People ask me, “Why celebrate the Day of the Dead/Samhain  if you’re not Mexican or Celtic?” Because this time of year is not owned by one culture....it is a universal threshold, a moment when the veil between worlds grows thin and we are invited to remember that we, too, are part of the great web of life and death. Honoring the ancestors is an ancient practice found in every lineage on Earth. It reminds us that life moves in cycles, that endings are sacred, and that we a

But there is another and vaster possibility which has made itself manifest here and there during this fateful time: a deep spiritual awareness that one’s life is in vital touch with the Source of Being that holds and makes secure against all that destroys and lays waste.   The opening words are from Dr. Howard Thurman in his book, The Luminous Darkness. He is discussing what was happening during the Civil Rights Movement when people joined with others for protests and demonst

Imagine opening a series of Russian babushka or “grandmother” dolls, in which each successive doll emerges much larger than all of the...

The opening music comes from the African American experience…   Well mother don't you stop prayin' Father keep right on prayin' Don't you...