest day of the year on Litha. It is commonly believed that the Faeries are most active during this time; an idea perpetuated by William Shakespeare’s famous play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The power of herbs and plants is said to be strongest at this time, so many of the summer herbs are harvested on this day. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: Purge, Protect, & Burn Stuff at Midsummer
By Katrina Rasbold
We spend a lot of time talking and thinking about why bad stuff happens, especially to people who we consider “good” and undeserving of strife and particularly when it comes in what feels like a disproportionate avalanche. We become deeply angry and philosophical when we try to understand why bad things happen to innocents like children and animals. Often, we become so mired in our determination to understand why something happens that we fail to effectively manage the situation at all. The assignment of blame is one of the greatest time eaters and malice fertilizers ever and is usually the focus of tremendous attention. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: When Bad Stuff Happens
By Katrina Rasbold
Emotion magical practice because spell work begins with what you want to have happen. If you cannot feel, then you cannot want and feeling is emotion. All intense emotion is high energy and you can, with rational thought and careful planning, direct all the intensity of that energy toward your goal. Passion will spike energy right off the meter, whether that passion comes from lust, anger, fear, or exultation. High emotion of all kinds: love, fear, sadness, anger, frustration, etc, can fuel your magical energy like a stoked furnace. But should you? Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: Magic & High Emotions
By Katrina Rasbold
Creating a new magical group is exciting, rewarding, and a ton of work. Often, particularly in eclectic work, the group forms spontaneously around a common desire to learn and practice more. Even in the most desirable circumstances, certain decisions must be made. This post takes you through some of the most vital points of forming your own spiritual group. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: Forming a Magical Working Group
By Katrina Rasbold
It can happen to all of us, although thankfully, not usually to the degree we see in the graphic above. Rituals fail. It is easy to raise one knowing eyebrow and say that it failed because it was intended to fail and all things are exactly as they should be and blah, blah, blah, but there is a huge difference in knowing that rituals sometimes do not go as planned versus understanding why rituals sometimes go in the ditch and how to manage that inevitability. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: Ceremonial Interruptus
By Katrina Rasbold
What are you like in your relationship with the Deities you honor? How do you engage them? What role do they perform in your life? Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: The Lesson of the Grateful Child
By Katrina Rasbold
The “third eye” is a concept embraced by many cultures. This uniquely empowered area of the physical body is associated with the brow chakra and with the color indigo. Friar Richard Rohr speculates that “First Eye” is what we perceive with the five physical senses. The “Second Eye” is our reasoning and reflection. The “Third Eye” goes further still and is, as Rohr puts it, “Having the mind of Christ.” It is a coming together of sacredness that puts one in a very holy and receptive state of mind. Many paths of yogic study use the third eye for inner focus. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: Third Eye Sight
By Katrina Rasbold
In our circle, we work a strong duality between male and female energies and although we love the traditional celebrations, we always like to put our own spin on things. Beltane is a delicious High Holiday, ribald with innuendo and fun, celebrating the union between the masculine and feminine archetypes. In this blessed time of coming together, we honor the fertilization of the land and revel in the pleasures brought to us by earthly existence. That being the case, we always thought it as a little one-sided to ritualize this sacred day with only a maypole, the representation of male virility, thrusting its mighty prominence up out of the ripened land. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: All Hail The Mayhole
By Katrina Rasbold
The beginning of self-mastery comes from identifying where your energy goes and the impact it has when it gets there, balanced out with the necessity of maintaining a baseline of personal energy for your own needs. When someone has a total disregard for the needs of others or any concern about their impact on the people around them, we identify that behavior as a mental health disorder. When the reverse is true and a person gives to others beyond what their energetic reserves can support, we do not (usually) attach this behavior to mental illness, and yet, the effects can be personally devastating. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: River Meditation
By Katrina Rasbold
In last week’s Witch At The Crossroads blog, we talked about symptoms of psychic attack and these may come from intentional malice or inadvertent ill will (like pouting and wallowing in anger). In this post, we discuss how to effectively manage psychic attack once it occurs or we suspect it has occurred. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: Managing Psychic Attack
By Katrina Rasbold
In researching for this article, I looked back over a blog post I wrote on Patheos Pagan in 2015 and wow, have my views ever changed! One of the great benefits to blogging and journaling is the opportunity to review and reconisder our position from years before and notice how much we learned in the interim. Back then, I had a more naive perspective on psychic attack and since that time, I have performed literally thousands of cleansings on people suffering from the effects of untreated psychic attacks, plus wrote a book on the subject. Where at that time, I considered true psychic attack to be uncommon, I now know it happens all the time. People are so much more comfortable slinging baneful energy around than I ever imagined back then. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: Identifying Psychic Attack
By Katrina Rasbold
An up and coming, fast-track, newbie Pagan I know recently referred to feng shui as “fluffy bunny magic.” I stared in amazement because, gentle reader, if taking the energy movement in your home seriously is fluffy bunny magic, then it is the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog. Little is more vital to your day-to-day magic than the energy flow you cultivate in your own spiritual sanctuary. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: Breath of the Dragon
By Katrina Rasbold
There is little doubt that rain is essential to life. Without it, life would not exist on planet earth. In times of drought, not only do we suffer economically and ecologically, but we also suffer emotionally and spiritually. Most people require a healthy balance of water to dry in order to thrive. Since our bodies are composed of a high percentage of water, we naturally relate to the humidity and water around us. Many people, even those who do not swim, are drawn to the water and enjoy standing in the ocean or in a river, just to participate in the kinship that exists between humans and water. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: The Power of Rain
By Katrina Rasbold
During this time of Spring Cleaning and the purging, it is important not to overlook home cleaning of a different kind. Just as we track in dirt on our shoes and hands, so do we bring in psychic debris from our ventures into the outside world.
Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: A Different Kind of Spring Cleaning
By Katrina Rasbold
Essential disclaimer: I do understand that some Pagans do not actively work magic, so this particular blog references those who do. My assessment of common mistakes energy-wielding Pagans make is not an attack on people who practice magic differently than I do. Goddess bless ya if it works for you. I openly and immediately concede that some of you may have had different experiences. This is, instead, an observation of what I have personally screwed up in over thirty years of practice, as well as what I observe in other Pagans who are challenged by the limitations of their own erroneous beliefs. Will any of these five issues cause Armageddon or create irreversible damage? Likely not. The worst that will probably happen is that self-imposed limitations will minimize your magical flow. Oh, how I wish someone had told me these things when I was just a little Witch rather than having to find them out on my own. So here we go: Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: 5 Common Energy Killing Beliefs
By Katrina Rasbold
If we are lucky, at some point in our Pagan lifetime, we will be invited to visit someone else’s ritual/grove/coven/circle/event to share in their practice. This could be at a public place such as a park or an event center or it can be at a private home or covenstead. In either instance, there are certain protocols of basic etiquette, tailored to Pagan practice, that are good to observe if you ever wish to be invited to another function. Keeping one’s name untarnished in the Pagan community is quite an extraordinary feat and it often starts with being a guest who maintains integrity and good manners. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: Pagan Etiquette
The Fools Journey Through the Tarot Major Arcana
By Katrina Rasbold
A common practice among those who make a serious study of the Tarot is to develop a story that takes The Fool, the first card of the Major Arcana, on a quest through the remainder of the Major Arcana until he ends up at The World card, having completed his quest and his cycle.
Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: The Fool’s Journey
By Katrina Rasbold
Where does your energy go?
Often, I hear even advanced magical practitioners talking about physical, mental, emotional, social, sexual, and magical energy as though these are somehow disconnected and unrelated to one another. Some even equate success as a Pagan leader with working well beyond healthy exhaustion of limits on those energy reserves. Anyone truly worth their Himalayan sea salt knows a deficit in any of these levels compromises them all and if you physically and mentally exhaust yourself, your magical energy suffers greatly. Continue reading Witch At The Crossroads: Where Are Your Power Eggs?