A Reflection on My Self Dedication to the Goddess

Beltane 2012: I did not sleep well the night before.  In fact, I switched off my alarm before it rang and jumped out of bed 15 minutes early.  I showered and put on in the same dress I wore to my Methodist confirmation seven years earlier.  I slipped out of my dorm room, no makeup with damp hair.  I carried a bag of tools I had packed the night before.  It was exactly fifteen minutes before sunrise, and I was headed for a park near my university.  I was twenty-one years old and have decided to dedicate my life to the Goddess.

This decision was excruciating for me.  I was a fifth generation Methodist.  My mom’s parents are ministers, and my dad was a minister.  I lived in church housing my entire young life,

Ten Ways to Connect to Your Sacred Sexuality While Single

With Beltane right around the corner, we Pagans, Wiccans, witches, Goddess worshipers, and spiritual badasses find ourself at the sexiest part of the Pagan calendar.  The birds and the bees are out in full force, and the God and Goddess will consummate their love on one of Wicca’s most sacred days.  For practitioners and spiritual badasses, Beltane is an opportunity to reflect on the intersection between our spiritual and sexual lives otherwise known as sacred sexuality.

Sacred sexuality encompasses a wide variety of orientations and modalities and has two key themes: a deep emphasis on consent between adults and the recognition of the divine in all parties involved.  When you are single, engaging in sacred sexuality is an invitation to explore your connection to your spirit as well as to develop self confidence and self love.  In the Beltane spirit, I’ve compiled ten ideas for connecting to your sacred sexuality for you to adapt and explore to your heart’s content.

A Simple Self Love Beltane Ritual

Beltane is the ancient fire festival of love and fertility.  It is the time of year when witches, Pagans, Wiccans, Goddess worshipers, and spirituals badasses take the time to evaluate their abundance and to connect to the people in their lives.  As it is also season of the Wheel of the Year when the Goddess and God get it on and consummate their love, a lot of practitioners take this holiday to celebrate their romantic lives.  But it is also a crucial time of the year to go inward.  The most important relationship you are going to have in this life is with yourself.  Why not take one of the most magical and sacred days of the year to connect to your confidence?

The ritual I am sharing with you is all about connecting to the best parts of yourself.  I’ve given you a rough outline, so feel free to add or customize based on your practice, mood, or inclination. Through the course of the ritual, you will create a tool to remind yourself of your overall greatness in times when you are feeling low and out of it.    Therefore, you’ll be able to carry the lessons of Beltane throughout the year.

Herbs for Spring and Summer

Spring is here, lovely readers, and Summer is right around the corner.  The perfect time of year to begin working with plants, flowers, and herbs in magic and in self care.

The themes of this time of year are abundant: love, healing, sleep, dreamwork, prosperity, money, luck, protection, and beauty.  For me, it is my favorite time of year to use magical herbs just based on the breadth of options available.  So let’s dive in!

Confession: I am Scared of Being Labeled a Woo Woo.

A few days ago, I had a conversation about Easter with a coworker.  When he asked if I celebrated the holiday, I said, “Yes, but mostly because my family celebrates it, not because I am a Christian.”  “What religion are you?” I hesitated, then answered, “Pagan.”  He looked confused, so I added, “Wiccan.”  After answering a few questions about what being Pagan means to me, my coworker said something to the effect of, “I guess that must be hard to talk about sometimes.  Like you don’t want to have to have people ask you what levels of spells you can do all the time.”

I cannot tell you how much I appreciated this insight from my coworker, because like a lot of people into spiritual development and Goddess religions, explaining my beliefs to other people feels, well, icky sometimes.