Jörmungandr: What the Norse Sources Say About the Midgard Serpent
Jörmungandr, the Midgard Serpent, is the monster that holds the Norse world together by lying around it — and the one Thor is fated to kill and die...
Protection Spell: How to Cast One, and What It Can Honestly Do
A protection spell draws a boundary around yourself, your home or someone you love. How to cast one tonight with salt, a candle and an iron nail, what...
Archangel Ariel: Meaning, Signs and Nature Prayer
Archangel Ariel is the angel figure called on today as the guardian of nature, animals and the earth. The name means "lion of God." Here you can read...
505 Angel Number and 5:05 Meaning: Change at Dawn
5:05 is the mirror hour of change at the edge of the day: two fives, the number of change, with an open zero between them. Here you can...
Itchy Nose Meaning: Superstitions, Left and Right
If your nose itches, you are about to get company, hear news, get into an argument, or be kissed. Hardly any body omen has as many meanings as...
Pet Loss Ritual: How to Say Goodbye to Your Pet
Losing an animal often leaves you standing between two worlds. In one, the loss feels like losing a member of the family. In the other, people ask after...
Seraphinite Meaning: Origin, Care and How to Spot It
Few stones look so much like their name. Silvery feathers on deep green, as if someone had laid wings into the rock. Here is where seraphinite comes from,...
Pietersite Meaning: The Storm Stone and How to Spot It
Some stones look like weather seen from above. Pietersite is one of them: blue-gray streaks, golden bands of fiber, and between them broken edges that look as if...
Greek Magical Papyri (PGM): What They Actually Contain
This article explains, as a matter of sources, what the Greek Magical Papyri (Papyri Graecae Magicae, or PGM) are, how they survived, and what the texts actually contain....
Bronzite Meaning: The Stone With a Bronze Sheen
Bronzite is a stone most people walk right past at a gem show, because in the bowl it looks like a pebble from the yard: brown, dull, a...
Spinel: The August Birthstone That Was Called Ruby
The "ruby" in the front of the British Imperial State Crown is not a ruby. The 170-carat stone that has come down through history as the Black Prince's...
Zircon vs. Cubic Zirconia: How to Tell Them Apart
Two stones, almost the same name, and nearly everyone mixes them up. Zircon is a natural mineral older than anything else you will ever hold: the oldest known...