We dance

I was just reminded of one of my favorite religion-related quotes, courtesy of John Dougill at the Green Shinto blog… as originally reported in Joseph Campbell’s book Oriental Mythology, a Shinto priest was asked by a Western academic about the ideology and theology of Shinto. According to Campbell, the priest replied, “We do not have ideology. We do not have theology. We dance.”

Interesting little video

I came across this as part of an iTunes U offering from The Open University – a short interview with a registered “village witch” somewhere in Cornwall.

Catless

For the first time in almost 17 years… our last remaining cat, Marco, went into completely unexpected congestive heart failure yesterday afternoon and had to be put to sleep this morning. He was only 12, and will be greatly missed… This is the first time since a month after our wedding that we have no cats to care for.

On a lighter note, here’s a little something from the drafts folder because I just don’t feel like writing today.

Untitled Song
(after Fountains of Wayne)

Jennifer’s mom is 55
She just turned 29
For the 24th time
Robert’s dad retired much to soon
Spends his time with HO scale trains
In the living room

CHORUS
They were just two kinda lonely people
Hoping to find someone to share some TV
Maybe go bowling on a Saturday night
Nothing too intense, cause who has that kind of time?

Jennifer and Robert got along pretty well
But if there was a spark there
You know that they couldn’t tell
But now their folks are gone on a ski trip to Vail
Robert feeds the cats and
Jennifer checks the mail

CHORUS

Five years later and the kids settled down
1.5 children and a dog
They rescued from the pound
Modest expectations and small rewards
On two accountants’ salaries
That’s all that they can afford
And in between the push and shove
They fret about their parents’ folly
Now Mom and Dad send all their love
On mildly naughty picture postcards from Bali

Saving the sacred forests

There was a fascinating article in my local paper this past weekend on the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and its amazing tradition of the “church forest“. This, of course, immediately brought to mind the Shinto tradition of the chinju no mori, the “shrine grove“.

There are significant differences in the meanings, intentions and underlying theologies behind these remarkably similar institutions, of course; however, they also have a lot in common – particularly the fact that in both nations these sacred groves are under threat, both from climate change and the pressures of expanding infrastructure. As someone who holds trees to be holy and understands that (thinking globally) we need all the forested land we can get, and who also believes that there is inherent value in helping people hold on to what they can of their traditional culture in the face of immense contrary pressures, I would like to invite urge you to look deeper into the plight of these sacred forests and, if so moved, to join the fight to save them.

Save the Net

Image courtesy of Sopastrike.com – please follow the link and use the Write Congress Now button to let your representatives know that you refuse to sit still while they try to kill the free exchange of ideas.

Missa Druidica

Philip Carr-Gomm points us to an unusual opportunity – portions of Joseph Nemeth’s (aka Themon the Bard) Missa Druidica are being performed tonight in Denver by the Orpheus Pagan Chamber Choir and broadcast on Colorado Public Radio! (The show starts at 7 pm Mountain time)

You can hear electronic excerpts(?) of the work at the second link… given the paucity of good, serious pagan music, I definitely think this deserves our attention!

The more things change…

Some interesting stuff surfaced in the mainstream Web media this holiday season, from a more or less straight reflection on Saturnalia to multiple notices of a resurgence of interest in Santa’s shadow, Krampus (Sannion, take note!)

Happy whatever-you-celebrate, and see you on the other side of the weekend… I’ll leave you with a true modern holiday classic, Diane Roberts’ Saturnalia rant!