Please join us on Saturday (11 December 2021) from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM for our monthly building and grounds work day. Join us as we get our church home — inside and out — as we continue to reopen.

                                                   Christmas Calling (Jolly Jones) by Norah Jones. Today we have a brand spanking new Christmas song that may have legs if holiday radio can break out of its rut of a short rotation a comfortably familiar chestnuts.   In recent years only pop superstars and country music divas have been able to stake a claim.   Today’s artist, while well honored and popular, is pegged as a jazz chanteuse an offramp from the mainstream. Nora Jones was born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar on March 30, 1979 in New York City to Indian classical sitar player Ravi Shankar who burst on the western musical scene with an introduction by the Beatles and American concert producer Sue Jones...

Margherita Caruso as Mary in Pasolini’s  Gospel According to St. Matthew  (1964) A short  “ thought for the day” offered to the Cambridge Unitarian Church as part of the Sunday Service of Mindful   Meditation  (Click on this link to hear a recorded version of the following piece) —o0o— As I noted last week, we are in the season of Advent which, minimally conceived, marks the beginning of a period of reflective waiting and preparation for “that-which-is-to-come.” You may recall that I added, because the symbol of “that-which-is-to-come” in the Advent and Christmas myth has become so familiar to us — namely, the new-born Jesus as a representation of “divinity-among-us-never-gone” — it is easy to forget that ...

    DOUBT & FAITH A Zen Meditation James Ishmael Ford “The opposite of faith is not doubt; it is certainty. It is madness. You can tell you have created God in your image when it turns out that he or she hates all the same people you do.” Anne Lamont With Buddhism like with […]

I find mystery sometimes scary because it can be the unknown and it could be the known you can’t stop, things like creeping apathy that lead to evil. Engage with something beyond your control today–overcome creeping apathy by caring.

Please join us on Saturday (11 December 2021) at 10:30 AM for our weekly meditation group with Larry Androes. This is a sitting Buddhist meditation including a brief introduction to mindfulness meditation, 20 minutes of sitting, and followed by a weekly teaching. The group is free and open to all. For more information, contact Larry … Continue reading "Meditation with Larry Androes (11 December 2021)"

"It is midnight on a Wednesday evening, which is the time I like to bring gifts to the gods. I tear the cider bread into nine pieces and leave it there. In the morning the bread is gone, taken by the gods or the squirrels, who in any event share much in common." Continue reading Column: Cider Bread, a Devotion at The Wild Hunt.

      Today, the 10th of December in 1968, the American Trappist monk, mystic, spiritual writer, social justice activist, and advocate of interreligious dialogue, Thomas Merton died. The Episcopal church marks this date as a feast for a saint. And in my own way I try to keep this small feast, as well. What […]

Because the Black Panthers were created and developed in black neighborhoods, identitarians assume the Panthers were a racial organization. This makes as much sense as assuming that because Marx and Engels were Europeans, Marxism is “white”.You could argue that the Black Panthers began with a racial focus. You cannot argue that they did not quickly move past focusing on race to focusing on class

Today I start a three day box making class at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts. Due to covid 19 restrictions, I have a small class of only 4 students, so each will receive plenty of personal attention.  Yesterday I finished a two day photo shoot with Barry Dima from Fine Woodworking. We made three boxes under the watchful eye of a Canon camera with huge lens, and flash. The boxes we made and photographed in process will serve as examples for my students as we begin class. A friend of mine, Ron Hansen, PhD, professor emeritus from Western Ontario University and the founder of the Human Ingenuity Research Group offered the following comment on my new, yet-to-be released book: Congratulations Doug and Linden. This book is so crucial t...

                                                       The Chalica Song performed at a Unitarian Universalist congregation. Regular visitors to this little pop stand at the far end of the cul de sac know that the proprietor is a proud Unitarian Universalist and quite fond of the faith’s quirky adherents .  But, oh boy, are we ever an earnest bunch fiercely proud of our history and heritage , our anti-racism , progressive social justice activism , and non-creedal religion .  Toss in the large numbers of Humanists who break out in rashes at the mention of God and we can be the butt of a lot of jokes, not all of them as semi-fond as Garrison Keillor’s . Take the recent development of Chalica for exampl...

“Gathered here in the mystery of the hour …”  How does a concrete, sequential thinker think of these words, and will the interpretation of these words be different for the abstract random thinker? What, to you, is the mystery that draws humans to gather?

Within the world of agriculture, there is a vital part of crop growing known as letting land “lie fallow.”  To fallow a piece of earth is to leave it deliberately unsown – to let it rest. This time of rest allows more fertility to gather in the soil, guaranteeing a better crop later. It is […] The post Fallow Season ~ Burnout, Fatigue, and Sacred Rest appeared first on Nature's Sacred Journey.

Editorial Note: TWH uses quotations on “witches,” “witchcraft,” and “witch-hunt” to denote there appears no association with modern Pagan or Witchcraft practices. The victims of “witch-hunts” are usually not Pagans, Witches, or practicing any spiritual practice typically considered Pagan. Content warning: Graphic depictions of violence TWH – In late July the Human Rights Council of the United Nations adopted a resolution focused on eliminating accusations of “witchcraft” and ritual attacks but attacks, assaults, and murders continue to occur within African and other countries around the globe. Continue reading The legacy of “witch-hunts” continue at The Wild Hunt.

I have been told that in Japanese tradition today, the 9th of December is marked as the moment that Huike presented his arm to Bodhidharma as evidence of his desire to enter the intimate way. This is one of foundational moments in the mythic origins of the Zen way. The event is captured as a koan, […]

We did it! We made it to the finish line of another plague year! Just a few more weeks left. Even though it’s not New Year’s Eve yet, uncork some bubbly to celebrate. We earned it. Our big wish for the new year: no more COVID variants. Delta, Mu, Omicron . . . Worst. Upgrades. Ever. Before we slam the door on 2021, we need to applaud and thank our authors and staff for the blog posts they wrote for the Broadside.

The social media firm owes a debt to Rohingya youth.

Yesterday I began making 3 boxes for Fine Woodworking, with Barry Dima taking photos of each step. The boxes have been glued up overnight and are waiting for the next steps which we'll take photos of today.  We had been scheduled to do this article earlier,  but the Covid 19 pandemic brought delays. I was too busy yesterday posing for shots, and forgot to take any myself. I'll try to remember to take photos today. The photo shown is one from an earlier visit from Barry Dima in 2018 in which I demonstrated making a mitered box joint. Make, fix and create...

As Pagans begin to gather in person again, I hope we’ll give some extra thought to the aesthetics of our spaces. How can we make them temples to the glory of our Gods and shrines to the power of our magic, even if only for an evening?

                                                                      It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas sung by Johnny Mathis. Note — This is the latest the Festival has ever featured this American pop Christmas standard.  It usually runs shortly after Thanksgiving as seasonal decorations and music seem to explode around us.  This year here in Northern Illinois we have the decorations and music, but we have hardly been touched by more than aimless snow flurries, so we are missing that white Christmas look.  Perhaps in a few days it will begin to snow on cue like it does in all of the cable rom-coms as the star-crossed lovers overcome all on Christmas Eve. There are many subsets in ...

As I’ve let go of strict ideas of ‘belief’ and ‘knowing,’ and let myself release into a felt sense of mystery, my relationship with the world around me has grown deeper and more meaningful. What belief can you let go of that will help you form a deeper relationship with the world?

Manhattan district attorney's office announced that billionaire Michael Steinhardt has surrounded 180 stolen antiquities. Continue reading Stolen antiquities surrendered by billionaire collector at The Wild Hunt.

The Wisdom of Water Striders An Online Service with Reverend Stephen Shick   Not long ago, I enjoyed watching water striders at the quiet edges of ponds, lakes, and streams. Those edges are frozen now. Yet, I carry the memory of these tiny fragile creatures into this season of darkness. In this season the world  has gone   [ … ] The post Sunday, December 12 ~ The Wisdom of Water Striders ~10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

Popularity of the word “racist” from Google Ngram Viewer“Racist” was coined surprisingly late—the Oxford English Dictionary gives the earliest example in 1919. During the first half of the twentieth century, racists were proud to be racist, but for three decades after the end of Jim Crow, everyone knew racists were despised by most Americans, so both David Duke, a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan

Pulpit Exchanges and a Foray to Baltimore [video forthcoming] New England Ministers of the 18th and 19th centuries typically exchanged pulpits with one or another neighboring minister one or two Sundays a month. As sermons then were scholarly labors: painstakingly constructed essays about an hour and half long, creating a new one every week was not sustainable. The pulpit exchange allowed for prior work to be re-used for a new audience. The liberals didn’t mind having conservative guest preachers in their pulpits because, for liberals, doctrine wasn’t terribly important. For conservative ministers, however, doctrinal orthodoxy was essential, so conservatives increasingly refused to do any pulpit exchanges with liberal ministers. The ...

By restoring and expanding the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” program, Biden has again turned his back on people seeking refuge.

I am excited to announce that both the Hibbert Trust and the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Joseph Gittler Fund for Religion and Ethics will be partially funding the research for my forthcoming book (w/ Brill) “Unitarian Universalist Theologies” (publication anticipated in spring 2023).

As the snow casually drifts down from a gray sky, we catch one on a glove and then another. They really are different in size and shape and texture and yet it’s still called snow and depending on the weather conditions, it exists or melts ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Dec. 7th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

HOLIDAY STORY TIME: You and your children are invited to join me for Holiday Story Time on Tuesday, 12/14, from 6-6:30 pm. Let me know if you have any special story requests. UPCOMING RE CLASSES: K-6 EXPERIENCES WITH THE WEB OF LIFE: These nature lovers will meet again online ... read more . The post RE This Week – Dec. 7th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

On Friday, January 7th, from 7-8:30 pm, the Hudson Mohawk Cluster of UU Congregations will host its second annual online, multigenerational, multi-congregational Trivia Night! Back by popular demand will be the music round of “name that UU hymn,” and a photo round. New this year, a trivia ... read more . The post Multigenerational, Multi-congregational Trivia Night appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

The Tree of Life Unitarian Universalist Congregationin McHenry presents Leaves of Tree of Life—A Virtual Verse Night on Saturday, December 11 from 7 to 9 pm on Zoom. Poetswill share original work. Hosted by Patrick Murfin and featuring Tricia Alexander, Kenneth Balmes, Sue Rekenthaller, and Jane Richards. Tricia Alexander is a musician, poet, and spiritual teacher who has been performing for more than 40 years.  Her newest book is Excerpts From A Sonnetary Life . The program is free to the public, but donations to the Compassion for Campers, the program that serves the unhoused in McHenry county who will spend all or part of the winter monthscamping outside, sleeping in vehicles, or couch surfing, will be accepted and appreciated. The...

Taryn Strauss Each Advent, my empathy for Mary’s situation returns. Continue reading "The Blessing of Choice"

      Some years ago the Zen priest Tom Hawkins wrote: We have arrived in Bodghaya. Thousands of other pilgrims, us, and then two thousand Tibetan monastics for a special gathering. Beyond words to be at the bodhi tree in the evening with such a crowd. And to make offerings and devotional gestures. Yet, […]

                                             It’s Christmastime (Let’s Just Survive) by Kathleen Edwards.   And now for something new !   Well, from 2019 but still fresh .   It is also a perhaps refreshing dissent from the relentless cheerfulness and sentimentality of so many Christmas songs .   A lot of us have felt something like this but have stifled ourselves so as not to be a buzz kill .   It’s Christmastime (Let’s Just Survive) by Canadian singer/songwriter Kathleen Edwards tells it like it sometimes really is. Edwards wrote about her song: It’s that time of the year where you click the radio, and there’s the standard Christmas fare. I was like, none of these are actually what Chris...

Australian Wood , a woodworking magazine in Australia has posted a review of my new book, The Wisdom of Our Hands.   It is a very positive review that you can read here. In the meantime, my own teaching at the Clear Spring School is over for the holiday season. I'm working on an article for Fine Woodworking with an editor visiting from magazine headquarters in Connecticut and I have a 3-day box making class beginning at ESSA on Friday.  Make, Fix and Create...

        The Bodhi Tree in Fayette, Maine A Dharma Talk for Rohatsu Edward Sanshin Oberholtzer Resident priest and guiding teacher at the Joseph Priestly Zen Sangha Empty Moon Zen Despite the lateness of the hour, I’d like to put in a plug for the coming dawn. I know it’s late, trust me, […]

In the era before smartphones, it was common to wonder about something and not know the answer. Today, it is more common to open Google and search. Answers are often right at our fingertips, but this easy access to information comes at a spiritual cost. Wonder about something and sit in the mystery today. Don’t … Continue reading No Mysteries

Loss of habitat and rapidly diminishing winter food sources of seagrass, manatees face the peril of starvation without intervention. Continue reading The seagrass famine and the Florida manatee at The Wild Hunt.

Part Five of a history I’m writing, telling the story of Unitarians in Palo Alto from the founding of the town in 1891 up to the dissolution of the old Unitarian Church of Palo Alto in 1934. If you want the footnotes, you’ll have to wait until the print version of this history comes out … Continue reading "Unitarians in Palo Alto, 1921-1925"

Observing democracy in action in a critical presidential election.

J. Estlin Carpenter ’ picture in the Cambridge Unitarian Church As most of you know by now, my interest in Shin Buddhism comes via reading Tanabe Hajime, and I read Tanabe, in part, because he studied with Heidegger. Heidegger’s thinking is a key influence on me and, towards the end of his life, in a notebook, it seems he wrote: “Today, I read Tannisho. If I had known about the Buddhist monk Shinran a decade ago, I wouldn’t have studied Greek and Latin but Japanese so as to learn and spread the teachings of him for a lifetime. But it’s too late.”    (Can anyone out there provide a proper source for this quote? I’d be very grateful) Mark It is these (and other) philosophical/religious links that drew me to study Shin (at l...

                                                                      I'll Be Home for Christmas sung by Bing Crosby. Eighty years ago today the Japanese launched their devastating surprise attack on Pearl Harbor thrusting the United States into a bloody worldwide conflagration and forever altering the lives and destinies of millions.  It also cast a somber pall over Christmas festivities getting underway stateside just as the last vestiges of the Great Depression were being shaken off and folks had money to spend for a change. With a long war ahead with families and sweethearts wrenched by separation and fear, people turned to music for comfort, especially at Christmas time.  There were many w...

      AWAKENING A Zen Reflection 2021 Zoom Zen Retreat Empty Moon Zen Tom Daimon Wardle Senior Dharma Teacher     True confession: I do not want to give this talk today. Actually, I’ve had several months to savour the dread of today’s talk since “awakening” was chosen as the theme for this sesshin. […]

Lots of people talk about destiny: how to find it, how to follow it, how to fulfill it. Some offer to help people do all these things… for a price. Not enough people talk about what destiny is, if you have one, and most importantly, if you even want one.

As 2020 and 2021 was filled with so much death and destruction, especially of Black and brown bodies, I have turned to trying to understand or uncover different spiritual traditions and their understandings of mysteries. If I am connected to the divine or there are mysteries to explore and comprehend, then the sacred  cannot be … Continue reading Sacred Bodies

Dear Republicans with a conscience, I know you’re out there. You don’t like Trump, and you do like a functioning democracy. Your party is going to nominate him again, it seems virtually certain. So, my friends: are you going to get serious about starting a new party? And are you going to put everything you’ve […]

This is the third in a series of essays about the COVID-19 pandemic as it relates to UU congregations and religious exploration. “The Church has Left the Building” – May 2020 “On Reopening and the Least of These” – July 2021 “Brave is a hand-me-down suit from terrified as hell.“ Andrea Gibson (they/them), American Poet … Continue reading "As We Knew It: A Challenge to Dream"

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, December skywatching, "Ecneics" is not a "Pagan" word, the band, Faun, releases a new video, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of December 6, 2021 at The Wild Hunt.

The U.S. must respect the results of the historic democratic election in Honduras.

Amida Buddha, Zenrinji Temple, Kyoto A member of Cambridge Unitarian Church (where I am the minister) got in touch with me to say they had clicked on the final link of my last post ( That-Which-Is-To-Come — A short Advent meditation on Yeats’ poem, “The Second Coming” ) and had seen that the phrase “infinite light and life” took the interested reader to the Wikipedia article on  Amida Buddha . In the Shin Buddhist tradition (Jōdo Shinshū) Amida Buddha “is the buddha-nature in everything.”  On the church’s internal message board (we use SLACK) I tried to outline why I had done that. It seems not inappropriate to republish that piece here. —o0o— So here, in a nutshell, is why I added that link . . . In Alfred Bloo...

                                                                      Jolly Old St. Nicholas by Chicago.   This is St. Nicholas Day, a day when children in the Netherlands and across much of Northern Europe awake to find their stockings or shoes filled with candy, nuts, oranges, and small toys left behind in the night by the sanctifiedBishop.  It is also still observed in some American families, though the practice seems to be fading.  Our three daughters always found their stockings filled until they were adults.  It is also a good day to trot out Jolly Old St. Nicholas, America’s oldest secular Christmas song—if you discount Jingle Bells which was not intended to be linked to the holida...

      Evelyn Underhill was born in Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands, on this day, the 6th of December, in 1875. She would grow to become a poet and novelist, as well as one of the most important interpreters of mystical Christianity in modernity. I’ve written about her and her importance to me personally, […]

When I was a child growing up Muslim, I never internalized Allah as a person. My mother always referred to Allah as energy. It was always a mystery to me what a divine being who was energy would look like. A sunburst? A comet? A shooting star? The moon? I never could come up with … Continue reading Mystery of the Divine

 “The movement for racial justice has shifted its focus from inequality to “disparity,” while neatly evading any critique of the structures that produce inequality.” — Adolph Reed Jr.During the civil rights era, we thought racial and economic justice were linked. We especially wanted three things:To end poverty with Basic Income.To raise the minimum wage.To provide free higher education so

TWH covers a series of events celebrating Krampusnacht, a holiday celebrating a somewhat less friendly Yuletide spirit. Continue reading The running of the Krampus into modern times at The Wild Hunt.

In this sermon, I encourage us to open ourselves to the beauty of the world and the miracles that surround us.

                                                                      Bohemian Chanukah by Six13. Note —It’s a two-fer today so we can celebrate the eighth and final night of Hanukkah! Elaborate parodies have become very popular for Hanukkah in recent years.   Jewish a cappella group Six13. Six13 is a groundbreaking, six-man a cappella vocal band bringing new styleand energy to Jewish music.   Eight award-winning albums have landed Six13 among the top Jewish music artists on iTunes and Spotify. Music from those albums has been adapted by choirs worldwide, played on mainstream radioacross the globe, and selected for ten “best-of” compilations.   They have awards from the Harmony Sweepst...

Welcome back to the Sanctuary! What shall we do next? Maura Taylor joins us to update us on Self Help, Inc.'s current work as we kick off Self Help month. [Note: this service may postpone until 12/12]

Sometimes new boots can give you blisters if you wear them too long too soon. My new boots are more serious, heavier and sturdier than my old ones, so they really do require a “break-in” routine. Impatient as ever, I thought the laps around the house had prepared both my boots and my feet for […]

“You have to pick. That’s the fundamental problem. And one interest has to prevail over the other at any given point in time, and that’s why this is so challenging, I think.”[1] – Justice Brett Kavanaugh during opening arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, Dec. 1, 2021 Where is the voice of liberal religion […]

I've been listening to the Path To Learning Podcast when I work doing quiet things in my wood shop. Each episode has content that I've found valuable, and today I listened again to my own episode which was recorded last summer. I think that if you are interested in progressive education you'll find it and other Path To Learning Podcasts useful.  https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9wYXRodG9sZWFybmluZy5saWJzeW4uY29tL3Jzcw/episode/NmQ4MjI3YzgtZWQxYS00ZDBiLTkyNTktMzFhZDdlMmQzMWYx  The senses are key. They lure you into learning. If you've wondered about the difference between the concrete and abstract in the principles of Educational Sloyd, the difference is simple. The concrete contains a full range of senses, proving to hand and ...

"I hope all members will find a way to put their interests to use in work as a volunteer. Volunteering is a great way to learn how the parts of the church work separately and together. The volunteer has an opportunity to widen their perspective; get to know other members, develop talents, and take part in the planning and growth of All Souls. The post Centennial Awards: Judy Jarvis appeared first on BeyondBelief.

                                                                      Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming performed by the Robert Shaw Chorale. It is already the Second Sunday of Advent, and the Winter Holiday Music Festival has not yet featured a hymn appropriate for that period of anticipatory waiting.  We aim to fix that today with one of the oldest Advent carols, Lo, How a Rose E’re Blooming . Although Americans tend to believe that the Christmas Season begins as soon as the Thanksgiving dishes are washed, Catholics and most Protestants are clear that Christmastide does not begin until December 25 and continues for 12 days until the Feast of the Epiphanyon January 6.  Before that a distinct seas...

    Faustus Socinus, also known as Faust Paolo Sozzini and sometimes as Faust Socyn was born in Siena in Tuscany on this day, the 5th of December in 1539. He was educated at home and quickly fell under the influence of his uncle Celso, who encouraged the boy’s searching intellect, as well as another […]

A medium to A-list celebrities charges $1111 an hour and claims to channel Jesus Christ. It’s important not to jump to an atheist position just because this sounds outrageous. We need to learn to discern genuine messages from those that are not.

“We, bearers of the dream, affirm that a new vision of hope is emerging. We pledge to work for that community in which justice will be actively present. We affirm that there is struggle yet ahead. Yet we know that in the struggle is the hope for the future. We affirm that we are co-creators … Continue reading Hope

Please join us on Sunday (5 December 2021) at 11:00 AM for “Ought: Taught, Bought, Fought, Sought” by Rev. Barbara Jarrell. Rev. Barbara is back in the pulpit on this second Sunday of Advent and 8th Day of Hanukkah. Our service will be livestreamed on Facebook Live here. This will be our fifth consecutive in-person … Continue reading "In-Person and Online All-Ages Worship (5 December 2021)"

Please join us on Sunday (5 December 2021) at 9:00 AM for our adult religious education class via Zoom. We are discussing episodes of the podcast Learning How to See with Rev. Brian McLaren, Father Richard Rohr, and Rev. Jacqui Lewis. They are discussing the 13 kinds of bias that Rev. Barbara mentioned recently in … Continue reading "Online Adult Religious Education — 5 December 2021"

We will continue to watch the local COVID numbers.  We feel encouraged by the cooling weather and the possibility of comfortable outdoor activities. We are not resuming regular classes for children and youth at this time because our classrooms are too small to be safe for unvaccinated children, and because we want some time to … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education Updates"

All Souls is proud to be a member congregation of Highland Center Ministries which has continually served the Highland Blessing Dinner every Thursday night for over 8 years now. Even through the COVID-19 pandemic, the dinner continued with takeout meals and is now back in person with a free sit down dinner for all vaccinated … Continue reading "Highland Center Ministries — December 2021 Give-Away-The-Plate Recipient"

Please join us next Wednesday (8 December 2021) at 12 noon for our weekly Zoom lunch. Bring your lunch and meet up with your All Souls friends, have lunch, and just catch up.

"At this season, we can ask ourselves what we are meant to learn from the ups and downs of the past year.  The eclipse demands that we face ourselves and our life lessons. If we didn't have the best of years or life we feel stagnant, we can look at what lies on the path ahead." Continue reading Column: A Good Year, A Hard Year at The Wild Hunt.

If we look at how we learn, we'll notice a few things that can be applied also to how other people learn and how education can be designed for greater efficacy.  Adults and babies learn the same way. We listen, we watch what goes on around us. When we are able, we test what we see to ascertain the reality of that which surrounds us. Babies tend to learn a bit faster than the rest of us. By the time they're ready for school, they know a lot. And what they have learned provides a framework of experience against which to measure what they are being taught. And all the kids arriving at school at the same time will not know the same things, nor should they.   That is what we are attempting to address through progressive education. There's a...

St. Peter, Tecumseh, and Malcolm X said, “Respect everyone.” It’s excellent advice.The full version of Peter’s advice:“Respect everyone, and love the family of believers. Fear God, and respect the king.” — 1 Peter 2:17, New Living TranslationThe full version of Malcolm’s advice:“Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the

                                                                      Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah performed by early childhood musicians the Kiboomers. It will be night 7 of Hanukkah this evening.   It seems the vast majority of newer songs for the Festival of Light are written for children .   Most come in two broad categories .   First are instructional songs meant to explain the celebration ’ s meaning , origins , and customs .   The second are novelty songs meant to be catchy alternatives to the one holiday song that is used over and over in public holiday observances , school programs , and gets regular air play on holiday radio channels — Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel.   The songs also come w...

1: White SlavesI always thought “free, white, and twenty-one” was racist and redundant. Turns out it’s just racist. In the Old South, some slaves were legally white.Whiteness and slavery had different rules. Slaves were people whose mothers were slaves. White people included people who were either 3/4 white (a quadroon) or 7/8 white (an octoroon), depending on the state’s legal definition. That

A short “thought for the day” offered to the Cambridge Unitarian Church as part of the Sunday Service of Mindful Meditation  (Click on this link to hear a recorded version of the following piece) —o0o— We are in the season of Advent which, minimally conceived, marks the beginning of a period of reflective waiting and preparation for that-which-is-to-come .  However, because the symbol of that-which-is-to-come in the Advent myth has become so familiar to us — namely the new-born Jesus as a representation of divinity-is-among-us-never-gone — it is easy to forget that the full nature of that-which-is-to-come can never be known beforehand. You may say that the main characters in the Advent myth all knew that that-which-is-to-c...

      Rene Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke was born in Prague what was then the capital of Bohemia, on this day, the 4th of December, in 1875. He is best known as Rainer Maria Rilke and is without a doubt one of the great gifts of the twentieth century to the world. One of […]

In the Christian season of Advent, the spiritual task before followers is waiting. Waiting for the birth of a new era, waiting for goodness to return to the world, waiting. How do you make waiting possible in your life?

Please join us on Saturday (8 December 2021) at 10:30 AM for our weekly meditation group with Larry Androes. This is a sitting Buddhist meditation including a brief introduction to mindfulness meditation, 20 minutes of sitting, and followed by a weekly teaching. The group is free and open to all. For more information, contact Larry … Continue reading "Meditation with Larry Androes (8 December 2021)"

The Wild Hunt editorial team condemns the threat to abortion access presented by Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health, a Supreme Court case meant to overturn Roe vs. Wade. Continue reading Editorial: Dobbs v. Jackson is a threat to reproductive health at The Wild Hunt.

Race reductionists love quoting Malcolm X when he was with the Nation of Islam because racists of all hues fundamentally agree with each other—the Nation of Islam met with the American Nazi Party and Marcus Garvey met with the Ku Klux Klan to promote their shared goals.Those who put race first have to quote Malcolm more selectively after he left NOI. He rejected identitarianism and black

I created this simple graphic as a reminder of the principles of Educational Sloyd. The sequence of learning described in it can be compared to Bruner's idea of scaffolding, but was first laid out by Diesterweg, a colleague of Friedrich Froebel. So while these principles are associated with the manual arts and Educational Sloyd, they actually fit education at large and describe the way we (even adults) learn. These principles, reflecting how we learn present a challenge for educators. In order to start with the interests of the child, the teacher must be listening, observing and adapting continuously. And as a good teacher will know, plans can go out the window when student interests cease to be met.  One of the reasons that rich school...

                                                                  Happy Joyous Hanukkah but Woody Guthry sung by Nesfesh Mountain. Today’s 6th night of Hanukkah song may come to a surprise to many.   It was pennedby a non-Jewish Okie—Woody Guthrie, the American folk music icon and radical activist. When Nazi Germany invaded the USSR Guthrie and the other members of the loose collaboration of musicians known as the Almanac Singers had to pivot on a dime and abandon their earlier anti-war pacifism and become anti-fascist/anti-Nazi.   In songs like The Good Ruben James about an American freighter torpedoed and sunk by a U-boat Guthrie and his pals tried to whip up public sentiment to enterthe wa...

      We are in a magical and dangerous moment, where uncertainty is in the air. Maybe even end times. And with that, doors are opening. Not least among these are doors opening into deeper understandings of what religion and spirituality might be. So, a critical question. What is religion? And with that what […]

Today is International Persons with Disabilities Day. Reflect on the things that your body can do–and the things your body cannot do. Reflect on the ways your brain works differently from the brains of others. Reflect on the barriers to access erected throughout our society and what it would take to dismantle them. How can … Continue reading (Dis)Ability

New research that examines the perception and interpretation of celestial objects by both modern and ancient cultures seeks to explain the commonality of The Pleiades in mythology across various cultures. Continue reading The Pleiades may be the oldest human myth at The Wild Hunt.

Herman Hiller, World Telegram staff photographer, Public domainIf Malcolm X had been killed in 1963, he would be remembered as just another of Elijah Muhammad’s racist followers. Malcolm admitted that in a letter written after he left the Nation of Islam (boldface mine):“I declare emphatically that I am no longer in Elijah Muhammad’s ‘strait jacket,’ and I don’t intend to replace his with one

Yesterday with the Rainbow group at the Clear Spring School we made turned Christmas tree displays for holiday giving. I turned the trees on the lathe, and the students sanded and assembled the stands and decorated the trees. To make the trees I used dowels 1-1/2 in. diameter, drilled holes at each end for dowels to fit and then turned them two at a time on the lathe. A parting tool was used to cut the shaped trees apart in the middle. Woodworking in school is a  collaborative exercise and fun for all. It's socialistic in that it fits the formula, "from each according to ability, to each according to need."  My own need is to be creatively stimulated and working out a means through which the trees could be safely turned on the lathe wa...

      Sixty years. Oh, my. Sixty years ago today, the 2nd of December, in 1961, the San Francisco Zen Center published the first issue of Wind Bell. An unsigned article from 50years.sfzc.org tells us: “From its humble single-sheet newsletter beginnings on December 2, 1961, prior to San Francisco Zen Center’s incorporation, over the decades Wind […]

Our world is becoming a more magical world, for good and for ill. There’s more power for us to draw on when we work spells. Spirits can access our world more easily, and not all of them mean us well. Our world is changing – let’s change with it.

                                                                      Light One Candle by Peter Yarrow performed by Peter, Paul & Mary.   We are spending more time this year on Hanukkah songs.   Consider it overdue balance.   So far we have heard from a Messianic Jew, and two Orthodox boys choirs.   For the Fifth night, lets switch to a largely secular and leftist Jew like so many of my friends.   Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary wrote the song in 1982 as a pacifist responseto the Lebanon War which was reflected in the lyrics: Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice justice and freedom demand, Light one candle for the wisdom to know when the peacemaker’s time is at hand. It also conn...

We are in the middle of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, which celebrates the mystery of long ago of one day’s worth of oil burning for eight days. The Hanukkah menorah blesses the space in which it is lit as the original oil sanctified the desecrated temple. How can you embrace mystery to bless the … Continue reading Light

In a 2004 interview with Christian Century magazine, progressive evangelical Brian McLaren compared conservative evangelical Christians with more progressive Christians: “[Religious] conservatives tend to be rigid theologically and promiscuous pragmatically and [religious] liberals tend to be rigid methodologically and a lot more free theologically ….” Although McLaren wasn’t talking about Unitarian Universalists (he probably doesn’t … Continue reading "“Rigid methodologically”"

By James Baldwin | I have often wondered, and it is not a pleasant wonder, just what white Americans talk about with one another. I wonder this because they do not, after all, seem to find very much to say to me, and I concluded long ago that they found the color of my skin inhibiting. This color seems to operate as a most disagreeable mirror, and a great deal of one’s energy is expended in reassuring white Americans that they do not see what they see.