An Unfortunate Hiccough

Earlier this month, in addition to other complicating life circumstances, I feel victim to a rather aggressive and excessively frustrating phishing scam or hack - really can’t determine which - on my Facebook profile under Michael Lux where many people I know have friended me sadly forcing me to move back to my backup secular …

A Little Cyprianic Road Opening Spell

After neglecting my WordPress for far too long, I have decided this year to be more diligent in creating content that hopefully may inspire my existing readership and hopefully open up new readers to new ideas and, perhaps, challenge them in ways that will help them grow in their own practice. In honor of this, …

Crosses & Keys: Thoughts Toward a Post-Christian Catholicism, Part 1.

"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent... But God hath chosen the foolish things of the …

Praying Like a Pagan

Since I embarked on my journey into esotericism a little over twenty years ago, every so often I've encountered the sentiment among peers, colleagues, and acquaintances in the esoteric and largely neopagan communities expressing a distaste for the concept of prayer or any practice which shares cognates with practices of their family of origin's, most …

Review: Troll Cunning Forge

It is difficult, in my experience, to review just one product when everything that goes into it contain so many layers, so many histories, and so many small and unnoticeable processes that could fill volumes – this is just for a nail, forged in the furnace by Marcus McCoy, the smith in residence and proprietor …

Review: Black School of Saint Cyprian

From Harry Potter to the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, the idea of a hidden school where magic is learned has reemerged in popular culture, just as it had in the 19th century with the publication of Dracula, and countless times earlier in the early modern era and throughout the ancient world. The …

Breaking Bread, Being Bread. a Homily on Proper 13

Readings: Isaiah 55:1-5; Psalm 145: 8-9, 15-22; Romans 9:1-5; Matt. 14:13-21 Dovetailing the Lammastide themes of the blessing of bread in today's Gospel reading we are invited to become nourished and nourish others. The miracle of feeding the multitudes is one of the most iconic in scripture, frequently being depicted in children's Bible books and …

The Breaking of Bread: A Lammas Meditation

After a summer that for most of us barely felt like a summer owing to the cautions many people, myself included, have been observing in relation to the Coronavirus we find ourselves at the turning of the seasonal wheel toward autumn and enter into Lammastide or Lughnasadh.  Although this feast has an ancient and fascinating …

Home, Hearth, & Domestic Tradition

In the four and a half months of sheltering in place owing to the impact of the Coronavirus, life as we once knew it seems to be a fading memory with no certainty of changing or moving forward. While the first few weeks may have been a welcome respite from the day to day, many …

Feast of Saint Benedict

Today the church remembers Benedict of Nursia, Abbot of Monte Cassino, c.540 Born at Norcia, Italy around 480 AD That historical time frame, a mere four years before the Western Roman Empire formally fell by the deposition of the last Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, the life of Benedict and his works laid the foundation both for …