Are You Going to Witchcon This Weekend?

This weekend will see the largest online magical conference taking place. From 5 March until 7March (or 8 March here in Australia) over a witches and conjurers from all around the globe will be coming together to share their magical insights, wisdom and spiritual practices that are personally designed to assist beginners, novices and the more experienced alike.

All classes, rituals and performances will not only be livestreamed on Crowdcast, a web-based platform with no need to download an app.  Afterwards they will also be placed in an on-demand library where they will remain for an indefinite period of time (at the moment) so that you can watch or re-watch all that is on offer.

I will be presenting on Exploring the Shadowy Realms of the Dark Goddess in The Saturn Library on Monday, 8 March at 11.15am (Adelaide time).  I will also be in the Virtual Vendorium showcasing selective LunaNoire Creations items earlier on the Monday at 9.15am. 

Other presenters include Laurie Cabot (Salem's most famous witch), druid Ellen Evert Hopman, Australia's Fiona Horne, Georgi Mishev (who will be presenting on Bulgarian folk magick), Oberon Zell (founder of the Church of All Worlds), Sorita d'Este (owner of Avalonia publishing company), Rev. Paul Beyerl (renown herbalist), and even Silver Ravenwolf.  

A full list of presenters can be found here.  Tickets are capped at 1,000 attendees which includes access to all class presentations, rituals, the Virtual Vendorium.  You can get your tickets here.

Dark Goddess official release draws near

According to the website of John Hunt Publishing, of which my publisher, Moon Books, is an imprint, there are only some 23 days before Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms is officially released.

Although I have been able to obtain pre-release author copies since May last year, I am rather delighted that soon my book will be available all around the world.

Since it's pre-release, Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms has been reviewed by a number of people, many I have sought to capture on this blog. One review that my book received last year while COVID-19 forced a number of people to undertake their own journey into the shadow realms is this one from fellow author, Nimue Brown, that starts:

The Pagan God in the Modern Age

In recent time there has been an increasing amount of material that is focused on the divine feminine, the Goddess. And while this is wonderful and much needed, it does appear to come at the cost of the divine masculine.

Even within more earth centric spiritual belief systems such as paganism, the focus has largely been on the Goddess as opposed to the God. In some traditions, the divine masculine is merely treated as a second class citizen (behind his beloved consort), in other traditions he has been banished altogether.

In 2015 I compiled an anthology based around the various interpretations of the God within modern paganism as an attempt to bring back the necessary presence of the divine masculine.  Call of the God: An Anthology Exploring the Divine Masculine within Modern Paganism was the end result.

Consisting of nearly 300 pages, this Call of the God showcases an array of various essays, personal interactions, invocations, poems and artwork of the divine masculine, the God, and how he is depicted amongst various pagans, witches and other magical practitioners around the world. 

Some of the contributors include Michael Howard (editor of The Cauldron magazine who passed through the veil shortly after release of the anthology), Pete Jennings (past Pagan Federation president and author of many books), Anna Franklin (author of 30 books and tarot decks including The Hearth Witch's Kitchen Herbal: Culinary Herbs for Magic , Beauty and Health, The Pagan Way Tarot and The Sacred Circle Tarot), Tony and Candia McKormack from British Pagan band Inkubus Sukkubus, Polly Lind (New Zealand based tapestry artist), and Patrick Larabee (author of Whisperings from the Void).

Call of the God: An Anthology Exploring the Divine Masculine within Modern Paganism is now available for purchase through LunaNoire Creations, as well as other online outlets and wherever good books are sold.

Chewing the Fat with Michael and Marta of Widdershins Radio

This morning I joined Michael and Marta of Widdershins Radio where we chatted about my upcoming books, Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms and Contemporary Witchcraft: Foundational Practices for the Magical Life (both to be published through Moon Books), magick and the Craft "back in the day", doing things "down under".

Michael also checked out my LunaNoire Creations Etsy store.

We also talked about the upcoming WitchCon event that will be held from 5 to 7 March 2021 that myself and Michael will be only two of nearly 100 presenters.

If you missed the live radio show, a recording can be found here.  While you are there, check out some of their other guests, including Fiona Horne, Fatima Mbodj, and Jim Sayers, with more leading up with the commencement of WitchCon.