a spirited crone exploring spirituality one word at a time
Kali the Labrador came into my life when she was ten months old. Appealing, exuberant, and unruly. We developed an inexplicable bond, living in silence but inter-dependent. When she left me nine years later, I felt untethered, adrift, grief stricken.…
When Meghan and Harry headlined on Oprah about their struggles in the royal enclosure, it was like stepping into the Garden of Eden. The never-ending story of needing to grow into a new reality. Although the furore around the Duke…
Many of us live in a world without recourse to a god who bounces in and out of history at will or on demand. We have to take it straight, with no hope of eventual paradise. And salvation, if indeed…
Going the extra mile was mandatory when I was an over-helper. It made me feel good. No longer. Years in pastoral care have trained me to do less rather than more. To encourage people to be experts in their own…
Until I met Niki Harré I’d never heard of a secular priest. I was intrigued but also felt confused. The two terms, secular and priest, didn’t seem to fit. How could someone be a priest if there was no sacred…
Mary McAleese, former President of Ireland and lifelong Catholic, is religiously disruptive. She says that people are tired of ‘old men trying to beat the drum of obedience, being obedient to teaching that is long past its sell-by date and…
If I was producing a nativity play, I’d pick a young black American woman called Orpah to play Mary. You probably know her as Oprah Winfrey through her television talk shows, Oprah and Oprah Soul Sundays. Vanity Fair magazine said…
You might not immediately associate RM Williams’ boots with soul but for me they’re a potent symbol of the need to be grounded. To prioritise soulfulness over spiritual flights of fancy. Trading in my old pair was something of a…
What humans mean by Godde is always up for debate from an intellectual perspective. But that’s not all there is to it. Our own intuitive experience is essential in this process of meaning making. In that process, questions about the…
Racing into my Sunday morning dance exercise class my head was focused on the death of Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. Competing for space was the news that Biden was now President of the United States and Aotearoa has sworn in…