A Conversation with the Compost Queen

Last updated on: October 12, 2018 at 4:05 pm By Carl McColman

Trina Paulus, author of the best-selling Hope for the Flowers, talks about environmental activism, the spirituality of waiting, and two very special butterflies named Yellow and Stripe. September 1997 marks the 25th Anniversary of Hope for the Flowers, a whimsical, moving parable about life, hope, and transformation. As part of the celebration Trina Paulus, the book’s author, illustrator, and calligrapher, adds a new talent to her repertoire—recording artist. Her newly-recorded audiobook version of Hope for the Flowers is being co-published... Read more

My Loveliest Dream

Last updated on: February 22, 2019 at 2:51 pm By Carl McColman

It must have been sometime in the early 1980s. I was either still working on my Master’s or had just recently graduated, and my spiritual life was nurtured mostly by reading books by the Anglican mystic Evelyn Underhill and the Christian Jungian Morton Kelsey. And then one night, I had a dream. In it I was climbing up a hill near the Ballston Metro station in Arlington, Virginia. The hill was lush, covered with trees and vegetation that provided comforting... Read more

February 5, 1977

Last updated on: November 30, 2018 at 5:11 pm By Carl McColman

Here is an excerpt from my book The Aspiring Mystic: Practical Steps for Spiritual Seekers (2000), which unfortunately is out of print, although used copies are fairly easy to find. This passage describes my own initiation into an embodied, luminous encounter with the Divine, after which “spirituality” for me would always be a lived reality, not just an abstract idea. The highlight of the weekend was the Saturday night communion service. With all one hundred or so of the participants... Read more

Sylvia B. McColman (1923-2007)

Last updated on: December 24, 2019 at 2:33 pm By Carl McColman

Sylvia B. McColman, 83, of Hampton, Virginia, passed from this life on January 4, 2007 surrounded by loved ones. She graced the lives of countless friends and acquaintances with her warmth, her charm, and her playful sense of humor. Her life will be celebrated through a funeral service at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Hampton on Tuesday, January 23rd at 7 PM with a reception afterwards. Interment will be in the Gloria Dei Memorial Garden. Born Sylvia Bertha Batina on... Read more

Sparkle the Dark Up

Last updated on: November 25, 2019 at 11:41 am By Carl McColman

Every year on December 1, I play what is far and away my favorite secular song for the holidays: December will be Magic Again by Kate Bush. Rhiannon and I listened to it this morning while I was helping her brush her teeth and get ready for her school bus to pick her up. It’s a hard track to find—to get my copy on CD, way back in 1990, I had to purchase the Kate Bush box set This Woman’s... Read more