We desire to know, to sort into boxes labeled “house sparrow,” “creeping bellflower,” “altocumulus.” This desire is ancient within us, hearkening back to when we owed our wellbeing to knowing whether an animal was friend or foe, whether a plant was food or poison, whether a cloud signaled drought or flood. Even without that necessity, sometimes it’s just cool to know what other lives I share my space with: what bird makes that mournful cry in the evenings? what’s that plant suddenly thriving in the shaded corner where nothing else would grow?
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An Earthseed Solstice: Festival of the Teacher
The summer solstice coincides with the birthday of Octavia Butler, June 22. So we celebrate Butler’s life and work, as well as the beginning of summer. Through the ritual, we will seek to deepen our understanding of the words of the Book of the Living: “God is Teacher” and “Partnership is learning and teaching”. The ritual will involve song, like Peter Mayer’s “God is a River”, and call-and-response. The center of the ritual will be a “meditative teaching” and the construction of an altar or “focus” to honor teachers who have inspired us.
Worshiping the Dark at the Summer Solstice
Neo-Paganism is all about balance. It is about bringing opposites together into harmony. If we celebrate the birth of the Sun Child on the longest night, what else would be celebrate on the longest day but the birth of the Dark Child from his mother, the Goddess of the Sun?