You would be hard pressed to find someone who would disagree with the notion that the earth is the source of all life. And if you do find such a dolt, introduce them to a farmer who will give them a nice long lecture. But leap from an empirically confirmed reality to the notion that… Continue reading Is Mother Earth Actually Alive?
I see Divinity in my own Backyard
In a previous blog post I described the biblical creation story as a fairy tale. And while I hold that as a literary genera, that the description is absolutely correct, it nevertheless fails to fully grasp the defining influence that the story has had on Western culture. Calling it a fairy tale is not an… Continue reading I see Divinity in my own Backyard
A Pagan Looks at the Biblical Creation Story
Where do you find divinity? For some folks it’s a god somewhere up there, beyond the stars as if was even possible to move beyond the stars. At one time way back when, according to the Western bible, space was nothing but a void. Or, perhaps, space itself, the space our universe occupies, did not… Continue reading A Pagan Looks at the Biblical Creation Story
Creating a Spiritually Rich Garden
It's literally been a month since my last blog entry. I really need to get it together, or as the cliché goes, get with the program. Nevertheless, it's still way to rainy to begin the work of turning my backyard weed patch into the kind of a lush garden that a Druid wannabe can take… Continue reading Creating a Spiritually Rich Garden
Planning for Springtime
Western Oregon normally has pretty moderate weather compared to other part of the country. But over the last few days we’ve had some very cold temperatures. Last night, the temperature fell below freezing. There was a light dusting of snow on the ground that quickly disappeared as the temperature warmed to above freezing and a… Continue reading Planning for Springtime
Celebrating the new moon
Celebrating the time of the new moon is like celebrating Yule/Midwinter also known as the Winter Solstice. It is a time of hope and of new beginnings, a time of restarting or starting anew, a time of rebirth. By the same token, the full-moon is like Midsummer, the sun and the moon are both at… Continue reading Celebrating the new moon
Saturnalia, The First Christmas
While Rome was pagan, Rome did not have a formal state religion that it required all its citizens to adhere to. Yes, there was the Roman pantheon with the sky-god Jupiter at its head. The official state religion was Mithraism, with Mithras being honored as the patron of loyalty to the emperor. Generally, when the… Continue reading Saturnalia, The First Christmas
Contemplative Meditation as a Spiritual Practice
Contemplative meditation is a term that I'd never heard before I came across it in John Beckett's The Path of Paganism, a book I can heartily recommend to anybody exploring any flavor of pagan practice. Contemplative meditation is a form of prayer and could simply be called contemplative prayer except that it has too many… Continue reading Contemplative Meditation as a Spiritual Practice
Where Divinity Truly Lies
One of the things that brought me to modern druidry is the realization that divinity resides within me (I am, so to speak, my own god) but that it's not exclusive to me. We are all divine, but so are trees, squirrels and my very demanding pet kitties. That's the polar opposite of the western… Continue reading Where Divinity Truly Lies
The Great Mother
To think about the Great Mother in our patriarchally oriented society is more than merely radical, especially when the one doing so is a male who has come to reject the great father in the sky with whom he grew up and instead to embrace the Great Mother who is all around us, in us,… Continue reading The Great Mother
Pagan Way 