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Brigid’s cross, traditional symbol of Brigid and Imbolc Every year at sunset on January 31, the eve of Imbolc (celebrated on Feb. 1), I light a candle and put out a red cloth for the goddess Brigid to bless. (For more about the tradition of the Brat Bride, go here.) This year, my wife and …

I’m a night owl. In summer, I rarely see the sun rise. At Winter Solstice in the Pacific Northwest, it’s easy, even for me. Yesterday morning, just after eight, I sat looking east out of our living room windows. Four floor-to-ceiling panels of ten small panes each, with the original glass from when the house …

Forty-one years ago this past June, my mother died of metastatic breast cancer two days before her 67th birthday. She died between the births of our two sons; our older son was two and a half years old, and our younger son was conceived eight months later. As my mother was dying, I was acutely …

Sitting here in limbo Waiting for the dice to roll Yeah, now, sitting here in limbo Got some time to search my soul Well, they’re putting up a resistance But I know that my faith will lead me on —Jimmy Cliff, “Sitting in Limbo” on Another Cycle and The Harder They Come A week ago, …

Over the past week, I have watched my five-year-old granddaughter defy gravity hundreds of times. In the pool, she has learned how to move her arms and legs to keep herself afloat and swim from Papa to Mama to Grandma Martha to me. On roller skates, she can keep her four-wheeled feet beneath her and …