An Earthseed Solstice: Festival of the Teacher

Last updated on: June 13, 2016 at 5:05 pm by John Halstead

An Earthseed Solstice: Festival of the Teacher 2016-06-13T17:05:02-05:00 John Halstead

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Our teachers
Are all around us,.
All that we perceive,
All that we experience,
All that is given to us
or taken from us,
All that we love or hate,
need or fear
Will teach us—
If we will learn.
God is our first
and our last teacher.
God is our harshest teacher:
subtle,
demanding.
Learn or die.

— The Book of the Living

Earthseed is a fledgling Pagan tradition inspired by the science fiction of Octavia Butler, especially the Parable of the Sower and the Parable of the Talents. Earthseed’s liturgical calendar follows the Pagan Wheel of the Year, but the celebrations have unique associations.

The summer solstice coincides with the birthday of Octavia Butler, June 22. So this Saturday we will be celebrating Butler’s life and work, as well as the beginning of summer. This will be our first community ritual, and I am very excited about it.

Through the ritual, we will seek to depend our understanding of the words of the Book of the Living: “God is Teacher” and “Partnership is learning and teaching”. The ritual will involve song, like Peter Mayer’s “God is a River”, and call-and-response like:

All that we touch
We Change.
All that we Change
Changes us.
The only lasting truth
Is Change.
God
Is Change.

The center of the ritual will be a “meditative teaching” and the construction of an altar or “focus” to honor teachers who have inspired us.

Because we are geographically separated, our ritual will take place on Google Hangouts on Saturday, June 18, at 6pm ET/5pm CT. If you would like to join us, click here to email me.

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