Category: Muse in Brief

Muse in Brief

The Speed of Blood » No Unsacred Place

Alison Leigh Lilly

In my latest post over on No Unsacred Place, an illness that leads to a hospital visit has me reflecting on questions about the relationship between health, healing, body and spirit and how we experience moments of transcendence even in the midst of danger: "If it weren't for these strange experiences of transcendence, I might be a pure animist. When I feel the wind caress my skin and it seems to me to be living and animate, filled with purpose and awareness — I cannot divide that sense of Presence from the wind itself. ..."

Holy Wild, Muse in Brief

Muse in Media: Disturbing Gentleness

Alison Leigh Lilly

Timothy Morton, author of Ecology Without Nature and The Ecological Thought, is attending the conference on Eastern and Indigenous Perspectives on Sustainability and Conflict Resolution at the University of South Florida this week and has done those of us philosophy-grad-student wanna-bees an amazing service by making the audio recording and slide show of his talk, Disturbing Gentleness, available on his blog. Morton's understanding of nonviolence resonates deeply with my own. It is not a passivity or denial of violence and death, but something that arises from and gives rise to existence itself. We are inconsistent beings, and the rift within our very selves is what allows for movement, spaciousness, beauty and death. Nonviolence is simply allowing this inconsistency in ourselves, and others, without trying to reduce it or extrapolate away from it. In this sense, perhaps the deepest expression of nonviolence is acceptance of things as they are — it is in fact the very opposite of denial.

Muse in Brief

Web of Green: Ecology, Economics and the U.S. Political Climate » No Unsacred Place

Alison Leigh Lilly

In my latest post over on No Unsacred Place, I weave a web of green, headline-hopping through this past week's important news stories about environmentalism in the United States and the growing protests of economic inequality as part of the #OccupyWallSt movement: "Environmentalism has been making headlines recently in the United States as the political climate in the run-up to the Republican primaries continues to heat up like, well, the actual climate. From government censorship of climate scientists, to House Republicans voting to disempower the EPA, to environmentalist protest in solidarity with the #OccupyWallSt movement in New York and across the country, the common theme is the clash between two vastly different stories about the role that protections and regulations play in helping or hurting Americans. ..."

Muse in Brief

Water on Water’s the Way » No Unsacred Place

Alison Leigh Lilly

In my latest post over on No Unsacred Place, I explore the relationship between the Druidic element gwyar and the classic elements more familiar to most modern Pagans, as part of a larger discussion about the tragedy of water pollution and the inaccessibility to clean drinking water for millions of people living in poverty all over the world: "It’s no surprise that the general numbness and disconnection of our modern culture — our alienation from gwyar as the expression of sacred connection and exchange with the planet and its many beings and gods — can be poignantly seen in our damaged and dangerous relationship to the element of water. ..."

Holy Wild, Muse in Brief

Saturday Surfing: Protest, Physics and Aesthetics, Oh My!

Alison Leigh Lilly

My gods, where did September go?! Oh that's right, I got married. Woot! Then we had a fantastic honeymoon. Double woot! (More pictures soon to come of both.) And now we're home again, our days laced with the scent of falling leaves and lengthening autumn nights. It's good to be home. As promised, I'm starting a new feature on the blog where I recap some of the most interesting links and articles I've come across during the course of the week, for your perusing pleasure. I'm going to call this "Saturday Surfing" because I am, as you know, a huge fan of alliteration. So check these out!

Muse in Brief

The Tale of Mabon: A Bedtime Story » No Unsacred Place

Alison Leigh Lilly

In my latest post over on No Unsacred Place, I share the story from Welsh mythology of Mabon, son of Modron, in honor of the coming autumnal equinox. This story was originally published on the former site of Meadowsweet & Myrrh back in 2009. In the comment section of the original post, a reader asked, "I've never understood the connection between this tale and the Equinox. Can you help with that connection?" This was my reply: "In Druidry, the autumnal equinox is not actually called Mabon, but instead goes by the name Alban Elfed/Elued (Welsh, meaning 'Light of the Water/Sea'). ..."

Muse in Brief

“Ethical Oil” is Not an Oxymoron » No Unsacred Place

Alison Leigh Lilly

In my latest post over on No Unsacred Place, I follow up on John's recent coverage of the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline with a video from the Tar Sands Action protests in Washington D.C. this past weekend, where activists, environmentalists and ordinary citizens gathered to demonstrate their opposition to the proposed pipeline. Naomi Klein speaks on the manipulative corporate ad campaign to rebrand the Tar Sands as "Ethical oil": "I’m from Canada, and let me tell you something. We don’t have ‘ethical oil’ in Canada. We have Tar Sands oil, which is like regular oil, but a whole lot dirtier. It ravages the earth as it is extracted. Ravaging bodies, ravaging the land as you just heard from our brothers and sisters from the Indigenous Environmental Network. And it ravages the earth at the point of combustion. ..."

Holy Wild, Muse in Brief

Muse in Media: Tempest Milky Way

Alison Leigh Lilly

Never fear. Though it's no longer August and I'm only two weeks from my wedding day, I have not abandoned the 30 Days of Druidry project. In fact, you can consider this a sneak peek at my up-coming post on Spirit and the gods. This amazing timelapse video was made by Randy Halverson (dakotalapse.com). It features stunning images of the milky way as part of a grand starscape turning above wheat and sunflower fields as thunderstorms blow in. This is definitely one video you should watch full-screen. Click to watch.

Holy Wild, Muse in Brief

Episode 9 – Holy Personal Gnosis, Batman! » Dining with Druids

Alison Leigh Lilly

In this week's episode, "Holy Personal Gnosis, Batman!", Ali and Jeff open up about their relationships with the gods, sharing a little insight into how they grapple with questions of spiritual authenticity and internal versus external sources of authority, balancing academic research, creative explorations and unverified personal gnosis (or "UPG"). Jeff talks about the time Odin almost made him crash his car, and Ali explores the dark, stellar aspect of the Celtic goddess, Brighid — but only after apologizing for her part in causing the East Coast earthquake. Make sure to stick around for the end of the episode, when Jeff reads a truly inspired piece of writing and Ali talks a bit about an up-coming contest for listeners to win a copy of the new anthology of Pagan fiction, The Scribing Ibis. Click to listen.

Holy Wild, Muse in Brief

Episode 8 – Polytheistssaywhat? » Dining with Druids

Alison Leigh Lilly

In this week's episode, “Polytheistssaywhat?” Ali and Jeff are on the road again, this time traveling with Cu Gwyn the Wonder Cat for company as they discuss the portrayal of religion in science fiction, the evolution of modern Paganism and its parallels with different kinds of language development. Ali totally loses her geek cred by admitting that she’s not all that into Battlestar Galactica, and Jeff gets down with his bad linguistic self talking about the relationship between Vodou spirituality and the Hawaiian creole language. Click to listen.