The seasonal shift from summer to fall is a potent time of year for remembering our beloved dead. In October the growth of the natural world recedes and absence becomes a presence. The first days of November bring Mexican Day of the Dead traditions, Catholic masses for All Saints and Soul Days, and secular commemorations [...]
A place of pause, renewal, and connection for seekers
Persephone Rising at Equinoxtide
In mid February of 2016, I stood on the dike along a bend in the Connecticut River watching the ice floes come down from the north. First, there were just the sludgy, half-submerged chunks with their edges clicking together in the surface water. Then whole islands of white snow took their place and set a new [...]
Threshold of the Dark Mini-Retreat
Each season offers different gifts and challenges, flows with its own rhythm and mystery. When we tune our awareness to the offerings and energy of the season, we can better receive its wisdom and be supported in our spiritual devotions, divinatory seeking, and/or creative vocations. The turning from October to November is a threshold time [...]
Persephone Descending: Letters to the Dead
In March 2016, before the Equinox, and as the moon opened to fullness, I had an experience that is basically inexpressible because of its power and because of its commonness. I sensed the moment the seasons shifted as the moon rose over a river filling with spring’s ice floes. To convey a glimpse into the [...]
Pilgrimage Report in Poetry and Prose
The Summer Solstice-hinged e-retreat Walking the Ways of the Summer Light just concluded. This offering is a poetic report from a few moments of my Pilgrimage trip to Acadia National Park. Love, the shaper, makes her a light fish with dark eyes swimming green, this passage skims skin from her cheeks. What she wanted [...]