Copper Moon E-zine

Gothic-Rain.com Merges with Copper Moon E-zine!

I have some exciting news! For sometime I have wanted to break away from my author site Gothic-Rain to focus the bulk of my attention on this e-zine. I have decided to merge the two sites together. The main focus and priority will continue to be this ever growing and evolving online publication. It just makes sense to have one dynamic site where visitors can read more about Wicca via permanent pages but also see the latest articles from young writers! I hope you are excited about these changes as much as I am.

Please continue to show your support by sharing our URL www.Copper-Moon.com with your friends (or you can link directly to your favorite posts by using its permalink). Also consider submitting your own articles to be featured on the site. Finally, don't forget to visit our sponsors and purchase your witchy supplies from them!      

Sincerely,
~ Gwinevere Rain
Author of SPELLCRAFT FOR TEENS, MOONBEAMS & SHOOTING STARS and CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE WITCH!

Celebrate Beltane with Gwinevere’s Solitary Sabbat Ritual

Beltane is a significant Wiccan Sabbat. It is celebrated tonight April 30 (May Eve) into tomorrow May 1^st (May Day). It is drenched with heavy symbolism, mostly centering around the theme of fertility. For younger (or beginning) practitioners this motif can be intimidating so let me take a moment to explain . . . Late spring is a time when flowers and trees are in full blossom, animals are born and nature is fully awake (and fertile). These blossoming energies of nature affect our energy too, we become more attuned to the heightened power around us. Where as winter can feel slow and sleepy, spring (and Beltane) makes us come alive with light.

For this particular Sabbat, fertility symbols are heavily incorporated into ritual. The May Pole is a phallic symbol (honoring the God’s fertile energy) and the cauldron (and chalice) represent the Goddess’s womb (female energy). On Beltane we celebrate the Goddess and God, their sacred marriage and mating. In Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, Scott Cunningham expresses this elegantly in the following passage, “They fall in love, lie among the grasses and blossoms, and unite” (66). This union can be represented in a variety of ways during a ritual in their honor. Here I’ve enclosed a solitary ritual for Beltane. We’ll use ribbons to represent the joining of the Goddess and God (a mini-maypole) as well as a candle to stand in for the Belfire.

The Magician’s Tables By Alan Richardson

Reviewed by Gwinevere Rain

This hardbound 272 page book is beautifully presented. The interior pages have a glossy feel and don  golden boarders. Two typed columns (of maroon ink) make reading easy and accessible. The Magician’s Tables contain a significant amount of occult/metaphysical symbols and correspondences. Just keep in mind that they aren’t exclusively Wiccan designed.

Prayer for Spiritual Renewal by Gwinevere Rain

As part of our Wiccan Prayers category, i've enclosed here a personal prayer that I wrote.

Feel free to print it for your Book of Shadows or link directly to the post using the "permalink" function. However, I kindly request that you don't re-publish this prayer elsewhere on the web.

If you are interested in submitting an original Wiccan Prayer that you have written, just e-mail it in the body of a new message and we'll consider it for future publication. Please realize that we cannot guarantee that your prayer will be published. Kindly review our writers guidelines for details on our formatting preferences.

Prayer for Spiritual Renewal
by Gwinevere Rain

Dear Ancient Ones,
In your honor, to seek your love and guidance
I am here in sacred space,

I pray for spiritual renewal
please grant me the gifts of
patience and kindness
hope and reverence,

May I be healed from past pain
and open my heart to new life, new love
I pray, enable me to move on, move forward
to see the beauty of your ways
and experience divinity daily
through all things living and with spirit

Thank you, and Blessed Be!

The Study of Witchcraft: A Guidebook to Advanced Wicca

By Deborah Lipp
Reviewed by Abel R. Gomez

According to Wiccan High Priestess Deborah Lipp, ". . .there are few books on ‘Wicca 202"—and there will be doubtless more in the future—but I suspect that Wicca 202 will always be sparsely represented because real Wicca 202 happens when you stretch beyond Wicca" (Page 26).

With this in mind, Lipp created a 150 page compendium of nearly everything a learned Witch would ever want or need to know about the Craft of the Wise. The text spans such diverse topics as the history of Western Occultism and "The Burning Times," magical practice, and political activism with ease and readability.

Copper Moon E-zine Plugged on MTV.com!

Blessings all: news alert! You've read Raven Digitalis's work here, now he is featured (along with a few of his friends) on MTV! In an online companion article, they even enclosed a link to Copper Moon (thanks to our frequent contributor Abel for remembering us!).   

Raven Digitalis is the author of Goth Craft and the upcoming Shadow Magick Compendium. We have been a long time supporter of his ventures and seek to help other young authors like Raven. Take a peak at the MTV article and videos . . .  Far From Devil Worship And 'Harry Potter,' Young Witches Explain What They're Really About.

If you are visiting us from the MTV article here's an overview of what we do here: 

Copper Moon is an online blog magazine for Wiccan/Pagan practitioners in their teens and early twenties. Our features include eye-opening author Interviews, articles, book reviews and more! This interactive site enables readers to comment on individual articles, subscribe through e-mail or in a RSS reader! Our aim is to have at least one new article or book review up each week. Since 2002 we have been providing a venue for young practitioners to express their opinions and have their writing showcased. If you are 13 to 26 we'd love to read your submission. Thanks for considering Copper Moon, one of the leading publications for young adult Wiccan/Pagans on the web. Created by Gwinevere Rain author of Spellcraft for Teens, Moonbeams & Shooting Stars and Confessions of a Teenage Witch!

Please feel free to link to us, contribute,or subscribe!

Raven Digitalis Articles On Copper Moon:
Magickal Interior Decorating
The Word "Muggle:" To Say or Not to Say?

Gwinevere Rain's Solitary Ostara Ritual

About Ostara
From Confessions of a Teenage Witch, "The vernal equinox falls on or around March 21st and occurs when the sun is at one degree Aries. On this first day of spring, the hours of night and day are equal, the God nears maturity, and fertility is abound with new floral and animal life" (page 131).

This year, Ostara falls on Thursday, March 20th. It is a time to recognize new beginnings as well as create more balance in your spiritual and/or daily life. Following this Sabbat, the next night (Friday 3/21) marks the Full Moon. This moon is in Libra, an astrological phase which also promotes balance, cooperation, compromise, friendships and partnerships.   

Now . . . Gwinevere's Solitary Ostara Ritual. Please use and enjoy! Copyright remains with Gwinevere and may not be reproduced without her permission.

Best Witchy Blog Nomination

Copper Moon wants your opinion! To switch things up a little bit we want to highlight some of the best Wiccan/Pagan blogs out there. Have a favorite witchy blog you simply can't miss out on reading? Tell us!

Here are the rules:
1) You can't nominate your own blog!
2) It has to be at least 2 month old and frequently updated.
3) The blog can't be selling something.
4) It has to follow Harm None (no flaming etc.).
5) Can be on myspace or other blog site but NO "pop-up" ads.

What makes a dynamic witchy blog? Well, you keep returning to it because the info is so great and helpful. You love the way its laid out (easy to navigate). The material is current and meaningful. And you tell all witchy your friends about it! 

Know of a great blog. Send in your nomination to Copper Moon. Deadline: March 31, 2008. Top five blogs will be selected afterwords and posted here in April.

Law of Return: Or Why I Don’t Believe in the Threefold Law

by Shadow

It is one of the most commonly believed in laws in the Wiccan religion, and one of the first parts of our religion mentioned in any book – what we send out into the word, for good or ill, returns to us three times as strong.  Most Wiccans and many Pagans believe in this law, and for the longest time I was one of them.    I mean come on, you don’t exactly hear many debates on this subject – who has much of a reason to object?

Well, if any are to object, it might as well be me.  Don’t get me wrong – I do believe in the concept of karmic return.  I just don’t believe in it quite the same way anymore.  I know it goes against the grain of Wiccan belief, but I’m hoping it does so in a good way, in a manner that I hope can open up conversations about this, before our religion makes it a verifiable commandment (which I equally hope never happens, knock on wood).

Allow me to explain my position.  The party line is that what you send forth will return to you three times as powerful, good or bad.  First off, this violates one of the most basic laws of physics – the Newtonian law that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.  Therefore, when we do good, we receive good – in action, feeling, or manifestation – but only as equal in strength as the good we’ve done.  The likewise can be said for bad.  It’s as though we’re gaining an over-investment for our actions – we may live in a capitalist society, but I doubt the gods do!

PantheaCon 2008—San Jose, CA

a short blog blurb
by Abel R. Gomez

PantheaCon is the largest  annual indoor convention in the West Coast for Pagans and magick workers of all breeds.  A four-day event, this year’s theme was Gaia and the Spirit of activism.

This was my second time at the Con, having only spent a few hours there  last year. After arriving in San Jose in the afternoon, I attended a  closed circle meeting with SHARANYA dealing with the creating and empowering yantras. After a few hour break, the SHARANYA folks reconvened for our Kali Puja  ceremony, a worship ritual to Kali our Dark Mother of the Universe (see: left image).

From the Archives: Simple Spells for Love!

As Valentine's Day approaches, the request for love spells increases. Since we are still working on transfering our archives, here is a timely article by Abel R. Gomez from Winter 2007, Issue #15

Simple Spells for Love
By Abel R. Gomez

One of the most notorious and infamous spells are spells for love. As humans, we crave the power to summon forth love, but few realize that in order to love another, one must first love oneself. All true magick flows from a place of love and part of the Perfect Love we wish to create in ritual flows from a love of self. If you can’t find fulfillment within yourself, you will never find it in another person. Two incomplete people do not make a whole person.

That being said, we must also consider the ethics of love magick. It has been said that as Witches, it is unethical to cast spells that interfere with another’s free will. Perhaps Pagan author Isaac Bonewits said it best when he wrote that we should not use magick to do something unethical by mundane standards nor should we do something by the mundane that is unethical magically. Thus, it is just as unethical to cast a love spell on a specific person as it would be to use force of intoxicants to make the person love you. Instead, ethical Witches use magick to make themselves more attractive or draw forth an appropriate lover.