Silver Chalice Wicca E-Zine #12

VOTE for Magick Book Excerpts
and
The Secret Meaning of Summer Solstice

June/July 2009

Editor's Note

I have something new to put forward to you, dear reader. And I'd really like to hear your opinion on it, to help decide the future course of the Silver Chalice e-zine.

I'm currently writing a book on Magick. I thought that you might be interested in seeing this in process. So the proposition is this:

Would you like to see excerpts and ideas from this upcoming Magick book in the Silver Chalice, while it's in development?

Or would you like to see this e-zine continue in its usual format?

If we go with the Magick book, we'll forgo the usual columns, like the Wiccan Sabbats articles, Ask the Priestess, etc.

So what would you like to see in upcoming issues of the Silver Chalice?

Cast Your Vote Here!

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With Blessings,

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  Wicca Books   Litha Books   Summer Solstice Music   Wheel of the Year  

Table of Contents

What's New on the Site	-- Most Common Questions Answered
Events & Announcement	-- We're All A-Twitter, and, Wise Women's Weekend
Recommended Resources	-- Reviews of Best Tarot Card Decks
Book Review	-- The Witches' Gods
Sabbats & Esbats & Other Wiccan Rituals	-- The Esoteric Meaning of Summer Solstice
Ask The Priestess	-- Men in Wicca
Fave Quotes	-- Star Wars Quotes
Energy Field Barometer	-- It's Finally Time!
Word on the Street
Next Issue	-- You Decide... Vote Today!
Silver Chalice Details

What's New On The Site

Wow... so much has happened on the site, it's hard to keep up! The best way to keep up is really the Wicca Spirituality Blog… but I'll summarize here, and skip some things or this'd go on for way too long.

Essentially, in all the new articles here, I'm aiming to answer the questions most people write to ask me. Obviously, people want to know these questions...

Beginning Wicca

First off, here's a whole new section... on getting started as a beginner to Wicca.

Wicca for Beginners is the starting page for this section, looking at the basics.

The following articles go on to explore what kind of Wicca is right for you, where you can go to learn Wicca, and how to tell a good teacher from someone to be avoided.

The last part of the section offers Wiccan resources and book reviews.

Now that there's a whole section devoted to beginning Wicca, some of the other articles on the site will be moved here.

And I'm not sure it's done yet... Future questions from website visitors could point out important areas I've missed.

Magickal Protection

What else do readers want to know? How to protect themselves from curses.

Magickal Self-Protection is the first article, dealing with the overview of keeping yourself safe on an energetic level. Part 2 deals specifically with what to do when you think you've been cursed.

As a corollary to protecting yourself magickally, there's also a new article on Returning to Natural Health and Wellness through magickal means.

Jesus and Christianity

Lastly, I attempted to put up a brief explanation to help people who are transitioning from Christian to Wiccan.

To my surprise, it turned into a 9-part series!

From Christian to Wicca answers some of the "burning" questions you might have, as an ex-Christian, and the following article gives some ideas of how to deal with the fears and doubts that arise.

From there, the next 4 articles go on to explore who Jesus really was, and what his authentic teachings were. My favourite part of this exploration is the stunning discovery of what Jesus says about women

Then we look at Wiccan beliefs about Jesus, Christianity, Hell, etc.

And we end with a really good question... what is Jesus doing in a Wicca Spirituality website?

Events & Announcements

Another Way to Follow Wicca Spirituality

Wicca Spirituality is now available on Twitter!

You can follow us at WiccaSpirit to keep in touch with Wiccan awareness and related spiritual information.

You can also follow erin Dragonsong on her own Twitter page, erinDragonsong for spiritual and ecological inspiration, New Sciences tidbits, and hope for the Planetary Transformation in progress.

Wise Women Wanted

I'll be teaching again at the Wise Woman Festival this autumn. At this point in time, the jury is still out on which workshops I'll be offering, but you can plan ahead ...

This also means that I'll be available for palm-readings, tarot readings, and spiritual guidance in that locale, and in central Alberta too!

Hope to see you there!

Recommended Resources

Reviews of Best Tarot Card Decks

Looking for a good Tarot card deck?

There are hundreds of different Tarot decks available these days, but how do you know what they're like and whether they're good?

Well, I can share with you my favourite Tarot cards.

I've explored a lot of decks. Except for a small number of "fad" decks, they each have something to recommend them, but there are a few that stand far above the crowd.

These are the four I find best ...

. . .   Read the Article

Book Review

The Witches' God

The Farrars' research is strong and lucid, and their perspective refreshingly free of proselytizing.

Although I different from the Farrars in my Wiccan practice and perspective, I consider The Witches' God to be an essential part of any Witch's library. And here's why....

. . .   Read the Article

Sabbats & Esbats & Other Wiccan Rituals

The Esoteric Meaning of Summer Solstice

The Wiccan Sabbat of Summer Solstice, on June 21, is also called Midsummer and sometimes Litha. What makes Summer Solstice an important Sabbat?

The magick of the Wheel of the Year is that it is symbolic of the journey of the human soul -- our deeper purpose in incarnating.

And the power of the Summer Solstice lies in its esoteric meaning and symbolism... . . .   Read the Whole Article

Ask The Priestess

Men In Wicca

Dear Priestess,

Can I learn to be a Wiccan, even though I am a male?

P.D. in USA

Dear PD,

This is a surprisingly common question. For a long time I couldn't figure out why men would think that Wicca is for women, but many apparently do.

So I've done some thinking and some research.

Please see this article on men in Wicca for the answer.

Thanks for asking. Bright Blessings to you!

Do you have a question you'd like answered? Email the Priestess and your question could be answered in a future issue.

(Note: questions may be edited for brevity or clarity. No real names will be disclosed. For reasons of legality, all questions become the property of Wicca-Spirituality.com.)

~ Vonda McIntyre, Star Wars: The Crystal Star

~ Michael Stackpole, Star Wars: Onslaught

Never concede to evil… That is our oldest and most sacred law. When we concede to evil, even in a small way, we feed it, and it grows stronger.

~ Dave Wolverton, Star Wars: The Courtship of Princess Leia

The Force is a river from which many can drink, and the training of the Jedi is not the only cup that can catch it.

~ Michael Kube-McDowell, Star Wars: Tyrant's Test

March

Something intriguing -- and potent! -- happened in late March.

Most people experienced it like a very distinct and overwhelming urge to do something that they've long wanted to do, but haven't gotten to.

In other words, I think it was a push to start living our dreams, and creating the life we want to be living right now.

It was as if we got an urgent call from The Boss to put aside all other projects, and get on with what is really important. It was as if something deep in the heart spoke out loud and clear, and said...

It's time!

It's time to be who you really are!

It's time to live the life you've been dreaming of. Now! Make it happen!

This is the most important thing you could be doing.

It's absolutely vital!

If you experienced this field, you probably found that you couldn't fight it, either. If you didn't do that one thing that really called you, you probably couldn't get anything done.

The milder form of it was a feeling of dissatisfaction with your life and a desire to do something different. A specific something, not just any old thing.

If you were particularly locked into your belief that you can't do [whatever it is for you], the Universe may have given you a whack on the head to snap you out of your resistance.

Even more important, perhaps, than this Voice speaking inside us, was the feeling that it was not only possible to create the life you want, but it was almost inevitable. Just a matter of when, not if.

That feeling gave much encouragement and helped boost the process.

But there was also a sense of a deadline, a push to accomplish this shift before it's "too late."

As clear and loud as a church bell chiming outside the window, as fierce as the determination arose, it couldn't last. It faded as the demands of daily life crept back in. This is normal -- an epiphany is meant to begin a change, not be the change itself.

And it hasn't faded entirely. It's like March gave us the big push to take the first steps -- even if only thinking about how we could bring about this new purpose in life.

Then, we step back a bit. We still have obligations to meet. And it takes time to move from the old life to the new, from the false sense of limitations to the truth of who you really are.

It's a process, like it was creating the life you have now.

And if you keep founding the desire and vision that you had, if you accept the truth of it -- and the absolute necessity of it -- you will begin to create that future.

But the stepping back... that can feel distasteful, as if you're wearing someone else's clothes, still smelling of the previous occupant. Or stifling, like squeezing into a pair of shoes that you've suddenly outgrown. Or even despairing, as if being locked back in a prison after a taste of freedom.

But don't despair!

That taste was like an appetizer, to build your desire for the main course. Despair will lock you back into the prisons you've created in your mind ... it always does. Hope and faith, though, will fuel your goals.

With the Divine, after all, all things are possible -- What could be impossible to the Creator of the entire universe?

So what to do with that Call in the here and now?

• Start! Start something, no matter how small. If your dream is to be a farmer, start with some seeds in a planter. If your dream is to run marathons, start with 20 minutes of running every day.

• Make time for your dreams, as much as you can.

• Keep reminding yourself of the vision of the future you crave. Post up pictures or notes to yourself... anything that keeps you from falling back to the sleep of mechanical actions and thinking.

• Tell yourself it is not only possible, but inevitable. It's only a matter of time. Use affirmations and visualization to empower this change.

• Keep your highest values and deepest dreams in first place. If these are your priorities, everything else will fall into place.

April

In early April, creativity was at an ebb. The juices just weren't flowing. That had shifted by mid-April or so, and probably had to do with needing to "refill the well" from which we gain inspiration, since that came up next....

In late April, the balance between work and rejuvenation came to a head.

I think toward was a symptom of a deeper issue -- a subconscious determination to, as one friend put it, "not be happy."

I believe we are now facing another aspect of that clarion call in March, as we begin to weave our new vision into our current lives.

We are confronting the obstacles that we create for ourselves, in our own minds.

The one really clear message I got about March's Call is that it's about the way we imprison ourselves with limiting beliefs. It's not that we can't live our dreams. It's that we tell ourselves we can't!

When you believe fervently that some things MUST be done, and other things CAN'T be done (at least, not by you), you create walls around your life. You mark where you will go, and where you won't.

This doesn't necessarily have anything to do with reality. But it seems real.

Otherwise, it wouldn't be a prison. It'd be a chalkmark you could step across.

I believe March showed us that our prisons are chalk marks. And now April is showing us what beliefs, shoulds, and can'ts turn the chalk marks into prison bars.

Despite the strengthening Haves of the Heart crying out for us to live a life of passion, joy, and love, we tell ourselves "it's just not possible"... and so it isn't.

April gave you an opportunity to see this working, to experience for yourself how self-limiting beliefs shut down your sense of possibility, of empower, and of the vital importance of your dreams.

Where you go from here will depend on what you do with the thoughts you let yourself think, the obstacles you create to keep yourself from joy.

I suspect the rest of the summer -- if not the year -- will be about developing the skills to step into the life you truly desire.

Notice or suspect an energy field going around? Can you confirm this reading, or shed more light on it?

I'd love to hear what's happening for you! Please let me know.

What to do about being caught in an unpleasant energy field? Click here for tips.

Word on the Street

What People Are Saying About Wicca-Spirituality.com:

This is an amazing site - you have seamlessly covered everything that one could need to know as a beginner.

Your insightfullness in relating many different beliefs together has really had an impact on just how much there is to learn. I feel blessed to have found your site.

Thank you. -- D. in USA

Next Issue

You Decide...

Do we keep the Silver Chalice as it is now?

Or get sneak peaks from a Magick Book in process, instead?

Vote Today!

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© erin dragonsong 2009. All rights reserved worldwide. Reprinting any of this is forbidden unless you obtain my written permission: karma and the law agree on this one. And Copyscape is keeping an eye on these things.