I travel a familiar road,yet new.
There, known tree -
here, last year's hollyhocks;
but surging beneath the transparent soil
is life re-born.
I am walking slowly and seeing where I am.
magara 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Now
I travel a familiar road,yet new.
There, known tree -
here, last year's hollyhocks;
but surging beneath the transparent soil
is life re-born.
I am walking slowly and seeing where I am.
magara 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
A Pagan's rant on St. Patrick's Day
3/17/10 St. Patty's Day - that fucking snake chaser, pagan vanisher, religiously empowered destroyer. That's what we celebrate today with the wearing of the green. A tradition, I for one, don't honor anymore.
There are things I admire about Ireland, such as the devotion to poetry and music, to the beauty and power of crafted words among friends. I cannot help but admire a people who, though occupied and oppressed, could not be defeated. I love the stories that are so fantastical and mysterious, that exist outside ordinary cause and effect.
I love that the lore of Ireland continues to retain magic and other worldliness. I appreciate that fairy mounds and goddesses, wells and stag continue to be honored. I am grateful that at least the Irish were able to hold on to some parts of their pagan practices. Because of their tenacity we can follow the Celtic Wheel of the year and have some idea of the traditional celebrations of the holidays. Without this stronghold of paganism and earth based celebrations perhaps nothing would remain of the European nature centered spirituality.
There are individuals and sects and even countries that seem to have a calling to be the keepers of a faith or heritage. These are places which seem to have a unique history of relationship with spiritual beings and traditions. Ireland and Tibet come to mind as countries for which this is possible. Arizona and New Mexico, Vermont and Maine, and the mountains of North Carolina also resonate for me. Each of these peoples has suffered under an overlord's tyranny but continues to hold to their heart knowledge.
In the face of christianity in Ireland and communism in Tibet these particular spiritual loyalists have been ground and scattered. Remarkably, the scattering which is a great tragedy in their national experience, has informed all of us. The faiths for which they have been persecuted have spread to their refugee lands. The tearing of these two cultures seem to have spread the seeds of their beliefs and ideas across the world.
Lifting my glass, ignoring St. Patrick; I celebrate the Irish, both the myth and the actual, for keeping the faith.
There are things I admire about Ireland, such as the devotion to poetry and music, to the beauty and power of crafted words among friends. I cannot help but admire a people who, though occupied and oppressed, could not be defeated. I love the stories that are so fantastical and mysterious, that exist outside ordinary cause and effect.
I love that the lore of Ireland continues to retain magic and other worldliness. I appreciate that fairy mounds and goddesses, wells and stag continue to be honored. I am grateful that at least the Irish were able to hold on to some parts of their pagan practices. Because of their tenacity we can follow the Celtic Wheel of the year and have some idea of the traditional celebrations of the holidays. Without this stronghold of paganism and earth based celebrations perhaps nothing would remain of the European nature centered spirituality.
There are individuals and sects and even countries that seem to have a calling to be the keepers of a faith or heritage. These are places which seem to have a unique history of relationship with spiritual beings and traditions. Ireland and Tibet come to mind as countries for which this is possible. Arizona and New Mexico, Vermont and Maine, and the mountains of North Carolina also resonate for me. Each of these peoples has suffered under an overlord's tyranny but continues to hold to their heart knowledge.
In the face of christianity in Ireland and communism in Tibet these particular spiritual loyalists have been ground and scattered. Remarkably, the scattering which is a great tragedy in their national experience, has informed all of us. The faiths for which they have been persecuted have spread to their refugee lands. The tearing of these two cultures seem to have spread the seeds of their beliefs and ideas across the world.
Lifting my glass, ignoring St. Patrick; I celebrate the Irish, both the myth and the actual, for keeping the faith.
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