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.

TWH spoke with several Pagan organizations about their responses and/or protocols for COVID-19 vaccinations for their members. Continue reading COVID vaccination recommendations in Pagan groups at The Wild Hunt.

Here is the UUA's updated guidance around gathering, updated for December 2021. Continue reading "COVID-19 Gathering Guidance: (Delta and Emerging Variants of Concern)"

Right now, our communities need action. We need humane protections for millions of immigrants who face the constant threat of detention and deportation. We need systems that keep families and children out of poverty. We need infrastructure investment. We need to honor the dignity of all and our sacred interdependence by building systems of support and care where our disabled siblings can thrive. We need a multiracial democracy that works for all of us. We need a radical revolution of values where we Side With Love-- declaring our commitments to justice, equity and compassion in all of our relationships. That is why we are joining the Poor People’s Campaign for a Moral Monday March on Washington on Monday, December 13th, at 12 p.m. ET o...

Sunday, December 5, 10:30 a.m. Opening to Joy An online worship service with Rev. Alice Anacheka-Nasemann   Let us start this holiday season with joy! Join us on Zoom this Sunday, Dec. 5, for a multigenerational storytelling worship service featuring inspirational tales that warm the heart and lift the spirit.   Virtual Social Hour will follow   [ … ] The post Sunday, December 5 ~ Opening to Joy ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.

JasonPToews, CC BY-SA 4.0Rich white people know they would win a race war and lose a class war. Rich liberals spout vapid phrases about their privilege as easily as kings proclaimed that they were sinners who were humble before God, and rich conservatives defend the “right” to exploit working people as easily as rich slavers defend the “right” to own them. The rich will say anything that protects

As December approaches and we begin our monthly theme of Reverence, we call to mind the MLK Memorial in Washington, DC. We had already climbed the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and paused near the top, with the engraving at the spot where Dr. King stood ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Nov 30th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

CHILD DEDICATION!  This Sunday’s service will include a child dedication for one of our newest little UU’s.  We invite you and your family to attend the service and be a part of this special UU ritual, as we share a blessing for this precious new ... read more . The post RE This Week – Nov 30th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Reverence is defined as a deep respect that is felt or shown. It may be a somber reverence felt at the Vietnam Memorial, an awed reverence experienced on a mountain top or while looking at the night sky, or a joyful reverence of celebration of new ... read more . The post December Theme – Reverence appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Join UUs from across the continent on December 11th & 12th for Compass: Navigating the Paths to Liberation Together. The virtual event series, hosted by the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA), will include invigorating worship, special musical guests, thought-provoking conversations, breakout caucus gatherings, a ... read more . The post Denomination-wide Opportunity: Compass: Navigating the Paths to Liberation Together appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

We sent Members and Friends an update plan which includes much of the work done thus far during the global pandemic as well as the challenges we are facing as we move towards re-opening for in-person indoor worship. We have a target date, an aspiration ... read more . The post COVID-19 Update appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.

Leslie Gatto Acknowledging that our dream was not happening didn't end the grief, but it did offer closure. Continue reading "Laying Dreams to Rest"

Yesterday we installed the small bridge we'd made with students at the Clear Spring School, before getting back to making products for their pay what you want shop. The students added small toy boats, miniature Christmas trees and dreidels to their product line. Make, fix and create...

                                                       Light up the Nights  by Yerachmiel Begun & The Miami Boys Choir. On the Fourth Night of Hanukkah, we have to face the tragedy of a holiday song trying way too hard to be hip.  Yerachmiel Begun & The Miami Boys Choir are considered superstars of Orthodox Jewish choral music with more than 30 albums under its belt since 1980.  Begun began with a boys choir in Toronto in the 1970’s before relocating to Miami.  He is the composer and arranger of the ensemble’s original music. Yerachmiel Begun & The Miami Boys Choir. But in 1998 he applied the disco/Latin Funk/Miami Sound Machine vibe to Light up the Nights on the choir’s album Chanukah - Light ...

  Tell all the truth but tell it slant –Success in Circuit liesToo bright for our infirm DelightThe Truth’s superb surpriseAs Lightning to the Children easedWith explanation kindThe Truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blind – Emily Dickinson People sometimes say they are spiritual but not religious. I find that phrase can open […]

This month, we will be exploring the theme of mystery–the unknown, the unknowable, and even those things we’d rather not know. Mysteries ask us to search for something beyond what we have right now. What are you searching for today?

Tiger Girl looks like a generic example of the Jungle Girl craze in comics, but she differs from them greatly. In 1944, while the South was segregated and most New York comic book publishers avoided putting out anything that might hurt sales by offending racists, Fight Comics introduced Tiger Girl, the daughter of an Indian prince and an Irish woman.Other things set her apart too: Her companions

The Lowlander Center provides vital support to southern Louisiana's Indigenous communities.

Several new archaeological discoveries in the U.K.: Southwark statue of King Alfred containing part of a Roman goddess, ruins of a Roman villa in Rutland, and the incredible finds made a 13-year-old in Hertfordshire. Continue reading New discovery concerning Southwark statue of King Alfred at The Wild Hunt.

Associação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo, CC BY 2.0Focusing on race makes rich black people the heroes of America’s story and costs them nothing. Focusing on class makes them part of the problem and threatens their economic privilege.Adolph Reed provides two examples:At Neoliberalism & Black Politics: A TBS Conversation With Adolph Reed, Part 1, he said,‘I’ve been teaching mainly in the

By Masha Rumer | As the year draws to an end, it’s a reminder of the new coping skills just about everyone has acquired because of the pandemic. In the case of immigrants, the shortages also hurled us right back into our childhoods. Many of us we were raised on stories of famines and wartime starvation, tempered by breadlines and diluted sour cream, particularly in the former Soviet Union, where I’m from. Nothing went to waste: neither old yarn nor chicken skins nor beet greens. We brought this hardiness with us to the US.

                                                                      Hanerot Halalu sung by the Maccabeats. For the Third Night of Hanukkah, we will feature another song/prayer sung in the evening home service.   Hanerot Halalu is recited after the lights on the Menorah are kindled. There are several different versions.  The version by the Maccabeats that we are sharing here is used by many Ashkenazicommunities. The Maccabeats were students at the Orthodox Yeshiva University inNew York City.  The 14 member a cappella group was organized by Julian (Chaim) Horowitz in 2007.  By 2010 the were in the university’s graduate school when they released their first CD, Voices from the Heights which ...

    The deep matter of the heart is not bound by any religion. It is not owned by any culture. It is our common heritage as human beings. I suspect it will someday be possible to diagram the matters of the heart in scientific terms. And we are not there. Each time people think […]

History is written by people who think like the winners and thus miss inconvenient facts. “The Dawn of Everything” provides evidence that different ways of living are possible, because we have lived and governed ourselves in many different ways in the past.

“Do not fear agitation, for agitation is the rhythm of life itself; to be put into motion, to be stirred. Do not fear the movements that decenter what you always thought permanent. You carry within the center of your understanding, the compass to show you the way.” -Tania Márquez What is disturbing the rhythm of … Continue reading Agitation

Grassroots generosity and community action are powerful forces for good, especially in turbulent times.

In this week's pagan Community notes: bison and petroglyphs, SAPRA condemns TikTok videos, monarch butterflies, and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of November 29, 2021 at The Wild Hunt.

I know your are probably inundated with worthy Giving Tuesday begging.   But nowhere can your donation of any size have greater immediate impact than sharing with Compassion for Campers which serves the McHenry County unhoused who will spend all or part of each month this winter camping out or living in a vehicle.   Your dollars almost immediately be used to buy the critical gear—tents, sleeping bags, pads, tarps, stoves, fuel, warm gloves, hats, and socks—as well as personal hygiene items, flashlights and batteries, and non-perishable food.   Give today and a homeless person can pick them up at Community Empower Shower events at Willow Crystal Lake the first and third Fridays of the month.   Not only that, but 100% of your donat...

Thanks to Barry & Nancy Wilder for their years of service and contributions to All Souls Care Team and the Pastoral Care program. The post Centennial Awards: Barry & Nancy Wilder appeared first on BeyondBelief.

Tim Pierce from Berlin, MA, USA, CC BY 2.0The first law of prejudice: The rich look down on the poor.1. Basic dataIdentitarians and universalists agree the US racial hierarchy looks like this:from https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2020/demo/p60-270.pdfFor identitarians, the racial hierarchy is all you need to understand who has power in the United States. They wave

                                               Maoz Tzur (Rock of Ages) sung by Haddasah Berne. Hanukkah , coming early this year in November, snuck up on me.  I blame the wall calendar next to my desk which low tech me relies on to remind me of such things.  This year’s calendar doesn’t include Jewish holy days.  I’ll have the B’nai B’rith look into it. Hanukkah began last evening with the lighting of the first candle on the Menorah at sundown.  It is a celebration of the miracle of light that occurred when Judah Maccabee liberated the Temple in Jerusalem but only had enough purified oil to burn one night.  But the oil was enough to light the Menorah for 8 days until more could be rituall...

        Hanukkah is an interesting holiday. One the rabbis quite correctly have always felt more than ambivalent about, but also one people just love. I reflect on this celebration of light every couple of years. So parts that follow are repeats, parts are new discoveries I find I make each time I […]

“The question is not whether we will get lost in life, but rather how we will move through it in faith. Will we dwell on everything that we have lost? Or will we focus instead on everything that we have yet to find? As it happens, there is much that awaits us in our lostness. … Continue reading Lost