PaganFM Show Notes

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PaganFM 20260228

Opening song Jenna Greene, Soul of Nature

And welcome to PaganFM, We’re coming to you from South Jersey, the home of the Jersey Devil, and Just outside Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love. We opened with Jenna Greene and her song Soul of Nature, from her album Crossroads. Jenna is a lovely soul from New England, and I miss seeing her since my move to New Jersey. Jenna, if you’re listening, we need to get together again.

And here in New Jersey, we just had another incredible snowstorm. It’s like Winter took a look at us and said nah, not just yet. Y’all ain’t quite done. Here’s a bit more So the bike Is back in the garage, and I spent Monday morning shoveling, trying to figure out if it was making me feel younger or older.

As I am starting the show today, I learned this morning, as I expect you all have, that the United States and Israel, have gone to war against Iran. Initially, Donald Trump had warned Iran to give up its nuclear aspirations. When Iran agreed, Trump then decided that wasn’t sufficient. The goalpost had changed, and the new requirement was regime change. I submit that regime change was not the point either. The real goal was war itself. What Donald Trump is seeking is not safety via an Iran free from nuclear weapons; it’s not a new regime either. Instead, he is seeking distraction from the Epstein files. He is trying to find an excuse to take over elections in the United States. He is trying to keep power in the hands of Republicans, despite the failures of his disastrous ineptitude. And we, and the entire planet, are paying the price.

As spiritual people, it is up to us, not necessarily to solve all of these problems – I don’t think we are sufficient to do so. But what we can do is to be points of light, Islands of sanity and serenity in this turbulent sea of violence and uncertainty.  We do this by remaining grounded in our faith and centered in our traditions. We do this by remaining true to our selves and our beliefs.

New artists

This week we welcome Jenna Greene and Todd Alan to our lineup.

Jenna Greene
You have heard Jenna doing some backup vocals for Featherscale, particularly on their song Hail and Farewell. Jenna is a lovely person and a lovely talent as well, and we’re pleased to have her here on PaganFM. 

Todd Alan is another Pagan artist who has been around for a while and who has an interesting take on some classics. One of my favorites is his Lord of the Dance. If you’ve been listening for a while you might have heard my review of the Testament of Ann Lee. Well, The Lord of the Dance is an old Shaker Hymn, but Todd took this and put a decidedly Pagan twist to it that I really enjoy. 

One of the things about Shakers is that they evolved from Quakers, and a central belief of Quakers is that “There is that of God in Each of us”, and the line “I’ll live in you if you live in me” really brings this home. I suppose that I love this because it touches so closely on both my Quaker and my Pagan beliefs, so I’m going to share that right after I finish with the weather.

Last and not least among our new artists to the program is Dar Williams. Born in New York state, but making her home in the Boston area, I first became aware of her with her album The Honesty Room. Her song The Christians and the Pagans has been a perennial favorite among Pagan listeners around the time of Winter Solstice. We’ll hear from her as well tonight.

Local weather

Here in the Philly area, it’s been a beautiful sunny day, with temperatures at around 53 degrees this afternoon. Tonight, lows will get to around 32 degrees, it will be partly cloudy and there will be patchy fog. Tomorrow, on Sunday, we can expect a chance of showers with highs around 40 degrees. Temperatures will cool, and lows will reach 19 degrees on Sunday night.
On Monday, expect temperatures hovering just above freezing, and lows around 19 again on Monday night.

On Tuesday, temperatures will rise again to the low 40s, and there will be a chance of rain and snow once again, with highs reaching the 50s possible on Wednesday.

Play Todd Alan Lord of the Dance

Understanding Paganism
The cycle of the Pagan year, with a focus on Ostara, which is were we will be focusing on this week.+

There are a number of ways of looking at the cycle of the year, but since we are going to look at Ostara this week, I’m going to start with Beltane, and go around the year from there, and end back at Ostara

As we get ready for our Ostara celebration, some things that you might want to consider getting ready for your own celebration of the day. While I said that you won’t need any tools, we aren’t going to be looking for things like a sword or athame or things like that at this point, but it might be nice to have a few things ready to help with your ritual space.
First things first, figure out where you are going to be. And then figure out how you might arrange your space there. 

Right now, I’m going to mention what items you might want to have now so that you can have some time to start collecting them. Don’t worry to much about this list – I plan on having the website up and running in the next week or so, so you’ll be able to find everything there when it’s up. But just to go over things briefly, Firstly, some small candles to mark the directions. These can be small battery powered votive candles, if you don’t wish to have open flames, or real ones in a type of lantern, or pretty much whatever works for you. Look at the space you might use for ritual, and identify the directions -North, East, South, and West, and find a convenient place for these candles. Obviously, if you are going to be in a wooded area, open flames may be out of the question. You don’t want to start a forest fire doing ritual.

You’ll need something to use as an altar cloth, some sort of cup or chalice, it doesn’t need to be ornate. A small container of salt, one of water, and a small bowl in which to pour the water and a pinch of salt. Some sage or incense could be helpful. If you have an athame or a wand, you can use that as well. Some grape-juice or wine, and a bread or ‘mooncake’. A simple moon-cake recipe follows.

Ingredients

2 cups of flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 cup of unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups of sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F, or 175C

• Sift the flour and baking powder together
• Blend butter and sugar until light and fluffy
• Fold butter and sugar into the flour mixture.
• Beat in eggs, one by one, then add vanilla extract.
• Form into small (about 3-4” crescent moon shapes on a sheet pan.
• Bake for 10 minutes at 350°F (175°C) or until a toothpick comes out      clean.

You can prepare these the day prior to ritual. When you do, put your intentions and your energy into the batter as you make and form the cakes. Ideally, you’ll have all you need ready the day prior to the ritual.

Along with everything else, try to have the text of the ritual ready. Over time, it will be easier to memorize rituals after you’ve had time with them – but I’m expecting that just a week or two is a bit quick.

Anyway, for now, let’s start by taking a look at the wheel of the year, and then we’ll take a closer look at Ostara.

As we’re going to end this chat with Ostara, we are going to begin our talk tonight with Beltane, usually celebrated on May 1. Also known as May Day, or Walpurgis Night, it is the recognition of the greening of the world, youthfulness, and fertility. This day is associated with maypole dances and crowning the May Queen.

Next is Litha, or midsummer, or Alban Hefin by druids. Falling on the day of the Summer Solstice, usually around June 21, this day celebrates the Sun in its strength. It is also a turning point, because at the height of its strength, from this point forward, the Sun will be in decline until the Winter Solstice.

On about August 1, we come to Lughnasadh, or Lammas, or the first harvest. A celebration of the Celtic god Lugh for some, this is a common Wiccan holiday, and we give thanks for the first grains of the harvest.

The Autumn Equinox, Mabon, or Alban Elfed to the Druids, is celebrated on or around September 21. The term Mabon was brought to us by Aidan Kelly, and is the second harvest celebration of the year.

Samhain , or All Hallows eve is a Gaelic festival held on October 31 or November 1. It’s known as the day of the dead, and from a Pagan or Wiccan point of view, we see this as a time when the veil between the worlds becomes thin, making it easier to communicate between the world of the living and the dead.

The Winter Solstice falls on December 21 in the Northern hemisphere, and is called Alban Arthan by Druids. It is also known as Midwinter and Yule. It is a time to celebrate the rebirth of the Sun God, as the Sun ceases its descent and begins to rise again.

Imbolc, or Candlemas is celebrated on the first or second of February. It is a celebration of new life, and coincides with the birth of lambs and the return of lactation to ewes. It is a time when our ancestors recognized that the long wait of winter was nearing an end.

And now we come to Ostara, or the vernal equinox. Derived from a reconstruction by Jacob Grimm, famous from Grimm’s Fairy Tales, it is possibly from Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon Goddess. This holiday is also known as Alban Eilir to Druids.

The traditional symbols of Easter are our symbols of Ostara – the Easter symbols come from our fertility rites. The hares, the eggs, the flowers, are natural symbols of fertility and the return of life and color to the world in the Springtime. Hares breed in the spring, as do birds. This is why we have Easter bunnies and Easter eggs. They come to us from the celebration of the fertility of the Earth.

One traditional celebration for Ostara is to greet the Sun with an early morning ritual. Christians recall this as well in sunrise Easter services. One thing that I enjoy is walking or bicycling to work in the mornings, in part because I am often on my way prior to sunrise. I will be doing the same, with a particular emphasis on Ostara, on fertility, on the return of the Spring, on my way to work on this day. I will also be performing an on-air ritual the Saturday prior to the actual date. You can use this as a model for your own ritual, which you can conduct indoors, or out of doors, as you prefer.

But this is the wheel of the year. Let’s hear a bit of music, and then move on to our Practical Pagan segment.

Practical Pagan

Pagan non-violence

I’m a Pagan, and I’m a Quaker.
As a Quaker, I believe in the principle of non-violence. This is more than a simple religious mandate, and I believe that it’s been a part of who I’ve been all along. Hurting other people has never been a part of w ho I am. While I served in the military, it wasn’t my choice – it was something I was told to do by my family and my church. But I did make the choice to serve in a non-combat role.

As Pagans, we have many differing views regarding violence. Some Pagans view Wicca, for example, as having sort of a Pollyanna kind of attitude because of the admonition to harm none, and some think the Italian Witchcraft idea of “harm not the innocent” makes more sense. This view appeals to a sense of fairness, to an idea of just compensation. It suggests that if we were wronged, we should be made whole. We have a sense of justice, and a desire for justice to be fulfilled.

Throughout history, people have had differing views regarding violence; we have had those who have viewed it as necessary with some seeing warriors as praiseworthy, and battle as glorious. Likewise we have had peacemakers, conscientious objectors, and anti=war protestors. On each side, we have had vilification on the of the other and consistent misrepresentation of each other’s goals and positions. I’ve seen conscientious objectors labeled cowards and military personnel labeled warmongers; aside from being generalizations, each of these is simply wrong. Are there some who love peace who are afraid of war? Certainly. As there are some in the military who fear war. But fear is not the same thing as cowardice. Likewise, there are warmongers; some wear uniforms, but many do not. Some have been draft-dodgers. Sometimes it takes a great deal of courage to stand up against a thing we know to be wrong when faced with imprisonment for doing so. 

While we don’t face the same issues we did during the Vietnam war era, there are still people who engage in active protest against the government’s military efforts. Some refuse to pay taxes which support the military budget. Some individuals refuse to register for selective service. These choices can have serious consequences. The people who make these choices are informed and are not acting out of cowardice. Nor are those entering the military today, for the most part, seeking out the glory of battle. Warfare today doesn’t look the same as it did 1,000, 500, 250, 100, or even 20 years ago.

But warfare isn’t the only form of violence, and soldiers aren’t the only ones who engage in battle or combat. There is the violence that we perpetrate against each other in society when we choose to treat each other as less than fully human. We do this when we decide to drive through a puddle to douse a pedestrian, or when we try to startle a cyclist, either with our horn, or by throwing something at them. I don’t suspect that listeners of this program are the sort to do such things, but I’ve had all of these happen, and worse. We do these forms of violence when we start fights just for fun. We do this when we drink, if we know that we get violent when we do so. We do this when we engage in spousal abuse. We engage in violence when we take part in micro=aggression against vulnerable groups. And we can engage in political violence by using political power to target vulnerable groups such as immigrants, refugees, minorities, the LGBTQIA population, and others. And some of us who consider ourselves peaceful may not be quite as peaceful as we think, should we choose to take a fearless personal inventory of our own use, support, and tolerance of violence.

But between black and white, there are always shades of gray. As humans, we often seek binaries where things are more likely bimodal. We try to classify people as male or female and pretend that those who are intersex or other should simply choose one or the other. And when it comes to violence, we want it to be right or wrong. When we can classify something as always right, or always wrong, that makes it easy – it eliminates ambiguity; we needn’t make difficult moral evaluations and decisions. But when something isn’t black or white, when faced with ambiguity, when it’s a shade of gray and we don’t have a higher authority to appeal to, we need to think long and hard about our own morals and our own principles.

As I’ve been writing this, I’ve thought about my own children and how far I might go, or might have gone to protect them. They are both adults now. I know for a fact that if someone would have threatened them, I would have been there. I don’t know ho far I might have taken things. IN the past, I’ve been beaten, I’ve had a knife at my throat, I’ve been shot at, and on a recent x-ray, a bb – or a bird-shot pellet was found in my hand. I have a habit of dissociating when things get violent, and don’t always remember what has happened to me. But I remember part of something that did happen when I was younger.

Behind the house where I grew up there were railroad tracks. As I was walking, I was accosted by two boys. One of them wanted to fight me. I didn’t want to fight. He hit me. I wouldn’t fight. He hit me again and broke my glasses. I told him that he or his family would have to pay for them, and he said that I wasn’t going to leave without a fight. At that point, I blacked out, and when I came back, I was on top of him, with his head in my hands, ready to smack it into the gravel ballast by the railroad tracks – but I didn’t.

For many years, this scene haunted me. The idea that I could have seriously hurt someone bothered me. But one day in therapy I came to the realization that I hadn’t hurt that boy. I had the opportunity to, but I never took it. Instead, I used only the force necessary to protect myself from greater harm and avoided hurting him unnecessarily. I take from this that for my entire life, I’ve wrestled, viscerally, with this struggle between peacefulness and self-defense, or between peacefulness and defense of the vulnerable.

When I was first considering becoming a Quaker, I was struck by the words of James Nayler, an early 17th century Quaker, and an outspoken critic of the Church of England, and other established churches. He was tortured for heresy, at one point having a hot iron driven through his tongue. On his deathbed, he wrote in part “There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things in hope to enjoy its own end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatever is of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all temptations. As it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives non in thoughts to any other. If it be betrayed, it bears it, for its ground and spring is the mercies and forgiveness of God. Its crown is unfeigned; and takes its kingdom with entreaty and not with contention and keeps it by lowliness of mind.”

The idea of finding joy in simply not doing evil, in outliving wrath, these things intrigued me and attracted me to a Quaker way of life. As an aside, unlike cults that I had been a part of, these words of James Nayler, and the great writings of other famous Quakers weren’t recommended to me by Quakers – these were things I discovered in my own research. I remember hearing people who were surprised at what I was reading. Quakers don’t seem to proselytize. They are a strange lot. Anyway, in recent days, I’ve come to the understanding that James Nayler’s words aren’t, or don’t have to be uniquely Quaker. Rather, they can be emblematic of any spiritual person who values life as sacred, and recognizes the love, joy, and peace that is a gift of the divine. 

As I’ve committed to following a Pagan path, to following the Goddess, I’ve come to understand that Nayler’s words aren’t in conflict with my Pagan ways. Nayler was decidedly a Christian, and as for me, I like Christ’s words, but I’ve come to the conclusion that the Bible isn’t what it claims. So I look to Christ’s philosophy, but recognize what the church did to Pagan religions over time, and I can see that it tried to do to Quakers, exactly what it did to Pagans. I think that Christ preached peacefulness, as did Nayler after him. And I see that in the Wiccan Rede. I was talking to my roommate this morning explaining the idea of ‘harm none’ also implies that we avoid harm not only to other humans, but to ourselves, and to the Earth, as well.

I’ve recently come to the conclusion that while war is distasteful, pacifism is not sustainable without those who are willing to fight for the right for pacifists to exist.  It comes down to the paradox of tolerance, which suggests that a society that is completely tolerant – to the point of being tolerant to intolerance – will eventually be overtaken by intolerant groups. Likewise, a pacifist group in a militarized society, unless other safeguards are in place, will also be overtaken. Rights need to be protected, and that protection needs to be enforced. I wish that we could live in a world where problems could all be solved with diplomacy and rhetoric, but for as long as there are people and nations that are willing to utilize violence to achieve their goals, there must be a mechanism to meet and counter that violence. The pacifist actually needs the one willing to engage violence with force in order to exist. Likewise, unless those committed to using force is in need of someone dedicated to diplomacy for war and bloodshed to end. Both skills are essential in our world. 

As one who is dedicated to peace though, it is important to recognize and point out when the abuses of warfare and violence take place. The Atom bombs dropped on Japan in World War II, the war in Vietnam, and the current attack on Iran are all examples of warfare conducted for unjust reasons. And there are many other examples. For those dedicated to peace, we cannot simply sit back and enjoy the benefit of freedom, we must engage our governments and hold them to account for the abuses of the power which they have the authority to wield. When governments are not holding themselves accountable to their citizens, they are breaking a sacred trust, and it is up to us to reign in such governments. Non-violent tactics can include speaking up, demonstrations, general strikes, boycotts, flooding our lawmakers with telephone calls, emails, and postal mail. We can use civil disobedience. We can disrupt government activities that we find wrong, we can document what they are doing and report it far and wide. We can stand up and help those the government is persecuting, as Quakers did for the Underground Railroads for both slaves and those escaping the draft. 

Today though, with rampant government surveillance, with their use of Artificial intelligence, license plate scanners, facial recognition, and technologies that we have possibly not even heard of, it may be more difficult than it was, but this means that we need to be creative. But as Pagans, creativity is implied in our religion. We can and should be doing spell-work. We can get more in touch with nature and our natural spaces, find ways to make something of an underground railroad work today. Perhaps we could create a digital underground railroad, with alternative networks for communication.  

As I was finishing the writing of this segment I was reminded of the Star Trek episode Patterns of Force, in which a society was modeled after Nazi Germany. It illustrates how a society was able to descend into fascism when it is presented as a viable alternative. If you want to look for it, it’s season 2, episode 21, and it is far more poignant today than it was some years ago.

Review

St. Damned by Ty Drago

I’ve never reviewed a novel by an author who wasn’t a Pagan on this program before. In fact, the only novels I’ve reviewed were one by Raymond Bucland, High Magick’s Aid by Gerald Gardner, SeaPriestess by Dion Fortune, and one or two by Ellen Evert Hopman. Aside for that single one by Buckland, these have all had been written for more spiritual purposes, where Raymond Buckland actually tried to write some works of fiction for purely entertainment purposes – for the mass market. St. Damned is the first novel by a secular author I’ve reviewed. So, before I get started, why?

For full transparency, Ty is a friend of mine, and to use something of a pun here that he may or may not appreciate, the author of St. Damned is a damned good writer. At the beginning of 2025, before I decided to restart this show, I wanted to do more reading. I was hoping to read at least one book per month, and as St. Damned had just been published, it was the first book I read in 2025. I wound up reading just over one book per week in 2025, so Ty got me started on that. He’s a good friend and a good writer. 

But the main character in this book is a Wiccan, so I figured that it was a fit for the program, and that being said, here goes.

What happens when the lives of a Wiccan paranormal researcher, the FBI, the mob, and a demonic priest, one Jonah Ray Barton, bent on building an army of brides – his “forever congregation” in an abandoned church in Camden New Jersey intersect in the imagination of a South Jersey writer?

When Dr. Mia Lakatos is called to the FBI Field office in Newark, New Jersey to provide her expertise on a case, little does she know that she will be asked to relive the one experience she most desperately wishes she could forget. Years prior, she was working on a paranormal investigation at one of the most haunted locations in the United States – an abandoned Lutheran church in Camden New Jersey, with such profoundly negative energy, that the dead-end section of the street had been entirely abandoned.

Some attributed the desolation to the swamp at the end. Perhaps toxic chemicals left-over from industry. Perhaps it was simply the blight of Camden in decline. Whatever the reason, nobody wanted to be on that part of the street. Not even drug dealers or users, apparently.

But the FBI had a tip that a major drug deal was going down at an abandoned bowling alley within view of the church, which they planned on using for surveillance. Mia, in no uncertain terms, informs them that this is a horrible idea – people will, not might, but will die – as always happens at St. Damian’s. But the FBI and the DEA have the law, and technology on their side. Mia has her spirituality and her own psychic abilities on her side. The mob has their greed and cleverness on their side. And Jonah Ray Barton has the powers of evil, and his “forever congregation” an army of possessed spirits and brides on his side.

Who will win? Who will die and join Barton’s army? Who will lose? What dark secrets will be uncovered along the way? Can the dark forces at St. Damian’s ever be defeated, or will this part of Camden forever be subject to the forces of St. Damned?

Initially, I had some problems with the slightly unrealistic portrayal of Wicca, but I also realized that a realistic treatment of what Wicca is would be as exciting as that of pretty much any religion – we’re pretty normal folk. And it’s not every day that we come across demonic spirit priests who need to be fought. And to fight demons that don’t actually exist would require powers that don’t actually exist, so a suspension of reality for the purpose of fiction isn’t necessarily a bad thing. So when in demonstrating her ability, Mia is able to drain power from a cell phone and use it for other purposes with her mind, I set that aside recognizing that I’m partially in the realm of fantasy. Also, were it possible, it would be a really neat trick.

As for the struggle with paranormal forces, this is a really exciting read. It’s far more exciting than what actually happens, but that’s the point. Once again, the real thing gets kind of boring – that’s why TV ghost-hunting programs rely on spooky music, zoom effects, sound and video editing, and the like to make those programs far more engaging than the actual events are. Ty does this with absolutely engaging writing. As readers, we wind up cheering on our heroes, mourning the fallen, and possibly gaining a bit of satisfaction when some unsavory types get a bit of what they deserve.

It’s an exciting read, and well worth the time you’ll spend as you do. If you’re a sensitive reader, the subject matter may be a bit triggering, so I will caution you about that first. So, cult survivors, SA survivors, RA survivors, please just be aware that there could be sensitive content. Other than that, this is a really good read and I recommend it – not just because the author is a friend.

PaganFM Almanac

Today is February 28, the Waxing gibbous Moon is currently in Cancer and the full Moon will be on March 3. The Sun is in Pisces and will remain there until March 20, which is also when we will be celebrating Ostara.

Herb of the week

This week we are taking a look at Basil, which is another herb that is used both medicinally and in cooking. In cooking, Basil is an important part of Italian, Mediterranean and Asian cuisine. With its sweet peppery flavor, it finds uses in pesto and caprese salad in Italian dishes. It pairs well with tomato based sauces, grain based dishes, and finds its way into curries and pho.

Medicinally, basil contains the essential oils eugenol, linalool, cineole, geraniol, and methyl chavicol, which provide its aroma and therapeutic properties. It is a good source of vitamins A, K, and C, and the minerals manganese and iron.  It has been used to improve digestive issues and respiratory disorders in Ayurveda. In Chinese medicine, it has been used to improve digestion, to treat headaches, and to help with kidney function. It may be useful in helping to reduce inflammation such as arthritis and IBS. It has antimicrobial properties, it is high in antioxidants, and may be useful for treating skin conditions such as acne. Basil has been tested with positive results in helping to treat migraine headaches, for anti-cancer activity, and anti-viral activity. In short, it is a well-researched herb with many benefits that most of us have in our kitchens. 

Spiritually, Basil is known for purification, protection, love, and abundance. It is used, much like sage, to help cleanse spaces and objects, and to rid negative energy, with the burning of dried leaves.

Using it as Basil tea, one can gain benefits, drinking the tea while setting an intention. 

Fresh leaves on an altar can be used to help with spells to amplify energy or to help with prosperity spells. And carrying a sachet can help with grounding or protection.

Oppression watch
Tonight I want to mention some names you may not have heard of before: Anthropic, Palantir, Booz Allen Hamilton, SOS International, Primer AI, ECS, Core4ce, Seekr, and I’m sure there are more. Our State and Federal governments are relying on these names, these companies, which are all providers of AI tools, to spy on us, and on the world. And they want AI to do more than just spy on us.

This past week it came out that Pete Hegseth considers it woke if he can’t get companies like Anthropic to use AI to actually deploy weapons without human intervention. He wants guardrails removed from AI that prevent these systems from doing things we simply don’t want them doing, and he’s threatening companies like Anthropic if they stick to their morals and don’t bend to his will.

And in case any of you have wondered why it is that so many data centers are going up all over the country, and why Donald Trump is considering it such a priority – if you think it’s so that Copilot can give you quick answers to your questions – that’s not it. In fact, as you’re researching things, and Copilot is giving you answers, you can bet your bottom dollar that the government is building more and more of a profile on what it is that you’re researching while you’re doing it. Every search, every website you are visiting today – these are being logged, and threat assessments are being compiled. Have you checked to find out where a No Kings protest is going to be held? Have you done a web search for the Anarchist’s Cookbook? Have you looked to find out where you can find your copy of 2600 magazine, or have you found it online? The government is building a profile. Congratulations, at best, you’re someone they are interested in.

In other news, I’m seeing more and more anti-trans bot activity – so much so that it’s difficult to believe that it’s not sponsored. It’s on humor sites, it’s all over Threads, and if anyone posts anything, almost anywhere, that is trans-positive, if it’s on any sort of public post, it will get almost immediate anti-trans attention, which leads me to believe that there is some sort of coordination.

But this also got me to thinking recently – is there some sort of link between bigotry and narcissism. Certainly in both, a complete lack of empathy, a fragile ego, and a pathological need for a feeling of superiority seem to be at play. Over the years there have been attempts to add bigotry itself to the DSM, or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. As yet, it is not its own diagnosis, but it can be a part of other diagnoses, and the elements of bigotry are certainly elements of other disorders, such as narcissistic personality disorder. People who engage in anti-trans bigotry understand well how their behavior impacts those they try to bully. They understand that that type of behavior has in the past lead to people taking their own lives, and they are okay with that. This utter lack of empathy is a sign of a severe mental illness – it could easily be part of a diagnosis of something like Narcissistic Personality Disorder. But I’m not a therapist, and I can’t make a diagnosis. What I can do is to suggest that if you know of bigots, that the best thing you can do is to stay away from them. 

Relationships with bigots are like relationships with narcissists. With their fragile egos, they need to be right, and the only way to navigate life without them is to stay away from what triggers them. If they are anti-trans, you have to stay away from trans people. If they are anti-gay, you have that problem. If they are racists, you have to live in an area where they won’t be racially triggered. In short, big cities are filled with landmines. And where bigots tend to be comfortable, you won’t find much diversity. You might find another form of bigotry though, in misogyny. This also goes along with conservative Christianity, or more specifically, ultra-conservative Christianity, especially the nationalistic sort. But at that point, we’re back into cult territory.

Next week’s show

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about the problem that American Christianity is facing as it is being led down a very dark path. The problem is that American Christians are being lied to by their leaders and they are being used for political purposes instead of spiritual purposes. And I’m wondering if there is something that we, as Pagans, can do to help them see and understand this. Much as Pagans, centuries ago, were duped by colonizers who tricked us with false religious claims, so, too, are conservative Christians being duped by those with nationalistic ideals under the guise of Christ. Can the duplicitous experiences we faced both in the early days of Christianity, and in the burning times, be inspiration today as nationalists under the guise of Christianity attempt to use that religion once again to gain power over people and a nation? I’ll explore this in the Practical Pagan segment. 

In our book review, I’ll be taking a look at yet another classic - this time, we’ll look at Charles Godfrey Leland’s 1899 book Aradia, or Gospel of the Witches. This is a book that informed much of modern witchcraft and Wicca, both in philosophy and in liturgy. 

Of course there will be plenty of music and the rest of the segments, some of which I haven’t quite worked out yet, but we’ll just see what happens throughout the week. 

And welcome to PaganFM, We’re coming to you from South Jersey, the home of the Jersey Devil, and Just outside Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love. We just heard Witch of the Wood by Three Weird Sisters off their album Third Thyme’s the Charm.

I’ve been a bit happy – it got a little warmer, much of the snow we had finally melted, and the roads became safer to ride a bicycle on. And I’ve been riding back and forth to and from work for the past few days, which reminds me. If you are interested in physical fitness at all, I started the PaganFM Fitness group over on Strava. Strava is an app you can get on Android or Apple – it’s free, though there are paid versions with more features. But the PaganFM Fitness group is there – and right now, I’m the only member – so you can get in there as founding members. There is no charge, nor will there be. It will be just Pagans who want to support each other on our fitness journeys. That’s the only agenda. If you want to get fit, I hope to see you there. It can be cycling, walking, running, rowing, whatever.

This week I was preparing one of my ritual tools – it’s an athame. And when I’m doing this, one of the things I like doing is to sleep with it. If I’m getting attuned to it, I’m going to have some dreams. And this time I did. I am not going to share all of the details, but I think that I’ll share the theme. In this dream, something was happening – something was going missing, some people were getting lost. And I had the ability to correct this, but only by going back in time, and only if I was properly prepared. 

I found this hugely important, because I haven’t recalled my dreams for the past few weeks, and with this tool beside me, it was like my mind, my spirit, was saying “We have an important message for you”, and the message was fairly clear – that there is still some work to do regarding the past, but the tools are there to effectively manage what needs to be done. And this ritual tool may well be a part of that work. Certainly, it seems to have been a catalyst for the messaging. And that’s why we sometimes use ritual tools. Again, are they always necessary? Absolutely not. But they do act as focal points.

New artists

This week we welcome Three Weird Sisters to the lineup. We heard from them as we opened the show, we’ll take a look at the weather, and then hear a bit more.

Weather

The National Weather Service issued a Winter Storm warning for the area.
Delaware-Philadelphia-Western Chester-Eastern Chester-Western

Montgomery-Eastern Montgomery-Upper Bucks-Lower Bucks-

Including the cities of Doylestown, Morrisville, Kennett Square,

Pottstown, West Chester, Oxford, Norristown, Media, Philadelphia,

Collegeville, Chalfont, Perkasie, Lansdale, and Honey Brook

327 AM EST Sat Feb 21 2026

...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 7 AM SUNDAY TO 6 PM EST

MONDAY...

* WHAT...Heavy snow expected. Total snow accumulations between 10

and 16 inches. Winds gusting as high as 40 mph.

* WHERE...A portion of southeast Pennsylvania.

The warning for Southern New Jersey – and pretty much the entire East Coast up to Massachusetts looks very similar.

* WHEN...From 7 AM Sunday to 6 PM EST Monday.

* IMPACTS...Travel could be very difficult to impossible. Areas of

blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility. The hazardous

conditions could impact the Monday morning and evening commutes.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Snowfall rates could exceed 2 inches per

hour. Locally higher snowfall amounts possible. Blowing and

drifting of snow, and whiteout conditions possible.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

If you must travel, keep an extra flashlight, food, and water in

your vehicle in case of an emergency. The latest road conditions for

the state you are calling from can be obtained by calling 5 1 1.

For the moment, we are looking at a possible 10 – 16 inches of snow or more when this is done by the end of the day on Monday. So, I may be off my bike for a bit longer.

So, tonight we can expect a low of 31 degrees, with partly cloudy skies, then a chance of rain. Coming into Sunday, it will be 38, with rain turning into snow. 

Sunday night, lows will be around 28 degrees, starting with a rain and snow mix, then blowing snow. 

Monday, we can expect snow during the day., clearing out on Monday night, with a low around 23 degrees.

On Tuesday, it will be mostly sunny, with a high around 32., dropping to around 21 Tuesday night.

And on Wednesday, temperatures will likely be warming once again as we approach 40 degrees and partly sunny skies.

Understanding Paganism – Lesson 1
Last week in our practical Pagan I wanted to touch on tools when I spoke about ritual. I missed that. But we’ll be getting into things a bit differently because this week in response to some listener requests, I’m launching a series that I’m calling Understanding Paganism. This will consist of on-air lessons and on-air ritual. With each of the Sabbats, I’ll be performing ritual during the show on the Saturday prior to the actual date. The first one of these will be for Ostara, which will be on March 21, so I’ll be doing that ritual on the air on March 14, in time for you to have something of an idea of something you might be able to do if you want to celebrate on your own.

As part of this series of lessons, I’m also working on writing a book – tentatively I’m calling it the PaganFM Book of Shadows. It will contain the lessons that I’ll be presenting the lessons that I’m producing here, the rituals that I’m presenting, and more information as well. When it’s ready, I’ll let you know.

For now, let’s briefly talk about tools – and I’ll be really brief. What do you need for tools to start? Absolutely nothing. Over time, you might acquire some, and they can help. But if you want to start practicing Paganism, you don’t need ritual tools. You don’t need a robe. You don’t need an altar. You don’t need a wand or a chalice or anything. What you will need is your mind and your desire. As these lessons continue, I’ll go over these tools. I use some myself. And as I mention the things that I use, you can choose to acquire some of them if you like, or not. It’s up to you. But remember – the effectiveness of what you do is not dependent on how much money you spend on ritual gear or robes or any thing else. Your tools are there only to help you focus. Nothing more. And that is lesson 1. If, at some point you are working with, or teaching others, they might help those people with their focus as well. That’s fine too. If you start using them to impress other people, then they have gone beyond their intended purpose, and you might be letting your ego get in the way. At that point, you might want to look at your motivations. And if you see people who are practicing and who are putting their egos on display, you might want to consider what type of relationship you may or may not wish to have with such people. Personally, I’m more attracted to the sort who aren’t about all the showmanship. That’s just me though.

Anyway, enough about tools for now.

I’ll get started by talking about my own path, what I plan on teaching in these segments, and then we’ll look at getting ready for Ostara, which will be coming up in just a few weeks. Before that though, a brief definition of Paganism might be in order.

So what is Paganism?

Paganism is simply a form of religion that recognizes that we are connected to the world in a deeply spiritual way. It focusses on the spiritual energy of the Earth, the Sun, the Moon, the Stars and the Universe, and sees this energy as the ancient Gods and Goddesses that were recognized as our ancestors. Pagans can practice a variety of religions including Wicca, Druidism, Heathenry, or reconstructionist faiths of various kinds. In my own history, I’ve practiced some forms of Wicca and Druidism, and practice today what some might call a form of eclectic Wicca. It’s kind of my own thing, based on the traditions that I’ve studied, and influenced by my own family heritage. That’s not to say that I’m part of a family tradition – I’m not. But my family heritage is from Brittany in France, from England, and some other parts of Europe. So, coming from there, I feel some affinity with Celtic Wicca because Brittany is a very Celtic part of France, and is very closely related to Wales in the UK. So, that’s where I’m coming from.

What am I going to teach here?

Over the course of these lessons – over the season of a year, I’m planning on presenting enough information so that anyone who goes through this will be competent to be able to do their own rituals – to cast a circle, to confidently hold a ritual, to be able to help someone else when they are asked for help. In short, if you stick with these lessons for a full year, you will have the same amount of information that you would have if you went to weekly meetings with any weekly group. 

When I say that I’ll be talking about my own style of Paganism, that’s precisely it. It’s not “The right way to be a Pagan”. It’s not “The ONLY way” to do it. And it doesn’t mean that if you’re doing this, that you can’t do anything else. By all means, explore. Look at other things – and not just Paganism. Follow your own path, do your own thing. If you don’t feel this is right for you, that’s absolutely fine. What’s right for me isn’t necessarily right for you. Cal, or Aidan Odinson, who used to host a podcast called The Secrets in Plain Sight used to say “Religion is like underwear. What’s right for me may be totally inappropriate for you.”. And he was right. So, my advice is simply this. Do what’s right for you, and don’t be coerced into any religion. Don’t believe anyone who tells you that their religion is the one and only religion that is right for you. Even among Christianity, you’ll find that there isn’t a single Christian denomination that isn’t declared heretical by at least one other Christian denomination. So, with that, how do we know that we are where we are where we are supposed to be? We go by where we feel called to be. We go by where we feel right.

And with that, let’s get back to what we are doing here.

What will you need?
To start, you’ll need a notebook and a pen. Some people might call this a Book of Mirrors. I’ll call it a journal. 

When you’re doing the assignments in your journals, please don’t just rush to answer as quickly as you can. Spend some time in meditation. Think about what you are doing. Try to go beyond the simple and obvious, spend some time with your heart as well as with your mind. And not to rush into things, but let’s start with a simple assignment to get into the habit of journaling that will be a vital part of your journey here.

Assignment 1.

For your first assignment, in your journal, I would like you to spend a few minutes writing about why it is that you want to journey on this path, and what it is that you expect to get from it.

There might be as many reasons that people come into Paganism as there are people. Some come as a rejection of toxic and controlling religion. Some come because they see Paganism as liberating. Some come for a connection to something more pure and honest. Some come because they are looking for a connection to their ancient roots. Others might have been intrigued by something they saw in television or film, or something they read. Some might have been influenced by friends. Most of us though, once we’ve been studying for a while find that there is much more here than we expected when we first peeked through the doors. 

There are different ways to approach Paganism too. There are what some might call more traditional forms – British Traditional Witchcraft, Initiatory traditions, solitary traditions, and I suppose that what I’m doing here is something of a blended tradition. There are lessons, and there will be something of an initiation, but it’s also a blend of a teacher-student relationship, but with distance learning. It’s unique. We’ll see how it goes.

What did I get from Paganism? I’m glad you asked. For one thing, I grew up in an abusive church environment, and found myself in a series of abusive churches. And sadly, I found myself in at least one abusive Pagan group. But I did find other Pagan groups that were not.  What I found in Paganism though is a deep connection to nature, a recognition that I am a part of something that is inseparable from the universe. Every part of my body, every cell, every atom, was part of some star, part of the Big Bang. Every part of me was alive in some other being, or in the wind, or in the rain, or in the sunlight.  Honoring this is both a responsibility and a privilege. When I celebrate the circle of the seasons, when I recognize the Gods and the Goddesses, when I give thanks, I am honoring everything that made me, everything that I am. I am honoring my parents and my ancestors. I am honoring the land that is giving me sustenance today, and I am honoring the Earth from which my ancestors came.

That is why as part of my practice, I try to have one item when I perform ritual that brings me back to the part of the world I wish to honor. Because I find a deep connection to Brittany, I have salt that comes from Northwestern France that I use during ritual. That is the part of the world where my ancestors come from, and it makes sense to me to have that connection.

What, when you might practice ritual do you think you might like to have with you that could be a connection to your own ancestors? You may or may not know your own heritage, and that’s okay. If you don’t, what part of the world calls to you? Even if you do know but don’t feel a deep connection to your own heritage, is there something, some part of the world to which you do feel some sort of connection? What might represent that connection? Here are some ideas?

Perhaps it could be a piece of wood from that part of the world – you might use it for a wand, or a pentacle, or just a decorative piece. It could be wax from which candles are made, or crystals from that part of the world, or wine, water, or incense, or paper, or even a photograph that you might have printed from your computer. Perhaps what you feel an affinity for isn’t here on Earth – it might be the Pillars of Creation that you have seen from the NASA photographs, it might be the Moon. That’s okay too,. It’s about what you feel connected to – what it is that feels like home to you, that one place on Earth, or in the universe that calls to you, that grounds you. The only caveat here is that the more obscure and distant, you’ll be challenging your own creativity when it comes time to incorporating that item into ritual. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just a thing.

Assignment #2. Now it’s time to journal about the item that you chose. 

Why did you choose it? What does it mean to you? Since you chose it for a sacred purpose, why is it sacred to you? How do you expect this object to help you on your sacred journey?

When you’ve done this, spend some time looking at your answers. Did you gain any insight?

One of the questions that many people have whey they start this journey is “When do I actually call myself a Pagan? So, let’s explore that. You’re actually going to answer that for yourself over the next week in assignment #3.

Over the course of the next week, try to pick a time during each day and ask yourself “What does being a Pagan mean to me? If someone were to ask you what religion you were, would you be able to say “I’m a Pagan”? or “I’m a Wiccan?” Try saying it to yourself and see what it feels like. Write down how you feel when you say it. Does it feel liberating? Does it feel strange? At some point, there will be a time when you will find yourself either committed to the path, indifferent, or ready to turn away. These are all okay. These are all valid. You won’t find me trying to convince anyone to stay. I was in cults in my day, and the idea of compelling someone to remain when they don’t wish to is the stuff of cults. That’s a game I won’t play with anyone. Anyone is free to come and free to leave, and free to return or not, and they can still remain friends so long as they remain kind.

But while you’re here, how does it feel when you choose to stay? How does it feel when you say you’re studying Wicca or Paganism? Is there some guilt perhaps? If you were raised as a Christian, is there some trepidation? Write about that. Where is that coming from? Do you think it’s worth exploring?

Paganism is about liberation. It’s about connecting to nature. It’s not about abandoning morals, but it recognizes that arbitrary morals and rules can be dangerous. For centuries, churches, religions, and governments acting on behalf of religions have imposed laws on people, and killed, maimed, and tortured countless people for breaking laws against these religions – such crimes as marital laws, heresy, blasphemy, witchcraft, homosexuality, sorcery, and others. There are still parts of the world where people such as us could be jailed or killed for simply practicing Paganism, or what some might call witchcraft. In fact, the last law against witchcraft was not repealed in England until June 22, 1951

We, as Pagans, seek a religion that is not coercive but cooperative – cooperative with each other, cooperative with the Goddesses and the Gods, and cooperative with nature.  We hold no ill will toward Christians, and there are those who practice syncretic forms of Christo-Paganism.  Some of us see Christ and Jehovah as Gods among Gods, some see them as other faces of God. Some of us see the monotheism of much of Christianity as an attempt to control humankind, and in many instances government has used religion to control populations, to take over land and resources, and has even pitted different religious groups against each other.

The above is one reason that I prefer de-centralized religions such as Paganism, and the Quaker faith over the Catholic Church or the Church of England, or other large churches with central authorities. Where these larger churches can have greater resources and can monitor individual ministers and guarantee theological integrity, they are also possibly subject to more institutional corruption and government influence. It’s a trade-off. And so, I prefer locally run organizations that are committed to being open and candid. And that’s what I’m trying to do here.

So that was week 1. Just the basics. On week 2, we’re going to be talking about the circle of the year, with a focus on Ostara, which is the next Sabbat, or celebration coming up

Practical Pagan

Building your Pagan library

Most Pagans that I’ve met like reading. We like books. A lot. We like reading them, and we like collecting them. That may not be universal, but it’s pretty darned common.  There was a time that I would grab pretty much anything that I could find from my local second-hand bookstore. And if someone was getting rid of some Pagan books and needed a new home for them, I would be glad to adopt them. I had literally thousands of books. Walls and walls of shelves. They weren’t all Pagan – I had an electronics laboratory as well, and there were quite a few titles on that too, but I would say that I had at least 5,000 Pagan books in my library. But that was when I had a separate studio and apartment. Now, my accommodations are a bit more modest, and I certainly don’t have as much room, so I have to be more selective. But being selective is also a good thing – it means that rather than quantity, I can focus on quality.

The first book, or the first few books that you should be looking for aren’t Pagan books at all. Instead, they are a good dictionary or dictionaries. If you’re going to be embarking on a journey of deep study, a good dictionary is always important. And when it comes to Paganism, there are a number of books that weren’t originally written in English; some of them have references in other languages, including Latin, Italian, Hebrew, French, and others. You might not run into these right away, but as you progress, it’s worth considering investing in dictionaries from other languages as you come across these references. Certainly you can use Google Translate or online dictionaries – just as you can use e-books instead of paper, but there is something magical about books made of paper. They are simply more real, they seem to put one more in touch with the author. They make the entire experience more real.

And when it comes to a dictionary, try to have a good one, rather than a simple college desk dictionary. One of the things you will run into is the problem of words that change meaning over time. One of the best dictionaries is the Oxford English Dictionary. The problem is that this tome is in multiple volumes. There is a compact edition, in which these multiple volumes are micro-printed into two volumes, and the whole kit is packaged with a magnifying glass in a convenient drawer in the case. The advantage of the OED is that it gives examples of uses of words throughout history.

And while I said before that having a book in paper is better than something on a computer or a cell phone, there is one possible exception, and that is the OED, because where the Two-volume behemoth with the magnifying glass is impressive, it’s not necessarily up to date. What is up to date is the on-line OED, and you can register for that and have your own account. And as an example of why a good dictionary is important, I’ll look at one word that we all know – a simple one – the word is ‘girl’. What does it mean? We likely all know that it is a female child. But it times, throughout history, it could have meant a child of either sex. It’s important when looking at early writings to not presume too much. 

Now, with that, let’s look at a dozen or so books that I consider a good starting point.

What your library will look like will in part depend on where you are in your Pagan journey. If you are just starting out, I would recommend looking at books on various paths of Paganism. Look for books on Druidism, Witchcraft, Wicca, Strega, Heathenism, Reconstructionist traditions, Chaos magick, Ceremonial magick, Kabbalah, but try to make these purchases quality purchases. Look for the sort of books that will offer some depth to the material. There are plenty of authors that write books that are geared toward teenagers, and these are fine – for teens. But if you’re listening to this program, it is my hope that you are hoping to develop something of a deep understanding of what Paganism means. You’re looking for some sort of a deeper spiritual commitment, rather than simply experimenting with Wicca. Again, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing – but there is a difference in commitment level.

For starters, I’m going to list some categories, and some authors that I recommend. This doesn’t mean that if I left someone off, that I consider them bad – it may mean that I haven’t read their work, or that I haven’t read enough to form an opinion. But the ones that I list here are works that I’ve read and found them to be valuable. 

Historical works about Paganism in general:

Margot Adler, Drawing Down the Moon. This is probably the best book about the history of the American Neo-Pagan movement. Margot was a journalist and a Wiccan High Priestess. I enjoyed listening to her on NPR. She died a few years back, but Drawing Down the Moon will give you a huge amount of perspective on our history.

James George Frazer, The Golden Bough. There are multiple editions of this work. The most complete is in about `12 or 13 volumes. The one most read is about 800 pages, and there is a more concise illustrated version as well. This work is an anthropological powerhouse that traces man’s history of religion from magical thinking to modern times. The 800 page version leaves out his ideas on Christianity, in part because it was felt that it might have been offensive to Christians. But you’ll find this work referenced in a great many Pagan works.

Druidism

Isaac Bonewits, Bonewits’s Essential Guide to Druidism

Isaac Bonewits was the founder of the ADF, or  Ár nDraíocht Féin, one of the most popular Druidic organizations in the world. He was also the only person, to date that I know of, to obtain a degree in magic from an accredited university. Consequently, he is eminently qualified to write about Druidism.

When we are looking for books, sometimes we rely on reviews. When we do, there may be some problems with that; firstly, many authors develop something of a group of fans. 

Ellen Evert Hopman, Celtic Druidry: Rituals, Techniques & Magical Practices. Ellen is the founder of the Tuatha na Dara, a Celtic Reconstructionist Druid order in Massachusetts, and has authored numerous books. Like most druids, her works are well-researched and impeccably detailed. She has also been at various times a member of the ADF, OBOD, and other Druid organizations.

Wicca

Raymond Buckland, Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft. Almost everyone who has been involved in Wicca for more than a few years will know of “Uncle Bucky’s Big Blue Book”. Encyclopedic in content, and written by one of the early founders of Wicca, this book is one of the most recommended books about witchcraft and Wicca there is. If you want to know something about Wicca, it’s likely to be in this book.

Isaac Bonewits, Bonewits’s Essential Guide to Witchcraft and Wicca. Where Buckland’s book is encyclopedic, Bonewits’s Essential guide is what it purports to be – the essentials; It’s what you need to know. It’s not everything you might ever want to know, but it will certainly give you a fair understanding. If you’ve been invited to attend a Wiccan gathering, and you have time to read Bonewits’s essential guide, you’ll at least have something of an understanding of what’s going on when you get there. You won’t be in the dark – unless the lights are out.

Christopher Penczak Temple of Witchcraft series. Years ago I reviewed Christopher’s first book “Inner Temple of Witchcraft”, and was thoroughly impressed. I appreciated that in his first book, he looked at the inner work that a student needs to do – to understand what’s going on inside their own being. That is the foundation of any spiritual path. From there, one can move to the outer temple. I highly recommend this series.

Scott Cunningham, Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner. This is the text that brought Wicca to those who could not find access to a coven. It provides, in simple terms, a means for anyone to practice Wicca in the comfort of their own homes. It provides the reader with access to the knowledge, spells, tools, and ritual structure, to embrace a nature-based religion, in a world where finding an authentic teacher might have otherwise proved difficult.

Janet and Stewart Farrar, A Witches’ Bible
Having been initiated into the Alexandrian tradition, when Janet and Stewart Farrar wrote this book, they technically broke an oath, but in so doing, brought much information into the world which might have otherwise remained secret. It was also argued that in so doing, they were correcting information that was erroneous. This book is a complete course in Wicca in one bound volume, comprising pretty much everything one might need to know to form an Alexandrian-esque style coven. It includes a Book of shadows, spell work, rituals, all one needs.

Wicca-adjacent

Starhawk, The Spiral Dance: a Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess
I put this book in a category adjacent to, but separate from Wicca, because while it brought many, including myself, to Wicca, it is more about Goddess religion than it is about actual Wicca. First published in 1979, I read it while I was still in the Air Force. It has sold over 100,000 copies. This is another of those classics which will soon have its own review on this program.

Italian Witchcraft, or Stregheria.

Raven Grimassi, A Grimoire of Italian Witchcraft. This book, published posthumously by Crossed Crow Books offers an really good overview of Italian Witchcraft. I’m part-way through it right now, and will be discussing it in a review in a few weeks. While Italian witchcraft is not, and will not be my path, this book, along with the next in this list, offers a good overview.

Charles Godfrey Leland, Aradia, or The Gospel Of The Witches
This is a classic work, and one to which you will find many references. Some of the work in this book has found its way into the liturgies of many covens. First published in 1899, its impact on Wicca cannot be understated.

Paganism – In General

Joyce and River Higginbotham, Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions
This is one of the best introductions to Paganism in general that I’ve come across. It is easy to read, easy to understand, and presents a good amount of relevant information. It covers the fundamentals, the Pagan year, and rituals and practices. It’s a great starting point.

I could go on, but that would make this a rather long show. If you’re looking for more ideas, just keep listening. Each week I review something, so that would be about 50 titles per year. That’s not a bad start to a library.

Review

Tonight we’re taking a look at Doreen Valiente’s book Natural Magic. This is another classic, though not as old as the work of Dion Fortune or Gerald Gardner, though Doreen did write much of Gardner’s liturgy. Natural Magic is a book about magic – about witchcraft. It is a mostly non-theistic book about natural magic and is broken down into twelve chapters which include:
Magic of the Mind
Magic of the Four Elements
Magic of Herbs and Flowers
Magic of Numbers
Magic of Colors
Magic of Talismans and Amulets
Magic of Sex
Magic of Dreams
Magic of Weather
Magic of the Cards
Magic of Birds and Animals
Traditional Spells

Each of these chapters could easily be sufficient for a complete book, but Valiente does an excellent job in presenting enough information such that it may be useful to a reader. It’s not mere hints, but there is enough information to be truly useful if one wishes to attempt to use it. 

This book also provides a great deal of historical context and in-line references should one wish to engage in further research. Valiente doesn’t talk down to her readers. Some might consider her language pretentious, but I would ask anyone reading her work to consider that she was an educated woman, writing in a time when education was valued, and she was writing to others who were, as well, educated in a classical sense – something which is unusual today. Hers is a language and a tone that was once common among occultists prior to the middle of the last century.

When writing professionally, authors are usually required to write to a particular grade level. An academic research paper will likely be at a graduate college degree reading level. Most of my writing here is kept at around high-school reading level. Usually around grade 8-9, depending on what I’m writing about. Some segments may go higher than that, but  I try to keep things easy to understand. At the other level of Pagan and Occult writing, we have Helena Blavatsky, who one takes with a stiff drink and multiple dictionaries. Doreen Valiente fits right in the middle.

Tonight 

PaganFM Almanac

Today is February 21. And the waxing crescent Moon is 19% visible at 4 days past New. It will reach First quarter on the 24th. The Sun is in Pisces as of February 19.

February 21, marks the conclusion of parentales (begun on February 13), which was an ancient Roman 9-day festivity. This festivity closes with the rites of Feraliz. Ovid described Feraliz as something of a placation and exorcism, and a cleansing ritual for a banquet in which bonds between a family and benevolent ancestors were celebrated.

Herb of the week

Snowdrop

In many parts of the world, there is a little flower that often blooms just as winter is ending, and just before the Vernal Equinox. We know it as the Vernal Equinox. Once native to Europe and the Middle East, it has become naturalized throughout Europe and North America. I’ve grown fond of seeing it here in Springtime in New Jersey.  There are a few different varieties, but they have made their ways into the hearts and words of poets, into mythology, medicine, and spiritual lore. Medicinally, Snowdrops contain an alkaloid called galantamine, which may be helpful in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. While not a cure, anything that can help is worth investigating. Snowdrops have been considered as a possible candidate for the magical herb moly mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey. When Circe tried to poison Ddysseus, this plant moly – possibly a snowdrop, prevented her poison from working, and thus prevented Odysseus from being turned into a pig.

On their own, snowdrops are toxic, so I don’t recommend consuming them. They won’t turn you into a pig, and despite an alkaloid being considered for Alzheimer’s treatment, the plant can be toxic. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t magical.

Snowdrops are quite difficult to grow indoors – they are decidedly outdoor plants. They are representative of transformation, and grow when few other plants will – blooming in the harsh early spring weather, with its obvious zodiac signs of Aquarius and Pisces.

Snowdrops represent change and breakthroughs. They might be useful in the breaking of curses and for protection.  Blooming around Imbolc, they can be associated with Brighid, Gaia, and Persephone.

Oppression watch

In something of a win, the Park Service has been ordered to restore the slavery exhibits at George Washington’s house in Philadelphia. It’s a known fact that George Washington was a slave owner. And a number of exhibits at the site of his home in Philadelphia memorialized this. In accordance with the Trump Administrations attempts to white-wash history, those memorial exhibits were removed – partly in an attempt to sanitize the park for the upcoming 250th anniversary festivities. Fortunately, a judge overturned the Park Service’s decisions and the exhibits were ordered to be restored. As of this week, that restoration has begun. 

I can only imagine the explanations that might have occurred when someone would have asked “what is all of this glue residue all over these bricks – it looks like something used to be here. I’m not sure if it would have been more or less effective to have people say “That’s where the slavery exhibits that the White Nationalists don’t want you to know about were”. 

But they are being restored. I’m not sure how long they will remain. As we know, the Trump administration doesn’t let the rulings of judges hinder him when something matters a great deal to him. We recently saw in the aftermath of the Supreme Court striking down his tariffs, that his response was to use another part of the law as justification, and then he increased the tariffs even further – because he was angry at the Supreme Court. 

Kansas has enacted legislation – more bathroom bills, and a requirement that mandates sex assigned at birth to be indicated on driver licenses, making Kansas a far less safe place to be. Governor Laura Kelly had vetoed Senate Bill 244, but a legislature bent on cruelty and bigotry overruled her and enacted this dangerous legislation. Basically, what they are saying is that if you’re trans or intersex, you don’t belong in Kansas – it’s dangerous, and you will not be protected. They don’t believe in civil rights for LGBTQIA individuals in that state. This is what the Trump administration and MAGA want. They want culture wars. The architects of project 2025 are the same people who wrote the capital punishment for gays legislation in Uganda, and that is really the agenda they are going after here. But they know they can’t pass it in one fell-swoop. Instead, they need to enact things bit by bit until they hit a tipping point. And if we don’t fight back, they may well win.

Next week’s show

Next week I am going to do something a bit different in our review. Rather than reviewing a book that is specifically Pagan, I am going to be reviewing a book that is a work of fiction, but which features a character that is Wiccan. Published in 2024, by a friend of mine, I figured it deserved a review slot. The Book is called St. Damned and it’s by Ty Drago, so we can look forward to that.

In our Practical Pagan segment, I think I want to take a look at the concept of non-violence in a Pagan context. Is it possible? Certainly some forms of Paganism have different views on this. In Italian Witchcraft, for example, the idea is to harm not the innocent. In Wicca, it’s harm none. But does that apply always? What if someone is endangering you or your children or others? Where is that line? Again, there are many views, and I don’t claim to speak for all, so, I’ll be looking at it strictly from my own viewpoint.

In our Understanding Paganism segment, we’ll look at the Pagan year, with a focus on Ostara, which is the next Pagan holiday coming up, and which will be our first on-air ritual, and which we’ll be celebrating in just a few weeks.

For our herb, I think I’d like to look at Basil, which is a great herb to plant in the spring.

Play Edith Pageaud Domenico Scarlatti Sonata K27 4:27

And welcome to PaganFM, We’re coming to you from South Jersey, the home of the Jersey Devil, and Just outside Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love. What we just heard was Edith Pageaud playing Domenico Scarlatti’s Sonata K27. Last week I had the pleasure to attend a concert by this young French guitarist – I mispronounced her name at the time. Hearing her in person was a brilliant experience. She is, as John Sydney McNair once said of S. J. Tucker, Ridiculously talented, and if you get a chance to hear her, I recommend you do.

Today, once again, I’m pre-recording, because we’re in the middle of a major winter storm watch, and the storm begins this evening, and it’s a major storm with power outages, internet outages, and the like expected, so rather than taking chances, I’m recording while I can.

As I’m writing this, it’s Martin Luther King Day, and for the first time in decades, our President hasn’t issued any sort of proclamation regarding the memory of the late Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King. Rather, he has whined again about not being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, and he is threatening world peace – indeed coming close to threatening the entirety of NATO and placing the world very near the edge of another World War because of his desire for imperialism, and it seems very much up to the citizens of our country and our legislature to put a stop to it.

At the same time, he is threatening our citizens with military force, and stating that opposition to his use of force in our cities is some sort of terrorism. He, and his appointees in office are literally saying that opposition to fascism, opposition to his brand of Christianity, opposition to his views regarding gender – these things are forms of terrorism. He is literally declaring war against most of the country, and much of the planet at this point – if not yet overtly, certainly approaching it.

When it comes to Greenland, when it comes to the people of this country – whether the immigrant, the indigenous population, LGBTQIA, those aligned against fascism – my allegiance is firmly against the current president. Should he decide to amend his ways, to stand with people who aren’t bigots, should he again align with people of love, tolerance, and peace, I’ll be at his table, but I don’t think that will happen. He is a person of a wounded spirit, and I don’t think it will be remedied in this lifetime. And sadly, he’s gathered many around him who have similar wounds, and they, too, will need to answer for what they’ve done with this life.

New artists in the library  This week we welcome the band Hu Dost. I first heard of them when I interviewed the Sufi Imam Salim Chishti, and he recommended them for music to accompany part of the interview, and I have been a follower of their music since.

Play Shadow of the Moon Blackmore’s Night, Shadow of the Moon
Hu Dost, It’s Your Turn Now, In an Eastern Rose Garden 9:02

Local weather

Across much of the country, we’re in the middle of a major winter storm, that will go through Monday. Here in the Philadelphia area, we can expect from about 8 – 13 inches of snow, with another 0.3 inches of ice on top. If you don’t need to go out, please don’t. New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherill has issued a state of emergency beginning Saturday night at 5 PM, and lasting through Monday, 1 PM, though this may change as the storm evolves. Snow and freezing rain are expected to end by about 10 AM on Monday.  Many local churches have already cancelled services on Suday.

Due to the storm, 

• I-76 (entire length)
 • I-78 (entire length)
 • I-80 (entire length)
 • I-195 (entire length)
• I-280 (entire length)
 • I-287 (entire length)
 • I-295 (entire length)
• I-676 (entire length)
 • NJ Route 440 (both directions from the Outerbridge Crossing to I-287)
The commercial vehicle travel restriction applies to:
• All tractor trailers (exceptions as listed in the Administrative Order - Amended)
• Empty straight CDL-weighted trucks
• Passenger vehicles pulling trailers
• Recreational vehicles
• Motorcycles
 

Along with this, speed restrictions are being imposed on the New Jersey Turnpike, and other major highways. Light rail, bus transportation and other public transportation will be curtailed, so please, if you’re listening prior to this storm being over, get home and stay there until the storm is over.

Monday night, we can expect it to be partly cloudy with a low around 6.
Tuesday, it will be sunny with a high around 19, dropping to the single digits Tuesday night.
On Wednesday, Highs will approach the mid 20s, and that will be the pattern through the week with temperatures not hitting freezing, and single digits at night.

Opening comments

I’ve been thinking of late about the Rule of Three. It’s something that we got a hint of in Gerald Gardner’s book High Magic’s Aid. I’m thinking of taking a look at that in a review, possibly in February. Again, I think the classics are worth looking at. And the idea was made a bit more popular by Raymond Buckland. Some people have suggested that it smacks a bit of Christian philosophy, but in Christendom, we hear more of as ye sew, so shall ye reap, but there was never a “times three” deal attached. And with the whole idea of karma, you can’t say that the idea is uniquely Christian. Indeed, the what you so, so you reap, an eye-for-an-eye sort of moral philosophy, this is something that really predates Christianity or Judaism, and I think it’s kind of a human sort of thing. It really comes down to fairness. It comes down to the whole idea of fair trade, which goes, I dare say, even beyond human ideals, and to any creature that has consciousness.

I think there is such a thing as karma. I think that what we put out comes back to us. Not by any cosmic rule of three. Not necessarily in a tit-for-tat cosmic bookkeeping way, but I do think that if we’re here to learn lessons, we aren’t going to get anywhere until those lessons are learned. If, for example, you want to learn to ride a horse, you aren’t going to bet better by beating up horses. If you want to be a better driver, you aren’t going to get better by kicking the fenders of a car every time you crash. Being mean, being angry doesn’t help you. And in learning to get along with people, learning to improve yourself spiritually, learning the lessons that improve us spiritually, which is the ultimate goal of spiritual beings over multiple lifetimes, isn’t going to happen by being angry, awful, people in any given lifetime.

And when I think of this, I have to wonder about things that go a bit deeper – about fairness on a more cosmic level. Sometimes I wonder if there really are Gods or beings who hear us. I will admit that I do pray. Where I live in South Jersey, there are helicopters that pass overhead a few times per day, for Cooper, Jefferson, or some other hospital’s medical service, and I know that there is someone on that helicopter likely having one of the worst days of their life, and they likely have family who are in a similar state of mind. Sometimes I’ll follow the flight using flight tracking software, and I can tell what level trauma facility they might be going to. And I’ll hold that person in the light, I’ll send love and light to them. And I don’t know what God or Goddess might hear those prayers, or if they will intercede, but I kind of think that the more people who are focused, the more people who are in agreement, the more people who care, the more directed energy that person might receive, maybe there will be some positive effect. Even if I know nothing about them other than the fact that they are there, it might help just a bit.

So why do I bring this up right now? Partly it’s because of the state of the country right now. I think that we really need some people focused on good outcomes, people focused on the safety of protestors, people focused on those in congress making good decisions, people focused on other world leaders standing up for what is right, people focusing on good decisions regarding the World Cup, on the Olympics, and on each of us standing up for each other in the inevitably difficult times that are about to hit us.

Things are going to become expensive as Trump enacts more and more tariffs. We, as a country, may well be soon standing alone. I can see sanctions, I can see other countries ceasing to do trade with us, ceasing to lend us money, ceasing to sell us goods or services. If other countries treat us the way we’ve treated them, refusing to sell semiconductors, for example, or vegetables, or oil, or whatever, we will be well and truly screwed. But this is a game that the current President seems willing to play whilst being oblivious to the possible consequences. He seems to think that as a nation, we can do whatever we want on the world stage, without any possible consequences. His ignorance and hubris – and the ignorance and hubris of his enablers, may well cost us all.

I seriously recommend that we all prepare as our grandparents, and possibly great grandparents once did a few generations ago. Have some seeds ready. Be ready to plant some gardens. Have some food stores ready. Learn some canning skills.  Learn to bake. Learn to cook. Learn to harvest seeds and to grow foods from seeds. Learn to grow high calorie foods. Learn what are essential foods. Learn to live off-grid if you can.

But beyond the physical, we all need to care for our spirits. I don’t know what’s going to happen as things keep playing out. I do know that the Trump administration plans on clamping down on media that goes against the administration. They have said as much. They managed to shut down the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. They bought out CBS. They are filing lawsuits against any media corporation they can that is critical of Trump, ICE, and others. They are bringing charges against a reporter who went into a church to protest against an ICE officer, apparently claiming some sort of collusion or conspiracy. They have threatened lawsuits against anyone who reports that the killing of Renee Good is a murder. At the very least, it’s a homicide, and the government will not permit the state of Minnesota to have access to evidence to actually investigate the incident. And they are considering bringing up the Governor on charges for interfering in their military take-over of the state.

I don’t know what will happen to programs like this if I keep speaking out against what this President is doing – even though I’ve only been doing the show for a short while. But I’m going to continue. And if Podbean shuts me down, there are other means to continue, so I won’t go completely away. I’ll just have to figure out a way to share that with you all. Perhaps in the coming weeks I’ll figure that out so that there is an alternate mechanism in case I appear to go dark.

But in any case, I think that if there are plenty of people on the same wavelength, as it were, that we can accomplish a great deal. If we work together, even on a spiritual level, we aren’t alone. 

When I moved to the Philadelphia area I noticed that there is a great deal of pride in the area for Philadelphia sports teams. Many people wear Eagles hats, t-shirts, hoodies, and the like. And it’s not just the Eagles, but the Phillies too, and other teams. And the phrase “Go Birds” is as popular a way of saying Hello, as is “hello”. But more than that, people form this area will wear this geographic attire when they travel, because they will meet others from this area, and there is an instant camaraderie that I’ve not seen in other parts of the country. If you’re traveling and you hear someone say “Go Birds” when you’re outside of the Philly area, you instantly know you’re among friends. I can’t think of a similar phrase for Boston, or any other part of the country.

It’s very much the same for us Pagans. We have similar signs. If I see the Triple Moon Tattoo, the Tree of Life, the Pentacle, or some other symbols, I am generally reassured that I’m among friends. It’s the same with a rainbow or trans flag. But sadly, not so much with the US flag, and definitely not with a combination of a US and Confederate flag.

Connecting with people who have the same sense of eternity matters. There is a synergy. We are able to build things together. We can work together more easily. We can raise energy together. We can create sacred space together. And we can change the world together. Next week I plan on doing a ritual for change, but this week I will start working on the fundamentals of that ritual. If you want to work with me on that, let’s do so. It doesn’t have to happen at the exact same time to be powerful – intent can build on intent. Effort builds on effort. Effect builds on effect.

Practical Pagan

I want to talk a bit about the Moon tonight. As I’m writing this, it’s January 20, a few days prior to the actual air date. When I left work today, an occulted waxing crescent Moon was low above a magenta horizon.  It reminded me of a talk I once had with my mother. She was around 80 years old at the time and had been suffering from Parkinsons disease, and for the first time had really looked at an occulted Moon. She called me and asked why there was a “Moon in the Moon”, so I went to visit her. And explained the basic mechanics of an occulted Moon. 

If you don’t understand what this is, an occulted Moon occurs near the time of the new Moon. At this time, the Sun and the Moon are near each other in the sky. Because of this, near dawn or dusk, the light from the Sun can reflect off the surface of the Earth and illuminate the part of the Moon that isn’t directly illuminated by the Sun, and thus, we are able to see both a brightly illuminated portion, while the remaining portion is more dimly lit. Thus, as my mother put it on that day, there was a “Moon in the Moon”. In having that experience, my mother had, in a sense, an initiatory experience.

Next week we will be discussing the concept of initiation in something of a deeper fashion, but for now, I want to talk about this one form of initiation. There are many little initiations that we go through in our lives. The one my mom experienced was a surprise to me because it was something she hadn’t experienced in her 80 years of living. She grew up in a very conservative Catholic family, not looking for more than what the Church had to offer. I grew up in my mom’s home – also a conservative family – but I wasn’t my mom. My mom had intended to become a Catholic nun – much like a second cousin of hers, who founded a Catholic order of nuns in Canaca. 

That nun, Mother Catherine Aurelia Caouette, was something of a mystic, but she was not given proper tutelage, her spiritual formation, in the Catholic Church, was left undirected. And there is a problem when mysticism or occultism isn’t properly trained, especially when an individual may have some real talent, or who may have had experience in prior lives. 

For someone who is relatively new on the path, who may not have been an adept in a prior life, who might not be close to being an initiate, the danger of unguided tuition may be minimal. But in the case of someone like my relative – I believe she was a second or third cousin – we are talking about a woman who, if the stories are true, was capable of bilocation, and other metaphysical feats (and this is according to published accounts in Catholic literature, in accounts leading up to her being considered venerable by the church – basically a step below a saint at this point. The problem I have with my relative was her views regarding suffering, in which she believed that personal suffering was efficacious for the conversion of sinners – to the point where she would, when suffering, pray for more suffering.  She thought that she could share in the suffering of Christ. This isn’t a valid Christian position, nor is it a valid occult or metaphysical principle. What it is is poor formation. It is poor tutelage, improper instruction. It is someone on the path of initiation left to their own devices because they could not find a suitable teacher. But that can be a common thing in the Catholic Church which looks down on metaphysics, and thinks that the Holy Spirit can instruct without need for any human guidance.

One of the things that we need to be cautious about when we start working on other planes is the idea of discerning between beings that are there to help us and those that are there to deceive. It is naïve to believe that any being we might contact is a spirit-guide who is there to assist in our progress. Certainly there are those who might be there for that purpose. But just as real may there be those who are there to hinder our progress for their own purposes. And that is where some solid guidance and discernment are worthwhile. That is where I feel that my own relative was failed by the church, along with many others. 

Going back to Dion Fortune, who I feel was a very skilled occultist, she believed that a well-rounded education, in mathematics, science, and the classics, were extraordinarily helpful foundations for metaphysical study. Without a good understanding of the natural world, an understanding of metaphysics has much less practical use.

Likewise, when it came to my mother, she didn’t have the benefit of a good education, nor did my dad, who himself wasn’t able to help calm her fears. What they saw was something they didn’t understand. They were overwhelmed by something they couldn’t comprehend. And while I had the opportunity to explain it to them, because of the Catholic upbringing they experienced, I couldn’t go further than to simply calm their fears. I couldn’t explain to them how the numinous feelings they experienced had touched so many people before them. I couldn’t talk to them about how the Moon has impacted so many generations of lives. I couldn’t talk to them about the mystical, psychological, physiological, geological, gravitational, and astrological aspects of the Moon and how it all impacts our lives on a day to day basis.

The struggle to divest the Moon’s impact on our lives is on-going. For decades, if not longer, some in science have been seeking to ‘prove’ that the Moon doesn’t have an impact on human health or cycles. And admittedly with birth control pills, with agriculture becoming more mechanized, and with our culture becoming more sun-oriented, it might seem that the Moon’s influence on our lives (outside of shipping and tides), is somewhat waning. But as recently as September of 2025, in an article in Science Advances, it was shown that Lunar cycles have a measurable effect on women’s menstrual cycles, especially during periods of stronger gravitational effect. And if this is the case, and while the study didn’t specifically look into this, it’s quite possible that the Moon could also have some sort of effect on male physiology as well.

The Moon has an effect. Certainly it has effects that are exoteric in nature. Some might argue that esoteric effects are fantasy, and that all that matters is the exoteric, or measurable, the scientifically provable, the falsifiable. On the other hand, the esotericist might point out that simply because a thing is not yet understood, or not yet able to be demonstrated or falsified, is not an indication that it won’t be able to be proved or disproved in the future. After all, the gravitation waves predicted by Einstein in 1915 were only detected by LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory some 80 years later.  

But the effects that we experience from the Moon go beyond the mere physical effects we experience from gravity and light, and beyond the numinous experience that we might experience when we might be surprised, as was my mother some years ago, when we notice something we hadn’t before. I tend to believe that part of the power of belief comes from the compound effect of the number of beings who share in that belief, who share in that reverence, that intention. 

As I was just mentioning a few minutes ago, intent, effort, and effect build on each other. The Moon has been an object of devotion for millennia. As such, and as much as any sacred space on Earth, it has become a sacred object. It is likely the most revered sacred object in the history of human devotion.

I don’t know how many of you have had the experience of going into a sacred space and recognizing the feeling of connection, the recognition that you are entering a space that has been shared as sacred by generations of people before you. It might be a church, or a natural place, or a pace like Stonehenge, or, if you have the opportunity to visit New Hampshire in the US, a lovely place called Cathedral of the Pines – there are many places where we have the opportunity to be in union and communion, not only contemporaneously with those around us, but with those of generations past.

What we have when we worship under the Moon, especially in a place where we can gather where we are among those who have gathered before us, is that connection that exists throughout the ages, and across many different faith traditions. We can connect because we are connected. We have the support of those around us and our ancestors. As far as we understand the formation of the Earth and our Moon, the Moon formed about 4.25 Billion years ago, meaning that in our Moon, we have energy that is nearly as timeless as the Earth.

So when we look to the Moon, when we remember the Lunar Deities – Hecate, Selene, Artemis, Diana, Cerridwen, or even Thoth, we recognize that we are standing with those who have been honoring and looking to the Moon for as long as humans have had some sense of the numinous, some sense of deity. And we join our energy with theirs in our work. And when we do so, and future generations come after us, our energy will be added, likewise, to theirs.

Review

Tonight we’re looking at Llewellyn’s Complete Book of the Moon by Jesamyn Angelica

Obviously, from its title, this is a big book. At 378 pages, inclusive of s fairly extensive bibliography, it is a quite large work. And it touches on a great many topics – a look at its chapter listings includes The Power of the Moon, the Phases of the Moon, the Zodiac, the Shadow side, Aligning with the Moon, the Moon in Magic, the Lunar Magical Allies, Crafting by the Moon, Lunar Herbalism, Lunar Potions, The Lunar Goddesses, Moon Magic and Lunar Rites, Chakras and the Moon, Divination, Dreaming, and Healing. There are few, if any topics that aren’t covered in this book.

If anyone wants a good overview of the Moon in a Pagan perspective, if you wish to discover a way to use the Moon more in your ritual practice, Llewellyn’s Complete Book of the Moon will likely have something within its pages to spark your interest.

If I were to have any problems with this book, there would be two:

Firstly, while the information is broad, it’s lacking just a bit in depth. I suppose I can forgive that, because were one to explore much deeper, the book would be obviously much larger. I’m reminded of Sir James George Frazer and his work The Golden Bough, the abridged edition of which was about 800 pages, and the unabridged version of which was published in twelve volumes. Being an academic work, this took Frazer decades to complete, and I’m not going to fault either Llewellyn as a publisher or Angelica as an author for not attempting to be as academically thorough as was Frazer.  

That being said, If I were to compare this to a college level course of study, I would consider this more of a survey course than any sort of in-depth work.  While it does a good job of giving an overview of a great many topics, it doesn’t go into any of them with a great deal of depth. It has allot of the what and how, so to speak, and a bit less of the history and the why. Likewise, while the bibliography appears extensive, one finds that much of it is online, and only a few of the references are prior to about 1995. Part of what I look for when I’m studying is a really good bibliography that will help me to find quality resources for my own study, and that includes the work of people who have done important research in the past. Some of the titles that Angelica mentions are good include The Witch Cult in Western Europe by Margaret Alice Murray, which despite its criticisms, heavily influenced Neo-Paganism, so its inclusion is expected here. Scott Cunningham’s The Complete Book of Incense, Oils & Brews is also included. This is also a classic. There are a few others. Still, I think a bit more research and reference to more of the classic works by authors such as Doreen Valiente, Dion Fortune, Starhawk, or Raymond Buckland could have been included as they all had a good deal to contribute to topics included in this text, and they could have given the reader a good starting point for further research. 

Criticisms aside, I think that Llewellyn’s Complete Book of the Moon is a good starting point for anyone who wants to find ways to incorporate more lunar ritual work into their practice – be it  through working with lunar Goddesses, lunar essences, lunar herbalism, or what have you. This book has a little something for just about anyone. And certainly, anyone who really wants to dig deeper, shouldn’t let the lack of a 20 page bibliography stand in their way. In fact, where Angelica references Scott Cunningham, Scott himself references many good authors in his own works – one can go back to the book I reviewed last week – Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, and find what I consider to be a much more classic Neo-Pagan bibliography. Then again, Angelica was also trying to include references for things like ephemeris tables, Moon Void of course data, herbalism, and many other topics. I really don’t have insight into the editorial choices that were made in order to keep this book at something fewer than 400 pages.

Anyway, at a mere $29.99, it’s definitely worth the money, and it’s not one that I regret having in my library.

And in another review,

The Testament of Ann Lee

I grew up on the border of New Hampshire and Maine, and the Shakers were a part of the area’s history. The Canterbury New Hampshire Shaker community was still active when I was growing up, and it was about 40 miles away, and the Alfred Shaker village was about half that distance away, just North of Sanford, Maine, where I had some friends and relatives, whom I would visit frequently. I can’t say that I knew a great deal about the Shakers, but I certainly knew of them. Then again, in my home town of Dover, we also had Quakers, and I didn’t know much about them either, but I knew they were there – and both groups had an enormous impact on the area, and on the country as a whole.

Since I became more involved with the Quakers, understanding the relationship between the Quakers and the Shakers became more important. And understanding my own past involvement with cults has made it more important for me to understand religious movements such as the Shakers, which, given their strict requirements, I can consider to be a cult, albeit a less harmful cult than many that have existed.

When I saw the trailers for The Testament of Ann Lee, I realized that this was a film that I needed to see. This 2025 epic historical musical drama is in theaters now. Directed by Mona Fastvold, who co-wrote it with Brady Corbet, and starring Amanda Seyfried, it tells the story of Ann Lee, who was the founder of the Shakers in the 18th century in Manchester England, and their move to New York and New England. The supporting cast includes Thomasin McKenzie, Lewis Pullman, Stacy Martin, Tim Blake Nelson, and Christopher Abbott.

The story follows the life of Ann Lee, from her youth growing up as the daughter of a blacksmith in Manchester, with very spiritual leanings. Her parents were Quakers, but too poor to offer her a meaningful education and she remained illiterate through her life. The film recounts her introduction to a sect of Quakers founded by Jane and James Wardley , known as the Shaking Quakers, who believed that Christ would return in the form of a woman, and Ann proclaimed herself to be that woman. She comes to be known within the sect as Mother Ann.

At times, this film is difficult to watch. Some of the scenes depict the brutality with which women, especially women who have been spiritual leaders, have been treated. But it’s not only women – it is those who are members of any peace religion; Shakers, Quakers, and conscientious objectors of any type have been jailed and beaten for countless generations. Likewise have those who have preached a gospel that differs from that which is considered Orthodox.

The parts in this film have been portrayed masterfully, and one is able to feel a deep connection to the characters. Indeed, were there active Shaker communities around today (there is one near Portland, Maine, with two or three remaining members, but I don’t know if they are accepting visitors at this point; my guess is that they are somewhat old now, and not looking to revive that way of life), I might be tempted to visit and speak to them; not to join them, but to understand more about them.

If you want to know more about who Shakers were, If you want to understand more about Ann Lee, if you want to understand how a religious movement might get its start, and if you love epic musical films, this is one worth seeing.

I recommend that if you can, you see the 70mm version. The theater that I saw it in had the digital version, and there were some unfortunate digital artifacts that made the experience a bit less than ideal. I don’t know if it was being streamed and there was some data corruption in the stream, or what, but I’m certain that the 70mm film version would have been stunning.

The background audio for this segment is more traditional Shaker music – not from the film. Composer Daniel Blumberg used original Shaker hymns for the film’s music but took the music to places that Shakers would never have dreamed of. I can only imagine a screaming electric guitar in a Shaker meeting room, but then again, I’ve heard amazing music in Quaker meeting houses, so perhaps it could have happened had the sect survived as more than what it is today.

In any case, although it’s not a Pagan film, I highly recommend it. It’s definitely worth seeing.

PaganFM Almanac

Herb of the week

Mugwort, also known as artemesia, is known in a multitude of varieties. The common form, Artemisia vulgaris is known throughout Europe. Artemisia argyi, or Chinese mugwort has been used in traditional Chinese medicine, Artemisia princeps is known in Korea. But mugwort has been a friend of humans since time immemorial. It’s been used in the production of absinthe in the form of Artemisia absinthium, where it was considered to be somewhat hallucinogenic. Some forms have been used for culinary purposes. Some are used for soaps, or to help with sleep, menstrual cramps, to treat malaria, or as an abortifacient. Prior to the introduction of hops, mugwort was once used as a bitter for beer, and it has been used to season meats and fish. And for survival purposes, the hairs on the plant can be used as tinder for fire starting.

In the United States, mugwort grows as an invasive species, specifically, artemisia vulgaris. Large populations are found in the Northeast, from Maine through New Jersey, with smaller populations as one moves toward the Midwest. There are also smaller populations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and a few in California and Hawaii. This is as of 2020. 

Mugwort is part of the traditional Nine Herbs Charm, which I’ll quote below.

This version of the Nine Herbs Charm is translated by Joseph S. Hopkins, and is available at Nigon Wyrta Galdor: "The Nine Herbs Charm" — Mimisbrunnr.info: Developments in Ancient Germanic Studies

Remember, Mugwort,
what you brought to pass,
what you readied,
at Regenmeld.

You’re called Una, that most ancient plant.
You defeat three, you defeat thirty,
you defeat venom, you defeat air-illness;
you defeat the horror who stalks the land.

And you, Waybread, plant-mother!
You’re open to the east, yet mighty within:
Carts creaked over you, women rode over you,
over you brides bellowed, over you bulls snorted!

You withstood it all—and you pushed back:
You withstood venom, you withstood air-illness,
you withstood the horror who travels over land.

Now, this plant is called Stune, she who grows on stone:
She defeats venom, she grinds away pain.

She’s called Stithe, she who withstands venom;
she chases away malice, casts out pain.

This is the plant that fought against the wyrm.
She is mighty against venom, she is mighty against air-illness;
she is mighty against the horror who travels over land.

You, Venom-loathe, go now!
The less from the great,
the great from the less,
until for both he receives a remedy.

Remember, Chamomile,
what you brought to pass,
what you accomplished,
at Alorford,
that no one should lose their life to disease,
since for him Chamomile was prepared.

Finally, this plant is known as Wergulu,
who a seal sent over sea-ridges,
to aid against venom.

These nine plants defeat nine venoms!
 

A wyrm came slithering, and yet he killed no one,
for wise Wōden took nine glory-twigs
and smote the serpent,
who flew into nine parts!
There, apple overcame venom:
There, the wyrm would never find shelter.

Fille and Fennel, a most mighty pair!
The wise lord shaped these plants,
while he, holy, hung in the heavens,
he sent them from the seven worlds, seven ages of man,
for wretched and wealthy alike.

She stands against pain, she stands against venom,
she is potent against three and against thirty,
against a foe’s hand, against great guile,
against malice and bewitchment
from animal and spirit.

Now! May the nine plants do battle against nine glory-fleers,
against nine venoms and against nine air-diseases,
against the red venom, against the running venom,
against the white venom, against the blue venom,
against the yellow venom, against the green venom,
against the black venom, against the blue venom,
against the brown venom, against the purple venom,
against wyrm-blister, against water-blister,
against thorn-blister, against thistle-blister,
against ice-blister, against venom-blister.
 

If any venom comes flying from the east,
or any comes from the north,
or any from the west over folk!

Christ stood over illness of every kind.
Yet I alone know water running
where the nine serpents guard.

Now, may all plants arise,
seas ebb, all salt water,
when I blow this venom from you.

Ingredients: Mugwort, Waybread open to the east, Lamb’s Cress, Venom-Loathe, Chamomile, Nettle, Sour-Apple-of-the-Wood, Fille, and Fennel. Old soap.

Prepare and apply the salve: Work these plants to dust, and mix them with apple mush. Make a paste of water and ashes. Take Fennel and mix the plant into the boiling paste. Bathe the wound with an egg mixture both before the patient applies the salve and after.

Sing the above galdor over each of the nine plants. Sing the galdor three times before the patient self-applies the salve, and sing the galdor three times on the apple. Sing the galdor into the patient’s mouth, sing the galdor into each of the patient’s ears, and—before the patient applies the salve—sing the galdor into the patient’s wound.

Oppression watch

Once again, Donald Trump’s ICE officers have shot and killed an unarmed civilian in Minnesota. Of course, the Trump administration blames the person who was murdered. So, what happened, a man who was a nurse was filming. He was taken to the ground. Per the second amendment, he was carrying a firearm. The gun was taken from him, still holstered, and then he was executed, because that is what the Trump administration is now doing. And what does Trump suggest? That this person who was filming was there to assassinate ICE officers. No evidence was offered. He wasn’t, as Lying Christie Noem suggests, brandishing a weapon. He was simply filming, as our First Amendment grants us the right to do. And, as our second amendment grants us the right to do, he was carrying a firearm, with a legal permit to do so. But according to the Trump administration, apparently, if you’re a liberal, the second amendment doesn’t apply. Instead, if you’re a liberal, you’re a terrorist, and you deserve to die.

To counter that, I’m proposing a spell or ritual. And this spell will consist of two parts – a written and verbal part, and a part with essential oils. We all know that certain scents can help to bring calm, we all know that certain words can help to de-escalate. So in part of this, I’m going to be writing intentions with a mix of ink and essential oils, and I’m going to be making an incense / essential oil spray to help create sacred space. It can be used at home, or wherever it is needed. But all of it will be blessed or consecrated with a spell to help bring peace and healing. Right now, I’ve got a few supplies including a dipping pen that I found a few years ago at an antique store. I’ve got a few oils that I’m considering, the main ones being Tuberose, Palmarosa, Dragons blood, Frankincense, and Myrrh. I’m also considering adding a bit of lemon, and Patchouli, and Jojoba as a carrier for the spray, or if it might be used on the skin. Over the next few days, I’m going to work on ratios to get it right, and I’ll have the formula down next week.
Other items that will be needed will be some sort of small journal style notebook, or notes or cards with pages that can be taken out hand left with notes of healing. These will be written with the ink that is made in this ritual / spell.

Next week’s show

Next week, I’ll go over this spell or ritual that I’m working on – I don’t even have a name for it yet, but I’m hoping to do something that will offer some sort of calm to the world. In our review, I’ll be looking at another book by Dion Fortune. This one is her 1930 book The Training & Work of an Initiate. I’ll discuss what’s important, what’s relevant today, and what’s possibly dated, or even dangerous, looking at why some of what people who wrote 100 years ago are still in many ways important, but at the same time, to be approached with caution.

While I’m at it, I want to look at how the period between 18thto the early 20th century produced some really interesting religious movements. Certainly there were some prior, but there was a great deal of religious fervor during this period, with one of my own relatives starting her own religious movement in the Catholic Church. This was also the time when the Shakers, the Christian Scientists, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Mormons, The Society Of the Inner Light, the Ordo Templi Orientis, The A∴A∴, and many others. Was there something different about this period of history, or is this the way things have always been, and am I just noticing the weirdness that always goes on because I’m somewhat close to it?

Anyway, let’s go out with a bit of music.

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