branches up, roots down

I've been thinking a lot lately about the core tenets of my practice as a Pagan psychotherapist.  Buddhism is currently in fashion in my profession,  mindfulness turning out to be just as useful (if even more) in creating emotional well-being as analyzing family dynamics.   Are there particular things that we earth-worshippers do that inform my profession?  Psychotherapy truly is more art than science, and it figures that many of us who are in the Craft have something to teach other healing artists of hearts and minds This week one of my core tenets has me laughing. I believe, and try to transmit to my clients, that the world wants to be in meaningful conversation with us.  Once we accept this as true, and cock our ear towards it, the world will not shut up.   Under great distress, of course, it's hard to listen to anything or anyone. Anxiety and fear can operate as mighty misfiring car alarms, drowning out any truth of the real threat or danger. The Buddhist gift of  mindfulln...

  On Saturday, I had a benefit at my house for the restorative retreat, A Fool’s Journey, that I’m part of putting on at fall equinox.   We raised seed money and   money by turning my house into a Divination Bordello.   As it turns out, my house LOVES being a Divination Bordello!   Every room and cranny comfortably held a couple of people intensely engaged in opening up to the divine. I could almost hear the house purring.   Our customers trooped up the long front stairs and were offered choices; tarot, dreamwork, aura reading, psychic consultation, reiki,   and prophecy board.    Julian, a talented twelve year old , offered readings from a deck of cards he had made himself.   Between reading for others, I got a reading from him, pulling three cards – Phoenix, lake, and mist – which assured me that I could rise from some challenges I have at the moment if I stay calm, look deep, and stop trying to see into the future. ...

  My friend,    Donald Engstrom,    years ago coined a phrase worthy of generous usage. Every time I say this phrase or write it, his voice resonates in my consciousness.    Every equinox, I think of Donald, for my good friend is deeply committed  to the building and nurturance of the emerging "Cultures of  Beauty ,  Balance and Delight."    Beauty, balance and delight – for that is his phrase - are certainly the stuff of equinoxes.   The spring equinox is today, and as luck would have it, it is a beautiful day in San Francisco, The sun is shining, the breeze is sweet and fresh, and on the way to my office I was met with more smiles than eyes avoided. San Franciscans tend to take honest delight in a sunny day.   Today light and dark are in perfect balance. How rare a thing that is!   Every other day  of the year the light is trumping the dark or the dark is trumping the light. But today, they face each other equally….not to do this again until the fall equinox.   Tomorrow, li...

In the summer of 1986 , while attending Reclaiming’s first summer intensive,    I called home and received    news that I had passed my licensing exam.    From that moment on,    I have been a licensed marriage and family therapist in California.    For years before that moment, as a registered intern, and for every year since, I have annually sent checks of a couple hundred dollars off to CAMFT , the California association that represents those of us in my profession.   Several weeks ago I found out that CAMFT is NOT representing me, or any other GLBT therapist in the state.    The CAMFT board members have refused for months to take a stand for marriage equality.    All the other major associations representing mental health workers have public statements regarding the importance of marriage equality and see homophobia as an important issue that effects mental health.   Because, it does.     I am a marriage and family therapist who’s own marriage is in jeopardy of becoming legally inv...

It rained almost nonstop for the entire span of Pantheacon. Pretty much every conversation contained expressions of gratitude, as most Pagans were cognizant of the serious threat of drought hanging over California . The rain fell as a blessing on the land and as a blessing on this year’s conference. This year was a significant one for me. It marked the anniversary of my diagnosis of Type II Diabetes. I’ve kept my blood sugar within normal levels for a full turn of the wheel by making big changes in my diet and by keeping moving. I am healthy, and that has been a major magical working. Shifting consciousness by going into trance and working between the worlds is a breeze for many of us Pagans. Shifting consciousness to brussel sprouts and a brisk walk, not M&M’s and a good novel, being what the body wants, is a heck of a lot harder. But, I’ve done it, and I kept it up at Pantheacon, where the easiest food to obtain is chocolate chip cookies and pizza and the ...

    I’m sitting in one of those hotels for people who are on business trips of over a week – you know, the ones with small kitchens, that are more like truncated apartments?   I’m here because the hotel that hosts the Pagan conference Pantheacon  sold out months ago.   Both hotels are in San Jose, located amidst several office parks. Most of the offices have emptied since we were here last year, with almost every one sporting a “for lease” sign.     Things are so desperate that the lonely Denny's is offering a big discount for customers with a Pantheacon badge.  It has the feel of a place that has just become a ghost town, with no hope of coming back to life for quite a spell.   But there is life at these hotels, both full of all manner of folks interested in places between worlds, comfortable with working with spirits and all that is not visible to the naked eye.   It’s always been a very kooky thing, this conference of Pagans in a corporate hotel, but this year,...

  Today is my birthday.     As far as I am concerned, February 9 th   is a great day to have a birthday. The plum trees are in bloom, plump red hearts are in the store windows, and the hills of California are green.   Last night it rained, and now the sun is shining on the damp earth. Yes, a great day to celebrate the miracle of this one specific life!!   Next weekend I go to Pantheacon , the annual Pagan conference in San Jose.   The last couple of years I’ve done a lot of reflecting on what it has meant to follow my particular spiritual path, and something about being at Pantheacon makes me acutely aware of the trials and tribulations of being a modern Pagan.   Recently I realized that I’m in my Saturn return of being a Witch, as is the particular tradition I’ve taken part in creating.   A Saturn return is an astrological event that happens 27 to 30 years after we were born.   This is the amount of years it takes      Saturn to move through its orbit and return to the exa...

Yesterday was a good day. I got drunk on poetry, all the plum trees on my street burst into bloom, as if on Brigid's cue, and the day ended with hearing my all-time favorite bad poem. Yes, my favorite bad poem. Years back, a friend had a birthday party where all the guests read a bad poem they had written or did some bad performance art. It was fantastic! There's something completely liberating about creating Bad Art. It's also not quite as easy as it sounds. Try it! There's lots of words that are crying out to be included. Reading poetry all day yesterday, I learned from a lover of Tennyson that we can now adopt abandoned and neglected ones as our own at Savethewords.org . Your poem need not be full of tortiloquy, it just needs to be bad. My favorite poem at that reading years back was one that my friend's partner, Bill Simpich read. It has stayed with me for over 15 years. This year, I went to their house for a small Brigid ritual which included poetry (m...

In honor of Brigid, Goddess of Poetry and Healing, this year my contribution is a poem written in 1860 by one of my favorite American mystics, Walt Whitman. Follow the links in the comments section of this post and the original invitation to the great web of poetry that is being spun today. States! by Walt Whitman STATES! Were you looking to be held together by the lawyers? By an agreement on a paper? Or by arms? Away! I arrive, bringing these, beyond all the forces of courts and arms, These! to hold you together as firmly as the earth itself is held together. The old breath of life, ever new, Here! I pass it by contact to you, America. O mother! have you done much for me? Behold, there shall from me be much done for you. There shall from me be a new friendship—It shall be called after my name, It shall circulate through The States, indifferent of place, It shall twist and intertwist them through and around each other— Compact shall they be, showing new signs, Affection shall...

“For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace .” Barack Hussein Obama, from his Inaugural Speech The power of these particular lines continue to resonate with me. It is these lines that have been most marveled at between the four walls of my therapy room. Why? With these words, Obama opened the door to an enormous group of Americans who have been not only disenfranchised, but have been rendered downright inv...

Last night, as I was watching the television coverage of the festivities in Washington, I found myself sobbing yet one more time. How many times in a day can the heart break open, releasing cynicism, letting in joy? I turned the television off and cried a good long time after witnessing Joe Biden quote a line from a poem of the poet Seamus Heaney . As if life wasn't good enough, it turns out our Vice President is the kind of guy who quotes Irish poets. Brigid is pleased. She can't wait until her feast day to have the whole poem shared..so I'll do that right now. What poem will I find for February 2 nd ? Doubletake Human beings suffer, they torture one another, they get hurt and get hard. No poem or play or song can fully right a wrong inflicted and endured. The innocent in gaols beat on their bars together. A hunger-stri...

I love the tradition of poetry being read at inaugurations. Words are potent, are powerful. They give shape to our thoughts and sensations, they change our consciousness with complex simplicity. Poetry is the mindful/soulful use of words and images. Wasn't this morning poetry itself? This moning there was an ocean of words and images, coming in waves that brought relentless tears. Poetry was part of today. Today was and is poetry. My family, the cats, the downstair's neighbor and his dog all gathered around our television to bear witness to the change of power. The warm sun of San Francisco streamed in the window, yet we yearned towards the exhilarating cold of Washington. I know that in the future, I will remember feeling and seeing my breath in icy crystals, although the truth is that the only air made visible was the steam rising from my hot coffee. Nevertheless, I know I will remember us all as one, in the cold sharp sparkle of our capitol, cheering for the promissory n...

Feel free to copy the following to your blog and spread the word. Let poetry bless the blogosphere once again! WHAT: A Bloggers (Silent) Poetry Reading WHEN: Anytime February 2, 2009 WHERE: Your blog WHY: To celebrate the Feast of Brigid, aka Groundhog Day HOW: Select a poem you like - by a favorite poet or one of your own - to post February 2nd. RSVP: If you plan to publish, feel free to leave a comment and link on this post. Last year when the call went out there was more poetry in cyberspace than I could keep track of. So, link to whoever you hear about this from and a mighty web of poetry will be spun. Feel free to pass this invitation on to any and all bloggers. Thank you, Reya , for beginning what is now an annual event.

Yes, I'm back in the blogosphere. It was great to take time out, to slowly stop writing blogs in my head, to free psychic space for internal processing of the big changes at hand. For several weeks now I've stayed, for the most part, off the internet. I've attempted to stay simply dialed down to the home and work front. And, it's been good. I've needed to keep it simple, because right now, things are really complex. I'm in the business of change, being a therapist and all. Personal transformations are challenging enough, but when we all together are riding a wave of economic, environmental and social change...well, that has me grounding and doing mindful breathing pretty much on an hourly basis. Some of my friends and clients have lost considerable amounts of money. Some have been laid off and more are dreading upcoming "re-orgs" at their work. Which translates into more lay-offs. Friends in Portland were snowbound at home for days in December. Here...