Bishop in the Grove

Bishop In The Grove is Moving to BishopInTheGrove.com

October 12, 2012 By Teo Bishop

New URL: BishopInTheGrove.com Subscribe to the RSS Subscribe via Email As my last post indicated, October has been a month of transition. With transition comes the unexpected. Over the past few weeks, much has changed unexpectedly in my own, personal universe. Some of these changes feel more weighted than others, but all of them point to the need to reevaluate what has been, and how I would for things to be as I move forward with my writing. The past year of blogging at Patheos has … [Read more...]

Filed Under: BITG, Paganism Tagged With: Bishop In The Grove, BITG, Blogging, Change, Movement, Patheos, Transition

Trans Is A Teacher For All Of Us

October 5, 2012 By Teo Bishop

It snowed last night. First of the season. There wasn't quite enough to break the branches like last year, but it was enough to remind us that the season of fall, as much as I'd prefer it last forever, is simply a transition. What we're witnessing in the seasonal display of colors is the letting go of something we've grown accustomed to. Transitions, periods when something is neither one thing nor the other, boggle the mind. It would be so much simpler if the world was binary, which I think … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Trans Tagged With: Acceptance, Family, Feminine, Gender, GOD, Goddess, LGBTQ, Masculine, Stepson, Trans, Transformation, Transition

What Do Pagans Want To Read In Their Blogs, Magazines And Books?

October 3, 2012 By Teo Bishop

Writing is a bitch sometimes. I've given myself a number of writing projects, some religious in nature and some more scholastic. Some are a blending of the both. I've also begun to explore what it would be like to take my writing to print. All of these things are squeezed into my calendar and shuffled onto my desk throughout the week, and on some days -- like the last four -- it feels as thought the weight of these papers, ideas, self-directed critiques, and a few outside-constructive … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Paganism, Practice Tagged With: Blogging, Blogs, Books, creativity, Magazines, New Media, Paganism, Pagans, Print, Readership, Reading, Writing

THE DRUIDS ARE COMING! Plant a tree.

September 27, 2012 By Teo Bishop

Open yourself to the movement of creativity in your life, and there is no telling what will happen. I have a tradition of rearranging plastic, magnetic letters on the back of my local coffee shop's espresso machine to make ridiculous phrases. While waiting for my chai (much lower in caffeine than the triple espresso I used to drink), I make my silliness all over the silver, Italian shininess. A few examples of my literary genius: And, this heartfelt confession: This … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Druidry, Paganism Tagged With: Cafe Press, creativity, Druidry, Druids, Giggling, Humor, Inspiration, Magick, Play, THE DRUIDS ARE COMING Plant a tree, Trees, Words

How Do We Respond to Conflict in Pagan Communities?

September 25, 2012 By Teo Bishop

Paganism, on the surface, seems like a retreat from the challenges posed by organized religion. Our great, mostly-pentacle-shaped umbrella, under which all shades, shapes and sizes of earth loving, god or goddess invoking creatures rest, looks to the untrained eye like a respite from bureaucracy, miscommunication, and any of the other ills of "The Church." It just isn't so. When people gather, organize and commit to being in relationship with one another, conflicts arise. This is an … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community, Paganism Tagged With: Church, Compassion, Conflict, Congregation, Holding Space, Paganism, priest, St Georges

How Do You Know It’s The Gods You’re Listening To?

September 20, 2012 By Teo Bishop

Since I began working through the Dedicant Path this second time, I've run across a number of people who are also starting their studies with ADF. They're showing up in the comment section on Bishop In The Grove, on Facebook, and I'm wondering if there's some deeper meaning behind it. A friend of mine suggested that we should distrust the Volkswagen Bug syndrome. You know -- the one where you buy a VW bug, and then all you see around you are VW bugs. They start popping up everywhere -- in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Discernment, Paganism Tagged With: Christianity, Comments, Consumerism, discernment, Divinity, GOD, Gods, Judgement, Listening, Metaphysics, Paganism, Polytheism, Reflection, The Secret, VW

How Much Stuff Does One Pagan Need?

September 18, 2012 By Teo Bishop

Should I let go of my stuff? Should I have a metaphysical yard sale, in which I sell my Cunningham books, my surplus of pewter jewelry, and my... ...ahem... ...crystals? Should I rid my closet of the long, green, hooded robe I've worn twice, my Guatemalan patchwork jacket I scored for $7 bucks, or my black ceremonial duds? How about my malas, my God and Goddess candle holders (don't you just love P. Borda?), or my copper OM chalice? When I look at the shelf above my desk, I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Paganism, Values Tagged With: ADF, Asceticism, Bibles, Books, Consumerism, Crystals, Dedicant Path, Jewelry, Nature Spirituality, Pagan, Paganism, Possession, Religion, Spirituality, Stuff, Values

Want To Make The Gods Laugh?

September 14, 2012 By Teo Bishop

Make a plan. I dare you. Ok, ready? You're me: You put on your denim kilt, blue button up shirt, and patchwork hat. Your beard is tidy and trim, and your socks pulled up. You load up the car with your husband, a tupperware container of crayons, and a bag of chocolates. Drive. After a half hour, you're at a little Unitarian Universalist church near the foothills. You unload, begin to arrange chairs in a big, circular meeting room, and you wait. When you can't wait any … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Songcrafting Tagged With: creativity, Inspiration, Music, Paganism, Pantheacon, Ritual, Singing, Song, Songcrafting, Songcrafting Workshop, Teaching, Unitarian Universalist, UU

You Can Take a Druid Out of the Woods…

September 11, 2012 By Teo Bishop

In the morning, after (almost) sleeping through a night of 28 degree weather, I headed to the edge of the water to make my offerings. Pumpkin seeds were what I had to give, for they were what I had to eat. I proceeded through the same ritual I outlined in my post last week, only this time I did it while standing in the morning sun. When I'm in the city, I sometimes lift my hands up toward the ceiling of my bedroom, my office, or whatever sacred space I've constructed, and imagine that I'm … [Read more...]

Filed Under: In The World, Paganism Tagged With: ADF, Camping, Concordances, Druidism, Druidry, Granby, Meditation, Nature, Representation, Reservoir, Trees, Two Powers

Paganism Beyond the Warm and Fuzzy

September 7, 2012 By Teo Bishop

I fell into a frozen lake once. It was winter, and we were on holiday from school. I was running ahead of my two cousins and my older brother, and I hit a thin patch. In no time, my tiny body was submerged. The water was violently cold, and I was certain I was going to die. I didn't. When I was about 10, I went to a summer camp for kids who like horses. While riding one afternoon, a fellow camper got thrown from her horse. She was dragged for at least 100 yards. Her body … [Read more...]

Filed Under: In The World, Paganism Tagged With: ADF, Camping, Childhood, Druidry, Gods, Horses, Nature, Paganism, Storytelling