Pauline Campanelli - Ancient Ways: Reclaiming Pagan Traditions

About the Author

Pauline Campanelli was an author, artist, and beloved member of the Pagan community. Her popular paintings are still enjoyed around the world, with her prints having sold hundreds of thousands copies over the years. In 1976, Pauline and her husband, Dan, restored a historic stone home in western New Jersey that they named Flying Witch Farm, where they lived an old-world lifestyle based on natural magick until Paulines passing in 2001.

Dan Campanelli has been a practicing wiccan since 1968. Because of his deep religious beliefs, magic is a part of daily life in his eighteenth-century home in western New Jersey. He has contributed articles on Pagan symbolism and traditions to Circle Network News and to past editions of many of Llewellyns almanacs and annuals. Other paranormal experiences shared by Dan have been included in Alan Vaughns Incredible Coincidence and are on file at the University of Virginia.

Dan is also a professional fine artist and works in watercolors . He has been listed in numerous reference books, including Whos Who in American Art and The International Dictionary of Biographies . His home and artwork has been featured in Colonial Homes and Country Living , and New Jersey Network produced a television program on his artwork and lifestyle for PBS in 1985. His paintings have been published as fine art prints that are available throughout the United States and Europe.

ANCIENT WAYS

Reclaiming the Pagan Tradition

by Pauline Campanelli illustrated by Dan Campanelli

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

Ancient Ways: Reclaiming the Pagan Tradition 1991 and 2014 by Pauline Campanelli and Dan Campanelli. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, includi

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

As the purchaser of this e-book, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. The text may not be otherwise reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, or recorded on any other storage device in any form or by any means.

Any unauthorized usage of the text without express written permission of the publisher is a violation of the authors copyright and is illegal and punishable by law.

First e-book edition 2014

E-book ISBN: 9780738745398

Cover, photos, and interior illustrations Dan Campanelli

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific reference will continue or be maintained. Please refer to the publishers website for links to current author websites.

Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

Dedicated to

The Old Gods

Contents

List of

List of

List of

: IMBOLC

: VERNAL EQUINOX

: BELTANE

: MIDSUMMER

: LAMMAS

: AUTUMNAL EQUINOX

: SAMHAIN

: YULE

Illustrations

1. A Corn Dolly

2. Dressing the Corn Dolly

3. A Corn Husk Doll

4. A Butter Churn

5. Magickal Potions

6. A Pysanky Egg Charm

7. Making Hot-Cross Buns

8. A Bird-headed Goddess

9. An Ancient House Blessing

10. Pysanky Ritual Tools

11. Eostre Basket Cookie

12. Wild Bird Eggs

13. The May Queens Crown

14. Crowning the May Queen and King

15. A Faery Ring of Mushrooms

16. A Troll Bridge

17. The May Kings Laurel Crown

18. A Charm of Rowan and Rue

19. Gathering Vervain

20. A Hex Barn

21. The Cup

22. The Witchs Ladder

23. A Corn Sun Wheel

24. Harvest Time

25. Sand Candles

26. A Bellarmine

27. A Reaping Hook

28. Squaw Corn

29. A Gourd Rattle

30. Rock Art

31. Gourds

32. Gourd Dippers

33. Cornstalks

34. The Cauldron

35. Telling the Future at Samhain

36. Jack-O-Lantems

37. A Crystal Ball

38. A Feathered Mask

39. The Witchs Besom

40. A Charm of Mistletoe

41. Lighting the Yule Log

42. Folded Paper Cranes

43. Fossils as Amulets

44. Early Tree Ornaments

Photographs

1. Flying Witch Weathervane

2. Brides Bed

3. Magickal Stones

4. Antique Valentines

5. Dionysus

6. Hot Cross Buns

7. An Ancient Oak

8. A Witch Broom Tree

9. Wishes on a Hawthorn Tree

10. The Beltane Altar

11. The Beltane Fire

12. The King Stone

13. Sprig of Rue Amulets

14. Herbs Drying

15. Pow Wow Doctors Cabin

16. The Sword

17. A Sun Wheel

18. A Lammas Necklace

19. The Lammas Altar

20. Corn Bread Sticks

21. Herb Closet

22. Petroglyphs

23. The Altar at the Autumn Equinox

24. Antique Halloween Party

25. Using a Pendulum

26. The Witch Sampler

27. A Besom and Cauldron

28. A Rune Stone

29. A Holey Stone

30. A Pinecone Elf

31. The Altar at Yule

Tables and Diagrams

1. The Sabbats and their Opposites

2. To Make a Simple Pouch

3. Some Traditional Corn Dollies

4. Elements, Directions, Seasons, Times of Day

5. Some Traditional Ukranian Egg Designs

6. Natural Dyes and Runes

7. Kinds of Faeries

8. Sabbats & Roman Holidays

9. Numerology Chart

10. Hex Signs

11. Six-sided Rosette

12. Six-sided Figures

13. Making the Corn Mother

14. Magick of Deciduous Trees

15. Animal Omens

16. Making a Yule Log

Introduction

The wheel of the year has turned four times since I wrote a book by that title, and for Dan and me, the quest for the old ways continued.

As Pagans we believe that:

All of nature is a manifestation of divinity or the creative forces, and that everything in nature has a spirit.

These divine creative forces can be perceived as a pantheon of gods and goddesses.

As everything in nature has its complement, so must it be with the g ods, a polarity of male and female, spirit and matter, g od and goddess.

As nature proceeds in the cycles of the season, so must we be born to die and be born again.

And that by actively participating in these natural cycles through ritual, we can attune ourselves to the creative forces that flow through us, to live happy, creative, and productive lives for our own benefit and that of the planet.

The simplest way to do this is to celebrate the seasons of the year according to the ancient Pagan traditions of our ancestors, and we have all of the traditions of all of the nations of the old w orld to examine for Pagan origins. Some of the places these traditions have been found are in the seasonal celebrations of the new religion, in legends and faery tales, and in the objects and ornaments used to celebrate the seasons.

This book is arranged according to the Great Sabbats, and it tells of ways of preparing for, enhancing, and celebrating the Sabbats of the old religion. The magical charms, spells, and rituals given here are drawn from ancient sources, but are easily applied to contemporary practices. Many of the activities are planned to use to fullest advantage the currents of magical energy that ebb and flow prior to and following each Great Sabbat.