Words of Light and Midnight: Poems from a Pagan Priest

This is a collected work of poetry. You can read it with no previous conceptions or similar experiences to the author’s, just as people have read poetry for thousands of years. At least it is my hope that the mystery, imagery, color, and magic of these pieces can stand on their own in the way that poetry sometimes does, and that the best of poetry always does. If you want to read this book as a window into a different culture or point of view, you can do that, too. I am a Wiccan Priest and Elder, and these works were written from that point of view, many of them to meet the specific needs of my church, congregation, and community. A lot of these pieces were written in rhyme or rhythm in part due to the traditional use of these elements in Wiccan liturgy and ceremonial work. If you are Pagan or Wiccan, many of the pieces here will be familiar in form. I have included some specific suggestions on how some of these types of poems can be used by the individual or a group in religious practice. I have also arranged them in a rough sort of order as to how they are experienced both in religious practice and then in personal experience. I have lit the Candle, I have rung the Bell. It is up to you to open the Book.