Changing Paths blogging challenge 2023
-
Stories
Read more: StoriesChanging Paths challenge day 16 — stories. The power of stories to change and challenge a person’s worldview is immense. My worldview was definitely informed by reading A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin, Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, The Writing on the Hearth by Cynthia Harnett (now sadly forgotten by…
-
Wibbly wobbly
Read more: Wibbly wobblyChanging Paths challenge day 14: changing paths. Changing paths is a wibbly-wobbly thing. During the process, I was all over the place. It was like having the bends (you know, the thing where a diver rises too quickly to the surface and gets cramps) or being on a giant scary roller coaster ride. That’s why…
-
Things I miss
Read more: Things I missChanging Paths challenge day 13 — things I do miss about my old path. Unitarian hymns — specifically the earth-based ones like Peter Mayer’s “Blue Boat Home” (which doesn’t get sung often enough in the UK), “Mother Spirit” by Norbert Čapek, and nature-based ones like “Daisies are our silver” and “Spirit of Life” of course,…
-
Things I don’t miss
Read more: Things I don’t missChanging Paths challenge day 12 — things I don’t miss about the traditions I have left.
-
Lover of leaving
Read more: Lover of leavingChanging Paths challenge day 11 — why I left I left Unitarianism in the end because of archetypes. The archetype that fits me the best is that of the witch, and it’s an archetype that sits uncomfortably in the Unitarian path. (The combination may work for others: didn’t work for me.) I left Christianity because…
-
Still friends
Read more: Still friendsChanging Paths challenge day 10 — still friends. I’m still friends with several Unitarians, either in person or on social media. Last September two of our longest-standing Unitarian friends from the UK came to visit us in Canada and we had a great time together. A quote from one of them found its way into…
-
Old friends
Read more: Old friendsChanging Paths challenge day 9 — old friends. Although Unitarianism * / Unitarian Universalism wasn’t my path, I still value many of their ideas and values. They’re green, they’re LGBT+ inclusive or at least welcoming, they were the first to ordain women ministers (the Universalists in 1860, the English Unitarians in 1904), among the first…
-
Devotion, awe, reverence
Read more: Devotion, awe, reverenceChanging Paths challenge 7 — devotion “devotion (n.) c. 1200, devocioun, “profound religious emotion, awe, reverence” (also relates to vow) —Etymology Online What provokes awe in me is immensity — the immense depths of space, the infinite number of stars, the dancing curtains of light in the Northern Lights, or a huge sweeping mountain range;…
-
Ritual
Read more: RitualChanging Paths challenge 6 — ritual Candle flames flickering, incense smoke curling in the twilight, standing in a circle of firelight, chanting sacred words. Deep in the woods where everything is transformed by the moonlight. Where the warm summer rain falls softly on the leaves. The atmosphere of ritual is like no other: electrifying, life-enhancing,…
-
Cinco de Mayo
Read more: Cinco de MayoHappy Cinco de Mayo! I didn’t know anything about this festival so I looked it up, and apparently it’s a minor holiday in México celebrating the defeat of an invading French army by a small Mexican army at the Battle of Puebla (1862). But it’s celebrated in the USA by the Mexican diaspora. Originally this…
-
New friends
Read more: New friendsChanging Paths Challenge day 4 — new friends I’ve met some lovely new people in Canada — in the Wiccan and Pagan community, at pottery class and also Morris dancers. Plus we’ve joined a (secular) choir recently.
-
My Pagan path
Read more: My Pagan pathChanging Paths challenge day 3 — my new path Well I’m not sure that Paganism is my “new” path any more as I’ve been a Pagan for 38 years now… but what keeps it fresh? Seeing the beauty of nature, and when humans interact with nature harmoniously. The changing round of the seasons. Seeing the…
-
Spring
Read more: SpringThe experience of leaving a religion that is not the right one for you can feel very much like Spring. Green shoots come up where there was bare earth before; water starts flowing again, and the birds start singing.
-
May Morning
Read more: May MorningChanging Paths challenge 1– May Morning May morning seems an appropriate time to start a new writing project. It’s one of the four quarter days of the year, when traditionally there were fairs (often hiring fairs) and celebrations. I always feel like Imbolc / Candlemas is a great time to start groups — when the…
Changing Paths 