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Mud And Magic Blog

Screen shot of the alt text over an image: "Blue and white stick figure actively wheeling a wheelchair."

I've been getting ready for the launch of A Broom and A Spoon, a podcast for and by Pagans with chronic illnesses made by ED and I. Since we also plan to discuss issues relevant to Pagans with mental illnesses, disabilities, and sensory processing differences, it is important to us to make everything connected with the project as accessible as possible. It has been quite the project, and I wanted to share some resources and tips I've discovered so far so other Pagan resources can also be made more accessible.

Website testing: It turns out there's a lot more to an accessible website than alt text for images, though that is really important. This website was very enlightening to me about both of my websites: WAVE: web accessibility evaluation tool. Many of the defaults for both Squarespace and WordPress websites are not very accessible. For example, Squarespace's way of dealing with alt text means that when I use a screen reader app, all of the alt text is read twice. My WordPress pages are full of errors like "Missing form label", "Redundant title text", and "Redundant link", all of which are done by WordPress or the theme I chose and will have to be manually overridden (if they even can be at my skill level).

Keyboard accessibility: It is driving me nuts that I can't get focus indicators to work on either website when they should be on by default. WebAIM is full of tips and cautions for making websites more accessible.

Designing for everyone: I love these posters of how to design better for a variety of needs: "Dos and don'ts on designing for accessibility".

Closed captioning: YouTube auto-generated captions are on a scale from bad to terrible. Really, I tried to watch some of them on mute and I have no idea what the person is actually saying. Please, please, edit the captions.

Videos for the blind: On the subject of YouTube, if you are posting one, consider making a described video version for people with vision problems. There's an easy free tool at YouDescribe.org, though you have to send people to their website to see it. If you don't want to record your own, let me know - I love doing described videos.

Edited to add: Social media accessibility: I stumbled across this great tutorial on accessibility on the major social media platforms: Accessible Social Media.

I have a lot of work to do on my websites to get them to where I would like, accessibility-wise. I hope other Pagans will be inspired to check their own websites and online resources too, and pass on tips to each other. Let's make accessibility a core Pagan value!

Two trees with intertwined roots

The problem with metaphor in ritual is that it won't work for everyone. During grounding meditations involving visualizing roots reaching deep into the center of the earth, someone (me) might be distracted by imagining roots meeting red-hot magma. During rituals using a fall harvest theme, someone (me) might be distracted thinking about how nature is planting, not harvesting.

I've disguised more than one poorly thought-out concept with metaphor, so I understand the urge. They are also tempting to deploy as a substitute for true understanding of the ritual theme, or when deeper knowledge is hard to convey in the ritual context. Metaphors are best used cautiously and only when really necessary.

The main lodge and fire pit at a Pagan gathering

My first public Pagan event was a revelation: meeting other Pagans after a couple of years of studying and practicing on my own, standing in a real ritual circle, chanting with other people and raising energy. This was before everyone had the internet, so this was my first experience with Pagans besides reading their books. When I got home from the weekend event, I started gathering my fellow teen Pagans and potential Pagans. I held my first group ritual for Yule that year.

I was 17 when I went to that event alone. I called in advance and talked to someone on the board of directors, and they said I could come if I got permission from my parents. Before giving the information package to my parents, I carefully whited out the line "The kitchen and dining hall is clothing required at all times; the rest of the camp is clothing optional", which was conveniently at the end of a paragraph and so didn't look suspicious. I liked that it said that it was an alcohol- and drug-free event (a lie, it turned out) and that it outlined planned activities for kids, making it look family-friendly.

Looking back, I see the subtle protection I was proffered. Everyone I spoke to seemed to already know who I was right from when I arrived: I was the "teen who came alone". The board director that I spoke with was a mother of someone about my age who was also attending, and she and I hung out a lot during the weekend. She had been part of the community for most of her life, and I think now that she might have been (subconsciously?) concerned or that her mother might have asked her to watch out for me. We avoided the party cabin and when a good number of the adults were drinking and getting up to other adult things, we hung around the fire, learning chants, and went skinny dipping in the dark.

If I'd lied about my age and not been given the extra layer of protection... if the board of directors hadn't made sure that it was well known that there was an unaccompanied minor on site... if I'd gone to the party cabin... if I'd been a teen who tried alcohol or drugs... if the other young woman hadn't been there... well, many of the people Sarah Lawless is talking about in her post about sexual abuse and trauma in the Pagan community were there, and I believe Sarah when she talks about her experiences.

As it was, my first Pagan gathering was an amazing experience. I had conversations about the whys and hows of energy raising and other Pagan topics. I met amazing people. I won a star-shaped crocheted afghan. One young man was a bit flirty, but never inappropriate. I went home spiritually inspired and with a self-esteem boost. The next year, I went back with my recruited Pagan teens and about a dozen of 18 year olds invaded the camp. Looking back, we were so naive, but we accidentally kept each other safe just by tending to travel in groups. I suspect that the fact that we brought a couple of guys with us helped too; my partner has been my shield in many challenging situations. Some of us went to that camp every year for almost two decades.

I feel very lucky to have had such good experiences, especially that first year when I was at my most vulnerable. I am now pretty close to the age of the people who were on the board of directors that first year. I think in their place, I would have turned me down - told me to come at 18 or 19, maybe after coming to a couple of day events to meet some of the participants. As much as I have loved some of my experiences with the local Pagan community, I am now painfully aware of its flaws too, and I wouldn't want to risk a young woman's safety. My first public Pagan event was magical, but it would have been just as good a couple of years later.


A white mug of latte with an 8 pointed star drawn in the foam On the "punching bag" episode of the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, they discussed the hatred directed towards the pumpkin spice latte, tying it to sexism and classism in interesting ways. At the end of the discussion, one of the panelists said: "... on the west coast, you do not know it is fall for any reason other than the offering of pumpkin spice at Starbucks. It is my only connection to the season."

Ouch.

So maybe wherever they are on the west coast (California?), there isn't much of an autumn, but it did make me think about the way in which my wheel of the year is sometimes landmarked by commercial products and the marketing of corporations, such as pumpkin spice everything and chestnut ale in the fall. Superficially, these things seem seasonal, and I love eating seasonal foods as part of my faith, but since the syrup that makes a pumpkin spice latte could be available year around (and is, if you find the right coffee shop), the seasonality is artificial.

I love pumpkin spice lattes, and eggnog, and Cream Eggs, and raspberry ale... all the artificially restricted treats that come to symbolize their time of the year. I just don't want my faith to be dependent on Starbucks. I want to have both my pumpkin spice latte and a slice of the pie made fresh baked, locally grown, pumpkin.


A winding dirt road surrounded by scruffy bushes and with mountains in the distance.

A winding dirt road surrounded by scruffy bushes and with mountains in the distance. The road I'm on barely warrants the name; it is more of a trail, the width of a car, that winds through the forest. I'm in four wheel drive, bumping slowly downwards. At one point, the road turns upward sharply than drops away again immediately. I stop at the top. The nose of the vehicle is pointed up at the trees and I can't see the road at all. My friend in the passenger seat - a more experienced off-road driver - laughs at my nervousness: "The road is still there. You know it's there, so just go."

View from above of a pair of feet in sneakers walking on cement. "Don't look at the floor. It's not going anywhere," says my Tai Chi teacher. My partner and I laugh; he knows that right now I can't really feel my feet. That is combining with my lack of balance to make my animal instincts less sure that the floor is, indeed, still there from one step to the next.

I lean atheistic in no small part because I like to perceive instead of believe. I want to trust my senses, but they are sometimes failing me. My instincts can be tricked and can override my logic, so I must extend my trust to common sense and my memories.

I need to know that the ground is still there, still strong and supportive, even if I can't see or feel it.


A leaf with natural heart cutouts, lit from behind.

If we are the universe embodied and if we are here to experience the universe, it makes sense that there would be rewards built in to connecting with the natural world. As we serve the cosmos, we receive happiness, serenity, and maybe some healing as a side effect.

I see a lot of headlines like "How to harness nature's healing power", "How forests heal people", and "How to use nature to improve your health". Their version of nature is lush, green, and peaceful. There's no red in tooth and claw; there's no predator, prey, and parasite. Theirs is a tamed nature that exists as a tool for our benefit.

To me, respect for nature means understanding that it isn't here to serve us. It can be the soothing green shade with bird song, but it can also be the disease carrying deer tick picked up in that same idyllic place. It exists for itself alone. We are lucky that walking through the natural cathedral of old trees or observing a wild flower conveys spiritual, mental, and physical benefits, but framing nature in terms of how we can use it maintains the same paradigm that led to animal extinctions, rain forest clear cutting, and vortexes of plastic waste in our oceans.

Get out into the green when and how you can, for the personal benefits or as an act of worship, but don't mistake your reasons for nature's purpose. And wear insect repellent as needed.


Each of us is a piece of the cosmos experiencing itself. We have always used our senses to do this, and our imaginations at least back to cave paintings, but in our world now, we have enhanced abilities so the piece of the cosmos we each represent can see more and experience more than our ancestors could dream of.

Zoom in and see the composition of nature.

A single fan-shaped ginkgo leak and three images of it from a microscope.
A dried ginkgo leaf under a microscope.

Zoom out and see our earth from an impossible perspective.

Photos of Earth from Space: Blue Marble Eastern hemisphere, Blue Marble western hemisphere, and Black Marble: the Earth at night.
The Blue Marble East and West from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and The Black Marble from NASA Earth Observatory

Pan around the world and witness stories where you will never be.

A curved wall of books.
"Reading in the Round" by Let Ideas Compete; CC BY-NC 2.0

Feed your inner divine cosmos with information and with imagination and with beauty at all scales.


In some desert areas, there are spectacular wildflower blooms after particularly wet winters. In the mountains, temporary waterfalls are created by spring snowmelt. Lunar and (especially) solar eclipses; meteor showers; comets, auroras, bird migrations, autumn foliage... there are marvels that come around us, and not too infrequently. We must not be "too busy" with quotidian affairs to experience them.

Seize the (Unusual) Day from the Atheopaganism blog

On a sunny day, a paraglider and a bunch of kites are flown at a shoreline park. We can have as many natural holy days as we can notice. Where I live, in Vancouver, watch the flags and trees: when the wind starts blowing from the south, rain will arrive within a day. If we notice it coming - if we go outside to an open area away from wind tunnels and wind shadows every day - then we can celebrate both the last hours of sunshine and the return of the rains that nourish our temperate rainforest.

Maybe ideally we would celebrate every sunrise, every sunset, every sign of the changing seasons. The animist part of me knows that every piece of the world is sacred, so every day is a holy day. We're surrounded by miracles and beauty every day, all the time, but we also need to pay the bills and visit the dentist and take out the recycling. And despite reading many cute articles about how to clean your house in a ritual or sacred way, I don't feel like I'm connecting with a higher power while I'm crawling to vacuum under the couch. Though I'm lucky enough to have a day job that is aligned with my values, it is still work and my love of spreadsheets doesn't make them sacred. I am not a monk.

I can't live every moment in a state of awe or connectedness; that's why we have rituals. If I try to make every day into a sacred day, I know that none of them will feel special. The full moon is beautiful to see, but seems remote and I've never quite got the habit of Esbats. But I am challenging myself to watch for the south wind coming in, and to honour those weather changes. And if they should bring with them one of Vancouver's rare lightening storms, I'll be thrilled to honour that too.


Morning glory and mint growing together over an almost completely covered lawn chair.
A piece of our yard is the most peaceful of war zones, as morning glory and mint fight for dominance.

I had a beautiful weekend. On Friday evening, Silver Spiral had a belated Litha. It was a gorgeous ritual. In the power raising, the group was given a fairly simple poem to turn into a chant. It started as just rhythmic speaking, than acquired melody, then evolved into a call and response with a complex clapping rhythm.

On Saturday morning, I went to my weekly Tai Chi class. The instructor was emphasizing the importance of paying attention to the group's timing: pushing forward together, turning together, kicking together. Doing the Tai Chi set smoothly as a group requires paying attention to the people on all sides of you and matching your timing to theirs. It also means making constant tiny adjustments to your positioning, taking some smaller or larger steps here and there or nudging yourself forward or back in order to keep spacing even and keep the lines straight. You have your workout to do, but you are also part of the whole. Ideally everyone in that whole values both of those things so the whole works as one while the individuals also work and balance their bodies in the ways they need as individuals.

Silver Spiral's rituals are firmly grounding in consent culture practices. When it is "just family" at rituals, we often rely on our long-standing mutual understandings about consent and participation, but we sometimes use an explicit acknowledgment, especially when running a public ritual:

We stand here as empowered and free individuals. We are each able to make our own choices about coming to this circle, about staying in this circle, and about how to participate in the ritual. You may leave at any time and for any reason, return whenever you want, and sit out any activity. We ask of each other only that we don't interfere with the experience of other participants.

That isn't comprehensive, of course: we do ask more of participants than just not interfering with each other's experience. A ritual is a whole that is more than the sum of the individuals in it, but that requires that all participants put effort into it.

Friday's ritual's chant started as a slightly ragged spoken poem as we figured out the words. As we found our own individual ways, we also came together. Even as I slipped into a light trance, I could find ways to follow the group's shifting chant. I could find a place where my voice belonged and hear it contribute to the whole.


When I was a little one, one of my favourite things to spot was a dandelion growing through the road. Not in the cracks in the sidewalks, but seemingly breaking right through the sticky black asphalt. I still watch for those stubborn little weeds. I also love when vines climb houses and fences and hide human creations with lush leaves, and when moss slowly paints a plush green over walls and sidewalks. And I admire the destruction that can be wrought by insufficiently contained bamboo.

Small ferns growing in a crack in some wood. Small ferns growing in a crack in some wood next to a cement wall.

These tiny ferns somehow found root in the cracks in a wooden bench.

I'm an urban Pagan, living and working in a city. It is a very green city, full of community gardens, trees, parks, and forests, but it is still a place of cement and glass and plastic. The city gives us nature in containers and behind fences. I like seeing the little reminders that plants have their own lives and make their own ways in the world.

Green is the colour of determination.



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