Tag: nature
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When the Black Butterfly Totem Appears: Hidden Change
Every once in a while, a totem animal or insect shows up carrying a secret. Imagine a large, black butterfly drifting into your life. At first glance, it may not dazzle with bright colors, yet its dark wings edged in gold carry a deeper kind of beauty — mysterious, profound, and edged with light. This…
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The Wisdom of Playing Dead: Lessons from the Opossum Totem
There’s something about the hours just past midnight when the veil between ordinary and sacred grows thin enough to step through. Last night, I heard a noise outside my office window, sharp and unsettling, the kind of sound that makes your spine straighten and your mind immediately catalog potential threats. Someone trying to force their…
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Frog Totem on the Threshold
I wasn’t expecting company this morning, but there it was: a frog totem pressed to the top step like it owned the place. A large, pale, speckled frog, perfectly still, eyes wide as if it had just stepped out of a dream. I’ve seen plenty of frogs and plenty of totems, but this frog totem…
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When the Snail Totem Comes to Your Door
What does a snail totem mean? I don’t usually look down when I walk up to my house. I’m more likely to be juggling a bag of groceries, my keys, and a head full of ideas. But today, something caught my eye. A snail. From the Bookshelf Rite of Awakening — Southern Gothic with bite,…
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How My Fake Plants Accidentally Saved My Garden
Never in a million years did I think I’d be known as that lady with the fake plants—let alone be called out for it by a kindergartner. But here we are. I’ve accepted that each of the past few summers in Tampa has been the coolest summer of the rest of my life. The temperatures…
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Love and Late Blooming Flowers
A lyrical personal essay on late-blooming flowers and what they reveal about love, hope, and the gifts Nature delivers when we least expect them.
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How a Pagan Goes to Church – You Can Go Home Again
You can go home again, regardless of how much has changed. Your energy is forever in your footsteps, left on that land, & the energy of that place is forever in you. No matter where I travel on this planet or how many fascinating things I witness in other cultures and lands, “home” to me…
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Hurricane Isaac Evacuation and Lessons from the Camino
Hurricane Isaac evacuation time? Yes? No? I’ve lived in the Niceville-Destin Florida area of the Gulf Coast since 1983, so I’m accustomed to making decisions about tropical storm and hurricane evacuations. By the time any tropical storm is at the door of the Gulf of Mexico, I have to start thinking about whether to stay…
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How a Pagan Goes to Church: A Carpet of Green Moss
A carpet of green moss If a pagan goes to church in the Cathedral of Nature, then there’s no finer carpet than this beautiful green moss under my bare feet on a Sunday morning. Sweet Gum tree above the light As a child, I always loved finding this kind of moss on the ground, thick…
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How a Pagan Goes to Church: Elephant Ears and Roses
In today’s visit to the Cathedral of Nature, the morning raindrops were still on the elephant ears and roses in the garden. When I first moved into my house, the former tenants had planted shrubs in the front garden, punctuated by elephant ears. Each leaf was wider than my chest and brought to mind some…
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How a Pagan Goes to Church: The Surprise Lily
This week’s visit to the Cathedral of Nature as always brings wonder and joy to my heart. Last year, I picked up an unusual lily in the supermarket, brought it home, and let it bloom out. When the lily had died back a bit, I planted it at my front door, half-convinced that I’d never…
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How a Pagan Goes to Church: The Cathedral of Nature
I worship in the Cathedral of Nature, the Church Not Built by Hands. Years ago, a Christian friend who had left the Lutheran church and later the local Methodist church remarked to me that she’d started “going to church” every Sunday morning. That was a surprise to me, mainly because she was very ill and…
