The rose is the flower of Venus and the symbol of love in all its delicious variety. It is symbolically linked to Adonis, Aphrodite, Dionysus and Eros. Greek lovers gave roses as a courting gift to their eromenoi. “So must you beautiful boys arm yourselves with roses,” wrote Philostratus in the second century CE.
Continue readingEmbodied Spirituality
Posts about Embodied Spirituality and embodiment
The Golden Shadow
Shadow work seems to be the thing all the kids are talking about these days. I assumed that people were talking about the integration of the shadow as is talked about in Jungian psychology. But do you know about the concept of the Golden Shadow? Check out my YouTube video, “Archetypes and shadow work” for more about Jungian shadow concepts, including the Golden Shadow.
Continue readingWitchy aesthetics
There’s a lot of talk about Halloween being “the season of the witch” and it is true that what sets us apart from many other paths and traditions is an enthusiastic embrace of both darkness and light. But that is not the full extent of witchy aesthetics.
There should also be winter witches and springtime witches and summer witches. We are a religion for all seasons!
Continue readingThe light of the water
Water • September Pagan Challenge # 26
In OBOD Druidry, Autumn Equinox is called Alban Elfed, the Light of the Water. So here are some photos of water and light. I think Alban Elfed is a wonderful name — light and water are a natural pairing and the reflective nature of water does amazing things with light. Water is sacred in most Earth-based traditions, including ancient and modern Pagan traditions, and Indigenous traditions of Turtle Island (North America).
Green witch
Green witch • September Pagan Challenge # 18.
Whenever anyone asks “are you a black witch or a white witch?” (thankfully this is an increasingly rare question), I say “neither, I’m a green witch”.
I love walking in the woods and gardening, so I think that makes me a green witch. I also try to be green by doing recycling and using less resources.
Spiritual bypassing
Recently there has been a pattern on social media of BIPOC people expressing their completely valid pain and anger and sadness over the continuing murder of Black people by police, and getting pushback from “spiritual” people claiming that their anger is too much, or somehow misplaced. I have also experienced this phenomenon. I used to call it “spiritualler-than-thou” syndrome, until I discovered that it already had a name, spiritual bypassing.
Continue readingThe melancholy of lost spaces
There are spaces that once existed that we can no longer visit. The bedroom I had as a child is gone. I went to university. My parents sold the house and relocated the remainder of my stuff to the new house. That was a cute room, too. Various apartments I’ve lived in over the years, creating cosy spaces — those spaces can never be exactly recreated. Even if your parents still live in the same house and didn’t redecorate your childhood room — you still see it through different eyes as an adult.
Continue readingMeditation with snow
This is actually an illustration of how terrible I am at meditation. But I had fun trying. I’m sharing this for all the other people out there who struggle with meditation. I can recommend washing your face with snow though — it’s very invigorating.
Continue readingNotable and quotable 23
I opened the WordPress app on my phone after a bit of a hiatus and found three top quality posts that I wanted to share. I hope you will appreciate them as much as I did.
Continue readingKayaking
We’ve taken up kayaking. We bought a kayak on Bob’s birthday, and took it out that weekend.
Dowsing for Divinity 