{"id":5138,"date":"2014-12-31T14:33:47","date_gmt":"2014-12-31T19:33:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/paganfamilies\/?p=5138"},"modified":"2014-12-31T14:33:47","modified_gmt":"2014-12-31T19:33:47","slug":"10-great-reads-of-december-on-paganism-parenting-social-justice-and-celebrating-the-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paganfamilies\/2014\/12\/10-great-reads-of-december-on-paganism-parenting-social-justice-and-celebrating-the-season\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Great Reads of December on Paganism, parenting, social justice, and celebrating the season"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><figure id=\"attachment_5148\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5148\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/309\/2014\/12\/shutterstock_226367983.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5148\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/309\/2014\/12\/shutterstock_226367983-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"photo courtesy of shutterstock shutterstock.com\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5148\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">photo courtesy of shutterstock shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>A monthly round-up of the best links shared and discussed on our active\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PaganFamiliesPregnancyBirth\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/pagan_families\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Twitter<\/a> streams.<\/p>\n<p>On Paganism and bringing babies into the world:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"color: #32363f;\">\u201c<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/yogadork.com\/2014\/12\/02\/life-is-important\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">This Life Is Important<\/a><span style=\"color: #32363f;\">\u201d by J. Brown: \u201cAs a professional yoga teacher, I almost never use the term: \u201cLife Force.\u201d It just feels too woo-woo or cheesy and triggers my revulsion for new-age fluff. However, in attempting to describe the experience of witnessing my wife giving birth to our second child, I can think of no other term that fits more accurately. I observed what appeared to be waves of energy.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #32363f;\">\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2014\/12\/wyrd-words-being-a-pagan-father\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Being A Pagan Father<\/a>\u201d by Alyxander Folmer:\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #32363f;\">\u201cI thought that the discovery of my impending fatherhood would bring some kind of profound spiritual revelation. Instead the biggest realization I\u2019ve had is that my Smart Car has no back seats, and that\u2019s suddenly a problem\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/onechosenfamily.wordpress.com\/2012\/07\/20\/how-to-hold-a-ceremony-for-an-unborn-child\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">How To Hold A Ceremony For an Unborn Child<\/a>\u201d by:\u00a0\u201cToo often when an unborn child is lost, the grieving of parents or would-have-been parents is invisible to the rest of community; there is no funeral or other occasion to acknowledge the pain. And yet a ceremony can bring tremendous healing and a sense of closure that the heart can hold and manage.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>On racism, social justice, and parenting:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/themanifeststation.net\/2014\/11\/25\/how-to-parent-on-a-night-like-this\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">How To Parent On a Night Like This<\/a>\u201d by Carvell Wallace:\u00a0<span style=\"color: #32363f;\">\u201cIt\u2019s hard to continue. I wish it was my kids bedtime. I wish the dishes were done. I wish the house was clean. I wish America wasn\u2019t racist. I wish Mike Brown was in police custody. I wish Darren Wilson admitted guilt. I wish America admitted guilt.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #32363f;\">\u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2014\/12\/birthing-hereditary-witchcraft-parenting-around-ferguson-and-social-justice-news\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Parenting Around Ferguson and Social Justice<\/a><span style=\"color: #32363f;\">\u201d by Lydia Crabtree: \u201c<\/span>Don\u2019t push your child if they don\u2019t agree with you one hundred percent all the time. Walk them through the process of thinking about the issues without having a judgement about how they should think about those issues.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voodoouniverse\/2014\/12\/mamas-and-babies-blacklivesmatter\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Mamas And Babies\u00a0#blacklivesmatter<\/a>\u201d by Lilith Dorsey :<span style=\"color: #32363f;\">\u201cMy thoughts, prayers, and love go out to the mothers, from one mother to another, now and always. Because I believe\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"_quickSearchPopup hash decorated-link\" style=\"color: #49aef0;\" title=\"blacklivesmatter\" href=\"https:\/\/hootsuite.com\/dashboard#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">#blacklivesmatter<\/a><span style=\"color: #32363f;\">\u00a0\u201c<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>On celebrating winter solstice and the New Year:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/feminismandreligion.com\/2014\/12\/10\/winter-solstice-meditation-by-molly-meade\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Winter Solstice Meditation<\/a>\u201d by Molly Meade: \u201c<span style=\"color: #32363f;\">This year I cocoon with my new baby. Though I have three other children, this new baby was the first child whose development and arrival perfectly mirrored the wheel of the year.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/witchesandpagans.com\/sagewoman-blogs\/woodspriestess\/family-winter-solstice-ritual.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Family Winter Solstice Ritual<\/a>\u201d by Molly: \u201cWe have celebrated the winter solstice together as our primary family ritual for the last eleven years.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/witchesandpagans.com\/pagan-culture-blogs\/mythic-wisdom\/the-divine-mother-and-the-holy-child.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Divine Mother and the Holy Child<\/a>\u201c: by Harita Meenee: \u201cThe goddess holding or nursing an infant was given the epithet Courotrophos in ancient Greek.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/attachmentparenting.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/29\/wishing-upon-a-star-mindfully-ringing-in-the-new-year-as-a-family\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Wishing Upon A Star<\/a>\u201d by Inga Bohnekemp: \u201cToday, I want to share with you a beautiful, mindful way to ring in the New Year as a family: Wishing upon a star.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>*And a bonus very popular article about how medical advice against infant bed sharing creates rather than prevents dangerous situations:\u00a0<span style=\"color: #32363f;\">\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/commonhealth.wbur.org\/2014\/12\/dire-warnings-against-infant-bed-sharing-backfired\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Dire Warnings Against Infant Bed Sharing Backfired<\/a>\u201d by Melissa Bartick: \u201cThe fact is, across the United States and the world, across all social strata and all ethnic groups, most mothers sleep with their infants at least some of the time, despite all advice to the contrary, and this is particularly true for breastfeeding mothers.\u201d \u00a0<\/span>+ the follow-up article \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/commonhealth.wbur.org\/2014\/12\/infant-bed-sharing-tips\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Five Things You Need To Know About Sharing A Bed With Your Infant<\/a>\u201c<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A monthly round-up of the best links shared and discussed on our active Facebook and Twitter streams &#8212; on Paganism, parenting, current events, &#038; celebrating the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1289,"featured_media":5148,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,601,353,344,11,9,16],"tags":[696,716,686,14,303,188,695,32,33,718,340,694,545],"class_list":["post-5138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-birth","category-home","category-miscarriage-2","category-parenting-2","category-postpartum","category-pregnancy","category-ritual","tag-bed-sharing","tag-birth","tag-blacklivesmatter","tag-ceremony","tag-fatherhood","tag-miscarriage","tag-new-year","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-ritual","tag-social-justice","tag-winter-solstice","tag-yoga"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>10 Great Reads of December on Paganism, parenting, social justice, and celebrating the season<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A monthly round-up of the best links shared and discussed on our active Facebook and Twitter streams -- on Paganism, parenting, current events, &amp; 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