New Moon Risings

I’m a big believer in “if you don’t know it, look it up” and so the Glossary has been updated with definitions for theurgy, culdees, and the entomology of the word magic. Two new definitions of Magic have been added to Chapter XII Magic & Ritual :: Defining Magic for your consideration as to exactly what magic is and entails.

Chapter I :: Ancient Worlds has been updated with a short article outlining the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, most notable is the link in the article which leads to an awesome visual of the wonders. Also in Ancient Worlds, a new article reveals most recent theories regarding the immigrant origins of the Etruscan people who once inhabited what is now Italy.

A meditation on Aleph, written by Paul Foster Case founder of the BOTA has been added to Chapter XIII :: Mental Magic. Not only will it be of general interest but also to students of the tarot who seek deeper meaning in the cards. To the same chapter, a new exercise, Journaling Backward, has been added This simple exercise is not only a method to improve visualization skills, but it will also aid in the understanding of just how interconnected seemingly disparate events actually are.

Enjoy the additions and, as always, we are working on even more for the coming months.

Getting back to work not only feels great (I’m always happiest when doing something constructive), it means new content for readers of the Book of Light.

While reading for pleasure, I came across an explanation of the Maya calendar round. Confusing to most modern people, this complicated systems of time keeping is extremely accurate and fascinating to learn about hence the new essay in Chapter XVII :: Wheel of the Year entitled Maya Calendar Round Explained. The book the article is excerpted from is, in itself, a fascinating read covering all manner of ancient mysteries with an objective approach. The book is Ancient Mysteries by Peter Jame and Nick Thorpe and if you get your hands on a copy, I guarantee you’ll be enchanted for hours.

I also finally finished the Hawthorn essay for the Sacred Woods section of Chapter VIII :: Herbal. Taken from Version 2 of the Rede of the Wiccae, these 10 sacred woods are enthralling to learn about. It is much more satisfying for me to see the practical reasoning behind the magical uses than it is to simply accept that a certain tree means wisdom or protection, etc. To navigate easily to additional information about each Sacred Wood, links to the extended essays have been placed in the Rede of the Wiccae.

I hope you enjoy the new additions and new projects are already in the works.

As usual, nuggets of knowledge have popped up, so of course I had to add them to the Book of Light to share with everyone.

While re-reading Triumph of the Moon by Ronald Hutton, an excellent read for anyone regardless of experience level, I came across his research into the origin on the word “pagan”. Different theories have been proposed and are now presented along with the entry for Pagan in the BoL Glossary.

Also added to the BoL’s Glossary are extended information regarding the origin of the words “widdershins“, “deosil“, and “yuletide” all thanks to the Word Detective. I just love his site, he digs up the most interesting nuggets of knowledge.

With insects biting like vampires around here, I dug up a copy of Herbs for Health (an excellent mag with tons of useful tips) to find Natural and Essential Oil based recipes for insect repellents. These two new recipes have been added to Essential Oils in the Garden in Chapter X :: Incense & Oils.

And finally, I ran across an incredibly interesting article that discussed new, genetic information regarding the origin of the Etruscans, the pre-Roman civilization that once inhabited Italy. The article, Ancient Etruscans were Immigrants can be found in Chapter I :: Ancient Worlds. Further interest led me to find The Mysterious Etruscans, a quite interesting site devoted to all aspects of Etruscan history and culture.

I was sidetracked from my assigned course of duty by tidbits of information once again which has resulted in a minor update to the Book of Light

While working to complete Chapter VIII Herbal I ran across a table of herbs, plants and scents sacred to various deities. While this informations does appear as Herbs of the Gods in the Herbal chapter, I thought it would be helpful to also include it in the encyclopedia entries for the deities and so I did.

The Encyclopedia of Deities Chapter V Deities Myths & Heroes now contains information regarding plants, fruits, foods and trees sacred to certain deities where I had the information readily available.

I hope this addition streamlines searches for folks who are looking to create rites or feasts for particular deities and is also interesting nuggets of knowledge for those just browsing.