Earth-Centered Spirituality

Spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions  celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.


The first display of Halloween candy I saw this year
  was in Safeway in Pullman on August 7.

That seems awfully early,
   but then all the beloved holidays and holy days
       provide opportunities to sell stuff,
             and those who want to sell
                  want to start early
                       and sell as much as possible.

Halloween is no exception.

In fact, as most of us have noticed,
    there are entire stores
         dedicated to presenting and selling
               Halloween related merchandise.

They open weeks before Halloween
    and close soon after.

It makes us wonder what it is about Halloween
    that makes it such a popular holiday.

I propose the idea
    that it is at heart a holy day
        of earth centered spirituality.

Our culture has suffered a serious lack
 of spirituality that is based on and centered in
  the wonderful world on which and in which we live.

The holy day of Halloween, or Samhain
    as it is known in Earth-centered traditions,
        is a "thin time," a moment in which
            the normal boundary
                between the world of matter
                    and the world of spirit
                         becomes so thin
                             that we can almost see through it.

The Hispanic (most specifically Mexican) tradition
    of the Day of the Dead
         is a powerful cultural celebration
              of the thin time.

A 2017 movie, Coco, was released
   by Disney's Pixar Studios
      based on the holy day of the Day of the Dead.

The beauty of the holy day is a celebration
    of the fact that love is stronger than death,
         as a verse in the Song of Solomon says.

Families are not truly or fully separated
   by our human mortality.

The dead are remembered lovingly,
    and picnics and family gatherings
       happen in cemeteries 
           to celebrate the nearness
               of the loved ones who have gone before us.

On a smaller scale,
    our memorial remembrances
        like the one we had for Beth yesterday
            celebrate the same reality.

Sometimes we feel very close to our loved ones
      who have died.

That closeness is not a scary or spooky thing.

It is, rather, a joy for us to experience and celebrate.

The Christian celebrations of All Saints' Day
    and All Souls' Day
        lay claim to the feelings at of being close
            to those who have died.

Similarly,
   as I have spoken of it before,
      the thin time of Halloween
          is also a time to feel our closeness
               to the life of our planet.

We can all experience it
   just by celebrating the life all around us.

Trees, other plants, birds, other wildlife
     and many of the creatures
         with whom we share our lifeboat earth
              are worthy of our attention and celebration,
                  and the Autumn is a wonderful time
                      to experience their nearness
                          as they prepare for
                              winter's cold and quiet.


The thin time is not the only way
    to feel the closeness of the world of spirit.

There are thin places, too.

In keeping with the recognition
   of the life of our planet,
       any natural place is sacred.

Any place where nature can be seen
    is to be regarded as sacred
        in Earth centered spirituality.

As such, Japanese religion
    is a prime example of the recognition
        of the sacredness of nature.

A Shinto temple will often be set
   in a beautiful, natural, park-like place.

Windows in buildings are often strategically set
    in order to provide a view
       of a beautiful, natural scene,
            even in the middle of an urban area.

The celebration of Earth centered spirituality
   through devotion to nature
       is certainly not limited to any one religion.

Shinto is prominent in the process,
   but other faith traditions are likewise.

First nations of North America
    also known as Native Americans
        and formerly known as American Indians
             are devoted to the natural world
                  in their spiritual practices.

The Four Sacred Directions,
     north, south, east and west
          form a context in which we all live,
               and in which
                    many Earth centered spiritual traditions
                          engage in their worship practices.

This morning, we have shared in
    an abbreviated version of that form of worship
        with our opening words.

Our closing words will do likewise.

Forms of neopaganism open and close
   circles of worship
      by calling the corners,
         invoking the universal spiritual energies
             of Mother Earth,
                based in the four cardinal directions.

North represents the Earth.

South represents Fire.

East represents Air.

West represents Water.

Those are also the four elements
   of Earth based spirituality,
      a source of meditation and healing.

I am personally fascinated by the fact
     that the Four Gospels
         of the Christian New Testament
             are each represented in art and tradition
                  by one of those four elements.

The four elements correspond also
    to the four fixed signs of the Zodiac.

Matthew is represented by Air
    and by the fixed air sign, Aquarius.

Mark is represented by Fire
    and by the fixed fire sign, Leo.

Luke is represented by Earth
     and by the fixed earth sign, Taurus.

John is represented by Water
     and by the fixed water sign, Scorpio.

More research on these corresponding traditions
    would be a lot of fun, it seems to me.

There are many more points of contact
     and corresponding ways of seeing spirituality
         among different traditions.

One of my personal favorites
    is the Christian Sacrament of Holy Communion,
        standing as it does at the heart
            of Christian faith and practice.

Earth centered traditions
     have something very similar.

Instead of bread and wine,
    they share cakes and ale.

Instead of the words, the body and blood of Christ,
    they share the elements and say,
         "May you never hunger,"
               and "may you never thirst."

As one who has shared in both forms of practice,
   I can bear witness
       that the experience of Divine Presence
           is very much the same,
               whether in the context of
                   some version of Christianity
                        or in some version
                             of Earth centered spirituality.

Likewise, the great apologist
     for the Old Religion of Europe, Sibyl Leek,
         in her book, Diary of a Witch,
             wrote that in the Roman Catholic mass
                   she could recognize
                        a white magic ceremony
                             of transformation,
                                  not so far removed
                                      from her own spiritual practice.

Earth based spirituality is a uniting force
    that is bringing people together in new ways,
        enabling us to appreciate our differences
             instead of finding only division in them.

The world needs much more uniting
    and much less dividing in our time,
        so I believe it was no accident
            that our UU faith
                officially adopted
                    the Sixth Source of
                        our Living Tradition,
                            Earth Centered spiritual traditions,
                                 in 1995, in the nick of time.

With our appreciation
    of the many things
       that connect us children
           of our Mother the Earth,
              we UU's are in a unique position in our time
                  to bear witness to the world
                      that we share much more to unite us all
                            than we have that would divide us.

Amen.

So mote it be.

Blessed be.