Divination, Dragons, and Songs

Last updated on: September 29, 2018 at 4:02 am by Nancy Vedder-Shults

Divination, Dragons, and Songs 2018-09-29T04:02:27+00:00 Nancy Vedder-Shults

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I’m excited about blogging here on “Nature’s Sacred Journey.” For me, nature has been sacred since I was a kid and visited “Little Niagara” and the “Table Rocks” in the woods behind my childhood home. As an adult, nature’s sacred journey began with music, moved on to dragons, and has finally come to rest on divination as well. Chant, divination, and dragon lore comprise the three major themes I think and write about as a UU pagan.

In my life, music and spirit have been so intertwined that I’ve seldom separated them. Even as a youngster, singing in church felt sacred. It became much more so when I discovered Goddess chanting in the 1970s. The mystical experiences I had while chanting became the vehicle that moved me into paganism.

Unitarian Universalism

Within Unitarian Universalism, Goddess music was the beginning as well. I created a recording with the help of the UUWF “Feminist Theology Award” and the Rise Up and Call Her Name curriculum, for which I was the musical consultant. Chants for the Queen of Heaven was the result, a collection of 15 Goddess chants from around the world. A few years later, I made a live recording called Singing the Promise with several other UU pagans: Carole Eagleheart, Mary Grigolia, and Khrysso. Singing has always been a powerful vehicle for spirit in my life. So when Jerrie Hildebrand and Shirley Ranck asked me to write about it in a more theoretical way, I penned “Earth Song: Pagan Chants in UU Churches” for their anthology Pagan and Earth-Centered Voices in Unitarian Universalism (Skinner Press, 2017).

Divination

Divination is where my life has led me. In fact, Fair Winds Press recently published my book The World is Your Oracle: Divinatory Practices for Tapping Your Inner Wisdom and Getting the Answers You Need. This compilation of 40 techniques for accessing your deepest knowing – one third of which are visual, one third auditory, and one third kinesthetic – is the basis for most of my work today. I’ve been amazed at how powerful these oracular methods have been for the people who come to my workshops. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised. When you ask people to tap into their inner wisdom, they are wise (duh!). They know what they need and want, and they know how to realize those dreams. The empowerment I’ve seen in my classes and workshops has been thrilling. So, I’ll probably write about my divination work often.

Dragons

But I can’t let go of the dragons either. I wrote approximately half of a book about the dragon-slaying myth before I turned to The World is Your Oracle. I believe that it’s foundational in the West to our understanding of how the world works. Most people call this story the heroic myth, but I have difficulty with the conflict that undergirds this tale and the fact that the hero always solves his (!) problem by killing what he perceives to be a monster. In my mythological world, I let the dragon have a say. I hope you will enjoy how they roar and (usually don’t) breathe fire!

I look forward to hearing back from all of you about my blog posts. Growing our internet pagan community happens best when we interact.

Finding me on Social Media:

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/theworldisyouroracle/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

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Twitter:https://twitter.com/nancyv_s

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