As longtime blog readers, friends, comrades in The Way of the River Facebook Community, and readers of my Monday love letter know, I am extremely attached to the three days as some of the holiest in the calendar. And this year, while the Wheel is turning, I find that I am at least as concerned […]
One Samhain That Samhain we sat in the third floor Aerie. That Samhain we sat on the floor in the dark. That Samhain we sat with a row of candles and lanterns marking a pathway. That Samhain we sat smelling the sweet incense. Between those lights, we sat on the floor in the dark and […]
Blending in with the spirits, monsters, and long-legged beasties that go bump in the night. Carving turnips and later, pumpkins, into Jack O’Lanterns. Honoring the dead who move through the Veil between the worlds. Calling the names of the saints. Praying to our own Dead. There is a lot going on over the next few […]
There are two poems for fall that I love best. One, “Ode to the West Wind,” I’ve written about in Reflections. The other is by Gerard Manley Hopkins, one of my all-time favorite poems. (Check out “Pied Beauty” for sheer glory of words.) The Hopkins is called “Spring and Fall,” and has the dedication, “to […]
Why should we care about who came before us, those we knew, those we didn’t, and those who are lost to memory? Why do we care for our ancestors? It isn’t so we can save them. It isn’t so we can absolve them of their complexities, their transgressions against us and oppression of others. It […]