Paganism / Wicca (About.com)

For our Southern Hemisphere readers, it's Lammas, or Lughnasadh, the first of the three harvest festivals celebrated by most modern Pagans. Some celebrate it as Lammas, the "loaf mass", which ...

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For our Northern Hemisphere readers, Imbolc is a reminder that spring is coming soon, and that we only have a few more weeks of winter to go. The sun gets ...

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Honor the soul of the harvest.
Image © Getty Images For our Southern Hemisphere readers, it's time to thresh the grain and begin bringing in the harvest. In some European cultures, a corn doll was often used to represent the spirit of the harvested crops. However, Europe didn't have a monopoly on this at all. In South American countries, some tribes took the largest portion of the crops -- typically maize -- and dressed it in clothing as an effigy. Here are how some cultures have honored the soul of the annual grain harvest: Spirit of the Grain.

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Do groundhogs really
possess secret weather knowledge?
© Getty Images What's not to love about groundhogs? They're super cute - I once saw one sitting in a field on his hind legs nibbling a daisy, much like the one in the photo. They're pretty smart; you don't often see a groundhog "napping" in the middle of the road, like raccoons and opossums tend to do. And the groundhog is quite possibly the only rodent who gets his very own holiday.

Groundhog Day doesn't just share a date with Imbolc -- did you know it actually does have its roots in Pagan customs? Going back as far as the ancient Greeks, there's a lot to be said for that whole animal-seeing-its-shadow bit. Learn about some of the traditions that led to the debut of Punxatawney Phil and his crew of top-hatted handlers here: Groundhog Day...

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Zsuzsanna Budapest, who has been at the forefront of the feminist Wiccan movement, has a birthday today! In addition to being the founder of Dianic Wicca, Budapest is also the ...

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The ancient Romans had a festival for nearly everything, and if you were a god, you almost always got your own holiday. Februus, for whom the month of February is ...

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I'm a big fan of making my own stuff whenever possible, and incense and oils are pretty easy to put together once you've got the basics down. If you're getting ...

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Up Helly Aa celebrations involve lots of fire and revelry
Image © Jeff Mitchell/Getty Images Scotland's Shetland Islands have a rich Viking heritage, and in fact were a part of Norway for some five centuries. As such, the people who live there have a culture that is a unique blend of Scandinavian and Scottish. The town of Lerwick seems to be the home of Up Helly Aa, which is a relatively modern celebration that traces its roots back to the Shetlands' Pagan origins. It involves a Viking longship, armor, and lots of fire. Doesn't it sound like fun? This year, Up Helly Aa falls on January 31st. Up Helly Aa Celebration...

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Wondering what you might have missed this week at About Pagan/Wiccan? Well, there's all kinds of new content, a bunch of blog posts, updates to older articles, and tons of ...

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Back in October we talked about a South Carolina middle school which was coming under fire for allowing a prayer rally to be held during the school day, featuring a ...

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You know, it's so easy to laugh at Newt Gingrich it's like we don't even have to try anymore. His latest ridiculous statement, brought to us courtesy of HuffPo, is ...

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Thanks to MeanerSchnitzel for sending this one in -- it's a tradition in Austria that I had never heard of, but seems really cool. Apparently there's an event called the ...

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One of the perks of writing the About Pagan/Wiccan page is that people tend to share with me things that I might not have known about otherwise -- and this ...

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Lugh is a god of smithcraft and skills.
Image © Arthur Aubrey/Getty Images Are you one of our readers in the Southern Hemisphere? If you are, you're getting ready to observe the harvest Sabbat of Lammas. In many Pagan traditions, Lammas is also a time to celebrate Lughnasadh, which is a festival honoring the Celtic god Lugh. Similar to the Roman god Mercury, Lugh was known as a god of both skill and the distribution of talent. There are countless inscriptions and statues dedicated to Lugh, and Julius Caesar himself commented on this god's importance to the Celtic people. Although he was not a war god in the same sense as the Roman Mars, Lugh was considered a warrior because to the Celts, skill on the battlefield was a highly valued ability. Read more about Lugh: Master of Skills.

Don't forget to sign up for the free Seven Day Lammas Class!

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Start off your spring with a ritual bath.
Image © Getty Images There's something very magical indeed about starting off a new season with a cleansing -- whether it's vacuuming your house from top to bottom, throwing away the accumulated detritus of the holiday season, or just soaking in a tub to feel rejuvenated, it's definitely something worth doing.

If you're one of our readers above the equator, consider starting your spring off with a good thorough cleaning, and then follow that up with a spiritual cleansing. Put a bit of effort into a House Cleansing Ritual...

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It's nearly Imbolc in the Northern Hemisphere right now, and for some magical traditions, this is a time of new beginnings. It's a season when new members are initiated into ...

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For those readers who are preparing for Lammas, it's the middle of high summer right now. For you, Lammas is approaching, and that means the time of the first harvest. ...

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Bread is the ultimate symbol of the Lammas season. After all, once the grain is harvested, it is milled and baked into bread, which is then consumed. It is the ...

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I know, I know, we just got past Yule... and yet, Imbolc is right around the corner already. In just a few days, in fact. Imbolc is a harbinger of ...

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I'm one of those people who doesn't really count an event as a celebration until the food comes out -- I'm all about keeping a well-stocked table, and feeding anyone ...

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