The Blackthorn Grove

LTZ: Artist, Author, Witch.

An artist, author, and fusion bellydance performer, Rhode Island-based Renaissance Witch Laura Tempest Zakroff is a simmering cauldron of talents and projects. They stopped by. TBG to talk about their work, Templefest shenanigans, book recs and more!

https://lauratempestzakroff.com/

Stuff discussed in this episode includes:

Adobe Fresco app

Blackfeather Mystery School: The Magpie Training by Irene Glasse & Caine Dreamwalker

A Witch's Ally: Building a Magical Relationship with Animal Familiars & Companions by Dodie Graham McKay and Kelden

Animal-Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small by Ted Andrews

Wise Child by Monica Furlong

Over Labor Day weekend (US) I was the keynote speaker for Templefest, put on by the amazing members of the Temple of Witchcraft. The lovely CD offered to record the speech and it is offered here for your listening enjoyment. I 100% endorse anyone attending Templefest and hope you find it as loving and inclusive as I did.

Blackthorn's Book of Sacred Plant Magic is available now, wherever fine books are sold.

Beck Lawrence (they/them) lunar witch, and polytheist, is battling an unjust law in the state of Pennsylvania, making it illegal to read tarot or engage in 'fortune telling' activities. This is their story.

Please feel free to sign the petition to overturn this archaic law.

https://www.change.org/p/challenge-the-constitutionality-of-pennsylvania-title-18-section-7104

Davezilla became in 2001 the first blogger to be sued by a billion-dollar company (he won). Because of this, there is a Davezilla Wikipedia page and Dave has the dubious distinction of being a verb in the Urban Dictionary. He is a Gardnerian witch (initiated 1979), Discordian (hot dogs on Fridays), Ngangalero (initiated 1993), Santero (initiated 2006), and full-time illustrator. He prefers to paint occult, cryptid, alien, and other fringe topics. He has over forty years in occult/new age religions and thirty years of illustration experience. 

https://davezilla.com

Sabrina is a teacher, diviner, writer, and coach. Over the last 40 years, she's developed her own system of reading and teaching tarot using round tarot cards. She's an Elder in the Blue Star Tradition of Wicca who also practices Buddhism, and a graduate of the Gryphon’s Grove School of Shamanism.  In a former life, Sabrina was a social scientist who loved being a professor. During her academic career, she excavated Mayan ruins as an archaeologist and directed an interdisciplinary Urban Health Ph.D program as a medical anthropologist. Now she's a full-time Diviner who specializes in deep dive-readings that encourage personal transformation. Most of her clients are teachers, healers, witches, and change agents---people who are here to create a new kind of world. 

Jamie Anderson said, “Grief is just love with no place to go.”

Today we hear from three experts on grief in their chosen fields and discuss how it applies to the witchcraft community.

Lulu- @thesalemplantwitch on TT. Runs a therapeutic group for witches in berevement.

Mortellus @acrowandthedead on Insta. Author of 'Do I Have to Wear Black? Rituals, Customs and Funerary Etiquette for Modern Pagans' and 'The Bones Fall In a Spiral: a Necromantic Primer.'

Courtney Weber @courtneyaweber on Insta. One of the hosts of That Witch Life podcast; author of the forthcoming 'Sacred Tears: A Witch's Guide to Grief.' Out June 2024.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

It's OK That You're Not OK: Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture That Doesn't Understand by Megan Devine and Mark Nepo

Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them): A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying by Sallie Tisdale

The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life by Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, et al.

There Is No Good Card for This: What To Say and Do When Life Is Scary, Awful, and Unfair to People You Love by Kelsey Crowe and Emily McDowell

For children dealing with grief:

Death Is Stupid (Ordinary Terrible Things) by Anastasia Higginbotham

“A beautiful blend of folklore, botanical science, acquired wisdom, and spiritual guidance.” —from the foreword by Luisah Teish

Stephanie Rose Bird is a painter and the author of several bestselling books on earth spirituality, hoodoo, and anthropology, including Sticks, Stones, Roots and Bones; 365 Days of Hoodoo; Light, Bright and Damned Near White; and African American Magick. Bird, who holds a BFA cum laude and MFA, is a devotee of the Divinely Feminine. She is an Elder, Priestess, magick maker, and keeper of the spiritual wisdom of her indigenous African ancestors. Her work centers on the nexus of earth wisdom and the legacy of Black cultural heritage. Find her at stephanierosebird.com and follow her on Instagram @s.r.bird. 

Also mentioned in this episode, Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals

Books mentioned: Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Ritualsby Luisah Teish  | Jun 29, 2021

The Healing Tree: Botanicals, Remedies, and Rituals from African Folk Traditionsby Stephanie Rose Bird and Luisah Teish

Website: www.stephanierosebird.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/s.r.bird/

Twitter: @stephanierosebi

Blog: http://stephanierosebirdstudio.blogspot.com

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/stephanierosebirdauthor

Deborah Castellano is author of 'Glamour Magic: The Witchcraft Revolution to Get What You Want' and 'Magic for Troubled Times: Rituals, Recipes and Real Talk for Witches' along with an assortment of short erotica pieces published by Cleis Press. She is an independent maker of ritual perfumes and other fineries and active in her local chosen communities. https://www.deborahcastellano.com/

Sponsored by Blackthorn's Botanicals

The delightful Thumper Forge @fivefoldlaw has stopped by to to talk about divination, and their lithomancy/geomancy practice and other fun things along the way!