Tarot of Marseilles This card shows a woman pouring liquid both onto dry land and into the water. Eight stars shine above her, symbolising the fact that seventeen can also be seen as 1+7=8. The number eight can also be seen as an infinity symbol, and the stars were believed to be made of an everlasting substance. The eighth Tarot card is Justice, associated with duty, good conduct, virtue, and consequence. Seventeen was an unlucky number for Italians, and it was also considered unlucky by Pythagoreans, who called this number "the Barrier". According to the Seeress of Prevorst, seventeen symbolises the participation in two worlds, celestial and terrestrial. Henry Blanquart agrees that it "represents the junction between the material world and the spiritual world". According to Jâbir Ibn Hayyân, alchimist and Sufi, the number seventeen represents the balance of each thing. The Greeks called this number "antiphraxis" meaning "interposition" bec...

Tarot of Marseilles Temperance is habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion. It means being able to control oneself, and not letting onself get swept up in the moment or lead astray by fickle passions. The card shows an angel carefully pouring water from one jug to another. Water is a substance which can be difficult to contain, it leaks and it splashes and it runs away. This is a good metaphor for our emotions, which can overwhelm us at times. We break into tears, we stress out, we boil over, and we simmer with anger. The Angel of Temperance is able to contain the running water of emotion and prevent it from spilling. Water is also something we use to cool off. A cold shower or a glass of water can help us when we are feeling hot and bothered. This card is about recognising those instances when our emotions are getting the better of us and we need to calm down. In Hinduism, the concept of dama means discipline. Five types of self-restraint are taugh...

Wow I feel pretty special right now. I just received an invite from someone on facebook, to attend a "water blessing" ceremony. The invite was from someone I had attended circle with before, but I hadn't seen in a while. I looked at their name and thought.... hang on a minute..... that is the name of the author of The Way of the Sea Priestess. I have met this person, performed ritual with them in circle, and didn't even realise they were the author of the book I've just read. I discovered the book after I had met the woman, I can't remember how I discovered the book, but I bought it from Amazon. At the end of the book I read the author bio, and was surprised that they live near me. I am so awful with names, that I didn't realise it was actually someone I'd already met. Sometimes I feel like just banging my head against a wall because I can be such a div. I mean I have serious problems remembering names and faces. I don't know why I have this...

This is my personal understanding of divinity in Wicca. Firstly, there is the pantheistic concept of the divine as the One and All, the very Being of the Cosmos, the Source, the Dryghten. This is an impersonal, non-anthropomorphic way of understanding the divine, but sometimes it is symbolised by a hermaphrodite, an ouroboros, an infinity symbol, or a spiral. It is the self-creating infinite oneness of all that exists, and is not an object of worship. Dryghten is the Godhead which is understood by us in the form of Goddess and God. Patricia Crowther wrote the following blessing in her book Witch Blood! The Diary of a Witch High Priestess!  "In the name of Dryghten, the Ancient Providence, Who was from the beginning and is for eternity, Male and Female, the Original Source of all things; all-knowing, all-pervading, all-powerful; changeless, eternal. In the name of the Lady of the Moon, and the Lord of Death and Resurrection. In the name of the Mighty Ones of the Four Q...