Rev. Catharine Is Currently
On Medical Leave

Gentleness or Discipline

I’ve written a lot about gentleness and discipline, their hand-in-hand relationship, and how necessary that relationship is for practice of all kinds. This week, I have been considering not only their relationship, but the dynamic balance of that relationship. How at one time, gentleness needs our focus, and at other times, discipline does. Persistence comes […]

Miracles of Prayer, by a Wiccan UU

Many people in my circles—UU, Pagan, humanist, atheist—have little truck with anything called “prayer.” It smacks to them of superstition, sycophancy, futility, or just bad experiences with religion in general and prayer in particular. I’m a huge fan of prayer. So much so, in fact, that my free e-book on this site is called Your […]

The Feast of Fasting

There are, my friend said, religions of the feast and religions of the fast. For better or for worse, he went on, Pagan traditions tend to be religions of the feast. Other faiths, particularly the Abrahamic ones, seem to have a better grip on the spiritual benefits of the fast. While fasting, especially as an […]

The Days and Nights of Advent and Yuletide

Some thoughts for Advent/Yuletide from yesterday. As I prepare for Yule. I look outside — it’s coming on 3:00 and I see how wan the light is. Not only because of the Portland-appropriate clouds. But because the sun sets at 4:30 today. The days are shortening. The nights are lengthening. The wind picks up. The […]

Impatience and Persistence in Spiritual Practice

“Ageless Beloved…. Ageless Beloved… Ageless Beloved….” If you walk by my study early on any given morning, you are likely to hear me singing. “Core of Peace, I rest in you. Core of Peace, I rest in you. Core of Peace, I hear you calling. Core of Peace, I rest in you.” You may smell […]

Gentleness, But Discipline, Too

Sometimes the very thing that has inspired this ministry—spiritual practice—gets undermined by my working on the ministry. Silly? Yes. Common? Yes, that too. There is some dispute as to who made the following wise remark—I’ve heard it attributed to at least three spiritual or religious leaders:  If I am busy, I must pray for an […]

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 […]

Prayer and Discernment (v. 2016)

NB: This post is from 2014 when I was offering the e-book The Practice of Prayer. Now, in 2016, I am proud to be gifting my subscribers with The Days of Discernment, a series of self-study pages. I have changed the end of the post to reflect this change. *** So I was sitting on the floor and my […]

In Remembrance of Me…

Do this in remembrance of Me… I remember sitting at an Easter Vigil liturgy, the highest, holiest liturgy of the year in the Roman Catholic calendar. I was a little incense-drunk and feeling kind of spiritually woozy from the religious excesses of Holy Week (more on that later, if you’re interested). I looked up at […]