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Blog

Sep 23
Love0

All Her Beings

By Blog, Real Wilding, Spiritual Ecology
In 2022, when I graduated from seminary, I made a personal vow of ministry. I committed to caring for the Earth and all her beings. “All her beings” was a pretty big ask. After all, there are around 7.8 million species of animals, close to 300,000 plant species, 600,000 different kinds of fungi, and at least 5 million insect species…
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Sep 19
Love0

Listening to Chipmunks

By Blog, Real Wilding, Spiritual Ecology
The clatter of building materials being delivered to my neighbor interrupted my empty-headed stare into the woods during my sit spot meditation this morning. It also startled several chipmunks who, I guess because they were unsure of what that sound meant, started chuck-chucking in almost unison. Hearing their call, a red squirrel froze on the hemlock branch she was traversing.…
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Aug 21
Love0

I Vow to Commit My Hands and My Heart

By Blog, Spiritual Ecology
In June 2022, I stood in front of my seminary directors, deans, and classmates and made my personal vows of ministry. Speaking our vows was part of our ordination ceremony. The two years of seminary were challenging, personally and for the whole class. When we started, we were still in the first year of the COVID pandemic. The once hybrid…
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Jul 07
Love0

Resources for Working With the Divine Feminine

By Blog
During our last Turtle Journey, a participant requested resources for working with the divine feminine. Following are some I have found helpful. Links are to Bookshop.org. The Healing Power of the Sacred Woman by Christine R. Page, MD Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estés a spread from The Sacred…
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Mar 05
Love0

The Spirituality of Wildlife Rehabilitation

By Blog, Spiritual Ecology
I was invited to do a question-and-answer session with the Compassion Consortium’s Animal Chaplaincy students on wildlife rehabilitation from a spiritual perspective. I shared that, honestly, I don’t know any wildlife rehabilitators, or at least any who stick with it, who aren’t spiritual about it in some way. There are some who start for their own egos, but they tend…
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Jan 26
Love0

A Different Kind of Hope

By Blog, Spiritual Ecology
As Imbolc season approaches, I have been thinking about hope, my theme for the ceremony and the days that follow. I will be honest, hope, as I usually engage with it, is difficult to find and, when I do, seems lacking in any meaning. That kind of hope feels like nothing more than wishful thinking. The news is full of…
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Dec 31
Love0

Outrage Fatigue

By Blog, Spiritual Ecology
It’s New Year’s Eve and I’m done being outraged. 2024 has been hard on my physical, mental, and emotional health, and the U.S. election was a contributing factor, but not the only one. There were a whole lot of other humans doing things I wish they wouldn’t, or not doing things I wish they would, and, frankly, I’m tired. I…
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Dec 30
Love0

The Radical Non-Action of Saying No

By Blog, Spiritual Ecology
How do you review a year? If I was going to review 2024 as if it was a book, I think I would write “thumbs down,” “this plot is ridiculous,” “author jammed so much into this story that it doesn’t make sense,” or something like that. Yet, here I am, leafing through the pages of my planner and thinking, “How…
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Jun 12
Love1

Yellow Birch

By Blog, Real Wilding
Behind my house, shading the deck and my sit spot, is a lovely yellow birch. For many years, it was just “a birch of some kind.” Deepening my connection with the land included getting to know the trees, and I set about discovering what kind of birch it is. The tree has bark which peels like the white, or paper,…
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