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A triple goddess protecting us, feeding us, soothing us, healing us, creating us. The phases of the moon; The coming and going of the seasons. Birth. Life. Death.
What might a faith in the true divinities, visible ones, with known and necessary powers look like? How might we create a prayer book with rituals for the phases of the Moon, for the seasons of Mother Earth, for the glorious life-bringer, Sol. Do we continue blaspheming and facing the consequence of being baked, scrubbed, drowned off the planet. Our gift of life extinguished? Or do we bring honor and worship, of the most practical kinds, to the one who gives energy to the plants, to the one whose soils and nutrients give them a place to grow, and her lands places for us to have our nests? To the one who gives soft light in the darkness and pulls strong enough to move oceans, nurturing life in tide pools and along the shore lines?
An Ur religion, one that honors that which is visible and without which we cannot live. Not only Sol, Earth, and the Moon, but all living things. We’ll learn first from an Iroquois Medicine Man I met in 1974 in Detroit. Then from the Great Wheel as it turns to Beltane, May 1, a fire festival, the beginning of the growing season. Not a slap at any religion, I’m proposing something that could unite all of humanity, all of animal kind, and all of plant kind. After you learn to honor the lifegivers, worship whomever and however you wish.
The Reverend Doctor Charles Buckman-Ellis stayed in school far too long. He worked as a Presbyterian minister for a while, then, with Groveland’s help and support transferred his ordination to the Unitarian-Universalist Association. He has never served as a parish minister. His work focused on community organizing, economic justice, and environmental issues.
After leaving the Presbyterian church, he began writing novels and has written nine so far. None published because he’s a poor marketer. He also spent twelve years as a docent at the MIA, grew a large garden and orchard with his wife, Dr. Kate Olson.
In late 2014, on the Winter Solstice, Charles and Kate moved onto Shadow Mountain in the Front Range of the Rockies. They moved to be close to the grandkids. Kate passed away in 2021.