I’m working on something fairly deep and it’s not going to get finished tonight. Until then, let me point you toward author and teacher Thorn Coyle’s new blog post on altars. It’s quite good – go read it for yourself. The important point is that altars aren’t decorations. They’re representations of what you hold sacred, and as such they should be tended. This is my home altar. A framed copy of the picture below hangs on my office wall. It... Read more

Though I frequently write about “community” and its importance in our spiritual lives I don’t write much about my religious communities. But today I want to write about a huge milestone for my spiritual home, the Denton Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. In our Winter Congregational Meeting today we approved the largest budget in the 62 year history of the Fellowship, which for the first time will include a full time minister. This budget is 86% larger than last year’s budget and... Read more

Nothing I have written in the 3½ years I’ve been keeping this blog is as important to you personally as this article by Ken Murray, a medical doctor and an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at USC. It’s titled “How Doctors Die.” Here’s one paragraph, then go read the whole thing. It’s not a frequent topic of discussion, but doctors die, too. And they don’t die like the rest of us. What’s unusual about them is not how much treatment... Read more

If you’re in the North Texas area come out and join Denton CUUPS for our Yule Celebration next Saturday, December 17 at 7:00 PM. We’ll celebrate the Solstice and the rebirth of the Sun. We’ll be in our usual location, the Denton Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1111 Cordell Street, Denton, Texas 76201. Click the image for a larger version of the flyer. Feel free to contact me with any questions. See you there! Read more

Fellow No Unsacred Place columnist Juniper has a new essay titled “This Gift, This Sacrifice” about the offerings she made during a recent Hecate’s Night ritual. I’ve written about sacrifice a few times recently and don’t have anything more to add to that. What grabs me about Juniper’s essay is the messiness of her rituals and her sacrifices. As a UU I’m heir to a tradition of reason and learning. As a Druid I’m heir to a tradition of culture.... Read more

Crossposted with No Unsacred Place. Check it out and read some of the other writers too! The United Nations Climate Change Conference is meeting this week and next week in Durban, South Africa.  The theme is “Working Together – Saving Tomorrow Today.”  That theme is far more optimistic than most observers of the conference. The purpose of the conference is to begin negotiating a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which was adopted in 1997 and expires in 2012.  Here’s a... Read more

Pearl West, circa 1930 Today would have been my grandmother’s 104th birthday. Pearl Hale West was born on this day in 1907 in Crossville, Tennessee. She was the only grandparent I really got to know. My father’s father died before I was born and his mother died when I was seven. My mother’s father died when I was nine. Shortly after that, Mama (which is what we all called her – my mother was and is “Mother”) came to live... Read more

The season between Samhain and Yule is traditionally one of contemplation and of rest. Crops have been harvested and preserved, hay is in the barn, herds have been culled and moved to Winter pastures. The hard work of farm life is mostly done for the year and the worst of Winter is still several weeks away. We quietly look forward to the rebirth of the Light at the Solstice. Or at least that’s what happened in a pre-industrial, pre-consumerist agrarian... Read more

I am not so old and cynical I can’t remember the joy that Christmas – a traditional American Christmas – can bring to a child. Nor am I so naïve I can’t recognize that my disdain for its materialistic aspects comes from a position of privilege. I remember being six or eight or ten years old and enjoying putting up the tree, shaking presents, shopping for gifts for the rest of the family… Those were wonderful times and I would... Read more

If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is “thank you,” that would suffice – Meister Eckhart With apologies to Meister Eckhart, whose life was exemplary and whose quote I have used on many occasions, gratitude is not enough. Don’t misunderstand – gratitude is important. The practice of gratitude reminds us to focus our attention on what’s right in our lives rather than on what’s wrong. What we dwell on we manifest, so it behooves us to... Read more