Yvonne Aburrow's Blog, page 63
November 13, 2018
The Night Journey [video]
Me reading part of the chapter on the night journey, from The Night Journey: Witchcraft as Transformation.
You can get the book from Lulu, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.com etc. It is also available as an ebook.
The article by Sabina Magliocco that I referenced is Who was Aradia?
November 8, 2018
The folklore of the Wild Hunt
The Wild Hunt is a very widespread motif in Indo-European folklore and mythology, appearing in Indian, Greek, Czech, Polish, Slovenian, Swedish, Dutch, Danish, German, Italian, Spanish, English, and Welsh legends. The deity who leads it varies from one culture to another, and it has different names in different places, but enough shared characteristics to be fairly certain that it is the same folklore motif. It even has its own classification number, ATU E501.
The hunt is often seen as a cav...
November 7, 2018
What is a witch?
A video in which I read an excerpt from my book, The Night Journey: Witchcraft as Transformation. I was particularly pleased with this chapter, as I think it’s very poetic and has some powerful imagery in it.
November 5, 2018
The Two Chalices Ritual
One of the rituals of inclusive Wicca is the two chalices ritual. This has evolved over a couple of decades to become something more than I originally envisaged, as is often the way with traditions, which are evolving and fluid. It started life as a ritual for women-loving-women, and evolved into a ritual for everyone, but retaining its original symbolism.
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Chalice, by AnaTerate on Pixabay [CC0 Public Domain]
Back in 1995, I was asked to call a quarter and consecrate some cakes and wine wit...
October 30, 2018
The Inner Work
A video in which I read an excerpt from my book Dark Mirror: the Inner Work of Witchcraft, all about the inner work and why I think it’s important.
October 25, 2018
Coming Out: An Act of Truth
In 1983, when I was in my teens, my best friend came out to me as gay. The world was very different back then: no same-sex marriage, no civil partnerships, no Internet, no mobile phones, no sat-nav, and obviously no social media either; not even digital cameras.
Remember how, in the film Pride, when the everyman character was grounded by his parents, he had no way of getting in touch with any of his friends? That was the reality for everyone.
The age of consent for gay men in the UK was 21....
What are ethics based on?
I often see Pagans, polytheists, and Christians talking about ethics and morality as if they were mandated by a deity, and as if that deity was the ultimate arbiter of what is good.
I mention Christians because it’s all too easy to pretend that Pagans are so much cleverer than Christians — but only because we don’t yet have the Pagan equivalent of a “What would Jesus do?” bracelet (as far as I know).
For Christians, the first chapter of Genesis ought to give them pause: “And God saw that it...
October 23, 2018
Visualization and archetypes
A video in which I talk about how to make visualization accessible to more people, and how to leave space for people to create their own imagery and explore their own inner landscape. I also demonstrate one of my visualizations, which you can find in my book, All Acts of Love and Pleasure: inclusive Wicca.
I had been posting videos on the new Instagram account, but then I discovered that Instagram cuts them short (I find it really hard to listen to myself, so I didn’t play the video all th...
October 22, 2018
Trans solidarity
I woke up this morning to the news that the Trump regime has decided to restrict the definition of gender to the gender you were assigned at birth, based on genitalia, first via LGBT history on Instagram, and then via The Guardian:
The Trump administration is attempting to strip transgender people of official recognition by creating a narrow definition of gender as being only male or female and unchangeable once determined at birth, the New York Times reported.
The Department of Health and Hu...
October 11, 2018
Review of “Traditional Wicca: A Seeker’s Guide”
If you are looking for a clear explanation of lineaged, initiatory witchcraft, this is it. If you are looking for a coven, thinking of joining a coven, or merely curious, I would recommend reading this book. Even if you are an experienced Wiccan initiate, you could benefit from the perspectives offered in this book.
If your coven is open to seekers, this book should go straight to the top of your recommended reading list, for seekers, new initiates, and even old hands. It’s clearly written, e...
