This is my diagram of the "wheel of the year" based on the data for my location. This is something I recommend everyone does - find out the meteorological data for where you live. I have written down the average temperature, rainfall, and sunshine for each month of the year.This has me thinking about the wheel of the year in Elemental terms. It was Aristotle that proposed that each of the Elements has two qualities each. Earth is cold and dry, because it represents molecules moving at their slowest, locked into a solid position. As the molecules warm up, they become more fluid. Water is cold and wet because it represents the liquid state. Air is hot and wet because it represents the water molecules evaporating upwards as they are heated. Fire is hot and dry because it represents the molecules in their ionised state. So, looking at the wheel of the year we can see the hot, cold, dry and wet quarters, which can indicate the Elemental symbolism of the seasons. We are current...

Last year I posted an advert on witchvox calling for local people who would be interested in starting a new coven. Interest has been slowly and steadily growing. I currently have a potential coven of 10 ladies. I'm excited in a nervous kind of way. I am not the most socially confident person. The thought of meeting strangers is quite terrifying. I don't know how many of the potential witches are really up for trying this. I always assume that out of all who express an interest, only half will follow through. Since last year I had a good feeling about May, that this would be the time for new projects. I've proposed a coven meeting in May and so far three individuals have said they would like to meet up. What I worry about is being able to meet everyone's needs, because I want the coven to work for everyone. I want clear communication, this is the most important thing, that we are able to share our ideas. I don't like the idea of a coven where a select leadership...

Through our daily earthbound life, we recognise the sun rising in the east (northeast in the summer and southeast in the winter) and mounting the sky. The sun rarely passes directly overhead, and rather we see it moving toward the south, if you're in the northern hemisphere. The sun will then set toward the west (southwest in the winter and northwest in the summer). This all changes if you're in the southern hemisphere, where the sun will appear to travel through the north, rising in the southeast at winter and the northeast at summer, and rising in the southwest in summer and northwest in winter. The following diagram shows the perceived passage of the sun for each hemisphere. For this reason, I would place my altar in the South and draw the circle anti-clockwise if I were in the southern hemisphere. Whether we are in the southern or northern hemisphere, the altar is placed in the darkest quarter of the circle, where the sun is perceived to travel under the earth. Psychol...

I've finished reading Wicca Covens by Judy Harrow and am in the middle of reading Witchcraft for Tomorrow by Doreen Valiente. Judy Harrow pointed out in her book that the correspondence of directions to elements is purely symbolic, and not something we should take literally. The elements are not literally found in different directions, because they are of course all around us. Harrow tells us that although most Wiccan covens follow the correspondence of North: Earth, East: Air, South: Fire, and West: Water, not all covens practice in the same way. It is important that we all practice in a way that makes sense to us. Doreen Valiente explains why the common Wiccan correspondence of directions to elements is used. She suggests that it is adapted to the British climate, as opposed to the Greek climate which Aristotle describes. Here we may see Valiente's correspondence in contrast to Aristotle's: I can see why she would describe Earth as "cold and wet" because ...

Last month, I finished reading Practical Elemental Magick by Sorita d’Este and David Rankine. There were some interesting facts in there, and this is a topic that I love to explore because when you look into the different beliefs that were held in the past you find a great amount of variety. I can't stand shallow books that tell you rather dogmatically "this is how it is" without suggesting that there may be other ways of looking at things. I drew the following diagram to show how I see the classical elements. To me, the elements represent the four fundamental states of matter. At the top of the scale, we have fire, which represents the plasma state of matter. Other examples of matter in a plasma state are lightning, electric sparks, fluorescent lights, neon lights, plasma televisions, and the Sun. When a plasma is deionised, it becomes gas, which is represented by the element of air. The air we breathe is formed of several types of gases, such as nitrogen, oxygen...

I don't have a lot of gadgets in my life, all I have is my camera and laptop. Last night when I went to visit my boyfriend's parents, Daddy Evans was keen to show off his new iphone. He had this new app which shows you the stars and planets. All you do is hold the phone up to the sky, or point it in any direction you like, and it will show you exactly which stars and planets are in that direction. This is such a useful tool! When we got home, my boyfriend downloaded a similar app for his android and we had fun walking around the flat, plotting the zodiac around us. It was a cloudy night, not even the moon was visible to the naked eye, so having this app gave us a clear picture of what exactly was around us. I'm grateful to my boyfriend's dad, he always has some neat information to teach me as he's a keen naturalist. He used to be a diver, before health problems got in the way, and he was able to teach me about the tides. I had read about neap tides and spring tide...