Global Goddess Oracle: Samhain '09 Issue

Samhain/Hallows blessings to all!!! To help celebrate, here’s a rundown of what’s in the Samhain issue of Global Goddess Oracle.

Much of this issue focuses on divination and other experiences of the thinned veil. In her opening statement, Dawn, one of the Oracle’s editors, tells us of her renewed interest in divination. This is accompanied by an amusing witch picture contributed by H. Byron Ballard.

In "Fireless Altar and Crone Encounters," Barbara Ardinger shares memories of past rituals, including one at Samhain with no candles and no incense. When they invoked "the dark goddesses," something happened...I’ll let you be the judge of its significance. Ardinger advises us to "think of the dark altar as a dark mirror." Ardinger also contributed an article on "Mischief" to this issue.

H. Byron Ballard's "Keeping My Eye on the Ball..." tells how, after years of reading tarot cards, she decided to try reading with a crystal ball as part of a Pagan fundraiser. She focused on a flaw in the crystal, and then....

In "An Oracle for Samhain," Bendis distinguishes an "oracle" from various sorts of "readings," such as tarot, crystal ball, palm, etc. She discusses oracles with the use of orgham twigs. In another article in this issue, "The Ladi Wen," Bendis writes about a Welsh "Cymric boygeyman" or bogeywoman and her/his legends. Bendis says she "can often see how they represent the disempowerment of the Goddess."

"Divination" by Angie Skelhorn discusses a variety of types of divination, gives tarot reading advice, and comments on her own practice.

In "On Finding Myself Middle Aged..." Mama Donna Henes explains why she is "not a believer in the triple Goddess paradigm."

"Intentional Insights..." by Kelley Harrell begins with a Q & A in response to a reader who feels they are receiving mysterious phone calls. Harrell then relates her experiences of sensing "presences" in hotel rooms, particularly one in Kansas City, faeries in gardens, and "mindful interactions with star people."

Dawn "Belladonna" Thomas offers a "Solitary Ritual," reviews the book Tarot and Mysteries of Love and Sex, gives us 2 articles about "Herbs of the Season": Marigold and Mullein, and also gives us the "Moon Schedule from Samhain to Yule."

Crone Garnet Hawk shares a poem, "Spirit Veil."