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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in forest
What I Saw in the Woods, or: Stepping Into the Firelight

I was 17. I didn't know much, or anyone else, at the time, but it was Midsummer's Eve and, dammit, I was going to do something. So at sunset I went down to the woods that lined the cliffs above Lake Erie.

I knew these woods well; they were my refuge. At night, when life was too much to bear, I would stash my shoes under a log and walk the deer-paths for hours. (Bare feet will always find you a path in the dark.) Those woods saved my life.

I had no ritual, no plan, that Midsummer's Eve. As darkness grew, I followed the deer-paths farther and deeper into the forest than I'd ever gone before.

Then suddenly, through the trees: firelight. Drawing nearer, I saw that it was a large fire, very large.

I heard the violin, and the voices of people, many people. Cautiously, through the underbrush, I approached. Some were standing, talking. Some were dancing, a ring-dance around the fire. Old people, young people.

I'd gone out to find Midsummer's Eve, and I'd found it. I was fascinated. I was terrified.

I don't know how long I watched. It felt entirely natural that this should be happening: all very Old Country, somehow. Finally, moving quietly as well I knew how, I turned and made my way back through the woods.

Midsummer's Eve of the next year I went back, hoping to find them again, hoping for the courage to step out of the woods and into the firelight.

Who are you? I wanted to ask.

But that year they weren't there. I never saw them again. Who they were, or why they were there, I don't, and never will, know.

Years went by. Now I'm one of those ring-dancing around the fire, knowing full well as I do so that there are new young eyes out there among the trees, watching and waiting.

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Posted by on in Paths Blogs
Know your forests and woodlands

Forests & Woodlands

What is the difference between a forest and a woodland?  In this case it seems that size really does matter…

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
The God in the Woods

Really, those woods saved my life.

Fourteen is hard. When home and school grew too much to bear, I turned to the woods. I'd walk the paths there, and the storm within would still. And when I left the woods I knew that, no, to live was better.

At first the woods were mine and I walked them fearlessly, but only by day. By night they belonged to themselves, and I feared to go there. To carry a light would have been a profanation, and I feared to walk in the dark.

But then I learned what still can't help but seem a metaphor.

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Steven Posch
    Steven Posch says #
    Growing up in the suburbs has its advantages, access to the wild being one of them. I was back in western PA recently visiting fam
  • Anthony Gresham
    Anthony Gresham says #
    When my family moved back to Richmond in '72 there were woods in back of the house. I was 13 at the time and the woods were great

Posted by on in Paths Blogs
The Love of Trees

"The Clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness."

John Muir 1890. 

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There's Always a Witch in the Woods: Robert Egger's "The Witch"

There's always a witch in the woods.”

Sparky T. Rabbit

 

Caution: Spoiler Alert

 

Robert Eggers' newly-released film The Witch is a visually stunning, psychologically claustrophobic study of a family's collective descent into self-destructive madness, a parable of the dangers of spiritual arrogance.

 

It's also (Temple of Satan imprimatur notwithstanding) rather a bore.

An hour-and-a-half bore which, might I add, is utterly redeemed (I use the word judiciously) by 5 minutes of soul-searing, scintillating brilliance as young Tamsin encounters the Dark Lord, lips to nape, in (where else?) the goat shed.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs

Today I continue to honor the gods maligned by the atheists' graveyard.  Medeina is deity number 30 from that list and is a Lithuanian forest goddess.  I could not find out much about her so a short prayer is my offering.

b2ap3_thumbnail_diana-cazadora.jpg

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Recent comment in this post - Show all comments
  • Rana Jetter
    Rana Jetter says #
    So many incarnations of the Goddess I like your name of the sea Rana...Majestic force; Queen!
PaganNewsBeagle Earthy Thursday July 31

Today, we've got seven stories about Earth, her people, and our spiritual paths. Enjoy!

An underground greenhouse promises year-round veggies. Have you heard of this? Would you try it?

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