My Beltaine message to you
Beloved, O Beloved! It is the first of May! It is Labour Day across much of the planet. It is (no doubt in response to the above) St. Joseph the Worker Day. It is the day on which many of us grew up with May Queens and crowning statues of Mary, Queen of Heaven, with […]
The Work of Lammas
Beloved, beloved, beloved, thrice beloved! If this is your first time getting or reading Reflections, either in your inbox or on The Way of the River site, be welcome. I also invite you (if you do Facebook) to investigate our Facebook Group for The Way of the River. Be welcome there, and if you are […]
Yemaya Assesu and Spiritual Guests
I have written about spiritual pillaging. And about spiritual tourism. And now I write about spiritual guests. In some traditions I have been a guest; more than just a visitor, but not a full member of the community. My time with the Religious Society of Friends, also called the Quakers, and my time with African […]
To Call on the Divine in Troubled Times
I dreamt of a fall moon service-sized ritual at sunset. The Stone Circle. A smallish group. Eric Eldritch, you had on your black tunic, only it was these striped, jagged yellow slashed lines. Jonathan White, you steadied me with your eyes. Patricia Althouse, Kailin Miller, and Patricia Robin Woodruff, you were there. Liliana Arrington, you […]
Home Sweet Altars, Part 1
My nurse practitioner—who, in case I haven’t mentioned it, is the BEST EVER—asked me this past week if I was finally really landing in Portland. And I realized, yes, yes, it’s happening. The last years of physical and mental health problems have come to a crisis that is FORCING me in a slow-motion arm-wrestling match, to stop, drop, […]
Holy Week, Holy Days, Holy Memories
For those of you who subscribe to and read Reflections, I said I’d continue my thoughts on Holy Week here. Even if you didn’t get Reflections, I encourage you to read; I am contemplating my relationship with Holy Week, and particularly the deepest, most complex and holy liturgy of the year in the Roman tradition, […]
Guilty Pleasures, Love, and Ritual
So I was talking with my wife about guilty pleasures—I’ve been reading 19th-century period romance novels—and she immediately responded, “I don’t feel guilty about my pleasures.” This is a woman who loves all kinds of books: Memoir, natural history nonfiction, novels from various eras. She also loves movies, many, though not all, of them of […]
Initiation: The Greatest Is Love
I’ve spoken this week about initiation on FBLive and I’ve written about it in Reflections. And it has occurred to me that I’ve never written here about the initiation that ultimately led to the birth of The Way of the River. I’ve never written here about the intersection of ordination with what is commonly thought […]
Elements and Directions: Part I
The tradition in which I came up, Stone Circle Wicca, and the tradition I am forming, Cascadia Arbor, pay special attention to the Four Directions and Elements. Cascadia Arbor adds to the original Four, but those Four are where my heart is most at home. For those of you who are not familiar with a […]
The Terror and Healing of Anger
Anger is not an emotion I am comfortable with. When I am angry, I often cry. When others around me are loudly, expressively angry, I feel afraid. My father never did what most people would consider “hitting me in anger,” though both my brother and I were spanked. So who knows? Things were somewhat different […]