Holidays
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What We Turn Back into the Soil
It’s Hallows season–Samhain, Halloween, what have you–and my mind turns to mortality, decomposition, recomposition and the great wide Circle of Life. I’ve written a bit about death. Here, about the fact of mortality. Here, about how we can prepare for our deaths in a manner that is kind to our survivors (downloadable workbook included!) And here, finally, as I have grappled with the dark marvel, the creative force that death actually is. Today, I have just returned from a weekend of camping with members of the Northern California Atheopagan Affinity Group, which calls itself the Live Oak Circle. We had a lovely time. One of the things we like to…
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Revisiting the Sin-Eater for Hallows
I am fascinated by the tradition of the sin-eater. Found in several European cultures but primarily known from southern Wales and parts of England adjacent, the tradition is that after someone dies, their body is laid out with food atop its chest or on a sideboard next to it, with a small coin in a dish. A designated person, the sin-eater (who is poor and generally shunned by the local community) is called to enter, and comes to eat the food and take the money, “eating the sins” of the deceased person and leaving them purified to go to heaven. There is something so Gothic, so folk-horror, so primal and…
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A Grateful Harvest
So it’s Harvestide, the season of the autumnal equinox. The time of gathering in, looking back over the year, celebrating what has come. It’s been a remarkable year for me, after a couple of very, very lean ones. This year, I took over as Interim Executive Director at my job at the new year; my third book, Round We Dance: Creating Meaning through Seasonal Rituals was released in April. In June I was tapped for the permanent ED position, so now I lead a dynamic, effective conservation organization working to protect natural areas and advance through partnerships the traditional land stewardship practices of indigenous Tribes. It’s an absolute dream job…
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The Wonder
The Perseids are strong tonight. I mean, it’s early: 9 pm. The Sun is only just down, but it’s a clear night with a quarter Moon and after midnight, there should be a vivid meteor shower, perhaps as many as one every minute or even less. The night air is warm and still. There are crickets, but they are dwindling as the season progresses. By October, there will be only a faint, lonely, slow chirp. I gathered with friends yesterday: the Northern California Atheopagan affinity group, AKA the Live Oak Circle. We had a Dimming celebration, drank cider and ate apple pie, poured a libation at the roots of a…
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Happy Dimming!
It’s time again for the beginning of August Sabbath: the midpoint between Midsummer and Harvest. It’s always been a challenge for me to name this holiday. I tried things like “Summer’s End”–but it’s often the hottest time of the year where I live. Summer’s Waning, perhaps? But again, it doesn’t feel like that…yet. Still, the wheel of the year has definitely turned: the days are shorter, the quality of the light a bit paler, the sky a deeper, harder blue. As the first harvests come in and we begin to realize the fruits of the year’s labors, we are definitely headed into the dark and cold, however preliminary these steps…
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The Living is Easy
It’s summer, with Midsummer just a few days away. Long days full of Sun, sometimes hot but where I am, often buffered by the cooling ocean air to create perfect days with warm evenings. I just moved inside from sitting naked on my patio, which is a seasonal pleasure. I also cut back the wisteria covering our back fence, which occasionally threatens to tear our house apart with its clinging, constricting vines, and watered all the plants in pots and half-barrels that make the place a lush oasis. Being-Outside-Naked Season is something I look forward to every year. I love the Sun and air on my skin, and the feeling…
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May Eve, the Darkness Before the Splendor
So it’s Walpurgisnacht, the night before May Day. Traditionally, a sort of transposed Hallows, with ghosts and spirits loose in the world before the brilliant dawn of the May. I sometimes think of May Day as the dawning of the World. There is something so grand and magnificent about dawn at this time of year, with the bird chorus and dew-spangled grasses, the cool-but-not-cold that will fade to kissed-skin temperate breezes. It’s luscious, and filled with wonderful memories for me. This year, May morning will fall squarely in the midst of the work week and there is exciting stuff happening at work that I must attend to, so I won’t…
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It’s here!
My new book, Round We Dance: Creating Meaning Through Seasonal Rituals is published and launched! I had a lovely book launch party yesterday in Oakland, California. It was great to see friends, read some passages and sell and sign some books. It has been about a year and a half since I submitted the manuscript for Round We Dance, and as I read pieces of it I found myself thinking hey, this is good stuff! Nice to feel that sense of pride in my craft. Here I am, signing. Isn’t Kimba’s coat amazing? She said it was like being inside a Muppet. I’m really proud of this book and I…
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First Look at My New Book!
I got some galley proof copies of ROUND WE DANCE: Creating Meaning Through Seasonal Rituals, and it looks and feels great! It is always a real thrill to hold a first copy of one of my books in my hands, and this is no exception. ROUND WE DANCE releases on April 8–the same day as the impending solar eclipse. You can read more about it and pre-order your copy by clicking here.
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Brightening 2024
Today is the midpoint between what I term Midwinter (the winter solstice) and High Spring (the vernal equinox): thus, Brightening. Or Imbolc. Or Brighid. Or–my choice–Riverain, the Festival of Water. Depending on where you live, you might have different names or associations with this point in the Wheel of the Year. (or, in the Southern Hemisphere, this could be Dimming or High Summer for you) It is raining torrentially today, so we have good thematic weather this year. And I find myself thinking about the disparate pieces that make up my traditions for this Sabbath: bits of themes from back when I was practicing (if not believing in) theistic Paganism,…
