Witchy outfit of the day

From Victoria's Secret, 23rd of November 2009



Via The Age

Ye olde moon

via Bewitching

Flying witch seen in Mexico, February 2009 - Christian hoax?

Well, THIS is strange!

They even have members of the police talking about the 'humanoid creatures' as they got a close look at them... just wish they had the ability to draw or draw out a camera as quickly as they would do a gun!

It's certainly interesting. I expect that everyone will be sceptical, and of course we have to be, but with police eye witness accounts it does make you wonder what on earth they could have been...

A forum on the matter indicates that the cops were lying and that the 'flying object' was a remote helicopter with some cloth over it... but why would they lie? What kind of propaganda would that be? Mexico is a very Christian and Catholic country so perhaps this was a setup - but what for? To defame paganism? To make people fear witches?

Yes, I do feel gullible! I think a part of me actually wanted to believe that there were ancient, preternatural creatures flying around which were their own species to compare against the New Age Witch... two worlds colliding! What a thought!

I'm sick to death of paranormal videos which are blurry as hell - you can't see anything! How is it that with such good technology of late, so many people can't get it right? And they're not even making any money out of it because all of this stuff ends up on youtube or sites dedicated to the paranormal... why am I so gullible?!

Click here to see the video - I couldn't get it on here.

Green renters

Aah finally something for someone like me wanting to do something from a rental property:

http://greenrenters.org/

Connect with the environment

Okay, so we need to have something which is actually educational on here. Whilst the woman in the previous article I blasted was not necessarily the worst, most pitiful ambassador for the practice of Wicca she did bring up one very important issue: the environment.

If you're wanting to make a difference, please do some further reading and become proactive about climate change.

One million women
This website is aimed towards Australian women, however why not still join? It aims to help calculate the amount of carbon emissions you make per year so that you can reduce it by one tonne - the aim is to get 1 million women involved to bring down 1 million tonnes of carbon emissions. So far the campaign has 11,083 women behind it and we need more!

Green magazine - free pdf files
The Australian Greens Party releases their own publication, keeping readers informed about climate change and policy implementation to tackle carbon emissions head on.

One million women - Climate Change FAQs
This provides you with the background on the history of climate change and why we need to proactively contribute to cutting it back NOW

Cape of the week

via BohemianPunk

Old article that I'm UNhappy about

There is the possibility that all of the wrong statements have been taken by this witch, but I don't like what's been published... Perhaps it was actually a long conversation and they've chosen all of the wrong parts for publication, which the media is notorious for. I've highlighted the two statements which misrepresent Wicca ridiculously. It's a badly researched piece and I don't know why on earth this woman is saying that Wicca is 'largely a protest movement' in relation to the environment... since when was spell-casting a form of protest?! Whilst many witches are Green party members, you can hardly confuse religion with protest. That's like saying that my artwork is a form of protest - even though it's not vaguely political in nature!

'Witchcraft is for the weak and oppressed?' Did I actually read that? Let me just do a double take... oh she did too... Witchcraft has a history of oppression but it has never been designed FOR the weak and oppressed. I have never picked up a book and read that anywhere. You could say that it strengthens souls and replenishes our perspective on life... I understand that she is trying to make it sound like a welcoming religion for the oppressed, but I feel that it has the opposite affect and puts down Wicca. Again, she needs to separate the practice from the issues that come with it: protest is separate to religion, as is the statistic of how many weak and oppressed people come into the Wiccan faith is again separate to the practice itself. The entire section on pagans walks around what we do rather than addressing it.

And I can't help but think: does she believe that ALL women are WEAK and OPPRESSED?

Am I alone here? I find this article to be incredibly badly researched and gives the wrong impression on Wicca.

Blessed Be,

)O( Elspeth

HAVING A SPELL WITH WITCHCRAFT PROVES POPULAR FOR WOMEN

The Sun-Herald

0ctober 16 2005

by Barney Zwartz

Witches and charismatic Christians are leading religious growth in Australia with many women turning to witchcraft or paganism as a reaction against the patriarchal nature of traditional Christianity.

Dr Philip Hughes of the Christian Research Association said the numbers of people participating in nature religions - mostly witchcraft and paganism - rose by 140 per cent between 1996 and 2001. Agnostics were on the rise too, he said.

For many, nature religions were seen as environmentally friendly.

But Dr Hughes said their numbers remained small, with fewer than 25,000 adherents in Australia.

"They are never going to be really numerous as it is largely a protest movement."

Leading witch Caroline Tully says witchcraft is a religion for the weak and oppressed, especially women.

"Actually, I'm surprised the guys haven't taken advantage because there are so many single women," she said.

"There aren't many men, and a lot of them aren't particularly appealing."

Dr Hughes said growth among Pentecostals (such as Sydney's Hillsong Church) had been remarkable, along with ethnically based religions. For example, the Coptic Orthodox Church grew by 83 per cent between 1991 and 2001.

"Immigrants head to the churches in large numbers, even if they did not attend in their homelands," Dr Hughes said. However, he said he discounted fears in some church circles of mass conversions to Islam.

"The number of converts is very small, probably in the realm of less than a thousand or two. Only 2.5 per cent of all Muslims in Australia were born of Australian-born parents and some of these would be grandchildren of immigrants."

About 25,000 Australians identified themselves as Buddhist at the last census. Dr Hughes said young people liked its simplicity and ethics.

He said changes in immigration meant religion was now more diverse. Between 1996 and 2001, Buddhist numbers grew by 79 per cent, Hindus by 42 per cent and Muslims 40 per cent.

But all these groups together were still less than 5 per cent of the population.

Witchy outfits of the week #2

Alexander McQueen, Fall 2008
via Grace Magazine">Grace Magazine


Vivienne Westwood, 1993 (Nylon lace, organdy, tulles)
via Amulette


also via Amulette">Amulette


On Aura Tout Vous 2009

Altar of the week

How VERY decadent...

via Pumpkin Rot

The good old days...

The Virginia Woolf of Witches
via Kat's Hallowe'en Page


Very old image of two boys in bat costume "HAZA!"
via Pumpkin Rot


Doreen Valiente 1962
"And after this I'll make some LOVELY scones!" Mmm... scones...
via 7 deadly sinners


Oh, she looks so lonely and sad
via Season of Shadows

Bjork the Witch

There was a great deal of talk on Witch Mountain about Bjork's quiet Wiccan associations having been in a band called Kukl which is Icelandic for 'Witch' and also featured in a movie about Witchcraft called The Juniper Tree.... then I find this video with her tattoo on her left arm of the Gardnerian tradition (have to look it up in one of my books and do a repost!) for the eight practices to conjure a spell... Someone's been quiet about her faith, or has she?



I'll have the symbol on here soon...

Two rooms I want when I have a witchy house #1

Oooh, black was never so appealing. Forget aubergine, I want some black walls!

Sourced from Habitually Chic


This first image is my study - imagine the books on Wicca I could have lying around with my altar in a separate room.


.... and of course: The Apothecary

Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair - a warning to not hex nor conjure love spells

 

I'd seen this on Witch Mountain weeks ago and have thought about the phrase 'Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair' for some time now, especially given that I'd come across a quote (I believe also from Witch Mountain) which said something like "Those who cannot hex cannot heal." Of course I can't take the latter seriously, it sounds like a whimsical passing statement but at the same time I don't encourage anyone to hex just as I don't encourage anyone to conjure love spells - they are at both ends of a person's will as love and hate are just as strong as the other. All of the love spells I have performed have turned out incredibly badly, almost into hexing myself. I went down each stage, from taking an image of someone I wanted, to the next time where I drew my ideal man without giving him any of the personality traits which would make him a great love... I ended up briefly with this person who loooked exactly like my drawing, even the badly drawn long torso and long jade pendant - and it was a disaster for my soul... he floated from woman to woman anyway! I warn anyone who practices magick: do not hex or cast a love spell as it's essentially Black Magick, commanding the will of the other to be overtaken by your power which you have no right in doing. I am adamant about this for a reason: to help others and to prevent the negative outcomes that they will have placed themselves in.

'Fair is foul and foul is fair' comes close to the dualities in life which Wicca encapsulates: light vs. dark, negative vs. positive, man and woman which create the balance of life itself. These witches state that fair play is as powerful and justified as foul play and are in themselves an inherent part of witchcraft... and yes I realise they're fictional characters - I don't completely live on the web!

Those who feel the need to hex justify in doing so when the other person has done something so bad that they need to be taught a lesson, but why wouldn't karma take care of that for you? If we believe that whatever we sends out comes back times three, why would we need to control the punishment of others?

I am sincere in my warnings... and will only say it once! And watch the clip too, it is fantastic.

)0( Elspeth

Compassion across religions

Karen Armstrong warms my heart with her well-researched talk about how we ought to share compassion and understanding for each other across religions as "compassion - the ability to feel with the other [...] is not only the test of any true religiosity it is also what will bring us into the prescence of the divine." She emphasises the mantras of 'Love your enemies,' 'Honor the stranger' and aims to unite everyone in one world consciousness and share our compassion for the sake of harmony, progress and to share the basic golden rule of 'treat others how you would treat yourself' that all religions have at the heart of their dogma. As she puts it so beautifully: we have to move beyond toleration and move to appreciation.

She also mentions that religion is empirical, and the holiness and transcendent experience is only obtained through practice and only then can you understand the power of what you are undertaking.

I'm personally fascinated with other religions and love listening to Sunday Night Safran (you can download their podcasts there) to learn about all of the different religions that are available and how they are affecting contemporary society within and outside of their own culture. Back to the previous point, I am always interested in talking to others about their religion - particularly Indian taxi drivers who could be Buddhist, Islamic, Seek or Hindi... but I don't do anything in particular to deliberately make myself stand out as a Witch. I don't wear a pentagram around my neck nor do I have any symbols which make me stand out although I intend to at one point - though the whole 'career' thing gets in the way. I don't feel a need to put myself out there as a Witch but my dedication will most likely lead me there. I was on a train the other day, reading the book I recommended a few posts back on witches throughout history and a small meditteranean woman crossed her chest for her own 'protection'. I felt the need to assure her that I was a White Witch and wouldn't hurt anyone, but I decided to just leave it. I do hate that I feel somewhat tied back from being as obvious as an Islamic woman in her garb and in another sense I do want people to just accept me for who I am without the label being there immediately. I don't expect others to be immediately as fascinated and understanding as I am - am I holding back the opportunity for compassion to thrive?

Back to Karen above, she is really trying to have a document or understanding of sorts between major religious leaders to be pushing for positive change so that religions are not 'hijacked' by excuses to justify nasty deeds which end up tarnishing religion in the media.

And to finish it all off nicely: a cute video of the Dalai Llama on 'Happiness, Compassion and Mosquitos'!

New Moon image

via Wurzeltod

It reads:
'Fritz Zuber-Buhler is one of those itinerant dancing-girls common in portions of Southern Europe still, who reclines by the roadside in the forest to doze and dream away the summer noonday. Jules Lefebvre represents in "Salome," the daughter of Herodias, an essentially Semitic type of the antique period, with the sensuous and soulless beauty of the tigress rather than the woman, bearing the charger which is to receive the head of John the Baptist, and the sword which is to decapitate him, as indifferently as it if were a dish of fruit.'

From what I can read it's an illustration by Albert Audley - the surname is hard to make out.