A Sense of Place
A is for Angelica: part 1 of an A-to-Z of wild herbs with medicinal, magical or other uses; AKA "plants I meet while walking my dog". Read more
A is for Angelica: part 1 of an A-to-Z of wild herbs with medicinal, magical or other uses; AKA "plants I meet while walking my dog". Read more
I didn’t post on A Sense of Place yesterday. I wanted to, I really did, but there was nothing at all I could say that wasn’t just a rehash of my personal struggle with belonging. This isn’t the blogging that I used to do. I used to write about connection and learning from the voices in a place. Before Patheos I wrote about the seasons and the plants in Israel. Now, I fight my personal demon of loneliness and disconnection... Read more
Between the pining and the longing, there He is. Where They May Be Found, part six: Dionysos Read more
The Hooded Figure With A Scythe is not a squanderer of opportunities. It is silent and sharp and efficient. It kills and gives life in a single motion. An animal dies and billions of micro-organisms get a feast. Maybe a few larger organisms, too. And what of the possibilities inherent in the life of the thing before it died? Except for humans and the friends of humans, we generally don't think of such a thing at all. What opportunities have been lost by a mouse that is caught and eaten by a wolf? Read more
We all need water, but we are not all in control of our water supply. Read more
Recently I spent a night outside near a plot that I am thinking about making my own. I tried to sleep in my hammock, strung between two trees. It was nice enough. But I didn't get any sleep at all out there. Afterwards, I spoke to a friend of mine about the experience and he asked me what I'd given the land before I settled in for the night. Oh. Read more
As Pagans, we are often used to thinking of traditions linking people to seasons and to land as ancient and lost, not contemporary, living things. Langholm Common Riding, and other traditions like it give the lie to this idea. Read more
The same thing that disenchants the world is killing the earth. This is a call to war. Read more
New York is an amazing place. I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I’ll freely admit that I have something of a prejudice against anything on the East Coast of the US. In my mind I imagine that everyone and everything on the East Coast is a caricature of the worst stuff you see in TV and movies. I expect people in suits who are oblivious to their own privilege and the suffering of others... Read more
This, he said, was an example of the rite this wine demanded, but it was only part of it. The rites of the wine include everything from how the vines are trained and trimmed to what happens in the cellar. And then the wine is passed on to the purchaser, and the responsibility to continue the rites goes to them: to keep the wine cool for storage, to let the wine breathe when first opened, to serve it appropriately. All of these things are part of the relationship between the grapes, the yeasts, and humans. Read more
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