Editorial team

Editor-in-chief Aurora Sothis Deputy Editors Viviane Hinds, Andrew Smith Production & Design David Spofforth, Joana Águas Editorial Assistant Lauren Edwards Administrative Assistants Rachel Matthews, Em Chuter Artist Katy Harrald Publications Officer Rich Blackett Cover Katie Paige

PAGAN FEDER ATION: KEY CONTACTS

n To report cases of discrimination: advocacy@paganfederation.co.uk n To contact the PF Youth Officer: vicepresident@paganfederation.co.uk n Interfaith queries: vicepresident@paganfederation.co.uk n Pagan Federation LGBT Officer: lgbt@paganfederation.co.uk n For all enquiries related to the PF prison chaplains and ministry: prisons@paganfederation.co.uk n PF President: president@paganfederation.co.uk n All enquiries from the media: media@paganfederation.co.uk (England & Wales), scottishpfmedialine@gmail.com (Scotland) n PF membership: members@paganfederation.co.uk n For grievances about the conduct of the Pagan Federation itself: complaints@paganfederation.co.uk n To order Pagan Federation merchandise and products: products@paganfederation.co.uk n Pagan Dawn submissions and letters to the editor: pagandawn@paganfederation.co.uk n Green Pages queries: greenpages@paganfederation.co.uk n For enquiries about Pagan Dawn advertising and distribution, and other PF publications: publications@paganfederation.co.uk n For enquiries related to the Pagan Federation websites: webmaster@paganfederation.co.uk n All other matters and general enquiries contact: info@paganfederation.co.uk n Pagan Federation Scotland: scottishpf.org/contact.html n For info on Pagan Federation International (outside UK): paganfederation.org

Editor's Letter

My Dear Readers, As you can imagine, all Editors in this world must move a little bit ahead of time, because we have to prepare the magazine and all the articles featured inside in advance. This way it can reach you at the right place, at the right time, and you can enjoy it fully, exactly when you are supposed to. We do this because we try, as much as we can, to publish articles and recipes that can be helpful and used during their proper time period, making Pagan Dawn not only interesting, but applicable as well. This means that we have to imagine how it is going to look and what is going to be of interest to you in a particular season months in advance. We live in the future when it comes to our work, always trying to foresee things, always thinking about not this celebration, but the next one and sometimes the one after that. And in the same line of thought our editorial letters (we struggle with a lot of deadlines) have to follow and be written well before the issue is out. A modern path of Shamanism, being an Editor is working with time and moving forwards and backwards depending on what is needed. We Editors are in the next season before this one even started.

Having said that, I am sitting here on a cold winter’s day, drinking hot white chocolate, dreaming of a beautiful spring, trying to worship the next season before I even got to enjoy this one. The contemporary dreamers, we Editors, always hope and wish all is going to be well. We cast our spell with words and intentions, so things can happen, transferring our consciousness into the future so we can write about what will become the past in the present. Does that make sense? Time is not linear, and it has never been, it will never be at any point. The easiest way to realise this is in spellcasting, when something you do now has not only an effect in the future but, if powerful enough, it can also move the past.

But should we even bother with the past? Here, I would like to cite Austin Osman Spare: “And remember, you shall suffer all things and again suffer: until you have sufficient sufferance to accept all things.” With a pinch of Buddha: “The root of suffering is attachment.” I have chosen to write about this as I think it is the most important thing I have learned in the past year. Without accepting this one can never live freely in the future, as the past will always weigh too much, isn’t it so? Because the past is nothing but attachment. Most of the time, it is an imaginary one, decorated with our wishes and desires, with things that never existed and shall never exist. And we, as Editors, shall investigate the future to do a good job to brighten past and present.

Everything I can wish for right now (except for some rest as I guess that all of us feel tired before the winter holidays) is that Pagan Dawn will be even more successful in 2019. I have learned a lot since I became an Editor, my practice has changed dramatically during this period, and I saw how much effort one must put into creation when it comes to making a magazine and communicating with people and authors. So, I pray to Mercury to be by my side, as we, Editors, are nothing but time travellers and thieves, visiting the future, stealing knowledge that we offer to you, our most precious readers.

Happy Imbolc in the future, my dears, from a past beautiful winter!

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