Our stories lie down in the orchard, their time is not now, but something is coming, something is going away. They rise to the stars, and wait to be told. There are listeners who know how little we know, how much we are feeling. We had to go our own way, a little off course, … Read more
This is the last day of the month, and so is sacred to the great Triple Goddess, Hecate. On this day, we honor the Her as Queen of the Night and the Goddess of Witches. Hecate is a protector of women, mighty advocate for the disenfranchised, and She who guards the crossroads. It is She … Read more
School Prayer by Diane Ackerman, from I Praise My Destroyer In the name of the daybreak and the eyelids of morning and the wayfaring moon and the night when it departs, I swear I will not dishonor my soul with hatred, but offer myself humbly as a guardian of nature, as a healer of misery, … Read more
Inside myself is a place where I live all alone, and that’s where I renew my springs that never dry up. — Pearl Buck I have noticed that more and more people seem to find it impossible to unplug, to allow silence, and to be alone with themselves. This is very sad, and is tied, … Read more
For Mark (1950-2002) Heron Rises From The Dark, Summer Pond by Mary Oliver So heavy is the long-necked, long-bodied heron, always it is a surprise when her smoke-colored wings open and she turns from the thick water, from the black sticks of the summer pond, and slowly rises into the air and is gone. Then, … Read more
Scraps of Moon by Denise Levertov (1923-1997) from This Great Unknowing Scraps of moon bobbing discarded on broken water but sky-moon complete, transcending all violation Here she seems to be talking to herself about the shape of a life: Only Once All which, because it was flame and song and granted us joy, we thought … Read more
Prayer is not an old woman’s idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action. — Mahatma Gandhi In case you have never used a rosary, mala, or other prayer bead tool (I certainly had not when I first made mine), the idea is to construct a circle or line … Read more
Sunset Rainer Maria Rilke Slowly the west reaches for clothes of new colours which it passes to a row of ancient trees. You look, and soon these two worlds both leave you, one part climbs toward heaven, one sinks to earth, leaving you, not really belonging to either, not so helplessly dark as that house … Read more
THE LORDS OF SHADOW by Fiona MacLeod (William Sharp) Where the water whispers mid the shadowy rowan-trees I have heard the Hidden People like the hum of swarming bees: And when the moon has risen and the brown burn glisters grey I have seen the Green Host marching in laughing disarray. Dalua then must sure … Read more
Morning Poem by Mary Oliver Every morning the world is created. Under the orange sticks of the sun the heaped ashes of the night turn into leaves again and fasten themselves to the high branches — and the ponds appear like black cloth on which are painted islands of summer lilies. If it is your … Read more