Remember the "I Believe" license plate theme that Florida lawmakers were thinking about adding as a custom option? Well, it's been rejected by legislators. However, never fear -- if you want a religious license plate you might be able to get one soon in South Carolina instead!

South Carolina senator Yancey McGill thinks a religious plate is a great idea, although he's decided Wicca isn't really a religion, and he's apparently not sure about them thar Buddhists either. Meanwhile, Floyd Abrams, a well-known freedom of speech attorney says of the bill, "It raises significant constitutional issues... a serious constitutional argument can be made that the issuance by the state of license places with a religious affirmation on them violates the First Amendment."

It's May, and that means that the Flower Moon will appear next week. This is a time of fertility and new growth, and May is a fiery month indeed -- full of lust and passion! In addition to the obvious sexual connections, this is a good time to focus on new beginnings in your career and finances.

This month's correspondences include fiery colors like red, orange, and yellow, and gemstones such as the amber and ruby. Prickly trees like the hawthorn and rowan come into play, and lusty deities take center stage, with Priapus, Flora, and Kali being honored this month. For magical workings, try a fire divination under the full moon, or do rituals related to jobs and prosperity. Take the seeds you planted in April, and watch them bloom this month, under the Flower Moon!

While May itself is passionate and fiery, the season of Spring is often a wet one. Use the element of water to connect in this Spring Full Moon rite, and celebrate the way our bodies connect to the moon and its phases.

As if we don't have enough people throwing their hats into the presidential ring, now Bob Barr wants to join in the fun. If his name rings a bit of a bell with you, it's no surprise. Back in 1998, Bob (then a congressman from Georgia) wrote a pres release attacking the freedom of religion at Fort Hood's Open Circle and other military bases. He stated that he was concerned that the United States military was supporting a religion that he didn't feel should be allowed within the armed forces.

Later, Barr got his paws on a defense authorization bill and tried to include an amendment within it that would prohibit the practice of Wicca at Defense Department facilities. While the amendment was rejected because it had nothing to do with the original bill, Barr promised, at the time, to try again.

Now he's joined up with the Libertarian Party, and hopes that "voters will be drawn to his plans to slash government spending, withdraw from Iraq and halt immigration." Yeah, maybe that'll do it. I'm sure lots of people are willing to overlook religious freedom in exchange for a few budget cuts.

Reader Smokeybones writes: Help! My nine-year-old son spent the night at a friend's and apparently the friend said a prayer before bedtime. Now my son wants to pray before he goes to bed, but I don't have any idea what he can say. Is it okay for him to do this even though our family isn't really big on praying? Any suggestions?

First of all, congratulations - your child has reached the age where he's about to figure out that other families are different than yours. And as much as they like to be individuals, kids also want to do what other kids are doing, and that's okay. If praying before bed is something that makes your child feel good, then by all means, go ahead and let him. Some Pagan and Wiccan kids like to pray to the family's god or goddess, but others prefer a less specific sort of thing (my daughter recites a litany of saying goodnight to her blankets, our pets, and the moon). At this age, it's mostly the activity of praying that is important to them. Here are a few you may want to try, and if your family has a specific god or goddess you honor, feel free to substitute their names and attributes where appropriate: Pagan Bedtime Prayers for Children.

Blog reader TJ is looking for a Pagan tattoo artist in the Orlando/Kissimmee area. She says, "I have designed a triquetra/heart design and I want it created with intent: Protection, Balance, Divine Feminine Energy." She has checked with a well-known local tattoo shop and they don't have any Pagan artists on staff. So, Florida blog readers, if you live in that area and know of any Pagan or Wiccan tattoo folks, please post some info in the Comments section!

In a fairly scary phenomenon, honeybees have been dying in record numbers. Colony Collapse Disorder has caused nearly a fourth of the North American bee population to die, and scientists have figured out that it's a combination of many things that has brought this about. Why should we worry? Well, because bee pollination is a significant factor in much of the world's food production. Now that the planting season is here, you can help out by putting "bee friendly" plants in your garden, which will help boost the population of native honeybees in your area. Herbs such as clover, lavender, jasmine, rosemary, and thyme, along with flowers like violets, sunflowers, and coneflowers, all help with bee pollination and lead to increased population. For more information, you can go to Help the Honeybees, sponsored by Haagen-Dasz, or the Burt's Bees website.

I know we have a couple of bee people who read this blog -- please chime in on this if you can!

Another interesting tidbit of news from the UK Independent: apparently, tourists who have been illegally sneaking bits of Uluru rock out of Australia are being plagued with bad luck, and are mailing them back in an effort to escape the negative juju. Uluru, formerly called Ayers Rock, is one of Australia's most well-known Aboriginal sites and is visited by nearly half a million tourists each year. Despite the fact that it's Aboriginal sacred land, there are no restrictions in place to keep people from trompling all over it. Taking rocks out of the country is against the law, but that hasn't stopped visitors from taking bits of Uluru home with them.

However, now people are sending back rocks on a daily basis with letters of apology, and about a quarter of them state that they've had runs of bad luck since they took the rocks home. A tourist from Britain sent back his rock, with a note saying, "Things were good in my life before I took some of Ayers Rock home with me, but since then my wife has had a stroke and things have worked out terribly for my children – we have had nothing but bad luck."

Morris dancing, that centruies-old tradition of English country life, is seeing a resurgence in popularity these days. The UK Independent does a nice piece on how Pagan groups are bringing back Morris dancing, and embracing not only the dancing but its spiritual aspect. As the Morris dancing population is aging, newer, younger groups are coming in, and many troupes (called sides) are full of Pagans; Wolfshead & Vixen is what you'd get if you had Neil Gaiman and Tim Burton design your Morris costumes, and they're amazing. One dancer says, "We quite consciously work with ideas of shamanism... it's a form of ritual theatre, a magical space embracing both dancers and audience."

Thanks to Rain for the heads-up on this one: The Four Quarters online store is offering free copies of their Wheel of the Year calendars. I haven't seen the 2008 edition yet, but previous years' offerings have always been very high quality and full of useful information -- it's more like a magazine than a typical calendar. There's a limited number available, so if you want one, order it soon!

It's probably a telling mark of my own levels of geekiness that I get really excited when I find scholarly papers available online. Last month was the 2008 International Conference of the Center for Studies on New Religions, and now a number of the presentations are available to view online here: CESNUR Papers. This year's theme was "Research into Minority Religions, New Religious Movements and 'the New Spirituality", so the papers all follow along that very wide topic. If you have time, be sure to check out Suzanne Evans' The Rise and Fall of a Public Witch Hunt and The Role of Nature, Deities and Ancestors in Constructing Religious Identity in Contemporary Druidry by Michael T. Cooper.