New Worlds of Body, Mind & Spirit Since 1901
Thanksgiving Day is a time for celebrating abundance. The harvests have all come in. Livestock has been secured in the barns, and the surplus butchered for the fall and winter feasts. Families gather together in joy. Consider focusing on traditional and local foods. The Three Sisters of corn, squash, and beans are the major agricultural crops commonly grown together by many farming tribes of Turtle Island/North America and thus traditionally featured in many feasts or harvest festivals. The ...
Love comes in many different flavors. One of these is what the ancient Greeks called storge, or familial love. This is a subtype of platonic love, which is based on affection rather than sex or romance. Storge takes as much care and maintenance as romantic love, just in different ways. Turn off your electronics and pay attention to each other. Shared meals, game nights, and cuddle piles are all good. Pagan families may work spells or rituals together. This work is sacred to Hestia, the Greek ...
Today is National Apple Day. This beautiful fruit is sacred in some Pagan traditions. It represents magic, the five elements, and the mysteries of life and death. Celebrate this holiday by doing something with apples. If you don't have your own apple tree, the best way is to visit an orchard where you can pick your own apples and enjoy products such as apple cider. Give thanks to the Earth and the apple trees for their abundance. In many areas, fall weather supports planting apple trees in ...
Divination comes in many forms. One especially well suited for autumn use is capnomancy, or divination based on smoke patterns. The color, shape, and behavior of the smoke send messages. You can do this type of divination with incense, a pile of burning leaves, a bonfire, or whatever you prefer. (Take standard precautions for working with fire.) Once the flames die down, examine the smoke. Watch how it flows through the air, forming shapes. Smoke that rises smoothly predicts easy times ahead, ...
