Saltwater Ceremonies: Justine Sutton, Celebrant

06/30/2024

On this last day of Pride month, let us stand together in peace and joy. Love who you love, marry who you marry, live how you live--these are human rights. And let us stand in pride and power before those who foolishly argue against this truth.

In Santa Barbara, we have our Pride festivities at the end of August, so it's a Summer of Pride! 💜

H/t to Bobby Jo, a beautiful gay singer songwriter, for this image.

06/21/2024

Blessed Summer Solstice 💜 This evening was the actual event but I will mainly be celebrating Saturday with thousands of my closest friends at the Santa Barbara Solstice parade!

This was 2010 when I headed up my old timey carnival ensemble. So much fun!

02/11/2024

The New Moon in Aquarius marks Lunar Imbolc, a time to gaze into Brigid's well, visioning the seeds of the future and embracing this time of germination. Feel the warmth of her forge as in the dark sparks the first ember of spring. Blessed be 💜

Host

Invite it all.
Invite the discomfort, the messy, even the icky.
Invite the exposed, the embarrassing, and the not-so-graceful.
Invite the miscalculation, the unrealistic, and the sass.
Invite the dramatic, the poor-form,
and don't forget the hypocritical.
You might as well laugh. Do more than laugh. Enjoy it.
I'd say invite the ego, but it already invited itself,
so rather, treat it nicely.
Give it a seat at the party, like anyone else.
Invite fear. Be kind to it.
It never meant to hurt anything,
it just loves you a great deal.
More than it can stand, sometimes.
Invite the ache. In fact, give the ache the comfiest chair.
Keep its drink full and hang on its words.
This is your guest of honor.
We owe this whole party to the ache.
That's where we strive from. It's the emptiness we fill.
Where art is put on canvas. Where songs are born.
That's where we're raw.
Invite the blood. It's full of life. Edgy. Inarguably real.
Be a good host. Invite it all.
Maybe courage will show up.
I hear it loves a good party.
Maybe wisdom will recognize the opportunity.
Maybe peace will be drawn to the gathering.
Maybe.
May be.
Outside, the owl is watching. Content. Full of love.
Invite it all.

~Shayla Paradise

12/21/2023

Winter solstice
The dark, the stillness, the inner mystery
of midwinter

The sun’s long winter nap
Has begun earlier each night

On solstice night, the longest night
We wait
Our candles in the dark each a tiny piece
of the sacred fire

When at dawn the sun arises, refreshed,
we dance and sing to celebrate
the return of its light and warmth

As it grows stronger
the days grow longer,
bringing visions of spring

So goes the turning of the wheel

Blessed be 💜

Photo by Charla Bregante

11/04/2023

Hello, friends. How are things with you? I’ve been moving slowly, hibernatory instincts kicking in, gravity working double-time to pull me onto soft horizontal surfaces. Tonight time will fall back, bringing sundown an hour earlier and longer winter nights of deep, peaceful dark.

My moods fluctuate in cycles like the seasons, more so than most. For me that often means moving slowly or not at all. When I post something in honor of a sacred day on the Wheel of the Year, which I intend to do for each, I’ve often worried that if it’s “late” I will lose credibility. But now I’m going for transparency and banishing the shame of not “doing it right.”

So, here we are. In the past three days, we have celebrated Samhain, Halloween, Dia de Mu***os, All Saints & All Souls Day. These are celebrations from different cultures, different traditions, but all connected to our Beloved Dead, remembering and honoring them when the veil between the worlds is thin.

And not only those we knew and loved in life, it’s a time to honor our ancestors… those who suffered and those who prospered, those who adventured and those who stayed home, those who spoke out bravely for causes and those who quietly did what needed to be done. They lived and worked and played and loved so we can live now.

For Dia de Mu***os, families create an ofrenda, an altar where photos, mementos, and favorite food and drink of the dead are placed with candles and marigolds. An altar or shelf in your home can display photos and mementos of your Beloved Dead all year. We can honor them any time with meaningful songs or poems, time spent in nature, sharing memories of them--anything that feels right.

And you can always honor them in your heart... your heart-altar.

Blessed be 💜

09/22/2023

🧡 Blessed Autumn Equinox, friends... this time of balance some call Mabon. Enjoy reflective moments and a little uptempo energy too with this classic tune! 💜

And Blessed Spring Equinox to our Southern Hemisphere friends 🌷

PS: Anyone else notice the only element missing from the band's name is Water, which is the element corresponding to... Autumn Equinox!
🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅

Official HD video for "September" by Earth, Wind and FireListen to Earth, Wind and Fire: https://EarthWindandFire.lnk.to/listenYDSubscribe to the official Ea...

06/22/2023

Blessed Solstice! 💜

05/01/2023

Here's a catchy little chant for Beltane:

Tonight we light the bonfire for Beltane, May Eve
A chance to dance and sing and play or drink a pint of mead
Celebrate the Goddess and the Green Man
Reunited in their love, blessing the land

Blessed Be! 💜

Provided to YouTube by CDBabyBeltane Bonfire · Flora WareSongs for the Wheel of the Year℗ 2020 Flora WareReleased on: 2020-10-23Auto-generated by YouTube.

03/20/2023

Today at 2:24pm is Vernal Equinox in the Northern hemisphere, also called Ostara (happy Autumnal Equinox to our Southern hemisphere friends!) The Equinox is a time of balance between light and dark, we're at the mid-point of Spring, and now we turn toward increasing light and warmth of the approaching Summer. But first, more Spring showers! Blessed Ostara 💜

April Rain Song
By Langston Hughes

Let the rain kiss you.
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.
Let the rain sing you a lullaby.

The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk.
The rain makes running pools in the gutter.
The rain plays a little sleep-song on our roof at night–

And I love the rain.

02/01/2023

Blessed Imbolc! Also known as Brigid, February 1st is the sacred day on the Wheel of the Year halfway between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. It marks spring’s beginning, when we start to prepare for longer days. "Imbolc" comes from Gaelic for “ewe’s milk” because this is when the first lambs of the year were born, so it was when people had access to fresh milk after the long winter.

Brigid is the Celtic goddess of healing, smithcraft, poetry, and childbirth. Her holy well and sacred flame have been tended by generations of priestesses.
............................

Blessed be the sacred fire that lives deep within each of us;
May we cherish its light.
Blessed be all that is contained and enclosed.
Blessed be this time of isolation, so that we may share health.
Blessed be the future that grows, protected, within the womb
Blessed be the milk that is prepared to nurture new life.
Brigid, ancient spirit of the Imbolc season --
Bless our hearth fires and our homes with warmth and love,
And let there be mercy for those who are without.
Bless the risk of birth, by which life continues;
Let there be pity when it goes awry, and solace for its losses.
Bless the tools of our labor, and the transforming heat of the forge;
May justice be the anvil on which our days are wrought.
Bless these candles that connect us one to another in community,
May they remind us that all flame is your flame;
That all flame is one;
That even when we are separated, we are not alone.
And from this flame of personal light and covenant community,
we kindle now the chalice of our faith heritage,
that takes its shape from the prophetic words and wisdom of many traditions,
From the human response to mystery and wonder,
to reason and compassion,
to the infinite abundance of divine creativity and love,
and to the unending cycles of renewal and change in nature.
May it stand as a beacon to all who seek to know the fullness of life.

~Rev. Kendyl Gibbons

12/23/2022

11/01/2022

At the All Souls service yesterday at Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara, where I am a lay leader, I was honored to share some stories of my ancestors. Starting at 13:30, Rev. Julia does an intro and then I share my stories, interwoven with her wise words.

The rest of the service is good too! Unfortunately the framing is off at the beginning of my segment, but bear with and it gets put right eventually. Blessed Samhain 💜🎃

We exist because of our courageous ancestors — the ones who pushed through, survived impossible odds, overcame hardship and despair, and envisioned a better ...