You can read part 1 here. The patenting of seeds[i] has made the thousands-year-old practice of seed saving illegal, as is the sharing of seeds from farmer to farmer. The most notorious case is that of Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser,… Read More ›
Earth-based spirituality
Seeds of Hope: Part One by Beth Bartlett
Author’s Note: This piece was inspired by Janet Maika’i Rudolph’s wonderful FAR post of December 15th, 2022, “Ode to Seeds.” “. . . I know, yes, there is renewal, /because this is what the seeds ask of us/ with their… Read More ›
Feeding the Birds….Refuge, Part 1 by Sara Wright
It’s another gray snowy day with large white flakes falling from the sky… January lasts “forever” every single year. I feed chickadees on my window ledge until the squirrels show up; then I scatter seed on the ground. Chickadees begin… Read More ›
Legacy of Carol P. Christ: Mountain Mother, I Hear You Calling
This was originally posted on July 7, 2014 The mountaintop shrines of Mount Juctas in Archanes, Crete are situated on twin peaks, which may have symbolized breasts. Ancient shrines on the northern peak date from 2200 BCE until at least… Read More ›
Finding that Feeling and Standing to Heal the Earth by Caryn MacGrandle
Something happened to me while listening to a song yesterday Mycelia by Yaima Music about the Mycelium Network: the largest living organism in the world underneath our feet, connected by synapses, communicating and assisting life. I found that feeling. The one… Read More ›
Legacy of Carol P. Christ: Think About the Consequences of Your Actions for Seven Generation
This was originally post on Aug 6, 2018 Nurture life. Walk in love and beauty. Trust the knowledge that comes through the body. Speak the truth about conflict, pain, and suffering. Take only what you need. Think about the consequences… Read More ›
When Betrayal Makes Sense by Sara Wright
When I was a young woman, a divorced mother of two, working as a waitress I became obsessed by a window hanging in a local store. This cluster of grapes was fashioned out of thick, uneven hunks of stained glass… Read More ›
Saying Goodbye (Refuge), Part 2 by Sara Wright
Part 1 was posted last week. You can read it here. When I first came to this area 40 years ago I was ‘called’ to land about 15 minutes from here. That first summer I was out in the field… Read More ›
The Crone of Winter, by Molly Remer
Just for right now, let the swirling soften.Exhale into the day,wherever you are,whatever is happening.Allow a cloak of comfortto settle across your shouldersand enfold youwith peace and restoration.Draw up strength from the earthbeneath your feet.Settle one hand on your bellyand… Read More ›
Saying Goodbye (Refuge), Part 1 by Sara Wright
Leaving chores behind I bundled up and grabbed a trowel and drove between still waters to my beloved forest. The premature snow had melted, cracked ice created fantastic glittering patterns in shallow waters informing me that it was probably too… Read More ›
The Legacy of Carol P. Christ: Meeting the Windigo
Towards the end of Braiding Sweetgrass, mother, biologist, and member of the Citizen Potawami Nation Robin Wall Kimmerer sets out at the end of winter to visit a forest area near her home that she considers hers not in name… Read More ›
The Ancestor Story by Sara Wright
During the last few years I have spent hours listening to the haunting cries of Sandhill cranes, awaiting them at the river, stunned each time as I glimpsed a flock float to the ground, great gray wings extended to break… Read More ›
A Ritual for Thanksgiving, by Molly Remer
Find some pine treesand a wide rock in the sun.Settle down and feel gratitudecurl around your shoulders.Listen to the windsense that there is sorrow tooin this place,deep and old,threaded through thelines of sunslices of shadows.It tells of what has been… Read More ›
From the Archives: Turkey – Abundance, Gratitude and Connection to Mother Earth by Judith Shaw
This was originally posted on October 25, 2020 In the United States turkeys are equated with Thanksgiving. But there is so much more to Turkey – a gentle creature who forms strong attachments. Reputed to be dumb, Turkey is in… Read More ›
Legacy of Carol P. Christ: Can We Celebrate the Dark? Can We Sleep?
This was originally posted on December 19, 2019 According to Marija Gimbutas, the religion of Old Europe celebrated the Goddess as the power of birth, death, and regeneration in all of life. Agricultural peoples understand that seeds must be kept… Read More ›
Biblical Poetry – Trees by Janet Maika’i Rudolph
In many cultures of the world, including our own, trees are considered the ancestors of humanity – own our ancestors. Trees are connected with great goddesses throughout antiquity. We see this in the bible where, as I’ve noted before, the… Read More ›
Elf and Seed Woman Stories by Sara Wright
The older I get the more important the forest becomes to me because it is a place where I find inspiration and peace. I also play in the woods! During the month of October and what I call the “Witching… Read More ›
Remembering “The Burning Times,” Part 2: Healing by Beth Bartlett
You can read part 1 here. The effects of “the burning times” are still with us. I can feel this in my own body. As Starhawk put it so vividly, “the smoke of the burned witches still hangs in our… Read More ›
Legacy of Carol P. Christ: Restored in Beauty
This was originally posted on May 11, 2015 The path leading to the Klapados Waterfall begins at the edge of an open meadow in the pine and oak woodlands of a mountain in the island of Lesbos. After driving several… Read More ›
Listening to Animal Wisdom by Judith Shaw
Throughout these years that I have focused on animals and their spiritual meanings – often in ways that relate to goddesses – I’ve heard from many people about their own encounters with animals. It seemed that for me animals mainly… Read More ›
Legacy of Carol P. Christ: Tree-Hugging Is About Trees and So Much More Than Trees
This was originally posted March 11, 2019 Not too long ago I heard someone deride members of a seminar who were building labyrinths in the olive groves of Greece as “a bunch of tree-huggers.” I bristled! I probably first heard… Read More ›
Equinox amongst the Stones
A Modern Pilgrimage to the Isle of Lewis & Harris, Part 2 In the previous post of October 14th, I introduced my recent pilgrimage to meet the Goddess, honour the physical and psychological changes that have happened inside me recently. I described… Read More ›
Grief Overshadows Joy by Sara Wright
Fall is the season of ‘the cutting away’, a poignant time to celebrate the deepening darkness as we turn inward. I think the powers of the goddess are strongest at this time of year… I wrote this wistful poem in… Read More ›
Rites of Fall, by Molly Remer
“Sometimes there is small magic
and scraps of enchantment.
Sometimes we push for more
and sometimes we yield,
joining hands
to welcome the sweet what is
as we witness the wheel’s turn…”
Legacy of Carol P. Christ: “Fertility” and the Regeneration of Life
This was originally posted on October 12, 2020 Prehistoric and indigenous religious traditions are often disparagingly mischaracterized as primitive fertility religions, concerned not with higher morality, but rather with the processes of reproduction of humans, animals, and plants. When these… Read More ›
Hail Mary by Sara Wright
The words of the mantra suddenly materialized in my mind and spilled out of my mouth as I drove home, exhausted from the days chores. Simultaneously a sharp pain lodged itself in my lower back. Astonished by hearing myself repeat… Read More ›
Legacy of Carol P. Christ: “Calling All Women” to Save the Earth, signed and shared by Carol P. Christ
This was originally posted on April 1, 2019 We are calling all women and our allies to come together to save the earth that sustains us all. Is it any wonder that from Rachel Carson to Wangari Maathai to the… Read More ›
Witches Butter by Sara Wright
The other day I found the most beautiful fungus on an aging white pine set against deep green moss that was almost arcing over the brook. When I looked up Dacrymyces palmatis I discovered that it’s common name was “Witches… Read More ›
Legacy of Carol P. Christ: Visions of the Goddess: A White Horse
This was originally posted on May 4, 2020 Imagine my surprise when, a few days ago, I looked out my window to see a dappled horse munching on flowers in the field across the street from my house. In the… Read More ›
Sky Woman comes to Earth by Sara Wright
Every twig is singing a song of thanksgiving to Sky Woman who gifts steady rain nourishing earth’s parched body. Cracked ground softens soaks in minerals and scent sensing wonder.