Welcome to Fire’s Light and Shadow
In honor of my free discussion on The Elemental Wisdom of Fire on September 15th, I thought I’d write a wee bit about the Element of Fire and how it speaks to me. The Element of Water is where I feel most at home. I love to drink water with lemon. I delight in baths […]
Priestess Part 2: Four Quarters
In 1996, in the company of a dear friend and sometime girlfriend (we had a boyfriend in common, but that’s another story), I went to what was then simply called Four Quarters Farm, a campground administered by the Church of Four Quarters, an interfaith, largely Pagan church. What follows is my account on this day, […]
UU Minister and Wiccan Priestess: Initiations
I am being ordained into the Unitarian Universalist ministry on April 19 of this year. If all goes well, the congregation of All Souls Church Unitarian in Washington, DC will confer ordination upon me, and many people will come from many parts of the United States (and possibly beyond) to witness and join in the […]
What We Touch Changes
She changes everything She touches / And everything She touches changes. / Change us, touch us. / Touch us, change us. Those lines, originally written by the theologian and Pagan leader, Starhawk, have been my theme for the morning. And they might be a theme for you if you’re stuck in your practice or wondering […]
Are You At a Crossroads?
The event was Four Quarters Drum and Splash, a veritable feast of dancing, drumming, singing, and swimming, all over the US Independence Day weekend. I don’t remember the year, but it’s some time ago now. Ten years? Twelve? A long time ago. The ritual team had talked for a long time about this ceremony, main […]
The Beauty of the Stones: Part Two
My feet may yet be wanderin’ But my heart has found a home In the Center of Four Quarters In a Ring of Standing Stone. “The Center of Four Quarters” So what is the benefit of raising a Stone Circle in the middle of southern central Pennsylvania? For twenty years, hundreds of people have come […]
Stones Rising and Four Quarters: Part One
A memory. A memory with many words and images that will mean the most to those from Four Quarters, but that may paint a picture for others. At Four Quarters Interfaith Sanctuary, the high holydays are those around the raising of new Stones in the Stone Circle. I see rollers and ropes raise the Stones. […]
Shuffled: We or the Cards?
“It is we who are shuffled; not really the deck.” – Jonathan White My dear friend and ritual partner, Jonathan, was talking about Tarot cards when he said the above. He was referring to the idea that whether one is pulling a card for the day or laying out a spread to read for a […]
Altars, Altars Everywhere!
I am looking at the rickety wooden table to the left of my desk. It was given to me by Maria, my first lover, then roommate, then ex-roommate, now reconnected friend. Maria gave me this small, wooden table she painted sky blue. She gave it to me to be an altar, a place to center […]
What Am I Doing Here?–Part Two!
As I said in part one, if I learned liturgical ritual, feast days, and smells-and-bells from the Catholic Church, it was at Four Quarters Interfaith Sanctuary that I began to make those things my own. To feel them in my bones. To know that ritual was worth my blood, sweat, and tears. While I had […]