Soul Pilates with a Spirited Crone
Presented at Restoring Dignity Building Bridges, the 2025 National Restorative Justice Conference. We’re about to tip toe where angels fear to tread. In my reflections about restorative justice I raise the often-marginalised territory of spirituality and religion, wonder about remorse…
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was hot news as I wandered into my favourite bookstore. Colleagues were offering opinions about President Putin’s actions, but other than thinking war is futile my understanding of the situation was limited. However, I was interested…
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…
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…
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…
mother marycardinal creatorhidden in plain sightbirthing magnificencebeyond assumption mother marysensual symbolembodied energywith just one kissdivinity is revealed mother maryblessed creatorsubmissive, neverin birthing splendourreflects her Self The bible can seem pretty dry and unreadable. All that tiny print crammed onto hundreds…
‘What have you done while Australia burns?’ yelled teen activist Izzy Raj-Seppings. ‘What have you done while your people can’t breathe,’ she continued, well wound up in front of thousands of Sydneysiders protesting climate change and wanting rid of their…
About this time every year my old friend Anxiety shows up as an obnoxious Christmas goblin. I swear it’s HER decorating shops for Christmas in early October. HER drenching my email in targeted advertising now that Google has my purchasing…
Elton John’s moment of redemption arrives in Rocketman when he wraps his younger, abandoned and fragile self in a loving embrace. Integration of a fragmented human is underway. Or put another way, the Self, the God within us is on…