Down At The Crossroads - Music. Magick. Paganism.

Hello and thank you once again for joining us down at the crossroads for some music, magick, and Paganism. Where witches gather for the sabbath, offerings are made, pacts are signed for musical fame, and we usually cross paths with today’s most influential Pagans, occultists, and deep thinkers, but tonight that isn't happening because it's minisode time! I am your bewitching, bald headed, host Chris Orapello and tonight Tara and I sit down to discuss the books which have inspired and influenced your paths as we read listener email. We also travel down the rabbit trails they evoke as well as reflect upon our recent journey to the realm of the fae to attend the International Faerie Convention itself, FaerieCon! This is a pretty goofy episode in all honesty. So, I guess we were still recovering from previous weekend when we recorded this. Minisode Topic: Listener email and reflecting on FaerieCon weekend. Featured Songs: "Gibu" by Wardruna "Satyros" by Faun Links: The Card and Vine Thunder Jay Studio "Y M

Hello and thank you once again for joining us down at the crossroads for some music, magick, and Paganism. Where witches gather for the sabbath, offerings are made, pacts are signed for musical fame and we cross paths with today’s most influential Pagans, occultists, and deep thinkers. I am your bewitching, bald headed, host Chris Orapello and tonight Tara and I welcome Deborah Castellano back to the show to discuss her new book Glamour Magic: The Witchcraft Revolution To Get What You Want and how it's not just about looking good and why it's more relevant to one's witchcraft and practice than some would initially think. Deborah offers up some of the secrets of glamour in our discussion and we even explore how different men can apply and utilize glamour in their everyday life. We also learn how we already do this type of work on a subconscious level and how as practitioners we can enhance and instill more magick in what we are doing to our benefit. All in all, it was great to sit down with Deborah and we hop

Hello and thank you once again for joining us down at the crossroads for some music, magick, and Paganism. Where witches gather for the sabbath, offerings are made, pacts are signed for musical fame and we cross paths with today’s most influential Pagans, occultists, and deep thinkers. I am your bewitching, bald headed, host Chris Orapello and tonight Tara and I - after being interviewed by him- finally got a chance to speak with Patheos blogger and teacher Mat Auryn about his work and path as a witch. We also explore his thoughts on witchcraft, the modern craft and the direction it's heading in, the devil, initiation, validation, cursing and more. We had a great time speaking with Mat and could not have predicted all the paths we wandered down during our chat with him. Mat Auryn (Massachussetts) is a witch, writer, professional psychic, and occult teacher throught New England. He has been drawn to the occult and metaphysical since an early age, reading books on witchcraft at eight years old. He is a graduat

Hello and thank you once again for joining us down at the crossroads for some music, magick, and Paganism. Where witches gather for the sabbath, offerings are made, pacts are signed for musical fame, and we usually cross paths with today’s most influential Pagans, occultists, and deep thinkers, but tonight that isn't happening because it's minisode time! I am your bewitching, bald headed, host Chris Orapello and tonight Tara and I sit down to discuss the books which have influenced our paths as well as updates, future happenings, shenanigans, and more. We're getting back on the horse and what better way than with a minisode? Minisode Topic: Books which influenced us. What books influenced you and your path? Featured Songs: "Ravens in the Library" by S.J. Tucker "Hunter" by Pandemonaeon Mentioned Podcasts New World Witchery The Wytch Files Of Orthodox and Awen Other Links: "12 Movies to Inspire Your Magic" by John Beckett "For Puck's Sake - Down at the Crossroads" by Mat Auryn Modern Witch Podcast (S7E

Hello and thank you once again for joining us down at the crossroads for some music, magick, and Paganism. Where witches gather for the sabbath, offerings are made, pacts are signed for musical fame and we cross paths with today’s most influential Pagans, occultists, and deep thinkers. I am your bewitching, bald headed, host Chris Orapello and tonight Tara and I welcome back Patheos blogger and now author John Beckett to discuss his new book The Path of Paganism: An Experienced-Based Guide to Modern Pagan Practice. During the discussion, we talk about the idea of Big Tent Paganism, Why Paganism is making a comeback, the necessity of myth, Pagan priesthood, and more. It was great to sit down and chat with John once again and we hope you enjoy the many directions that we went in. Paganism is a way of seeing the world and your place in it. It means challenging the assumptions of mainstream society and strengthening your relationships with the gods, the universe, your community, and your self. The Path of Paganis

Hello and thank you once again for joining us down at the crossroads for some music, magick, and Paganism. Where witches gather for the sabbath, offerings are made, pacts are signed for musical fame, and we usually cross paths with today’s most influential Pagans, occultists, and deep thinkers, but tonight that isn’t happening. It's minisode time! I am your bewitching, bald headed, host Chris Orapello and tonight Tara and I sit down for our very first minisode where we take time to do some updates and to discuss different things that interest us. This being our first time recording with two microphones, post production was a bit tricky and I can’t say it’s perfect, but it’s a good talk with the occasional bit of reverb unfortunately. My editing abilities are only so good, but next time we’re going to try a new recording set up. Enjoy! Minisode Topic: Witchy Movies What qualifies as a witchy movie? Which was our first? Which are our favorites? Which are our least favorite? Which movie depict witchcraft the be

Hello and thank you once again for joining us down at the crossroads for some music, magick, and Paganism. Where witches gather for the sabbath, offerings are made, pacts are signed for musical fame and we cross paths with today’s most influential Pagans, occultists, and deep thinkers. I am your bewitching, bald headed, host Chris Orapello and tonight Tara and I meet with blogger, artist, and author Laura Tempest Zakroff to discuss her new book The Witch's Cauldron, her background, her work, witchcraft, P-words, and more. We don't even scratch the surface of all that Laura is involved with because of some reminiscing and a lot of goofing around. Along with being an author Laura is an accomplished blogger, artist, performer, and musician as one of the key members of The Nathaniel Johnstone Band. All in all, this was another good time for Tara and I. We look forward to having Laura back on the show when her future book Sigil Witchery comes out and to catching up with her when she's in the motherland of Souther

Hello and thank you once again for joining us down at the crossroads for some music, magick, and Paganism. Where witches gather for the sabbath, offerings are made, pacts are signed for musical fame and we cross paths with today’s most influential Pagans, occultists, and deep thinkers. I am your bewitching, bald headed, host Chris Orapello and tonight Tara and I meet with author and teacher Corinne Boyer to discuss her recent book Under the Witching Tree available from Troy Books and her upcoming book Plants of the Devil available from Three Hands Press. Corinne is a folk herbalist currently living in the Pacific Northwest and has a Bachelor of Science in biomedical science with an emphasis on plant chemistry and botany. She has been featured in two publications and will be the keynote speaker at this year's Viridis Genii Symposium happening June 9-11th in Damascus, Oregon. It was great to be able to sit down and speak with her about her work and we hope that enjoy our interview with Corinne. Be sure to stic

Hello and thank you once again for joining us down at the crossroads for some music, magick, and Paganism. Where witches gather for the sabbath, offerings are made, pacts are signed for musical fame and we cross paths with today’s most influential Pagans, occultists, and deep thinkers. I am your bewitching, bald headed, host Chris Orapello and tonight Tara and I meet with author, artist, alchemist, and leading authority on plants and herbal magick, Harold Roth to the discuss his new book The Witching Herbs: 13 Essential Plants and Herbs for Your Magical Garden, as well as his online store Alchemy Works which has been in business for over seventeen years. Along with our discussion we do an immense amount of laughing as we talk about his experiences with running a magickal business, his art, his thoughts on Andrew Chumbley as well as his thoughts regarding esoteric scholarship and the translation of older texts and manuscripts. Harold was a great guest and we certainly hope that you appreciate such an unexpect

Hello and thank you once again for joining us down at the crossroads for some music, magick, and Paganism. Where witches gather for the sabbath, offerings are made, pacts are signed for musical fame and we cross paths with today’s most influential Pagans, occultists, and deep thinkers. I am your bewitching, bald headed, host Chris Orapello and tonight Tara and I meet with author, filmmaker, and voodoo priestess Lilith Dorsey to talk about her experiences as a professional reader and witch as well as to discuss her new book, Love Magic: Over 250 Spells and Potions for Getting It, Keeping It, and Making It Last. Along with her book we also discuss her Patheos blog: Voodoo Universe, as well as the challenges she has faced through her involvement with Voodoo and Pagan communities and some of the misconceptions about Voodoo which she still deals with to this day.   Based on years of magical experience and prodigious research, Love Magic includes sections on such topics as self-love, marriage, fertility, erotic a

Hello and thank you once again for joining us down at the crossroads for some music, magick, and Paganism. Where witches gather for the sabbath, offerings are made, pacts are signed for musical fame and we cross paths with today’s most influential Pagans, occultists, and deep thinkers. I am your bewitching, bald headed, host Chris Orapello and tonight Tara and I meet with author and Wiccan priestess Courtney Weber to discuss her new book Tarot for One as well as our time together at FaerieCon, the tarot deck she created Tarot of the Boroughs, along with some of the tips and tricks she’s learned over the years to running a coven. Courtney offers her insight into being a Priestess, her love of certain eighties movies, and further evidence that she’s not afraid to have a good time. This was a great discussion with Courtney as it was nice to speak with her for the first time since meeting at FaerieCon. Courtney Weber is a Priestess, author, and activist. She is the author of "Brigid: History, Mystery, and Magick

Hello and thank you once again for joining us down at the crossroads for some music, magick, and Paganism. Where witches gather for the sabbath, offerings are made, pacts are signed for musical fame and we cross paths with today’s most influential Pagans, occultists, and deep thinkers. I am your bewitching, bald headed, host Chris Orapello and tonight Tara and I meet with beloved author and witch Judika Illes to speak about The Weiser Book of the Fantastic and Forgotten: Tales of the Supernatural, Strange, and Bizarre, her Big Book of Practical Spells, as well as folklore, dealing with strangers, and the value of a good story. Our conversation with Judika started back when we were having technical difficulties so the first part of our discussion cuts off at a weird point and for that we apologize. Because of this we rescheduled with her, fixed our technical issues, and tried to continue the discussion where we left off. All in all it was a great time despite the difficulties and we hope that you enjoy it. Ju

Hello and thank you once again for joining us down at the crossroads for some music, magick, and Paganism. Where witches gather for the sabbath, offerings are made, pacts are signed for musical fame and we cross paths with today’s most influential Pagans, occultists, and deep thinkers. I am your bewitching, bald headed, host Chris Orapello and tonight Tara and I meet with witch, glamour magick muse, shop owner, blogger, and author Deborah Castellano to talk about her path as a witch, fancy dancing, glamour magick, working with life partners, and more. Tara and I had a great discussion with Deb, all while testing a new recording setup for the show and seemingly discussing everything under the sun and moon. Deborah will be having her first book published through Llewellyn in August of 2017, Glamour Magic: The Witchcraft Revolution to Get What You Want (available for pre-order from Amazon) and we thought now would be a great opportunity to sit down and chat with her for a spell. We hope you enjoy it. Writer. Cr

Hello and thank you once again for joining us down at the crossroads for some music, magick, and Paganism. Where witches gather for the sabbath, offerings are made, pacts are signed for musical fame and we cross paths with today’s most influential Pagans, occultists, and deep thinkers. I am your bewitching, bald headed, host Chris Orapello and tonight Tara and I meet with with folk magick practitioner and YouTuber Shadowbwoy from the YouTube channel MrShadowbwoy to discuss his path, his thoughts on witchcraft and his experiences as a witch and a YouTube personality. We have a fun conversation with him and were much appreciative that he was happy to come on the show as Tara and I have enjoyed his channel for some time. George, as he is also know as, has certainly helped to inspire many practitioners into finding and forging their own way down the crooked path. I am a practicing witch and have been practicing and raised in witchcraft and the occult since i could walk. This is a channel for Witches and warlocks

Hello and thank you once again for joining me down at the crossroads for some music, magick, and Paganism. Where witches gather for the sabbath, offerings are made, pacts are signed for musical fame and we cross paths with today’s most influential Pagans, occultists, and deep thinkers. I am your bewitching, bald headed, host Chris Orapello and tonight Tara and I meet with CUUPS officer, Druid, and Patheos blogger John Beckett to discuss his work and experiences with the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPS) as well as a recent blog post he wrote titled "The Otherworld is Bleeding Through" which touched upon real life otherworld experiences and dealing with them as people of the 21st century. I grew up in Tennessee with the woods right outside my back door. Wandering through them gave me a sense of connection to Nature and to a certain Forest God. I’m a Druid graduate of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, the Coordinating Officer of the Denton Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans and a fo

Hello and thank you once again for joining me down at the crossroads for some music, magick, and Paganism. Where witches gather for the sabbath, offerings are made, pacts are signed for musical fame and we cross paths with today’s most influential Pagans, occultists, and deep thinkers. I am your bewitching, bald headed, host Chris Orapello and tonight Tara and I meet with the Modern Fortune Teller herself, Fiona Benjamin to discuss her background as a magickal practitioner and a professional Tarot reader. During the discussion we learn about some of Fiona's history as well as talk about Shenism and the African Tribal Religion known as Quimbanda which Fiona is an initiate of. To close we talk about her business website ModernFortuneTeller.com and some of the issues with running an online occult business and how to be a good online customer. Featured Songs: "Maker of my Sorrow" by Eliza Rickman "Devil's Nettle" by Horse Cult "The Call of the Mountains" by Eluveitie "On My Way to Somewhere" by Eivør "We are Sh

Hello and thank you once again for joining me down at the crossroads for some music, magick, and Paganism. Where witches gather for the sabbath, offerings are made, pacts are signed for musical fame and we cross paths with today’s most influential Pagans, occultists, and deep thinkers. I am your bewitching, bald headed, host Chris Orapello and tonight Tara joins us as we sit back down with the Appalachian Hillfolks Hoodoer herself Byron Ballard where we seemingly discuss everything under the Sun and Moon except her recent book Asfidity and Madstones, a further ramble through hillfolks hoodoo. The rabbit trails are strong with this one, but the conversation we have is not to be missed. Tara and I catch up with Byron as we also discuss her book, social media, and some of the current issues in the Pagan community. Featured Songs: "Down to Sea” by Elephant Revival “Witch's Cross” by Woodland “Porcelain Princess” by Sharon Knight “Baba Yaga” by The Nathaniel Johnstone Band “Dream of Mississippi” by S.J. Tucker “

Hello and thank you once again for joining me down at the crossroads for some music, magick, and Paganism. Where witches gather for the sabbath, offerings are made, pacts are signed for musical fame and we cross paths with today’s most influential Pagans, occultists, and deep thinkers. I am your bewitching, bald headed, host Chris Orapello and tonight we meet Juniper Jeni to discuss her experiences as a witch, Hedge Witchery, and The Witches' Sabbat, a yearly event that takes place in Ontario just outside of Ottawa which she teaches at and even helps to organize. For those long time listeners of this podcast, Juniper was the co-host of the former Pagan podcast Standing Stone and Garden Gate and she has been on her path as a witch for twenty years. During our discussion Juniper offers up her insights and thoughts in regards to witchcraft and being witch as well her approach to Hedge Witchery and what it is, and to close we learn what's in store this year for the Witches' Sabbat. The purpose of the Sabbat is t

Hello and thank you once again for joining me down at the crossroads for some music, magick, and Paganism. Where witches gather for the sabbath, offerings are made, pacts are signed for musical fame and we cross paths with today’s most influential Pagans, occultists, and deep thinkers. I am your bewitching, bald headed, host Chris Orapello and tonight we meet with Sharon Knight to discuss the recent release of her new album Portals featuring the long anticipated recording of her beloved song Porcelain Princess - now music video- as well as other great songs featuring several artists from the Pagan music scene. When we last met with Sharon she was crowd funding for this very album so it's nice to speak with her, now that her goal has been fully achieved. Sharon and I not only discuss her new album, but we also touch upon her other interests as well as her involvements for the next several months. This is a fun, casual, death and life, discussion packed with insight, laughs, and bunch of links for you to check

Hello and thank you once again for joining me down at the crossroads for some music, magick, and Paganism. Where witches gather for the sabbath, offerings are made, pacts are signed for musical fame and we cross paths with today’s most influential Pagans, occultists, and deep thinkers. I am your bewitching, bald headed, host Chris Orapello and tonight we meet with beloved author, witch, and artist Gemma Gary. Gemma and I have a great discussion which explores witchcraft, her experiences as a witch, her book The Devil's Dozen: Thirteen Craft rites for the Old One, and the issue of the devil in Modern Traditional Witchcraft. This a very interesting discussion which challenges some of the modern conceptions of witchcraft and how it may be practiced by some people in today's world. The operations of magic and witchcraft deal with the hidden worlds of spirit and the powers innate within the natural world; within plant, stone and magical loci. The ‘Old One’, who in folk tradition is often named ‘The Devil’ embodie