#ellen dugan

[countryhedgewitch]

Witchy book reccomendation;

The Enchanted Cat by Ellen Dugan

This book explores everything to do with our feline friends. The author dissects the Goddesses associated with cats, goes through the spirt guide that is all types of cat, whilst offering useful magical workings you can perform with your familiar.

[brighidsember]

Natural Witchery, by Ellen Dugan | This was the first book I read when I started getting serious about witchcraft. My mother had a bunch of Ellen Dugan's books, and this was one that called to me more than the others. What I like about Ellen's writing is that she's very witty and snarky; it's easy to connect with her as a human being, not just as a witch. She also has a lot of info on color magick, moon phases, and of course, herbs and plants (what else would you expect from the Garden Witch?). She has other books that go more in depth on herbs, cats, love magick, etc. But I highly recommend this one because it was sort of the first to set me on this path.

[windingriverherbals]

Autumn Equinox

BY: ELLEN DUGAN

The beginning of the autumn season officially commences in September with the Autumn Equinox. As the sun enters the astrological sign of Libra, the hours of day and darkness are equal to one another, just like the balanced scales of Libra itself. From this point of the year, with each passing day, the daylight hours become noticeably shorter and the weather starts to cool. Autumn…

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[nickiplague]

Is a reading I did for today. I drew for what represents me my general emotion through the day and the general outcome of the day. As I'm posting when I drew this time I guess I will confirm if this went as I drew.

Representing me this day The Shadow Side. I feel this is saying I need to defend myself from negativity and overcome my fear.

For my general emotions this day The Sun. Joy, happiness, enthusiasm, and achievement are what I feel from this card and are what I hope from this day.

For the outcome of the day I have the Ace of Cups. I hope what this card tells is of happy news and celebration, healing, creativity, and of psychic powers which I am trying to nurture.

I hope this day goes as I drew. I still have a bit to go, but my hopes are lifted by this.

[nickiplague]

My reading from Saturday. In this particular reading I drew for that which represents me on that day, that which I will be feeling for most of the day, and the outcome of the day. It wasn't the best altogether, but it was unfortunately accurate.

Queen of Swords to represent me. That I should be wise, independent, and assertive. I tried my best that day.

The Five of Pentacles to show my general emotional state for the day. The day would have me anxious, stressed and feeling isolated. I very much was.

And for the day's outcome The Shadow Side, reversed. I have the Witches Tarot which replaces The Devil with The Shadow Side. Basically I would be feeling oppressed and that I would be tricked. I was very much feeling depressed that day...

I am still learning so forgive me for my awkward attempts.

[thefoolserrands]

The Witches Tarot 

written by Ellen Dugan and illustrated by Mark Evans published by Llewellyn Worldwide, Sept. 8, 2012 Website | Amazon

The Witches Tarot is my first deck, and I’ve had it for some years now. I chose it for myself as a beginner deck because I found the symbolism easier to connect with than that of the Rider-Waite deck. It was easier for me to interpret The Witches Tarot without having to consult its companion book every time. (Admittedly, I had used this as a crutch to avoid actually learning the cards...)

I’ll maintain that this is a good deck for beginners, but it does have some differences from traditional decks. Dugan and Evans replaced four of the cards in the Major Arcana with cards of their own design. 

    (V) The Hierophant becomes The High Priest     (X) The Wheel of Fortune becomes Wheel of the Year     (XV) The Devil becomes The Shadow Side     (XX) Judgement becomes Karma

I haven’t read the companion book (yet) so there is likely an explanation there, but I’ve chalked the differences up to removing some of the Christian religious symbolism and replacing it with more Wiccan-aligned ideas with similar meaning. When I get to journaling these four cards, I’ll be sure to also compare them to their traditional counterparts. 

[witchesforjesus]

Complicated

In terms of writing style, I kind of enjoy Ellen Dugan. I have a few of her books, and they're quite decent. But I've recently become aware of her animosity towards Christian witches, and I'm not quite sure how to feel. She certainly has books I'd recommend, but I feel awkward recommending the books of someone who doesn't think my spiritual path is valid.

Part of me wants to rationalize away her belief--that she's not talking about me, she's talking about more tentative Christian witches who aren't actually confident in their own beliefs. That's an interpretation I can almost agree with--if your witchcraft fills you with doubts to the point where you need outside validation that you're not sinning, you should probably stick to strictly Church-approved spirituality for your own sake.

What I recognize is more likely from some of her other anecdotes she's written about, though, is that she has a (reasonably understandable) bias against Christians in general, and doesn't actually understand the diversity of Christian belief. Unfortunately, not all Christians respect different spiritual paths, and so she's not /wrong/ to anticipate condemnation. It's not the nervousness I fault, it's the idea that she, a non-Christian, understands Christianity better than Christians, and can state with certainty that Christianity and witchcraft are incompatible.

Oddly, I'd be okay if she felt that what Christian witches do was A Thing, But Not Technically Witchcraft. The definition of witchcraft is fuzzy, and if someone told me what I was doing was really just Prayer With Props, I'd be chill, because guess what? I'm praying with props--I call it witchcraft, but that's because historically, prayer with props has been prosecuted as such, not because I'm emotionally invested in the term.

It's a weird problem--I respect her craft and her ability as an author, and her works themselves are quite solid. It's just really quite hard to recommend a work when you know the author doesn't respect how you're living your life. I'm not certain what I'll do in the future if it comes up. Probably recommend other works if there's something of similar topic and quality by an author I'm more comfortable recommending, but stick with her works if there's not a great alternative.

[eyeofhorusmpls]

Which Witchy Tarot is Right for You?

Which Witchy Tarot is Right for You?

By Susan Lynx

Wicca and witchcraft are popular subjects for tarot decks, and there are several available here at the Eye of Horus. Three decks in particular have special appeal for folks who are interested in Wicca or other neo-Pagan paths. All of them include very good books, not just a “little white booklet”, and each of them have very distinct styles of art and commentary. We have open demo…

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