The world is pretty chaotic these days: political turbulence, hate crimes, pollution, economic unsteadiness. Some days it feels like the ground is slipping out from under our feet even as we try to walk forward - or just stand still. How can we find stability in times like this? What is there to hold onto? Folks in my grandparents' generation would have told us to turn to religion (Christianity, in my family's case). People did that during the Great Depression, and even more

It's Spring Equinox where I live in the southeastern US, but in Crete where the ancient Minoans lived, it's harvest time. So for those of us who practice Modern Minoan Paganism, the equinoxes tend to be "fun with sacred calendars" time. More about how we handle this interesting issue on today's Minoan Path blog: The Equinoxes in Modern Minoan Paganism: A problem of location To join the conversation about Modern Minoan Paganism and ancient Minoan culture, head on over to our w

I don't repost other blogs very often, but this one really struck me as something you lovely folks would probably find valuable. Reading Daniel Quinn's book Ishmael was a profoundly moving experience for me; I haven't yet read The Story of B but it's now high up on my TBR list. Steve Andrews has written an in-depth, thought-provoking review of these two books. If you're the type who likes to ponder the meaning of life, they should definitely be on your TBR list. Daniel Quinn'

The eightfold Wheel of the Year may be the most well-known Pagan calendar in the modern world, but it's not historical: it was created in the 20th century for modern Pagans. The ancient Minoans didn't use it. So what did they have? Probably, a very complicated year full of all kinds of festivals and sacred days, much like the later ancient Romans had. We've figured out what some of those festivals might have been and put them together into our sacred calendar for Modern Minoa

A while back, I started a series of Youtube videos in which I read excerpts from my novels The Bed and Jaguar Sky. Those are the only two novels I've published so far, but people kept clamoring for more, so I decided to start doing readings from some of my favorite books. It turns out, a lot of my favorites are books that are officially meant for a younger audience. But hey, I don't discriminate - a good story is a good story. So first, I turned to one of my longtime favorite

Today on the Minoan Path blog, I'm chewing on what it means to follow a spirit-led tradition that's based on a 4,000-year-old Bronze Age culture but that's practiced in the modern world. Lots to think about: Modern Minoan Paganism: No rules to break To join the conversation about Modern Minoan Paganism and ancient Minoan culture, head on over to our welcoming community at Ariadne's Tribe on Facebook. In the name of the bee, And of the butterfly, And of the breeze, amen. #hist

December has been busy, but I've managed to share a bit about Minoan spirituality in its various forms. My dear friend Dana Corby graciously agreed to do a guest post about how Minoan spirituality has intertwined with Wicca and other forms of Paganism over the past few decades: How the Minoans got mixed up with Wicca And I've been contemplating the way the ancient Minoans made offerings, how they set them on different levels from the rest of the altar to set them apart from t

The holiday season is a rough time of year for many people. A lot of us have to navigate family conflicts, religious baggage, work obligations, issues of expectations and stress and budgets... you get the idea. So why must so many of us make it even worse by making demands about how others deal with this time of year? I've grown to expect that a certain variety of Christian will make a stink about people who don't say Merry Christmas. I just can't take them seriously and I've

Many of us who practice Modern Minoan Paganism are solitaries. But that doesn't mean we can't add a bit of pomp and fun to our rituals, even if it's just us and the gods. Here's a historically-based way to do just that: Minoan Processional: Walking the gods in To join the conversation about Modern Minoan Paganism and ancient Minoan civilization, head on over to our welcoming community at Ariadne's Tribe on Facebook. In the name of the bee, And of the butterfly, And of the bre

When I started down the path of Minoan spirituality, I had no idea it was going to have so many twists and turns. I've had to revamp my view of the pantheon as well as my spiritual practice more than once. Oh, the dangers of an evolving modern Pagan spiritual tradition! LOL I don't like changing my mind: an essay in the evolution of Modern Minoan Paganism To join the conversation about Modern Minoan Paganism and ancient Minoan civilization, head on over to our welcoming commu

That's not a facepalm that the young woman is doing (it's an ecstatic posture) but it's the closest I could find in Minoan art. Being the listmom at Ariadne's Tribe is usually a joyful job, but recently it has been difficult and saddening due to racism rearing its ugly head (again) in the Pagan community. So here's what I'm doing about it: Racism Rears Its Ugly Head Again Modern Minoan Paganism is a welcoming path, happily open to people of any race, ethnicity, gender or gend

Sometimes it's hard to explain to people what Modern Minoan Paganism is all about, how it's a combination of ancient and modern, reconstruction and spirit-led practice. I think we've finally come up with some pretty clear and understandable language (that doesn't take four paragraphs to explain!). Here it is in a nutshell: Modern Minoan Paganism: Reviving ancient spirituality To join the conversation about ancient Minoan civilization and Modern Minoan Paganism, head on over t

Did you know that all the fancy terms for Minoan pottery - rhyton, pithos, kantharos - are actually Greek and not Minoan? Why is that, and what did the archaeologists do when they found ceramics that didn't look like anything the Greeks had ever made? Find out in today's Minoan Path blog post: Minoan Pottery: It's NOT all Greek to me! To join the conversation about Modern Minoan Paganism and ancient Minoan civilization, head on over to our welcoming community at Ariadne's Tri

Joseph Campbell said that all religions are true for their time. How can we aim toward having Modern Minoan Paganism be true for its time? I explore that question in today's Minoan Path blog post: Is Modern Minoan Paganism true for its time? To join the conversation about Modern Minoan Paganism and ancient Minoan civilization, join our welcoming community at Ariadne's Tribe on Facebook. In the name of the bee, And of the butterfly, And of the breeze, amen! #history #culture #

Like other ancient cultures, the Minoans played music. I think music is probably a human universal that goes back as far as there have been people. Today on the Minoan Path blog I'm sharing the musical instruments that show up in Minoan art and talking about the times and places where the Minoans celebrated with music: Music among the Minoans To join the conversation about ancient Minoan civilization and Modern Minoan Paganism, head on over to our welcoming community at Ariad

Ancient cultures had many different methods of connecting with the divine. One thing they did was to use special poses to induce states of trance and ecstasy. In today's Minoan Path blog post, I'm collecting up the work I've done with ecstatic body postures in my practice of Modern Minoan Paganism: Minoan Ecstatic Postures: Syncing with the divine To join the conversation about ancient Minoan culture and Modern Minoan Paganism, head on over to our welcoming community at Ariad

Over the years I've contributed to quite a few anthologies. I love being part of a community that comes together over a given subject, sharing our different experiences and perspectives. Then one day I felt compelled to head up an anthology project myself. The subject? Deathwalking. This shamanic practice is also called psychopomping. It involves helping the soul of the deceased find its way after death and move on in peace and safety. This was an essential part of the shaman

People frequently ask me about daily life in ancient Minoan Crete. Today on the Minoan Path blog I'm sharing an excerpt from Ariadne's Thread about what the Minoans wore, including some images from Minoan art so you can see what I'm talking about: Ancient Minoan Clothing and Fashion To join the discussion about ancient Minoan civilization and Modern Minoan Paganism, head on over to our welcoming community at Ariadne's Tribe on Facebook. In the name of the bee, And of the butt

Today is the Spring Equinox where I live in the southeastern US, but it's harvest time in places like Crete, where the ancient Minoans lived. It's a confusing state of affairs, but the Mediterranean climate is an important facet of life in that region. Today on the Minoan Path blog, I'm celebrating both springtime and harvest: Spring Equinox, Minoan harvest, and upside-down calendars To join the conversation about Modern Minoan Paganism, head on over to our welcoming communit

Different people see symbols and images differently, even within a single spiritual tradition. Is that all right? How important are those differences? I explore these issues today on the Minoan Path blog: Symbols, Opinions, and "Right Thinking" in Modern Minoan Paganism To join the conversation about Modern Minoan Paganism, head on over to our welcoming community at Ariadne's Tribe on Facebook. In the name of the bee, And of the butterfly, And of the breeze, amen. #symbolism