By Daniel Scharpenburg Spring started two months ago. It will be summer soon. It doesn't always feel like Spring here in the Midwest right away, but it definitely feels like spring now. Soon it will be summer and we'll all be sweaty and gross. Some of my pagan friends celebrate the seasons. I’d like [...]
Elaina G Photography By Daniel Moler Yep. I probably shouldn't, but I'm going to do it. I am going to talk about cultural appropriation. And, more specifically, I'm going to address this word "shaman," and its use. First of all, I'm a white man. I really can't help that. Believe me, I've [...]
By Ryan Hutchins All life is in a constant state of fluctuation. The earth we inhabit is perpetually rotating, the days disappear and turn into nights, one season dies and gives birth to another. Without exception, all beings are seasonal as well. They grow, flourish, then wither and die. Life itself is an elaborate [...]
By Darren Chittick I’ve interpreted for His Holiness the Dalai Lama on several occasions. On one of those occasions, I received a blessing from him, and a blessing scarf. I recently cut that scarf into pieces. It all started with this obsession I’ve had lately with two concepts from Judaism, Ein Sof and Yesh. [...]
By Denele Campbell This morning my Facebook newsfeed included an image of a bloody thorn-crowned Christ on the cross. I’ve never understood why death is enshrined in our culture, especially at a time we’re seeing the natural world revive from winter. This is spring. Why worship death? In reality, spring equinox and the [...]
By Ryan Hutchins The mysteries of the universe can never be known. We can speculate and create theories, but there is no way of ever knowing for certain what is eternal. Some people mask their faith as an understanding of life. Some may say they know something to be true because of their faith and to a certain [...]
By Ty H. Phillips I hear her cackle first thing in the morning. I come in at 6:30 am and she has been up for three hours already, two of which are spent praying in the chapel downstairs. I sit down at my desk and hear her laughing---cackling if you will---with the nurses. [...]
By Darren Chittick As spring begins to unfold all around us, it is easy to consider resilience as "bouncing back." It is used in this way in much of the research available on the subject, and for many years that is exactly what I would have said resilience is. Spring, in the context of the [...]
By Tanya Tiger I had always wondered what people experienced when they said that they had a “calling” or had been “called by God” (or any other divine entity for that matter). I would try and imagine if it was like a phone call from a friend, “Hey, ya, it’s me… you know the [...]
By Ryan Hutchins A while back I was thinking about all the concepts that have created the image of who I was. I thought about my name, the way I look, my beliefs and thoughts, my past and everything that "I" am, and inexplicably I started laughing. A deeply serene and calm feeling filled my entire being. [...]