With about ten days to go before Beltane, I find my thoughts turning wistful and sad, because my beloved will not be here to celebrate with me. I love Beltane and its energy and joy, I think it is very fitting to have a festival of sexual love and erotic joy at this time of year, but this year (not for the first time), I find myself outside looking in at the bubble of happiness. Read more
Not everyone wants to be king. Not everyone wants to end up married and live happily ever after. Let's diversify the Journey. Read more
What is a tradition? What is the function of tradition? What are valid criteria for modifying or abolishing a traditional practice, and when should it be retained unchanged? Traditional practices help to reinforce group identity, which is why they are so powerful, and why so many people resist changing them. Read more
I do think that pagans, of all people, have an ethical obligation to respect the historicity of the stories they tell, especially when they are telling them to one another. I think we have to do more than pay lip service to such things as lore, tradition, and ‘old ways’. That means recognising the boundaries of our knowledge. It’s no shame to say ‘We do not know what the absolute truth of this matter is’. Stories can emerge from the shadows. Where there’s doubt, there’s room to breathe. Read more
Light. We all depend on light. Sunlight to grow our food, Sunlight to warm our bodies, A lamp to read by, Candles for ritual, A fire for comfort, Moonlight and starlight for dreams and visions. Read more
Artists make meaning. It's our job. Right now, my city has a chance to make meaning together, as a community, by working towards real, meaningful and lasting change. I may be Poet Laureate of this city (one of them)…but it isn’t my voice that needs to be heard at this moment. It is the voices of those in our community directly affected and those who experience racism and injustice personally, on a daily basis. Read more
Many people do not understand what is and is not cultural appropriation because they assume that practices and techniques can be easily transplanted from one context to another, but this does not take into account the issues around the particularity of traditions to their culture, place, and history, and it does not recognise the impact of colonialism and the commodification and commercialisation of indigenous traditions. Read more
There are many radical and beloved and ferocious warriors whose voices I treasure above my own. That doesn't absolve me from writing my truth. Read more
Thank you all so much for the energy you lend to this space. I have learned so much from all of you, and I’m glad I will be able to go on doing so. Many blessings. Read more
Dowsing for Divinity
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Terry Pratchett: an accidental Pagan theologian
As far as I know, he is the only writer to speculate on how deities come into being, first as particles of energy, then accumulating more energy from the minds of worshippers (in the book Small Gods). He was the inventor of the wonderful idea of the Dark Morris (the slow and silent dance that must be danced in the depths of the forest in order to make the wheel of the year turn again towards summer). Read more