After a year of focused work with magical tools and beings inhabiting both our soul and the outer astral world, winter is a time of grounding. In this issue, we invite you to take a peaceful walk through slumbering nature, whose elemental gifts have woven a wreath of knowledge adorned with four candles in the colours of the four seasons. This wreath is carried on the head of a beautiful being of light, Lucia, to bless our days.
But she does not walk the following pages alone. Many other goddesses, beings, and souls, or parts of the soul, walk with her amongst the stones adorned with the scent of mineral incense. These are the Slavic Morana, the Celtic Rhiannon, the Tarot Princess of Pentacles, the personal spirit animal or guardian, and the psychologically conceived parts of ourselves, the anima and animus. The howling of a wolf pack accompanies the procession.
They pause for a brief moment, perhaps, to pick mistletoe, coltsfoot, or lady’s mantle, plants that so perfectly represent the element of Earth and the disc symbol in their several forms through leaves, flowers, and fruits. The green and yellow-brown hues are covered by a milky white, silky smooth mist in the basket of the coming cold season, which curls into a snow roll with a whiff of our recipes.
We can take this energy home, where we consecrate the pentacle, the earthly instrument of the witch's altar. How do we use it afterwards? The authors of our chapters will tell us about their journeys and the use of the symbols of Winter and Earth.
Have a blessed time reading the chapters of the final Femme Occulte of 2023.
Contents
WITCH'S TOOLS: Tools of Winter and Earth
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY: Stones
COMICS: Pentacle Consecration
HERBALISM: Plants of Pentacles
PLANT OF THE SEASON: Mistletoe
RECIPES: Winter
KABBALAH: Kavvanah
INCENSE: Minerals
GODDESS: Saint Lucia
GODDESS: Marzanna
GODDESS: Rhiannon
TAROT: Princess of Pentacles
FETCHCRAFT: Anima and Animus
PERSONAL GNOSIS: Spiritual animal, guardian
CZECH LODGES: Wolf Cult
Scent
The Winter issue blends the look of our pages with another of the fragrances of the magical pyramid from the Odore Temporum ensemble in notes of black tea and tea rose. The winter ritual composition is Tacere (Silence), made by Aconitum, @cottagewitchapothecary
80 pages
B5 (9.9 x 6.9 inch / 25 x 17.5 cm)
FSC certified paper
Digital print
Perfect-bound paperback
Full-colour photography and illustrations