branches up, roots down

It is Lammas, the cross-quarter point between solstice and equinox. The reign of the Sun King is on the wane. The clients I see at 7pm I now need to turn on the lights for and I’m no longer waking early with the sun. This week, for the first time, I can sense the dark waiting just off stage. Here, right before summer begins its descent into autumn, I am grieving. In every life, there are key people who, like points of stars making up the zodiac, help create the story of our lives. I’ve had many of these, and I am blessed with a complicated and sparkling tale of a life. One of these stars died in the past week, but just like real stars, her light will still shine long past her death. I graduated high school early, desperately wanting to escape the confines of my family and Morgan Hill , just south of San Jose , California . Immediately I set out with my friend Diane in her VW van to discover America . I didn’t get very far, just up to the top of the Oregon Coast . In that short...

I've been spending a lot of time on my rooftop garden. For me, it's the best place to get quiet and to listen. And to pray. For many years, as a witch, I felt funny using the "P" word. But praying is something I've always done. Doesn't everybody who has any sort of a relationship to the Divine pray? How could you not? Annie Lamott says there are essentially two kind of prayers; "Help me, Help me" and "Thank you, Thank you". I think there is actually a third, which is the blend of the two. This is the kind of praying I've been doing recently. Gnome Chomsky has been a great addition to the garden and has become the Protector and Guardian of Strawberries. I think it has something to do with his red hat. Thank you, Mary Oliver, for this beautiful poem. Praying - by Mary Oliver It doesn't have to be the blue iris, it could be weeds in a vacant lot, or a few small stones; just pay attention, then patch a few words together and do...

Things have been moving around in my house, so of course, things are moving around in me. Over the past years, I’ ve come to accept that a core part of my priestessing is tending to this house built right before the turn of the last century. This means being actively involved with listening to it. The bones of the house come from what use to be ancient redwood forests to the North, and as a youth, the house survived the 1906 earthquake and the fires that raged for days. Sometime in the 1920’s the second floor was lifted from the first floor and another flat inserted like sandwich filling and a stucco front was slapped on over the wood in front. In the backyard there is the original stable, which was emptied last weekend of over a hundred years of assorted junk. Empty of the stuff, the spirits of the house have stretched out and there is a pleasant spaciousness to the energy here. For the first time, I can recognize the old wallpaper that was put in on the walls of th...

Oh, my. I’m still recovering from my visit to New Orleans with my girlfriend, my son and his best friend. I went to priestess my sister’s wedding. It was one of those long weekends which seem to stretch for weeks. We left late on a Thursday, coming back on Monday. How could so much have happened? My girlfriend was able to blog about it right away, but I’m still processing it. There’s so much to say, and no words seem really right to express it. I loved New Orleans the first time I laid eyes upon her. It was on that trip that I understood how the elements are embodied in our great cities. The four directions and their elemental correspondences play out in our nation’s landscape and our cities serve as great Guardians of the Directions. New York in the east has the power of intellect, with Air holding reign there. Chicago , that mighty meatpacking city in the north, holds the power of Earth. On the west coast, Water rules the city of dreamers that is San Francisco . And in ...