Many years ago, I was introduced to the idea of selecting a single word for each calendar year to act as an intention, touchstone, and big-picture goal. The beauty of a single word intention is that the simplicity means multiple ways of connecting are possible. For example, one of my words over the years was…
Tag: pagan
This short sermon was offered for the December 13th, 2020, streaming service at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick. Full text below. I sometimes joke that paganism is an unusually intense form of environmentalism. One of the common threads that comes up when talking to other pagans is that we were pretty feral as children. …
Right now, the sun is setting before 5 PM here in the mid-Atlantic and the days are only getting shorter. A season normally marked with family gatherings, festive events, circles, services, and bustling shopping malls looks a little different this year. Yuletide 2020 is shaping up to be a quieter, smaller, and more solitary affair….
In the world of Tarot, there are a handful of cards that punch incredibly hard. The Major Arcana, the section of a Tarot deck that holds cards for the larger themes in life, includes a card that is the divinatory equivalent of ‘Rocks fall, everyone dies.’ That card is the Tower. The polite interpretation of…
The Wheel of the Year has turned once more. Samhain is past and the days grow shorter and darker till Yuletide reaches us. This is the season of shadow and quiet, of the inward spiral. I think of the time from mid-October till Yule as Veil Season. Although many people focus their Ancestral work specifically…
This short sermon was offered for the October 25th, 2020, streaming service at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick. Full text below. This is one of my favorite parts of the year. I think I am a constant disappointment to my friends who love beaches and summer. It’s just not my thing. Give me gray,…
*October 31st marks one of the High Holidays in the widely-used Pagan Wheel of the Year – Samhain. Out of all our holidays, I’d say this one gets the most press. Our celebration of the end of the growing season coincides with all that is spooky in the larger culture. This time of endings in…
I don’t mean to go all Ned Stark on everyone, but…well… In years without a pandemic, we would be preparing for the last of the harvest celebrations and planning the journey of the inward spiral: the time of turning within for healing, nurturing, and personal growth. This year, of course, is different. Many of my…
I am currently developing some video offerings. These classes are donation based and are free to all my Patreon supporters. Here’s the first class! Building a Sustainable Daily Spiritual Practice Balancing the needs of our schedules against our desire for greater spiritual connection can be challenging. Sometimes even finding 5 minutes to ourselves seems impossible….
For the last five years, September has had one specific focus for me – the Pagan Pride Day festival. Like many CUUPS chapters, my own chapter hosts an annual Pagan Pride Day in Frederick, MD. I have had the honor being the lead organizer since our inception. We have been fortunate – our festival has…