The Mage's Well

Did you know that the dead had nothing to do with Samhain? Originally the Gaelic festival focused on the supernatural as around this time the membrane between the worlds thinned, the need for protection was heightened, fires were lit to ward away the darkness, spirits and other unspeakable creatures. Creatures that within Gaelic texts and mythology invaded our world, heroic and royal figures met their untimely demise by their hands and ancient capitals were laid siege to. This link to death and ancestors didn’t come into play till about 700CE when the pope moved the the holiday All Saints Day to November 1st, whereby the churchs many saints were honoured and prayed to. Divination was themed around death and marriage, did you also know that Halloween was massive rival for Valentines day in the victoria era? All my links are here.

Mabon/Autumn Equinox celebrates the second harvest that included wild nuts, fruit trees and berries - usually growing without human intervention it was seen as wild, sacred and often a divine boon, a miracle that could save entire communities from starvation as around this time of the year you could gage if you had enough food to survive the upcoming winter - which was potentially a very bleak realisation. What unites communities around this time is the absolute reverence they had for this harvest, how did they display this and how can we bring this festival into our modern era that's so far removed from our food sources and agricultural calendars?All my links are here.

Lammas is essentially the pagan harvest festival and it doesn’t get a lot of attention - not as much as Beltane or Yule - but it's still a really important time to honour and hold space for. Traditionally ushered in the ending of hunger and to celebrate the abundance that the land had produced. It was also quite a sexually charged event with the sexes coming together to harvest the crops and we see marital fairs set up and temporary marriages arranged which could be made permanent after a year if the couple agreed to it. How is this festival relevant today in our modern world and what lessons can we learn from it? All my links are here.

Litha or Midsummer is highly anticipated within the pagan world, celebrating the summer solstice or the longest day of the year and the height of the suns power. Traditionally the day was rife with agricultural protective wards, feasting and general merry-making. Botanicals and crystals are especially powerful and revered during this festival as the power of malicious spirits peaks from the fae to the trolls over in Scandinavia.All my links are here.

Beltane is one of the major fire festivals within the wheel of the year and celebrates the beginning of summer, traditionally it was time to cleanse through fire rituals and to protect because around this time as the threat of the supernatural was heightening with risks from the fae and malicious witches. How can celebrate Beltane today and how can honour this ancient festival. Beltane is now live and you can listen to the mages well wherever you listen to podcasts.All my links are here.

One of the things the psychologists of the future will say about our era is how easy it was to hate ourselves. We are living in a pandemic of self-hatred - fuelled by how we’re raised, manipulative advertising and marketing and the rise of social media that permeates every aspect of our lives. Never before have we been so mentally unwell as a collective. The world can be a dark and scary place but your mind and how you feel about yourself doesn’t have to be. All my links are here.