Last month I published one of my old “Letters from the Publisher” from back when The Magical Buffet was a monthly e-zine because the letters didn’t migrate over to the new blog format. As I said then, most of my letters aren’t worth republishing. However there were a few that shared some of my more personal thoughts that I wanted new readers to have access to. With that said, here is my “Letter from the Publisher” from August 2007.

For those of you who are new to The Magical Buffet, you may not be aware that in October 2006, when we launched The Magical Buffet, it was actually a monthly e-zine. Once a month our subscribers would have all the content emailed to them. Since it was trying to follow a magazine-like format, I decided there should be a letter from the publisher, like most magazines have.

When we relaunched The Magical Buffet into it’s new blog format, all of the old e-zine articles migrated over. This means even if you’re new, with a little time you could read all the content you may have missed from the “old days”. However my opening letters to my readers did not make it over to the new blog. I didn’t worry about it because they’re “just letters”, they’re not “real writing”. But as time passed I started to wonder, was something missing by them not being here on the blog?

So recently I started to read them again. In truth, as a new reader you’re probably not missing out on too much. The letters were generally just filled with gratitude. Thank you letters of the most earnest kind, published in response to the surprising outpouring of support and faith that I received, and continue to receive today. I’ve always prided myself on loyalty, and it made me happy to see that many of the people who I thanked in those letters are people and organizations that I still interact with today. It felt good to think that maybe I’ve done all right after all.

That said, there were a few letters that stood out. These were letters that I found offered up a piece of who I am and what I believe to my readers. Things that I thought I would like anyone who reads The Magical Buffet at any point to know about me, the person behind the keyboard.

This is one of those letters……

Who is Santa Muerte? Only one way to find out, click on in.

Yes, I realize this is old news. In the land of Facebook and Twitter, in a universe with awesome websites like The Wild Hunt, I am, and probably forever will be a day late and a dollar short. However, since the December 2009 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life’s latest offering “Many Americans Mix Multiple Faiths” confirms the founding ideals of The Magical Buffet I feel obliged to offer up my two cents. (Man, there are a lot of money references in this paragraph. Must be the recession.)

I hate to write about what essentially is a non-news story, but I was just so delighted when I read the December 4, 2009 Daily Echo article “Horses’ tails chopped off in Kings Somborne” I had to share.

It’s not that I never think of Russia, except that honestly I don’t really think about Russia. Nothing against the country, just for some reason, they never really cross my mind. That’s why I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to review “Russian Magic: Living Folk Traditions of an Enchanted Landscape” by Cherry Gilchrist. I was hoping that I would come away with a refreshing understanding of a country that I had obviously overlooked. I was right.

Veils. Has there ever been such a complex piece of cloth? Essentially a veil is just a piece of fabric that traditionally covers the hair and/or face, and yet it means many things to many people. For some a veil conjures up the image of sensual belly dance, for others an emblem of paying proper respect to their religious faith. Not everyone has taken the time to think about veils and their symbolism, but with such a long and varied history the only thing to be certain of is that everyone can find a veil they like.

Deborah Blake, author of “The Goddess is in the Details: Wisdom for the Everyday Witch” and the forthcoming “Everyday Witch A to Z Spellbook”, shares her thoughts on the Rede.

How do I love thee “The Return of the Dead”? Let me count the ways.

Thuri Calafia, author of “DEDICANT: A Witch’s Circle of Fire”, shares her thoughts on the Rede.