branches up, roots down

  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...

My pledge to Brigid is already showing signs of working on me. Decades back, when we were creating what has become the Reclaiming Tradition , we started making pledges in front of a big tub of water ( Brigid’s well) which held a cauldron of fire (Brigid’s flame ). This was done in a public ritual where one by one people would pledge with the community bearing witness. Over the years, I’ve made pledges that have shifted my life, and witnessed plenty that I knew would bring change. I haven’t been to a public ritual in several years, but this year I followed the call and found myself back in front of the well and the flame. My pledge this year was and is to embrace gratitude as an organizing principle and to treasure my son, my partner, and my beloved friends. My birthday was on Saturday and the whole day my pledge kept resonating. I am so blessed! My partner and I started the day with a trip to the farmer's market. If there ever was an urban pagan place of worship,...