For this year’s Halloween movie feature, I’d like to introduce you to nine vampire movies by French director Jean Rollin. His movies have been called surrealist and fantastique. They’ve also been call...

For the first time in all my years of being a public Pagan, I have to concede that I may have been hexed. I do not say this lightly – on numerous occasions I’ve told other people that while such thing...

Maybe the Halloween silly season is starting early this year. Maybe it’s the publicity around Practical Magic 2. I’m seeing a lot of hand-wringing and pearl-clutching from certain kinds of Christians ...

Republican candidate Bo French may be a native Texan, but he doesn’t understand that Texas has always been a place of opportunity, no matter where you came from. Come here and work hard and you can bu...

In his new Pagan Portals book "Herne the Hunter – The Lord of the Forest" Andrew Anderson takes a historical approach to look for the origins of Herne. But he understands that what is most important i...

I learned to search libraries, books, and magazines. I learned to find a source and then to interrogate that source, to separate facts from opinions, and then to use those facts to form my own opinion...

Brendan Myers wrote about the will to dwell in an enchanted world. As I continue to process his death, I’m even more committed to living in a world of enchantment and magic, whether natural or superna...

“The Bloody Road to Castle Dracula” is a fun read. Author Steven J. Rolfes is a good storyteller – reading this book is like sitting around a campfire listing to stories, not sitting in a classroom li...

I am shocked and saddened that Brendan Myers is no longer in this world, but I am honored that I was able to know him and to think with him, and to call him my friend.

A recent survey asked members of various religious groups how often they feel a deep sense of spiritual peace and well-being. The results are interesting, and they raise the question of what we can do...

Framing an argument as “my church teaches…” is an attempt to evade responsibility. So is “people have always believed…” and “it’s just common sense.” You wouldn’t be appealing to those authorities if ...

I wasn’t planning to do a Mystic South recap blog post this year, but apparently I have more to say about it than I thought. And that starts with how much I enjoyed this year’s conference. Mystic Sout...

When parents follow a fear-based religion and then pass it along, they traumatize their children. No eight-year-old should live in fear of eternal damnation, for themselves or for anyone else. I no lo...

The Wild Hunt has existed in many forms in many places throughout history and in our contemporary world. In this new Pagan Portals book, author Morgan Daimler presents the folklore around the Wild Hun...

Let’s study our history. Let’s acknowledge both what went wrong and what went right. Let’s celebrate the progress that has been made. And then let’s keep working to build a more perfect union.

Many UUs don’t pray because of bad experiences in a previous religion, theological disagreements, or simply because we’ve fallen out of practice. But prayer is one of the oldest and most universal spi...

A local couple has been charged with fraud after scamming people out of over $2 million for “curse removal”. Scammers are a danger, but sometimes curses are real. How do you know if someone is a legit...

The loudest voices in our wider society scream that there is only one God and he stopped speaking two thousand years ago. The second loudest voices scream that there are no Gods and that anyone who th...

Author, podcaster, and chaos magician Gordon White has died. Gordon and his work were very important to me as I was moving into public Paganism. And then things changed and I distanced myself from him...

In recent years Walpurgisnacht has become a solitary observance for me, a time for meditation and journeying. At this year’s Walpurgisnacht, I heard five messages for me and my spiritual practice, but...

Ivy Corvus’ new book “Chaos Magic: A Complete Beginner’s Guide” is a good, short, easy to read introduction to chaos magic. It's the book I wish I had when I first heard about chaos magic and wanted t...

Earth Day is an opportunity to celebrate how far we’ve come in cleaning up our environment, and to remind ourselves what we can accomplish when we work together. It’s also an opportunity to look at th...

I can’t pretend all this doesn’t bother me and I question the ethics of those who say they can. I will remain an engaged citizen, but I don’t expect politics will save me. What I can do is to be the b...

Sometimes you can’t see what’s coming. Sometimes you can’t plan your way around trouble. Sometimes you just have to trust that you’ll be able to handle whatever comes up, because you’re intelligent an...

I’ve created and presented a lot of rituals. I’ve participated in some excellent rituals led by others, and I’ve participated in some truly bad rituals. I’ve learned from all of them. Based on that ex...

Proto is the story of the origins of the Proto-Indo-European language and how it spread and evolved into one of the major language groups of the contemporary world. It’s also the story of humans doing...

No equivocation. No psychological jargon. No fear you might be rejecting the materialist assumptions of the mainstream world and someone might accuse you of believing in “woo.” Do you believe we can c...

I’ve lost track of how many times someone has told me “something feels off.” The progress we experienced for decades has reversed, and every time we think we’ve adjusted, something else happens. But h...

Here’s the bottom line on Luc Besson’s new Dracula movie: it’s beautiful and fascinating, and it’s a good though flawed story. But it can’t compare to the

Less background noise from the dominant religion will make it easier for us to hear our Gods and spirits. Let’s use this opportunity to build a Paganism that serves our Gods, respects our neighbors, a...

Our predictions for the future of Paganism have always carried an unstated assumption: that we would be living in a multicultural and multireligious society. And that’s looking increasingly unlikely i...

When I see people saying “2026 is the new 2016” my first reaction is “that’s not really a good thing.” Still, I had a great 2017 in large part because of the foundational work I did in 2016. I’m confi...

Announcing a new 4-week on-line class from Under the Ancient Oaks: “Tarot For Spellcasting” begins January 29 and registration is now open. Details are in Module 0 on the Courses page.

Our culture has flattened. It’s become plain, bland, similar, and boring. And what’s happening with our stuff influences us as people. As Pagans and witches we can show the mainstream a better way to ...

We can move through life mindlessly and end up getting hurt. We can be afraid of losing what we have and settle for good enough. Or we can build on what we’ve accomplished, wait until the time is righ...

The Top 10 posts of 2025 on Under the Ancient Oaks: being a Pagan in challenging times, dangerous magic, and what happens when the Gods show up. “Willful childlessness.” And I read the worst book of t...

Divination, reincarnation, the divinity of Nature, and the need for life-long learning. These are topics I thought would be popular, but for some reason they weren’t very well-read. If you missed them...

Creative reimaginings of Dracula and Carmilla. A Spanish novel from Argentina. An unexpected invitation to a hidden magical school. The most unique vampire novel I’ve ever read. And proof that the boo...

“Fairy is a real place that humans may interact with and which is the home of many different beings that may come into the human world.” So says Morgan Daimler in their 2024 book Fairy: The Otherworld...

Groups based on regular practice, inquiry, and a deep desire to be as good as they can possibly be will succeed and grow. How big they grow isn’t important. What’s important is that they will be here ...

There is no shortage of holidays and holy days to celebrate at this time of year. I’m a Pagan – I celebrate the Winter Solstice. This is why and how I celebrate.

I’m seeing a steady stream of posts by Evangelicals trying to “debate” atheists and doing a very poor job of it. They present weak arguments based on weak evidence, but they’re 100% certain that they’...

Different Pagans have different callings and different areas of interest. Unlike the followers of some religions, we understand that no one way is best for everyone. This is what I mean when I call my...

Statistics show that people fear death less as they grow older, and that Catholics fear death far more than Protestants, Others, or Nones. What does that mean for us as Pagans? More importantly, do yo...

A recent Tarot reading advised me to “keep your goal in front of you every day.” When I thought about how I can best do that, I realized I’ve done this many times before. The process works for me, and...

Bad times inspire good art. Florence Welch has made good art with Everybody Scream. It’s witchcraft for people who don’t know they need it. And for some of us who do.

The Morrigan is not coming to save us. No one is coming to save us. But if we live by her values and if we embody her virtues, we can save ourselves.

You do not have to be born with 90th percentile psychic skills and intuitive abilities to read Tarot or to practice any other form of divination. Natural ability helps, but what matters most is what y...

A man who has spent his entire life denying reality and avoiding consequences is starting to understand that he’s going to die. Donald Trump is building a state ballroom because he knows he’s dying an...

The holiest day on the modern Pagan Wheel of the Year is rapidly approaching and I’m in no mood to celebrate. But I’m going to celebrate anyway. Because at Samhain – especially this Samhain – we need ...