Whenever the word "witch" is uttered, we conjure up a memory of "the burning times" when people were being accused of witchcraft and tortured by feverish villagers of 16-17th century Europe. It was an era of heightened paranoia, religious persecution, intense misogyny, and colonisation. This was the dawn of capitalism, as the former system of feudalism was gradually replaced with something more "liberal". Power struggles between monarchs and politicians caused riots, massacres, and sieges. Witches were scapegoats for all of the turmoil, as the wealthy could point a finger "look over there!" and shift the blame. The witch represented an enemy of the state, a cause of mass terror, an invader from the infernal realm. Those accused were usually poor elderly single women. Socially discardable, having outlived their usefulness, the accused witches were easy targets of popular violence. The development of capitalism meant that former peasants became lan...

The key word for the astrological sign of Sagittarius is "independence". Sagittarius is the sign of the philosopher and the explorer. The main challenge for Sagittarius however is emotional intelligence. Sagittarius struggles to connect on an emotional level with others, to be emotionally intimate with others as well as their own heart. For this reason, the energy of Sagittarius can seem aloof or distant, always on the move and never wanting to settle down, abrupt and often tactless. The strength of Sagittarius is a fearless drive to explore and to treat life as a great adventure.  The tarot card that I pulled for this full moon was The Hermit. Here we see the independent nature of Sagittarius as they embark upon their spiritual journey. A fearless adventurer, the solitary mystic holds a fiery lamp to light the way. What this tells me is that the full moon in Sagittarius is an important time to travel inward and reconnect with the fire therein. Spend some time alone,...

The word witch comes from Old English wicce "female magician, sorceress," fem. of Old English wicca "sorcerer, wizard, man who practices witchcraft or magic,"which in turn is of uncertain origin. Kleins Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language suggests connection with Old English wigle "divination," and wig, wih "idol." Ernest Weekley, a British philologist best known as the author of a number of works on etymology, notes possible connection to Gothic weihs "holy" and German weihan "consecrate," and writes, "the priests of a suppressed religion naturally become magicians to its successors or opponents." In Anglo-Saxon glossaries, wicca renders Latin augur (c. 1100), and wicce stands for "pythoness, divinatricem ." In the "Three Kings of Cologne" (c. 1400) wicca translates magi, plural of magus "learned magician" which originally referred to a member of ...

It's no secret that I'm pretty fucking magic. By that, what I mean is that I have the ability to get shit done in a creative and exciting way. I believe we all have magic powers. I'm not talking about supernatural abilities, I'm talking about our every day power to make stuff happen. Magic is the art of change and influence. My daily performance of taking charge of my own life might seem like miracle working. But what am I really doing? How does the trick work? Tarot of Marseilles If we translate the French name for this card, it is the "sleight of hand artist" or "illusionist". This card points toward the fact that we are living in a world of illusion, or false perception. It seems to us that the world is made up of separate parts, of opposites, of polarity. We feel ourselves to be individuals who are separate from the rest of the world. This is the illusion of ego. The number One represents the individuality of a separate "I" or ...

Hello and happy new year! So I guess this is where I explain to you what this is all about. I used to have a blog called The Sea Priestess , active from August 2002 until February 2010. I've had a few different blogs over the years, and at some points I am more comfortable with sharing my thoughts than at other points in my life. So why have I resurrected The Sea Priestess ? You may or may not be aware that The Sea Priestess is the title of a very influential novel by Dion Fortune. Under the guise of fiction, The Sea Priestess is in fact a teaching novel, with very clear accounts of practical rituals. As Dion Fortune herself admitted, "The 'Mystical Qabalah' gives the theory but the novels give the practice. ... those who study both get the keys of the Temple put into their hands." The mystic power of the sea is evoked in this novel and pervades the whole story. Some regard this as not only Dion Fortune's best novel, but the best occult novel eve...

Well I have been writing this blog for about a year and a half now. Many blogs have preceded this one. Blogging is just a way for me to note down ideas and process information, it's something I do so I can reflect on things. I feel right now like I'm coming out of a tunnel, I can see the light at the end and it is drawing ever so close. The tunnel has been that shady time between November and May, when the northern hemisphere slips into slumber. It was the night of Halloween when I ended my 9 year relationship with Mike. We had a lovely time together, and he is still dear to me, but I had come to realise that we were not the best match. We didn't argue or fight, we were quite content with each other, but I don't think we ever really opened up to each other. We kept each other at a safe distance and enjoyed each other's company without getting too emotionally intimate. I want desperately for him to be happy. Then I met Tom, who was straight away open about his...

Stewart and Janet Farrar There are a lot of people who choose not to use the word Wicca, because they see it as too restrictive and dogmatic. A dogma is an official system of belief held by a religion, or a particular group or organization. But who has the authority to decide what the official beliefs of Wicca are? I would suggest that Wicca as a whole is not dogmatic, but that some Wiccan groups may be. In Wicca it is generally agreed that every coven is autonamous, independent and self-governing, not subject to anyone else's laws. No Wiccan has the right to tell another coven what they can or cannot do. We can give each other advice, sure, that's what the Rede is after all, a piece of advice. This is what makes Wicca so difficult to define, and I think the difficulty makes some people very uncomfortable. Other religions seem more than willing to offer up official creeds, rules and regulations by which they may be recognised. Other religions have sacred texts, but Wicca ...

Patricia Crowther and Gerald Gardner In 2010, Ethan Doyle White noted the existence of two separate definitions of the term "Wicca" that had been used in neopaganism since circa 1980. Commenting on the first definition, which developed in England during the 1960s, Doyle White remarked that it "uses the term in a broad, inclusive manner that covers most, if not all, forms of modern Pagan Witchcraft, particularly if they share sufficiently similar theological beliefs, dates of commemoration and magical praxes" to be recognised as denominations within the same religious movement. In contrast, he described the second definition, which developed in the United States during the late 1970s, as referring "specifically to the tradition of Gardnerian Witchcraft, along with those that are heavily based upon it with little variation, namely Alexandrian and Algard Witchcraft." So who has it right, the Americans or the British? Is Wicca a loose word fo...

The rain held off long enough for me to make this video at the beach: I consider myself very fortunate to live so close to this beautiful coast. The golden sands stretch out from the horizon in the East to the West. I have lived here for about 16 or 17 years. I remember my mum setting up her altar in the new house and explaining that she was "pagan" which meant that she worshipped "the earth and the moon and the sun". She bought me a big book called "mind, body, spirit" which was designed to introduce children to spirituality. I was fascinated and set about devouring any books I could get my hands on. Our new house had a "study" room with huge book shelves covering an entire wall and a massive desk for our home computer. Do you remember how the internet was back in the 90s? I would sit there patiently waiting for the dial-up. There was always a drawing pad to scribble on as you waited for websites to load. It was a beautiful green day in Ma...

Shortly after the summer solstice, I took a walk to the cliff tops, just ten minutes from where I live. I have been thinking about doing this for a long time, debating with myself whether or not it was a good idea. I decided to put a face to the name and say hello to you all. I have just uploaded this video and my palms are sweating with anxiety. I am quite a shy person. I speak in a hushed voice around people I don't know and struggle to meet them in the eye when I'm not feeling confident. It took me a long time to build up the ability to stand in front of a group of people and speak to them. When I was in university and had to give a presentation to the class, I would feel sick and quake in my boots! But when I started to make videos, I felt a lot more at ease. I gradually became less shy about public speaking, and would fearlessly offer my opinion infront of the class in university. I'm still very awkward around people and it takes me a long time to get to know someo...

Happy solstice everybody! Here is my special solstice celebration video (which was filmed in the rain!) and I also want to let you know that you can follow me on twitter @OathBoundWitch This video is intended to foster great community spirit on youtube and blogger. I know that I tend to be very guarded about my personal practices, but I want people to be able to get to know me and build friendships. I plan on making more personal videos and blogposts, not revealing everything, but just enough for people to see who I am. I am quite shy, I think I always have been, and sometimes this can come across as rude, lofty, or dissinterested. I hate for people to think that I'm being rude when really I am just too shy to pipe up. I find it hard to make friends because of my social anxiety, but the internet has always been a way for me to communicate with the world from the safety of my home, and it has helped me to work on my social skills. It's online that I find people wh...