Intention begets action. We must have the intention to change our stories and to dive into our own personal storytelling before we actually make change. But when a recent article said that "we all know people who know the right things to do, but can't do them consistently", the shame implied in that statement gave…
Recently an article came across my social media feed that talked about how the equine therapy industry has deified horses to the determent of honoring their unique personalities, behaviors, and rights as a sentient entity of their own. This mirrors some discussions that have been happening within the spirituality communities, namely the pagan one, who…
I've been reading a lot of Sallie McFague's work. She was an environmental theologian and her work on the Models of God is important, dare I say vital, to my thesis. In her work she talks about those who choose to hold onto the monarchic, parental authority model of God, who see of themselves the…
The stories we tell about ourselves shape our lives, both our inner worlds and the exterior worlds. Often we don't even realize we picked up these stories, and it takes something profound to shake us out of our stories or even to make us aware of them. The process of working with those stories is…
July is Disability Pride Month and so for this month I will be talking about spirituality, sacredness, and our relationship to the divine in a body that's both socially, medically, and through the minority group model disabled. In short, there are multiple models of disability, and what this means is that people are disabled through…
I walk among the herd to gently guide senior mare to the shed so she can have her leisurely, "gooshy" lunch, as I call it, of soaked senior pellets, soaked beet pulp shreads (We really need Unbeetable Feeds to sponsor us!), and some supplements. It's our noon-ish ritual. I go in the house, take care…
When the original Pride flag was created in 1978 by Gilbert Baker it included a purple stripe on the bottom for spirit. Though the flag we use today has been revised, it has six stripes instead of the original eight, the purple bottom stripe representing spirit remains. (Outright International) I did a quick web engine…
I'm almost 30 pages into my thesis talking about disability liberation, so allow me to indulge myself a bit by blogging about not just a topic I'm extremely interested in, but also one that impacts me personally. Today is an especially rough flare day for my chronic illness/disability. Honestly, with this wild weather we've been…
The days are becoming longer so when I go out to visit the horses, often around noon to give senior heart mare her lunch, I'll find the sacred herd under one of their favorite trees standing nose-to-tail so that when one swishes flies, it'll also take care of the flies that might land on the…
If we use the definition of spirituality that it is a connection with something larger than ourselves, which could mean our higher self, our soul, our spirit, our community, or the universe itself, then being spiritual in way that seeks to build connection, authenticity, and community is a radical act of resistance. This would be…
Body theology is just one aspect of embodied theology, but it makes the most salient point: that our bodies are not "fallen" or "sinful" or something dirty to be left behind. Instead, body theology states that our bodies are sacred. Depending on your religious or spiritual traditions (or paths), the body could be the manifestation…
When you use "Woo Woo" to discuss any type of complimentary or new age healing or spirituality modality, the truth is that's a derogatory term. Looking at the origins of the word, it was in use in the 1970s to refer to supernatural phenomena like ghosts. But in the 1930s and 1940s it meant "sex…
According to the Miriam Webster dictionary, a social construct is an idea that has been created and accepted by society. (reference) Gender, along with the accompanying commonly accepted gender roles are social constructs, ones that we may not have even realized we've been socialized into until we start unpacking things. Social constructs are why our…
Within the neurodivergent community there is a lot of talk about high support and low support needs with the implication that there is a hierarchy of severity for neurodivergent brains, rather than a broad spectrum. I've made it clear I'm not a fan of the high support-low support dichotomy. It further alienates those who were…
I joke quite a bit that we can blame Descartes for geometry (and math!), but I feel like there's something even larger than the trouble with math that we need to blame him for, and that's the modern concept of mind-body dualism. He wasn't the first to write about it, and in fact the idea…
When you purchase a horse from a kill pen there often isn't much history that goes along with them. When I adopted Holly, I was told that she was in foal (She wasn't, just a big mare.) and that she had worked in a feedlot pushing cattle. I have my suspicions on her breed (Probably…