Open Windows

It’s summertime! Sunshine, fresh fruit, and lots of bugs all serve as daily reminders of the season. The heat and humidity are perhaps the most noticeable effects, though. Our family has chosen to use the AC as little as possible – meaning we’ve used it for less than ten days this whole year. I didn’t think we’d do this well, but we have and I’m very pleased.
I’m originally from the South, so AC has always been a big part of my life. It wasn’t until yesterday that I realized what I was missing by choosing AC over open windows. Last night I noticed that the sounds of Nature were missing. Singing birds, the wind in the trees, barking dogs, talking people (and noisy cars) had become my background noise over the past few months. When those sounds are gone I feel so disconnected from what’s happening outside. I’m looking forward to the time when it cools down enough to open the windows again.

Article: Being in Nature

Article: Being in Nature

I love experiences like the author describes here. I’m really bad about allowing myself to disappear somewhere and just be, though. Anything like this feels selfish – taking the time for myself, not using it to do something productive – and “selfish” is still flagged as evil in my post-Christian brain. Also, allowing myself to relax and focus on nature is all mystic and stuff, which is another thing my post-Christian brain has flagged as evil. *sigh Most everything about being Pagan still alarms me at some level because of my fundamental Christian background. Letting myself be pagan causes me to worry if I’m just acting, if what I’m doing is silly, or any number of doubtful, worrisome things.

Article: Nature Religion?

Article: Nature Religion?

“If your religion does not include reverence for Nature then I propose your religion is at best inadequate and may be detrimental to your life and to all life on this planet.”
Yes, yes, and YES! Love this article!

Naturalistic Paganism

I’ve been doing some more thinking about what kind of pagan I am. Recently read an article about naturalistic paganism and found it very appealing. Here is another article on naturalistic paganism  that I found very interesting.