These posts describe both personal seasonal rituals and community-wide Earth-based ceremonies that honor our relationship to nature and spirit throughout the wheel of the year. Perhaps you will gain ideas for creating or participating in some seasonal celebrations of your own, large or small.
Spirit-and-Nature seasonal celebrations are inspired by Celtic myth and legend. They share consciousness of the continuity of Earth and Spirit with worldwide indigenous/animist cultures. In them we aspire to bring to the community an opportunity to share our loving relationship with spirit and nature through live music, crafts, circle dances, song, story, ritual, and ceremony which honors both the ecology of this our sacred Place and the presence of Spirit at these potent times. Western culture is doing its best to split nature from people and nature from spirit. We, as elders, feel the responsibility to try to hold nature/human/spirit together in Love as an act of joyous resistance. Past events are included as an archive of posts dated on or near the day they were presented.
On the Celtic Wheel of the Year the cross-quarter festival of Lughnasa falls on August 1, mid-way between Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox. The mythology of Lughnasa is particularly rich and significant. Amidst this Covid pandemic it has become clear … Continued
It takes a whole community to put on the firey celebration of Beltane (la Bealtaine in Irish), replete with music, dance and ceremony. Many of us who are of European ancestry did not grow up within the intact indigenous traditions … Continued
Summer Solstice this year was especially full of rich and diverse observances. Each celebration sprang up and flowered exuberantly, just as our gardens are emerging into the height of their flowering. And each one was co-created in a process of … Continued
Thomas Berry was a Passionist monk and a passionate lover of the Earth. He called himself a “geologian,” and he tirelessly shared a vision of the sacredness of the universe, the Earth, and the human whose role, he believed, is … Continued
This is the story of a remarkable elder who deeply affected those who knew him and what happened when his dream group decided to make a ceremony this Halloween to honor the anniversary of his passing. It’s a story about … Continued
A friend and I had tried to find a date to get together. Monday afternoon happened to be the only time she had available any time soon. I said, “It’s Memorial Day. We should do something, and if it’s hot … Continued
Oh, the birds and the bees, the plants and the trees! Beltane is for the birds this year. The Celtic festival of Beltane celebrates the beginning of summer, the lusty attraction of young folks, and the marriage of the King … Continued
Invitation: It’s Spring Equinox, the beginning of Spring. The early woodland wildflowers are blooming, the moss garden is brilliant green, and it’s St. Patrick’s Day, so it’s time for some Irish Music! You are invited to come enjoy the Moss … Continued
One day at the end of January I dreamed of being somewhere deliciously calm and expansive. I would dream of being there, sink back into deeper sleep, then rise to dream-level sleep and enjoy dreaming it again. Sinking back to … Continued
Three days before Winter Solstice / We sit on your bench, my friend, / Overlooking bare-limbed woods, / New Hope Creek shining silver in / An arc of pools below. / I tell you my Winter Solstice ritual /These days is to watch the sunrise, / Sing to it, and mark its farthest / Point of standstill / Before turning . . .