Page 2 – Debbie Philp

Getaway Elopement

By Debbie Philp A Magical Rite, Handfastings

This handfasting ceremony was created for the elopement of a nonbinary Pagan couple. Only the officiant and two witnesses were present in a private suite where the couple was spending the weekend. Ceremony Script Gathering 11:30am Partner 1 and Partner 2 give officiant the rings. Partner 1 and Partner 2 stand facing each other in front of the officiant. Witnesses…

May 26

My Interfaith Ecospiritual Journey

This short talk, presented on May 4, 2025 to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Glens Falls, was part of a service co-lead by me and two other One Spirit Interfaith Seminary graduates in which we shared our journeys to, through, and after seminary. I was raised on the south shore of Long Island, by parents who only felt obligated to…

May 23

Wild Community: Pagan spirituality centered in saving Earth’s biodiversity

Presented at the Virtual Symposium of Pagan Thought and Practice on March 29, 2025. The symposium is an offering of Commons of Modern Pagans and Spiritual Seekers (COMPASS). Let’s take a deep breath together and let all that settle. Hi, I’m Debbie, she/her pronouns, and I’m joining from the Adirondack mountains in northeastern New York, land that was once hunting…

Mar 05

The Spirituality of Wildlife Rehabilitation

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…

Jan 26

A Different Kind of Hope

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…

Jan 16

The Unloved

Presented January 12, 2025, at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Glens Falls in Queensbury, New York, the weekend after I received my basic venomous snake handling certification. The talk was inspired by rattlesnakes, snapping turtles, opossums, and love. I wasn’t here last Sunday. Instead, I was in Atlanta, putting snakes into bags, then into buckets. You may have just said…

Dec 31

Outrage Fatigue

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…

Dec 30

The Radical Non-Action of Saying No

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…

Nov 02

Fog, Fear and Phantoms