Rev. Catharine Is Currently
On Medical Leave

The Blessed Mother and Me

Beloved – So ever since the fire at Notre Dame de Paris, I have found myself leaning into practices that come from my Roman Catholic background. One of our comrades from The Way of the River, Rev. Madelyn Campbell, prayed the Rosary with me on Good Friday. More consistently, I’ve been finding myself praying the […]

The High Priestess – Moon Dancer

When last we left our intrepid adventurer, she was looking at what many consider to be the most “traditional” of Tarot decks, the Rider Waite Smith deck. Specifically, the post concerned the third of the Major Arcana, the High Priestess, Roman numeral II. I invite you to go back to that post if you haven’t […]

The Gentleness of Questions’ Answers

Today, I intend to write in a way I haven’t done in this blog before. It is the way I wrote and spoke at my father’s memorial service. It is a way that I have written and spoken in sermons. I read the following poem this past week, and I want to share it with […]

Why Writing? Part Three

The Examination of Consciousness The Examen, also called the Examination of Conscience or Examination of Consciousness (learned that last one from a Dominican Sister), is the last of the writing practices I’ll go over in this week’s posts. Unlike writing Morning Pages, journaling, or gratitude lists, the Examination of Consciousness is done in the evening. […]

Why Writing? Part Two

My Wariness of Gratitude The Stoic philosopher Epicteus said, “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” Why be wary of gratitude? I mean really, Catharine, gratitude is a great thing! Epictetus (and a bunch of other awesome people) says so! Nonetheless, […]

Why Writing? Part One

Where Has Spiritual Practice Been? It’s been a while since I’ve written about spiritual practice. It’s been a while since I’ve talked about gentleness and persistence in the context of spiritual practice. It’s been a while since I’ve written about the ancient and powerful art of writing as spiritual practice. And frankly, it’s been a […]

Sheila-na-Gig and Discernment

(I woke up at 2 am, needing to write this post. My apologies for typos, etc.) So I’ve been thinking about The Days of Discernment and why I care so much about discernment—the art of making wise decisions. I’ve been thinking about how I’ve spent the last few years working on ways to make decisions, […]

Deep Roots, Gardening, and Spiritual Practice

***From June 2016 — this class is over and no longer available, but the post is still very valuable, I think***   One of the things I love about the folks who come to my classes, the folks who are drawn to my work—Pagans, trans* folk, LGBT community members and allies, and those who feel […]

How to Grow a Soul

**from summer  2016** “Life is just a chance to grow a soul.” So said Rev. A. Powell Davies. If our souls can grow, then they aren’t static things or conditions to be simply ignored, lost, or saved. What is the growing piece, then? What is the soul? Hell, what is life? Davies’ quotation seems to […]

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, […]