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How Do We Begin?
Sometimes I find myself out of balance. Today, for example, I came into my room — the place where I light my incense, still my mind, perform acts of reverence and celebration — and I found myself uncertain about how to begin. My mind was a repository for too many things. There was clutter everywhere. […]
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Faitheist: A Lesson for Pagans in Storytelling
Faitheist serves as an example to Pagans, polytheists, Witches, Druids and Heathens (I think it’s time we get our own LGBTQAI abbreve, no?) of the impact and power that storytelling can have on furthering our ideals. Browse the bookshelf at a local metaphysical bookstore, and you will find book after book which explains the hows […]
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Where Does Love Fit into Pagan and Polytheist Traditions?
I am not a Christian, but I have no problem with placing love at the center of my religious ideology. (That I should feel the need to qualify the centrality of love with an “I am not” statement is notable.) When I check in with my desire, my deepest yearning, I discover love. It’s there, […]
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Faitheist: A Quest for Meaning Within Reason
Welcome to the first Bishop In The Grove book club discussion about our February book, Faitheist, by Chris Stedman! Let’s get something out on the table: I have never done a book club before. As such, I’m kind of winging it. My hope is that it can be informal, conversational, and ongoing; I envision there […]
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How Do We Talk About the Workings of a Goddess?
How do we talk about the workings of a Goddess? Sometimes we don’t. Well, not at length anyway. This week I’ve been in the middle of intense songwriting work, all of it very rewarding. But as I wrote on my music blog, #allofthesongs, there are times when it is valuable not to speak about what […]
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PantheaCon: Much Work to be Done
It’s the last morning of the last day. I’m in my hotel room, waiting for the rest of the attendees to rise. I’m an early-morning Pagan, it seems. I’m in the minority of this minority. Intentionally reflective blog posts can be a saccharine mess if you don’t watch yourself, so I’m choosing my words carefully. There […]
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The Heart Is The Only Nation
I have met the Morrígan. I have stood in a circle, a shape unlike any circle I’ve stood in before, and beside my human kin, a spiritual kin sharing breath and space and smell and touch, I made contact with the Warrior inside myself. At this moment it feels as though I have never been […]
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Pre-Pantheacon Packing Jitters
I haven’t packed. I have piles of things scattered around my office, and none of them are in any order. Pantheacon starts tomorrow — tomorrow!! — and I haven’t packed. In part, I’ve been slow to lay out all of the necessities because this trip is not just a weekend trip for me. I’ll be […]
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I’m Not Catholic, But I Am Concerned
The first thing that sprung to mind when I learned that Pope Benedict was resigning from his station of service was a series of quips and puns. WWBD? He’d quit. Two living popes in Rome? It’s like Buffy and Faith all over again. Well this is a good way of dodging the child abuse scandal, no? […]
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He Says The Gods Are Not What Matters
The worship of the gods is not what matters, Brendan Myers says. People and relationships matter. Even as someone who helps to provide others with the tools to worship their gods, these liturgies of the Fellowship, I find myself reading his words and saying — Yes. This is correct. This is not the only correct […]
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The Stuff of Posts, The Stuff of Songs.
I keep three blogs now. Three. This means that I’m either always writing or always thinking about writing. My life becomes the stuff of posts, sometimes the stuff of songs. The medium, with its requirements of regularity and consistency, force me to see stories in my life and lay those stories down in text. When […]
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A Blessed Imbolc, and a New Book Club!
Blessed Imbolc to all! In case you missed it, I published an Imbolc post on HuffPost Religion called A Faith Made of Fire. Check it out, and feel free to leave a comment there if you feel so inspired. After a wonderful round of comments on my last post, I’m happy to announce that we’re moving forward with […]
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Brainstorming and Crowdsourcing a BITG Book Club
I’m starting a book club. The Bishop In The Grove Book Club. Cool, right? For those who are keeping track of the number of projects mounting on my desk, the thought of one more new endeavor probably seems like insanity. But I don’t care. I think a book club sounds like fun. I could use a dose of […]
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Keeping Vigil to the Fire, Again
In a week I will publish the next Solitary Druid Fellowship liturgy. This morning, I spent some time going over the previous one, seeing where small adjustments might be made and looking for places where supplemental material would be useful. It’s been interesting to take on this position, which is a little like leadership, but […]
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Privilege: The Other “P” Word
Yesterday I said, “Be nice.” Perhaps encouraging nicety is not the right approach. Perhaps to say “be nice” is too simplistic, and worse, reads very much like, “Hush now, your problems are not important,” or, “You are making me uncomfortable with your anger,” or “There really isn’t that much to be angry about, so can’t you […]
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Be Nice, Pagans. Be Nice Polytheists. Be Nice.
I had occasion to speak to a very nice, young man last week about online etiquette. For me, what it boils down to is this: Be nice. It may seem simplistic, or perhaps reductive to some. But, I think it’s a good rule. Be nice when you talk to people, whether you know them or […]
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Genderqueer is to Trans as Polytheist is to Pagan
My kid is transitioning, but he’s not trans. He’s genderqueer. He doesn’t mind being called “trans,” because it’s accurate, but he identifies as something different. For some, this is a brain breaker. I don’t blame them or vilify them for that. One has to be flexible with definitions in order to approach these (seemingly) subtle, nuanced uses of identity language, […]
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When Pagan Discourse Becomes Reality TV
I’ve been transfixed by a particular reality television show on Netflix. I’m not typically a reality TV kind of guy, save for a few of the more hands-on creative shows. And the ones with drag queens, of course. This show documents the Olympic-like achievements of super-couponers, who, if you don’t know, are people who stockpile mass amounts of […]
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Top of the Week at BITG
Top of the week to you! This week is starting off with a whole bunch of Internet happenings. First, it seems that my RSS Email subscribers haven’t been receiving my blog posts since mid-December. Sorry everyone. Here’s what you missed: I wrote a post on Yule at HuffPost, and we talked about decentralization. After pulling […]
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The Road Ahead: Being Matt Morris Again
As many of you know, I have two names. There is the name you know me by, Teo Bishop; a name which I chose for myself several years back, and one that I took as my legal name last year. There is also the name which I’ve performed under for most of my life, Matt […]
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A New Year’s Blessing from Teo
On this, the last day of 2012, New Year’s Eve, I offer you these words: May you look back on the year, and feel a sense pride. May you remember the strength of your character, the resilience of your spirit, and the inherent worth of your being. May you know that you are a part […]
