Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Meet Peregrine a 2017 Giant Escape City



Meet Peregrine a 2017 Giant Escape City, my new bike.

Named after St. Peregrine the Martyr who refused to worship the emperor. (Today's Trump)

Named after St. Peregrine of Auxerre due to his Champagne color.

Named after the Peregrine Falcon due to his speed, agility, color, and black markings. And because it was my highschool mascot.

Named after the Peregrine Class Courier Ship appropriated by the Maquis in Star Trek because at his heart he's at once both a courier and a pirate.

Named after the Celtic Peregrinatio Pro Christo because he's a wanderer.

I'm looking forward to getting to know him!

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Summer Solstice


Twenty-seven years ago today I completed my third degree initiation in Wicca and took permanent vows, celebrating The Great Rite during a Summer Solstice circle with a dear friend of mine by the name of Jamie.

After the four quarters had been dismissed and the circle was opened, though never broken, we feasted on fresh fruit drizzled with honey and drank sweet red wine until the wee hours of the morning when the dew started to fall.

I was what one would call an eclectic wiccan, or a shaman, as I prefer. My craft name was Byron Moonshadow and my first totem animal was a rabbit, though the bear came to me eventually as well.

It is a path I hold dear and one I still follow in many, many ways. Once a witch, always a witch I suppose. It was through Wicca that I discovered the Divine and came face to face with that which is Love. It was through Wicca that I could finally believe in something other, if that makes any sense at all.

Since those days my perspective perhaps has changed over the years and my understanding of grace, salvation, and love has led me down a different path in the garden of life but in many ways I’m still a barefoot shaman dancing under the moonlight in a circle ringed with flowers and the breath of the summer solstice on the night breeze.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Broken Yet Beating

Broken Yet Beating
By Brian Ernest Brown

I've always known
I'll die of a broken heart

Shattered like glass
It was preventable and yet inevitable

Only thing worse
Than a fate such as this

Is most assuredly
Living with a beating broken heart

Thursday, June 30, 2016

So Many, Too Many


So Many, Too Many
By Brian Ernest Brown

So many wounded people.
So many ill people.
So many frightened people.
So many sad people.
So many frustrated people.
So many angry people.
So many lost people.
So many hiding people.

Many. So many. Too many.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

My petals have drooped a little today
Even as my prayers have risen.

Tomorrow's a new day.
Bless it.
+++

Thursday, January 7, 2016

If I Ever Said I Love You





If I Ever Said I Love You
By Brian Ernest Brown

If I ever said I love you
I mean it even now

If I ever held you in my heart
I hold you even now

Love never gives up 

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Blessing of the Kindling

I awoke to a cold, drizzly, blue, misty morning here on Bear Mountain. I was immediately reminded of two things. We have entered into that “blue time of the year” in terms of not only the church calendar but also in respect to the depression that haunts many folks during the holidays.

Every now and then the fire within weakens and we are left with a cold hearth and a fading memory of warmth and happiness. Please take the time to make a difference in someones life, take the time to care, and take the time to let them know you care. Help kindle their fire anew that the flame of love my grow and radiate within their lives and then spread its warmth to those around them.

Blessing of the Kindling

From the Carmina Gadelica

I will kindle my fire this morning
In presence of the holy angels of heaven,
In presence of Ariel of the loveliest form,
In presence of Uriel of the myriad charms,
Without malice, without jealousy, without envy,
Without fear, without terror of any one under the sun,
But the Holy Son of God to shield me.
Without malice, without jealousy, without envy,
Without fear, without terror of any one under the sun
But the Holy Son of God to shield me.

God, kindle Thou in my heart within
A flame of love to my neighbour,
To my foe, to my friend, to my kindred all,
To the brave, to the knave, to the thrall,
O Son of the loveliest Mary,
From the lowliest thing that liveth,
To the Name that is highest of all.
O Son of the loveliest Mary,
From the lowliest thing that liveth,
To the Name that is highest of all.

Saturday, December 5, 2015

The Glassblower's Heart


The Glassblower's Heart
By Sarah E. Skwire
It is not stable. It has never been.
It's fifteen thousand brittle, jagged shards
Which impersonate a whole. Innately marred,
It could explode at any time--just when
You least expect it, like as not.
The threat of loss and injury is all too real.
You have to heat it. You have to anneal
The work you've made.
If you don't you might get
By for days or weeks, but destruction looms
Unavoidably. Make the choice yourself--
Place it in the fire. Leave it on the shelf.
Cause pain and save it, or spare it for doom.
I am not stable. I am not entire.
Heal me. Anneal me. Thrust me in the fire.