Paganism

Column: Dowsing Rods

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The beautiful thing about England, I thought, was that with a rail pass you could get just about anywhere in the country within a few hours. That was before I got there, of course. I hadn’t plotted the courses to the places I needed to visit in any great detail; I assumed that England, having an actual public transit system, would lead me anywhere I liked with no great effort on my part. Experience had proved otherwise. Two weeks into my trip, I had learned that if a map could be misread, I would misread it, and if a timetable could be missed, I would miss it.

Paganism

Column: The Crafting of a Life

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[Guest voices are a key part of The Wild Hunt’s mission. Today we welcome Katrina Messenger. Katrina is a certified archetypal and dream pattern analyst. As a Wiccan mystic, she works extensively with mythology, dreams, ritual and trance as a means of self exploration, self healing and self evolution. She believes that any attempt to change the external world must be paired with the inner work of a personal spiritual practice. If you enjoy her work and reading other guest writings, consider donating to The Wild Hunt, and when you do let us know if about other voices you’d like to see here.]

The world is changing.

Living

An Interview with Raymond Buckland, American Wicca Pioneer

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OHIO — Raymond Buckland is known in Pagan circles as the man who brought Gardnerian Wicca to the United States of America. His name graces the cover of more than 40 books on Pagan and occult topics, published over the last 47 years. That history is more than enough to cover in the course of just one interview, but despite his prolific writing and years of teaching, Buckland has also found time to keep busy with quite a number of non-Pagan activities. These activities are wide-ranging and include, in his own words, “acting and the theatre, music (jazz, ragtime, bluegrass, etc.), art (illustrating books, cards, filmstrips, etc.), comedy (both writing and performing), ultralight flying, sports cars, screen-writing, all types of writing, especially fiction and non-fiction,” not to mention occasional stints of stand-up comedy. Given the vast number of things that continue to keep Buckland’s days full, narrowing the scope of conversation to just his Pagan activities seemed, at the very least, to be a kindness to the reader. Indeed, the fact that he was able to respond to questions at all suggests that some powerful time-bending magic might be at work.

Living

Of Witches and History: an afternoon with Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone

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HIGHLAND MILLS, N.Y. –Throngs of people smiling under sunny skies after days of chilling rain, a festive maypole, live music, rows upon rows of vendors hawking their wares.  This was the scene that welcomed Gavin Bone and Janet Farrar to the ninth annual Beltane Spring Festival put on by the owners of Brid’s Closet in the gently rolling landscape of Palaia Winery. The pair were actually on hand for several days, offering workshops, running rituals, presiding over a wedding beneath the ribbons that hung from the maypole and hummed like a flock of the eponymous birds, and talking about their new book, Lifting the Veil. The only potential cloud that might have been cast upon the events was the fact that copies of their book had not yet arrived. Signings were taken off the schedule.

News

Doreen Valiente – Witch, spy and friend to royalty

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[The Wild Hunt welcomes journalist Claire Dixon to our weekly news team. She is our U.K. correspondent and will be covering news and events specifically in that region, as well around the world. To learn more about Dixon’s background and her experience, check out her bio page.]

BRIGHTON, England — The doors opened on an exhibition of artifacts from the Doreen Valiente collection this month, but it was the new biography of the U.K.’s most famous Witch that caused the biggest stir. Why? The book revealed that Valiente had worked at the legendary MI6 spy base Bletchley Park during the Second World War.