Three Years of Pagan Song

Wow, this blog has now been alive and growing for 3 years! It’s time to celebrate our birthday with our annual year-in-review post. (My reflection on year one is here and year two is here.) We started Pagan Song in February of 2019. We’ve now published a total of 188 posts by 21 authors. That’s a gracious plenty of information about pagan music and how to incorporate it into your magical practice. What a rich experience this has been. And there’s more to come!

What was new in Year Three?

Our third year ran from February of 2021 through to February, 2022. It was definitely a transformational year for Pagan Song.

the pagan music scene, writing about the pagan music scene

Popular pagan musicians become Pagan Song authors

The big news in Year Three was the expansion of our writer base. During our first two years, all the articles on our blog were written by my band, the Crow Women. Then, in March of 2022, Rick Hamouris became our first invited blogger with his post about his classic chant We Are a Circle. All told, 8 new voices joined the Pagan Song musical medley during Year three.

Jenna Greene was the next pagan musician to join us. She wrote a pair of articles on music for mermaid magic. Then Louis Garou, creator of Dark Americana music,came onboard. He wrote two articles about his songwriting process, illustrating with his own songs, such as Lilith and Daughter of Lilith. Powerful stuff!

Kellianna joined the team in June, with a pair of articles on her Warrior Queen song and book series. She also wrote a useful piece on creating rituals that are entirely sung, with step-by-step instructions. Then Mama Gina added her voice to the mix. Her first post shares the story behind her song Sisters Waiting and how to use it in a funeral rite. Her second post was about the creation of the song New Religion. Just last week, her third article appeared. It’s a toolbox of tips for performing pagan music, something she excels at.

Sharon Knight sailed in July 15th with a post on magic and music of the sea. Then, at fall equinox, Wendy Rule shared the story of her Persephone project. Another writer to join us last fall was Ariana Lightningstorm of the band KIVA, who wrote about the mystical birth of the song Jnana Mai.

Finally, the delicious Celia Farran brought you a blog post with the inside scoop on her signature method: looping. As the editor of Pagan Song, it has been my delight to work with all of these creative folk, and to get to know them and their work better. I’m so grateful that this dream has become a reality. Magical!

The Crow Women, still writing up a storm

Pagan Song began as a Crow Women band site. The Crows still supply many of our blog posts–over half of the articles in the past year were by members of Crow Women pagan choir. Some highlights:

Alane finished her 8-article series on group dynamics across the lifespan of a coven
Carole was the Sabbat queen–one praticularly fun article reminisced about a snowy Beltane
Deb‘s articles included a very touching one about her Crone journey
Laura‘s article on the Horned God honored the Divine Masculine through song
Marilyn is a fire dancer, and her article about music and magic for fire spinning was fascinating.
Melanie shared useful tips on communication for pagan sexuality
Molly completed a 4-post series on self-care through the seasons
Tara‘s article on fairy magic, like many of her articles, reminds us that being a witch is fun!

Click on a name to find the rest of the articles eachcrow wrote last year. Yes, the Crow Women are a band, a coven, and are also kick-ass writers!

Our Crowfriend Jon Deer continued to provide astrological predictions at each Sabbat of the year, with a song offered as a soundtrack. Be sure to check in as the year turns to read Jon’s advice for your Zodiac sign.

Looking Ahead to Year Four

Pagan Song’s upcoming year is shaping up to be even better that the last.

Many voices, many perspectives on pagan music

All eight of the writers who became part of Pagan Song last year will be back during the coming year with more stories of their songs, advice about pagan musicianship, and ideas for using their music in your magical practice. Each writer’s articles are collected on their bio page, so if you’re interested in a particular musician’s work, you can find it gathered conveniently in one place.

I’ve been busy reaching out to pagan musicians and several new voices will be writing blog posts for Pagan Song. Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss articles by our newest writers:

Adrienne Piggot, of the Australian band Spiral Dance, writing about Goddess of the Southern Land
Alexander James Adams, who will take you an a journey through warlock magic
George Nicholas (Cernunnon Rising) will share stories of seasonal music he’s written
The band Spiral Rhythm, with news about the album they’re recording now
Phil Kessler, from Murphy’s Magic Mess, will reflect on the pagan music scene, from his perspective as a DJ

Busy, busy Crow Women

The Crow Women are back in the recording studio, working on our 4th album. The working title is Pantheon, and it will feature songs about gods, goddesses and other sacred beings. The pandemic has slowed down the process, but we’re moving forward steadily. Later this year I’ll post descriptions of the tracks, and invite our readers to sponsor a song. Wouldn’t you like to be the patron of the song Oh, Goddess, Bring me a Pagan Man? Or maybe Hail, Hekate or Gods and Lovers or Song of Bast?

In the coming year, almost half the articles on the Pagan Song blog will still be by the Crows. Stay tuned for more of our advice for living a magical life with music.

Website upgrade

As Pagan Song continues to pivot from a website by and about the Crow Women, and becomes a site about the pagan music scene more generally, the website is being updated to reflect the shifting focus. I hope to work with a professional web designer and make Pagan Song spiffier looking and easier to navigate.

Another goal it to improve Pagan Song’s connection with paganism across the web. This site is an awesome resource. We want more people to find it and make use of it.

Pagan Song is here for you

We create the Pagan Song blog for you, our readers. We hope to be your favorite resource for information and inspiration about pagan music. Please use the comments to let us know how we can better serve you. What topics would you like to read about? Who else do you think we should invite to write for the blog?

If you have suggestions for improving the website or its reach, please share your ideas. Constructive feedback is very much appreciated. Compliments are always nice as well. If you appreciate this website, let us know that, too!

It is truly a labor of love to offer the Pagan Song blog. We love listening to pagan music. We love creating pagan music. We love writing about pagan music. This website isn’t a money maker, but it pays richly in a sense of fulfillment. It’s been an adventure, and the future looks bright.

Here’s to Year Four!

lead photo of 3 sparklers by Tim Zänkert on Unsplash

For more information about the Crow Women pagan choir, and access to all the blog posts by Alane and the other 9 crowsingers who have written for Pagan Song, you can visit the Crow Women author page here on Pagan Song.

Please subscribe to the Pagan Song blog, to receive our blog post each week. Don’t miss any of the musical magic!