Winter Solstice Traditions

Bright Blessings of the Winter Solstice Sun to you all!!!

There are a number of traditions that I have developed over the years for Winter Solstice.  In the past, our circle has engaged in an all night celebration ritual, where we set sacred space and then spend the evening baking bread, playing cards, telling stories, drinking with our spirits and deities, and generally celebrating the long night.  When the sun finally rises, we greet the dawn, with drums and singing and heavy eyes.  Then we crash and sleep through the day.

You say Savior, I say Sun King

I live in a row of old apartment buildings in Astoria, NY.  Just across the East River of Manhattan, my Queens apartment is relatively affordable and spacious.  The buildings butt up directly to one another, creating a corridor down our street and a continuous line of rooftops.  It was up on my roof (four stories up) where I had my winter solstice ritual this morning.

Karen Armstrong

As this transition has come into my life, a few of my friends have made recommendation for scholastic theology books that I might be interested in.  My good friend Sarah suggested that I look into Karen Armstrong, a writer in the field of comparative religion

Ministry as Vocation Conference

This last October I was invited to join the Admissions staff at the Pacific School of Religion to spend a weekend staying on campus, learning about their programs, and sitting in a sacred space of discernment.  The admissions office was so interested in having me come find out if PSR was a good fit for me that they gave me free room and board for the weekend and even helped pay part of my airfare from New York.

The Promise of Harvest

It's a humid and stormy Lammas this year in Queens. Like so many other Witches, I look for symbolism in nature to help better connect with my own path and the wheel of the year as it turns. Stormy and uncomfortably sticky seems to be quite apt for harvest this year. Lammas (or Lugnasadh as was called by the Gaels) was an ancient harvest festival celebrated in the British Isles. Modern day neo-pagans have reclaimed the holiday as one of their eight holy days. Celebrated each year on August 1st, Lammas is the first of the harvest holidays and generally represents the hard work and sacrifice that it takes to reap what we have sown.