Archive for the 'Holy Daze' Category

Step into the Dark

Wednesday, September 26th, 2012

A year ago I set myself a project, an experiment, a journey, a spiritual quest. I wanted to discover, uncover, delineate and define my religion. I wanted to deepen, strengthen, and integrate everything in my life. I wanted to live with greater intention. And I wanted it all to happen on a one-year schedule. It [...]

Happy (Belated) Lammas

Friday, August 24th, 2012

We had a wonderful Lammas. It has emerged as probably my favorite holiday, which is kind of funny considering I never heard of it until two years ago. It’s taken a few weeks but I finally got some photos up. And as an unexpected bonus, we even have a short movie, which contains the very [...]

How We Celebrated the Summer Solstice

Tuesday, July 10th, 2012

We went way up to the mountains of northern Alabama, to Monte Sano State Park. No elaborate rituals. No goat sacrifice. Just hanging out in the woods. Well, we did make those solstice stones earlier. But mostly we just hung out in the woods. I don’t think we’ve ever done that, as a family. It [...]

Happy Midsummer

Tuesday, June 19th, 2012

Happy May Day

Tuesday, May 1st, 2012

Workers of the world, take a break and celebrate International Workers’ Day or as I prefer to call it: May Day. It’s a day to remember the 1886 Haymarket Massacre in Chicago. It’s good to recall that the eight-hour work day was not always a given, but something for which workers had to fight and [...]

Step into the Light

Tuesday, March 20th, 2012

Now we enter that half of the year where the days are longer than the nights. The equinox came this morning at fourteen minutes past midnight. I have to make an effort not to fixate on that single moment. I was asleep anyhow. Better to extend the celebration. The equilux was last Thursday here in [...]

Four Years

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

Dear Persephone, You are four years old today. So: Happy Birthday! But also: Happy Mardi Gras! The last time Mardi Gras fell on the 21st of February was in 1950, which was not only before you were born but well before I was born. These dates will line up again in eleven years, for your [...]

Happy Candlemas

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

I drew these candles and asked Persephone to color them red with yellow flames. She understood my instructions perfectly, but it seems she has a mind of her own. Happy Candlemas!

Why Solstice Matters

Friday, December 16th, 2011

Warning: What follows is not a well-researched authoritative statement. It’s unfettered speculation. Take it with a grain of salt. The Oldest Holiday Surely the winter solstice must be the oldest holiday, or one of the oldest. Early humans noticed that the days would get shorter and longer, and it’s fairly easy to determine the solstice [...]

Unmasking

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

A bit discombobulated and disconnected for this recent holiday. Perhaps that’s because I was traveling just before — the POD Network traditionally has their conference at the end of October, and this one was combined with the annual conference of the HBCU Faculty Development Network, and we mustered our biggest contingent (four) ever. Wouldn’t have [...]

Balancing Intentions

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

Equinox It’s a precise moment that happens twice a year, when the equatorial plane of the earth intersects the center of the sun. That’s the equinox. This year it came at 4:04 AM (local time) on the morning of Friday, September 23rd. For this moment only, the earth’s axis was not tilted one way or [...]

Happy Lammas

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011

One Full Revolution

Friday, July 29th, 2011

Lammas is rapidly approaching. It was last year at Lammas that I began making an effort to observe each holiday in the Wheel of the Year with my family. Now that we’ve seen one full revolution of the wheel, I’m taking stock and reflecting on what it means. It’s my understanding that the Wheel of [...]

Patriotic

Monday, July 4th, 2011

Here’s a mix to enliven your Fourth of July.

Solstice

Friday, July 1st, 2011

Tuesday was the Summer Solstice. I got up super early (4AM by my body clock, which was still in the Central Time Zone) and headed down to the beach. It was still pretty dark, but even at that early hour the eastern sky held a faint glow which grew stronger slowly, slowly, as I watched [...]

Forty Months

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011

Dear Persephone, I meant to take notes on all the crazy things you’ve said over the last few weeks. But time got away from me. I remember you said “Trust me!” when we were playing Alphabet Farm. I wrote it down, because it seemed remarkable, but now I can’t remember anything more about it, except [...]

Memorial

Monday, May 30th, 2011

I just learned Gil Scott-Heron died Friday. Today is Memorial Day. Here’s a video.

Mother Love

Sunday, May 8th, 2011

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there — including my mom, my mother-in-law, my baby-mama, and of course the Great Mother: Mama Earth. I love you all. Forgive us, mothers, for we know not what we do.

May Day

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

See what you missed? Not to mention the maypole. This was our second May Day party. I enjoyed last year’s so much that I wrote, “I’m already imagining what it might be like to do it again next year.” So, boom, now it’s a tradition. In fact our celebration last year represented our first observance [...]

Walpurgis

Saturday, April 30th, 2011

Twenty-five years ago tonight, I was at a bonfire in northern Sweden. I was astounded by the size of the thing — like a house burning. It may not look like night in these photos, but remember that we were very near the arctic circle. By late June it hardly got dark at all. Note [...]