There are times in which we are poised at the crossroads, these waystations of choice and change. We balance twin forces of separation and connection. We move within life’s ebb and flow, an ongoing cycle of growth and renewal. However tempting it might be to set up camp in the middle, to rest in the not-knowing place, to linger in the liminal, eventually we must choose a way. May we have clarity in the choosing, trust in the unfolding, and faith in the journey. May we listen to the thrum of purpose that hums in our veins, the whispers of longing that linger on the wind, the fiery core of resolve within our bellies, the knowing in our bones. And, collecting what we can of courage, step through the choices, our feet feeling the support beneath them as our sacred path spirals onward.
Being in the world to see it, is the best way to learn its secrets and stories. Walking with a poet’s eyes, a dreamer’s mind, and a witch’s heart, is the best way to fully inhabit the story of your own life as it is being written right now. Choosing to see the magic that is at work, right now exactly where you are, is a radical and revolutionary act of re-enchanting the world.
Today, I sought the pines and stones once more. Descending into the steep gully to look for sweet water easing its way from the depths to trickle across ancient stones. I found both comfort and delight in sitting by a tiny pool, looking into the water, allowing myself to be held and restored. I anointed my forehead, face, and shoulders with cool drops from this smallest of possible waterways, both unnamed and essential, and then opened my palms to the sky to invite the rain. I sat with swaying sycamore, elm, and ash trees listening to the music they made with leaf and wind. I found a turkey feather in the leaves beside the water, soft and fluffy and tipped with an iridescent greenish shine I listened to my heart. I offered up both hope and dreams upon this altar of stone and sky.
I found two tiny brown feathers on the sidewalk and a puff of raptor down caught on the grasses. I picked some berries off the autumn olives that line the sidewalk and ate them, careful not to spit the seeds where they might grow. The plants are aggressive and invasive, but also edible, a friend has called them “sweetarts of the forest” and this is indeed how they taste. We watched our shadows precede us and talked of dreams and desires, wondering and wishes. As we neared the car, a gust of wind swirled into the walnut tree ahead of us and a cascade of yellow leaves began to dance and twirl through the air. I’ve written before of being in an autumn snowglobe and though I try to think of another way to describe it, that is truly how it feels to stand with your head tilted back laughing into the blue sky as the leaves come drifting down around your shoulders. This time, as I looked up, a hawk, previously unseen, tilted down out of the walnut branches and slid away into the trees above my head. We all need time for restoration and replenishment, time to stand laughing in the leaves with the sweet-tart flavor of October on our tongues.
(Side note: red fruits actually pictured are on a crabapple tree, not an autumn olive.)
We set forth seeking chanterelles, past the barriers of thorn and bug and into the quiet slopes and mosses of an August wood. We did not find many mushrooms, but we did find: A queen of hearts playing card and a few steps later, the jack. A lower jawbone, worn and smooth, incisors and molars still in their places. A turtle, once wounded, now healed, v-shaped crack in its shell framing its patient yellow-spotted face. A copperhead snake, perfectly patched for patterns made by sunshine filtered through oak leaves. One crow feather, a bit ragged, and a gray feather too. Three white-tailed deer, startled into flight, quick hooves clattering away across the stones. More spiderwebs than we can count. The tiniest of tiny ticks, spilling from seed head into our shoes and hastening our steps. Moss with sun on it and tufted titmice squabbling in the hackberry trees. A spiral shell fossil, sparkled with dusting of quartz, its small curve pre-dating every moment of the entirety of human history, and yet here today with us now, reminding us that we walk across what was once the bottom of a sea. The sweet sensation of aliveness, that comes with loving something enough to give up a bit of blood and body just to have a taste.
“Let us hold hands with the woman who cooks, with the woman who builds, with the woman who cries, with the woman who laughs, with the woman who heals, with the woman who prays, with the woman who plants, with the woman who harvests, with the woman who sings, with the woman whose spirits rise.”
—Pat Mora, Let Us Hold Hands (in Auga Santa, reprinted in the UU Service Committee’s Gender Justice curriculum)
Erin Lale
Fellow faculty at Harvard Divinity School posted an open letter to Wolpe in response to his article. It's available on this page, below the call for p...
Erin Lale
Here's another response. The Wild Hunt has a roundup of numerous responses on its site, but it carried this one as a separate article. It is an accoun...
Erin Lale
Here's another response. This one is by a scholar of paganism. It's unfortunately a Facebook post so this link goes to Facebook. She posted the text o...
Erin Lale
Here's another link to a pagan response to the Atlantic article. I would have included this one in my story too if I had seen it before I published it...