We Need Your Support
After weeks of missed deadlines and inexplicable delays, we finally received a counter-proposal from my husband’s ex about child custody changes with our up-coming move. We’re… flabbergasted. She wants to drastically reduce his time with them to only a few weeks a year while also stipulating that if the schedule changes at the last minute, he forfeits his time with them completely (under the new proposal, she could deliberately sabotage the only time we have with the kids by insisting on a schedule change at the last minute that conflicted with our work schedules). We received this counterproposal the day before the movers come and we leave for Seattle, despite a long legal process during which we requested her feedback for weeks and received nothing but silence in return.
We’re out of time. We’re almost out of money and we’re getting pretty low on energy and hope, too. So we’d like to ask you for your support and your prayers.
#Occupy as a Work of Art
It’s easy to think of the poet as the dreamer and visionary, protected from the noise of common society, fiercely guarding the sacred solitude in which she does her work. It’s easy to imagine the peacemaker and political activist as the motivated mover and shaker, always busy, always at work on a plan to influence those in power and change the world. These ideals have often been at odds in my own heart as I’ve struggled to understand my place in society and how best I can live my life as a member of the world community.
When the poet and peacemaker act together, not as opposites but as allies, the creative work that results can change the world in unexpected ways.
Why Druidry? Revisited
To me, Druidry will always be a kind of mysticism or mystery religion, a spiritual path grounded in the ecstasy, creativity and vision that takes root in wildness. As a religion, modern Druidry has grown up around the archetype of the Druid as the wise sage, the inspired poet, the bright-eyed seer and the lover of nature. That archetype of the Druid is the acorn from which the oak of Druidry as a religion grows and expands, reaching limbs in all directions, sending down roots deep into the earth and the present moment. The Druid archetype is the ideal that helps to shape and guide the religious lives of those who practice Druidry — just as the acorn contains within itself the genetic patterns necessary to create the mature oak, and yet each oak itself must draw nutrients from its immediate environment and will grow in its turn to fit its own place and time. No two oaks that grow in the wild will be the same, and that process of growth is never-ending as each new branch, twig, leaf and root seek their own way towards sunlight and soil.
Offline!
I’ll be offline completely for the next several days as we move into our new place and set up utilities. In the meantime, interwebz, play nice!
Interwebz Update 2.10.2012
Our new landlady is letting us borrow internet until ours kicks in next week, but the connection is still pretty tenuous.
Introducing the New Wild Earth Feature Editor for Aontacht Magazine!
I’m really pleased and honored to be able to announce that I am now officially the Wild Earth feature editor for Aontacht Magazine! It’s going to be a lot of fun joining the editorial and production team of such an awesome magazine, and I’m thrilled to have yet another excuse to work with writers in the Druid community who are “walking their talk” and connecting with the Earth and the natural world in authentic, creative ways — and of course, to do a bit of writing of my own!
My first contribution appears in the most recent issue of Aontacht, which you can download for free on the Druidic Dawn website. The piece is called “Seven Wonders of the Natural World – In Your Own Backyard,” and in it I share a little bit about the winners of the New7Wonders campaign and the themes of diversity, depth, balance and mystery that these exotic sites exemplify — plus, how we can discover those wonders of nature everywhere.
Education or Death: Why the SOPA/PIPA Blackout Protest Matters
As a writer and creative type who thrives in the online world, issues of copyright protection and piracy can be very real problems for me. Of course I want legal protections for my work. As an avid reader and web-surfer who loves lolcats and Dinosaur Comics as much as the next person, I want the artists, writers and creative types out there who produce content for my favorite sites to have those same protections — even, no, especially if those creative types are just some college students messing around on YouTube and not Hollywood stars making millions off the latest blockbuster.
But that’s not what SOPA/PIPA is really about. The SOPA and PIPA bills are like the ring of power forged in the fires of Mount Doom: one law to rule them all, one law to find them, one law to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. Sponsored by a bloated entertainment industry that overcharges for pretty much everything, these bills would put in place the kind of invasive oversight infrastructure that would not only allow large corporations to sue technology start-ups and independent artists out of existence based on little to no evidence of piracy or copyright infringement, but would require on-going surveillance of user-produced content that makes Facebook’s privacy problems look like child’s play. Any website perceived as a potential threat to the Powers That Be would be vulnerable to lawsuits, while individuals would be subject to censorship and data-mining as a matter of course, creating a hostile and uncertain online environment in which conformity becomes the order of the day.
Justice Like Earth
“What would happen if the government collapsed?” My oldest stepdaughter asked after I’d spent fifteen minutes explaining exactly what a bond was and why I was filling out paperwork to report which ones had been lost so that the government knew how much money they owed me.
Her siblings all sat quietly, listening intently to the more-grown-up-than-usual conversation, and her voice carried a weight of anxiety in the silence.
“This is going to be one of those Princess Bride moments,” I told her. “I’m going to let you know that the giant screeching eels don’t eat you. I’m telling you now because you look nervous.”
The Ponds, by Mary Oliver
In a moment of sad synchronicity, only a few hours after I posted this I found out that Mary Oliver is seriously ill. Writers and poets are sharing their stories about how her work has influenced them, and sending their blessings and prayers. I know many Druids and Pagans are also familiar with her work and have been touched by her vision and love of nature. Please take a few moments today to express your love and gratitude for an amazing woman, and consider sharing your story with her by sending her an open letter.
In honor of our first Valentine’s Day as husband and wife, I wanted to share the poem that Jeff and I had read at our wedding, “The Ponds,” by Mary Oliver.
Lunar Union: A Poem
I expect an eclipse of moon
to be a kind of dilation,
corona blaze of blue iris
flaring out from the pupil-
depths of midnight sky
cast, in its center, suddenly
to shadow by coy sunlight.
I expect a god, his gaze
past the austerity of bare trees,
sharp eyelashes against the pale
cheek of hill, and the thrill…
We Need Your Support
After weeks of missed deadlines and inexplicable delays, we finally received a counter-proposal from my husband’s ex about child custody changes with our up-coming move. We’re… flabbergasted. She wants to drastically reduce his time with them to only a few weeks a year while also stipulating that if the schedule changes at the last minute, he forfeits his time with them completely (under the new proposal, she could deliberately sabotage the only time we have with the kids by insisting on a schedule change at the last minute that conflicted with our work schedules). We received this counterproposal the day before the movers come and we leave for Seattle, despite a long legal process during which we requested her feedback for weeks and received nothing but silence in return.
We’re out of time. We’re almost out of money and we’re getting pretty low on energy and hope, too. So we’d like to ask you for your support and your prayers.
Satire, Suffering and the Pantheist’s Dilemma » No Unsacred Place
In my latest post over on No Unsacred Place, I explore the meaning of pantheistic faith in the face of the “hour of adversity” and the role that satire and deep play have in helping us through times of spiritual crisis and community strife. How does pantheism cope with the “hour of adversity” and the inescapable reality of physical death? What can the bardic tradition of satire in Celtic mythology and folklore tell us about how we can confront a loss of faith in our spiritual lives as well as in our political leadership?
To Walk with Resolution: The Energy and Guidance of a Star
Going into the future is like going into the dark.
That was the theme of our family’s solstice ritual this year, as the nine of us (grandparents, parents, four kids and one cool step-uncle) settled down into a circle in the darkness of the living room. It was several hours after sunset on the longest night of the year, and the kids were antsy with excitement over unopened presents. I struck a single match, and began to weave our sacred space.
Solace of Perfection, Beauty of Decay
Let’s just say that life has been a bit stressful lately with everything going on. Back in high school and college when life was understandably a bit like being high strung on a high wire, I would throw myself into poetry. I spent long hours playing with words and sounds, line breaks and juxtaposition. Now, since writing is kind of a career for me these days, I find that I need some other creative outlet that I can throw myself into head first without worrying about being good at it.
Back to Basics
So what exactly do I believe? To answer that question, I have to go back to basics. And in going back to basics, I have to face my fear of being forever shrugged off as a newbie fluff bunny who can’t be taken seriously. It’s easy to say, “So what? What do you care if people take you seriously?” But as a member of a scattered, small community, a minority religion in a predominantly Christian culture, it can feel pretty devastating to be shrugged off or shuffled aside even by those you thought would welcome you with open arms. But that’s the risk you have to face if you want to cultivate an open and free relationship with spirit and the sacred world. The world is far stranger and wilder than the books and experts would have you believe.
She That Is: A Meditation on Brighid
What is She? Who is She? Celestial, ephemeral, pristine and pure, delicate, new, grace itself, fresh and bright. Earthy, dark and grounded, sweat and dirt and hot breath, the hard flex and tension of muscle, the rough power of fire and stone, the burning fluidity of molten ore. Primal, deep and ageless, utter stillness and distance, utter light in the darkness, spun out, flung out, fragmented, holographic, the whispering wholeness buried within each disparate glint of limit and form.
