Rev. Catharine Is Currently
On Medical Leave

Spiritual Direction: What, Why, and How

So this thing called “spiritual direction.” What is it? Who does the “directing,” if anyone? What is the purpose of spiritual direction? What do I mean when I say it? Spiritual direction can be a slippery concept. What is Spiritual Direction? At its base, spiritual direction/mentorship/accompaniment is as old as spiritual practice, which is to […]

Water’s Many Embraces

The Love of Water When I was a small person, before I reached the wise age of 14 or so, I would go for walks. I would sing as I walked: Songs I knew from the Top 40, songs from church, songs from the alternative mixtapes my best friend made for me, or songs I […]

Outsiders Welcome Here

As I have written before, I have spent much of my life as an “outsider,” a “freak,” an “imposter” in the world of “normal people.” And I am learning that those of us who have believed—often wisely—that we have to hide our identities in some way, are “my people.” You are the people who have […]

Sweet Sweet Water

In my tradition of Wicca, when we call ourselves to look to the Directions that go out to the horizon, call ourselves to mindfulness of the Elements within us, we begin in the East. We begin where Sun rises and Day begins, with the Element of breath and breezes and gales, of Air. We begin […]

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 […]

Christmas Thoughts on Spiritual Practice

spiritual practice can be just resting before the fireplace...

  It is Christmas Day. My wife and I are having a simple, quiet day together before the fire. Reading to one another from new books, wearing newly gifted clothing, spending time with our sweet animal companions…it’s a nice day. For us, Christmas is a quiet moment between our observance of Solstice and the celebration […]

Spiritual Practice and Tradition

creek runs through a snowy forest

Welcome to the return of the light! The Wheel turns and we turn with it! I have celebrated the Solstice, as have many of you, and now await with my Christian friends, the birth of the Human One, the one my friend Theresa Soto always simply calls Teacher. And then the days of Kwanzaa, up […]