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I’m delighted to be writing this blog for you about walking the Minoan path. I thought I’d start by letting you know how I got to this place, this most unusual practice within the varied world of modern Paganism. If you know Ariadne and her tribe, or would like to, I would love to hear from you. For me, it started with a few pretty pictures…

Folklore is filled with the homeless. There are pilgrims and fugitives, persecuted teachers and those unfortunates fated to wander eternally as punishment or curse. Jesus said “Foxes have dens and birds have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58). Dionysus fled persecution from Greece to India to the ocean to the underworld. Sara-Kali was a wanderer and patron saint of wanderers, the Rom. Buddha left home in spectacular manner, abandoning wife, child and duty, never to return.

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, it's nearly Summer Solstice. Thankfully, the Texas heat has (mostly) held off so far, and we've enjoyed some lovely temperate days. The full force of the Sun will surely arrive after the Solstice, but it's been a nice respite to have our days in the 80s and low 90s.Here in the high, bright days of June, the Winter Solstice seems very far off indeed.

As we approach the midpoint of the year, I've been doing a lot of reflecting on what it is I'm trying to create in my life, what I'm trying to manifest, and what I want for my future. My companion this week is a Winter Goddess, Berchta. Worshiped throughout what is now Germany, and one of the patrons of Midwinter, Berchta is thought to oversee spinning.  Cloaked in her mantle of snow, and sometimes pictured with swan's feet, Berchta is also the guardian of beasts and of mothers. (Her celebration at Winter Solstice is known as Mother's Night.) She is a great teacher and an initiator. And like other Goddesses associated with spinning, including the Fates and the Norns, she is also a Goddess of Destiny.

I recently wrote about what it meant to priest for the Goddess. In it I quoted, noted Buddhist roshi, Pat Enkyo O'Hara, who once said, "When asked of all the wisdom traditions why Zen, I said, because I live a life of Zen."  In a reframe, I suggested that I live a life of Goddess. Many have messaged me to clarify what I mean by that?

Goddess is the everyday constant in my life. She is the immanent divine within me, around me, the all and the vast nothing; but also the transcendent manifestation standing before me. She is the totality of my life experiences, regardless of circumstance, and I manifest the life I have in Her service because She is worship for me. I confess worship is one of my favorite words. When I was growing up my grandmother would say, “Worship is a verb!” Meaning that there was more to being a Christian than just showing up on Sunday morning or worse, just at Christmas and Easter! She was not wrong, as worship is in fact both a noun and a verb.  But what is worship? 'Worship is the action of religious devotion often directed towards a deity."

As I often do in hard times, I turned to my oracle decks in search of some insight and some comfort after the horrific events in Santa Barbara this week. I expected a Goddess of Justice, like Athena, or a Goddess of Healing, like Sulis, to appear. So imagine my surprise when Erzulie, Vodou Lwa of Love and Luxury (among much else) made herself known to me.

Megalithica Books, an imprint of Immanion Press (Stafford, U.K./Portland, OR, U.S.A) is seeking submissions for Finding the Masculine in Goddess' Spiral: Men in Ritual, Community and Service to the Goddess.

E-MAIL FOR INQUIRIES AND SUBMISSIONS:
Erick DuPree:  please put “Finding the Masculine in the Goddess Anthology” in your subject line.

I gave a little chuckle when Chang O, Chinese Goddess of the Moon, danced into my life this week. I am a fan of the Chang O card in Kris Waldherr's The Goddess Tarot, as she represents Contemplation -- the equivalent of the Hermit -- and spiritual seeking. I identify greatly with her as a symbol for seeking the Goddess and for seeking my own sacredness as a woman.