The metaphysical associations with water tend to be the realm of emotions and felt experience. These associations do not surprise me, particularly when one looks at the symptoms of dehydration: sleepiness, irritability, dizziness, delirium, heart palpitations, confusion, fuzzy thinking, seizures, and nausea. Is it any wonder that our ancestors then associated Water with emotional experience? Read more
For several months now, I haven’t been writing like I normally do. A long time ago I used to blog without worrying about the consequences of sharing my spiritual path as it unfolded. I would write about what I was learning and what I experienced without shame or fear. I was never one to subscribe to the Wiccan admonition “to keep silent”, feeling that those words were meant for another time and that being “out”, being fully open about belief... Read more
The Burning Heart of the Forest will never die out: a photo essay Read more
"Paganus" is an ancient term of otherness. It was disparaging, much like the "redneck" of today. Read more
It's snowing again today. The forecast calls for an additional 8-12" blanket to top off the 30" already on the ground. It had been a light winter until this week; certainly 3+ feet of snow on the ground changes one's experience in the landscape substantially. For me, the most striking thing about the snow is the blanket of quietness it creates. Read more
Drilling into Nature's resisting holes: Francis Bacon and the rape of Nature. Read more
The local ecosystem is our home, our host. I have come to realize that, for me, it is disrespectful to an ecosystem to bring food into it, particularly if the food was processed industrially. By learning and mastering foraging techniques, we can learn to accept the ecosystem's hospitality. When we bring extrinsic food into our ecosystem, it comes with an implied message: I am not willing to even try to subsist in relationship with you directly, so that we can thrive cooperatively with one another. I am a mere visitor, and will not stay long enough to develop such a relationship. Read more
Why seeing gods in museums makes me a bit uncomfortable. Read more
Here I am. I feel you on my skin. I feel your power, but rather than overwhelming me, it is energizing me. I feel the cold air blowing through the hair on my body. I feel the moisture condensing on my skin, and the fire of my breath blowing its being back at the storm. I stand, barefoot, in the same spot long enough to feel all the snow underneath melt away, until finally my bare feet are once again directly on the earth. Read more
I look at all my friends in the sky, and to all the energies in the forest around me. I hail them, lifting my drinking horn full of mead — a sweet, traditional mead that I brewed with local honey, fresh maple sap instead of the wild spring water I normally use, wild chaga, and wild staghorn sumac — and pour an offering to the ground, saying words that have become familiar to many of us in Maine and beyond: From the Gods, to the Earth, to Us; From Us, to the Earth, to the Gods. A gift for a gift. Read more
A Sense of Place
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