The weather turned cold enough this week that I got my winter coat out for the first time. The Magician in me loves storing things in the many pockets of this coat, and there they were: tissues and lip balm; gloves; a face mask--so that’s where that purple one has been all these months!
The day was November 2, which Mexicans call Dia de los Muertos and Pagans call Samhain and astronomers know as the day exactly halfway from the fall equinox to the winter solstice. Because of the tilt of our planet and my location on the northern hemisphere, this day is the beginning of the dark quarter of the year. Noting the day’s spiritual significance, on this day I began a new commitment to practice yoga and meditation every day from now until December 21.
November 2 was also Election Day this year. There were only two items on the ballot in my district: a city commission race and a school levy. The polling place was quiet. However, my reflections on elections elsewhere today—and on the election a year ago today--are disquieting. A year ago I spent Election Day as a poll watcher in a Detroit suburb. I experienced the tension of activists and officials from both sides verbally clashing; I remember the stressful days and nights waiting for the votes to be counted in Arizona and Pennsylvania and Georgia. This week, I watched with growing worry as the Virginia’s governor race was decided in favor of a candidate who used racial fear about schools as a key issue. I agree with Charles M. Blow, who writes in today’s New York Times that this is the latest iteration in a long line of issues that white Americans use as a vehicle for their racial anxiety about Black, Indigenous, and People of Color—from the war on drugs to the fear of immigrants to Critical Race Theory in schools.
Election Day has come and gone for another year – now we return to the work of building the society of love and equity that we dream of, including holding accountable whoever is in elected office. The Day of the Dead has come and gone for another year – and we continue, every day, to remember our loved ones who have passed on, to heal any old wounds and to be blessed by their memory. The cycle of the year turns: weather is colder, daylight is shorter day by day. Our time is what we make of it, through intention and connection.
PRAYER:
Beloved Goddess/God, present in the sunshine on the fallen leaves, bless me now with the courage to do what I can do in my work and in my family and in my time alone, to spread love in this world. May all who live in the North of this planet embrace the growing dark in this season.
May all who vote in elections be moved by the purest intention to improve human society; and may those elected fulfill their sacred duty with integrity and transparency and humility.
May it be so.
Rev. Andrew (Drew) Frantz
November 4, 2021
The day was November 2, which Mexicans call Dia de los Muertos and Pagans call Samhain and astronomers know as the day exactly halfway from the fall equinox to the winter solstice. Because of the tilt of our planet and my location on the northern hemisphere, this day is the beginning of the dark quarter of the year. Noting the day’s spiritual significance, on this day I began a new commitment to practice yoga and meditation every day from now until December 21.
November 2 was also Election Day this year. There were only two items on the ballot in my district: a city commission race and a school levy. The polling place was quiet. However, my reflections on elections elsewhere today—and on the election a year ago today--are disquieting. A year ago I spent Election Day as a poll watcher in a Detroit suburb. I experienced the tension of activists and officials from both sides verbally clashing; I remember the stressful days and nights waiting for the votes to be counted in Arizona and Pennsylvania and Georgia. This week, I watched with growing worry as the Virginia’s governor race was decided in favor of a candidate who used racial fear about schools as a key issue. I agree with Charles M. Blow, who writes in today’s New York Times that this is the latest iteration in a long line of issues that white Americans use as a vehicle for their racial anxiety about Black, Indigenous, and People of Color—from the war on drugs to the fear of immigrants to Critical Race Theory in schools.
Election Day has come and gone for another year – now we return to the work of building the society of love and equity that we dream of, including holding accountable whoever is in elected office. The Day of the Dead has come and gone for another year – and we continue, every day, to remember our loved ones who have passed on, to heal any old wounds and to be blessed by their memory. The cycle of the year turns: weather is colder, daylight is shorter day by day. Our time is what we make of it, through intention and connection.
PRAYER:
Beloved Goddess/God, present in the sunshine on the fallen leaves, bless me now with the courage to do what I can do in my work and in my family and in my time alone, to spread love in this world. May all who live in the North of this planet embrace the growing dark in this season.
May all who vote in elections be moved by the purest intention to improve human society; and may those elected fulfill their sacred duty with integrity and transparency and humility.
May it be so.
Rev. Andrew (Drew) Frantz
November 4, 2021
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