a spirited crone exploring spirituality one word at a time
The movie Marianne and Leonard: Words of Love drew me in, twice. An engrossing but discomforting movie that highlights Cohen’s hurtful behaviour towards his muse and lover, Marianne Ihlen and her apparent willingness to be walked over like a beautiful…
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…
When people tell me they’re not religious, I’m always interested in what they mean, exactly. Once the conversation unfolds, what I often find is that they have a religious instinct but have given up the religion of their youth because…
Prayer is a strange and fascinating process. Probably not the same for you as it is for me. Everyone has their own way and ideas about what prayer is, or isn’t. I’ve been tangling with the process since I started…
I fell for Frida Kahlo in an instant. It was the tango that did it as Salma Hayek and Ashley Judd strutted, stamped and slid across the floor and each others bodies in two minutes of intense passion. Knowing this…
A resounding hallelujah ended the Easter singing marathon I’d promised myself. As I staggered out exhausted into the night, I was musing over what had arisen in me. No question, there was great joy through being immersed in music. Quickly…
I wrote this prayer, or cry of the human heart, for an interfaith gathering at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Palmerston North and the MidCentral DHB vigil. Chant, sing or say it with great passion! O God of…
People remember where they were when Martin Luther King and John Kennedy were shot. From here on in, Kiwis will know where they were on the 15th March 2019. The day a man opened fire in two sacred spaces killing 49 of our Muslim…
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust makes real sense at the end of someone’s life. People get it. Somehow, without saying much, the words shout out the truth of mortality. It’s a popular phrase at funerals, especially when separated out…
This Shrove Tuesday I’m gathering up the leftovers from three years in the spiritual wilderness and seeing what I can begin to make of them. To be honest, it was a strange feeling when my role as an Anglican priest…