3
The
Motherland
When Maryland was established as a colony in 1632, Charles I stipulated to George Calvert, Lord Baltimore (to whom the land had been granted), that the place be named in honor of his Catholic wife, Henrietta Maria: Mary’s land. Maryland.
As time went on, free people of color, bringing their rich spirituality with them, found some sense of refuge here during the Colonial period. By 1860 the population was so mixed that the state became part of the union even though it was technically part of the South (Maryland lies south of the Mason-Dixon Line). Tolerance is still an issue for many people on many spiritual paths, but this state—some say named for the Virgin Mary, the divine feminine rather than a seventeenth-century earthly queen—is its womb. Acceptance was conceived here.
Enchanting Emblems
Patuxent River Stone is found only in Maryland, though not necessarily in the river. Red and yellow, its colors mirror those found on the state flag. Originally found in gravel mined for construction, Patuxent River Stone can be used to make carvings and jewelry. It’s a form of quartzite, sandstone transformed by the compression of the earth’s crust, which makes it ideal for supporting the stages of learning that lead to transformation. Because it is a composite of many minerals, it also promotes cooperation. The iron that gives Patuxent River Stone its red and yellow hues makes it protective. Wear jewelry with this stone or carry a piece in your pocket for protection as you make your way through life’s lessons.
In 1540 Henry the VIII was king of England, Columbus’s historic voyage was nearing its golden anniversary, and an acorn sprang to life. The white oak sapling that would come to be known as the Wye Oak would watch over Maryland for the next 450 years. When it was alive, the Wye was recognized as the largest oak of its kind in the nation: 96 feet tall, with a crown that reached 119 feet across. The tree fell after a late spring storm in 2002, but that was not its end. Seedlings from the acorns were planted in the stump, and if you visit Wye Oak State Park today, you can see a new generation of Wye growing from the old.
Wood from the oak was used to make the governor’s desk (Narnia, anyone?) and the rest was distributed to Maryland artisans who crafted everything from bowls to jewelry to pens with it. Magically, white oaks are efficacious in uncrossing spells and removing negativity. Plant a white oak for protection or collect a fallen leaf and press it, then mount it on a card and write an invocation for strength around it. Hang it over your bed or give it as a gift to mark important life passages: marriages, births, coming of age, a new job.
Rough-hairy—not exactly how one might describe a flower, but that is the Latin translation of Rudbeckia hirta, the scientific name of Maryland’s floral emblem, the black-eyed Susan. If black-eyed Susan is rough, it’s because she’s an alpha plant. Native to the United States, this hearty wildflower can be found all over Maryland. It takes over patches where it’s planted, as it can seed itself and has a long blooming time: June through October. Beloved of butterflies and bees, the black-eyed Susan is a member of the sunflower family but imbues her own unique magical qualities. These flowers promote mediumship and making connections to those we have lost. Gather a bunch of black-eyed Susans and place them on your altar as a loving ancestral tribute to communicate with—and maybe even “see”—your loved ones who have passed.
Bewitching Tidbits
At least a dozen women were accused of being witches in Maryland in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (not including the Blair Witch, who is completely fictional). Rebecca Fowler was the one unfortunate who was executed, but if legends are true, Moll Dyer met an equally terrible fate.
The year 1697 was a bad one for Leonardtown, Maryland. Sickness, bad crops, and then a terrible winter were blamed on Moll Dyer. Labeled as a witch—maybe because she lived alone or maybe because she had a way with herbs—Moll was driven from her home during a snowstorm. Before she expired upon the rock where she was found frozen to death, she cursed the town for the fate they’d thrust upon her. When they were finally able to separate her from the rock, they found her handprint embedded in its surface. Today this relic, called the Moll Dyer Stone, sits next the old jail by St. Mary’s County Courthouse.
Great Falls Park encompasses the fifteen-mile stretch of the Potomac Gorge and is the home of the Great Falls, a roaring foam of white and mist. Before the area was populated by British and European immigrants in the eighteenth century, it was a regular meeting place for the Powhatan Confederation and Iroquois Nations. The canal was a pet project of George Washington, who wanted a passable body of water that would connect north and south. History abounds in Great Falls Park, but an American treasure that is almost forgotten can be found along its pathways and waterways: the pawpaw.
Native to America, the pawpaw grows in twenty-six states. While more and more farms and orchards are working to bring it back, the best and easiest way to get pawpaws is foraging in the wild, just as the founding mothers and fathers and Native Americans did. Pawpaws were a favorite of George Washington (he liked them chilled), and Thomas Jefferson planted a pawpaw at Monticello. Pawpaws kept pioneers and Lewis and Clark alive as they made their way across the country. These folks might not have known the pawpaw’s healing properties (they’re high in antioxidants and proteins, so they promote good health), but it filled their bellies and tasted good.
Pawpaw plants are small, with broad green tear-shaped leaves and purple-brown flowers that bloom in late spring. The fruit forms in clusters that are in season for only a short time—essentially the month of September. What does a pawpaw taste like? A bit like papaya with a little citrus and a hint of vanilla. It’s sort of like a mango and not unlike a banana. Try one right off the bush or in a recipe infused with magical intentions for good health. Don’t forget to save the seeds—they’re good luck charms!
Sometime around 1810 a man named Edward Day had a property dispute with his neighbor, Thomas Todd, and erected a traditional boundary stone to stake his claim, which he inscribed with the following (now barely legible) verse: “This stone is in place of a double poplar tree, a boundary of expectation…now owned by Edward Day. Cursed be he that removeth his neighbor’s landmark and all the people shall say amen. Deuteronomy chap 27 verse 17.”
The case went to court in 1814. Mr. Todd won, and Day was ordered to pay his court costs and move the stone. Day may have paid the fees, but the stone stayed put. Today the granite pillar hides behind a metal guardrail near a small office building and is easily missed. What can be seen is only the top; the stone is nine feet tall, and most of it is underground. The curse and Bible verse earned the stone the name “the hoodoo marker,” and many folks believe that’s the reason why the stone hasn’t budged in 200 years—but is this hoodoo? Probably not.
Hoodoo is a syncretic practice that’s a combination of African and Western cultural and religious tenets and folklore. It’s unique to African Americans and developed in the years when slaves were kept in the United States, and so it is tied heavily to racial struggle and acceptance. If you want to visit sites in Maryland where true hoodoo was (and maybe still is) at work, visit Annapolis, where several authentic artifacts have been unearthed in period houses and under the street.
Thanks to eighteenth-century German immigrants, Maryland (or at least Frederick County) has a mythical beast. The Snallygaster (derived from the German schneller giest, or “quick spirit”) is a dragonlike creature with a bird’s head and sharp teeth. A seven-pointed star is Snallygaster kryptonite; look for this symbol on barns as you pass through Frederick County.
Fantastic Festivals
For over thirty years, the Free Spirit Alliance has hosted their Free Spirit Gathering, a three-day festival of rituals, performances and workshops in Darlington.
• http://www.freespiritgathering.org
FaerieCon International also calls Maryland home and has been bringing its annual extended weekend of fantasy and magical authors and artists to the East Coast for ten years and counting.
• http://www.faeriecon.com
Every winter the Sacred Space Conference brings magical workshops and ritual to the Washington, DC/Baltimore metro area. This annual event is hosted by the Sacred Space Foundation.
• http://www.sacredspacefoundation.org
Magical Monuments
Fred Gwynne’s lovable Herman Munster had a way with words: “When your grazing days are over and you’ve gone to your reward, let us plant you ’neath the clover at a price you can afford!”
Visit Fred beneath the clover at the Sandy Mount United Methodist Church Cemetery in Finksburg.
An obelisk in the Mt. Gilboa African Methodist Episcopal Church Cemetery commemorates the life of Benjamin Banneker. An African America surveyor well versed in astronomy (he authored several almanacs in his day), Banneker was part of the team that worked with Andrew Ellicot to lay out the streets of Washington, DC. Somewhere in the cemetery is his unmarked grave.
The Spiritualist movement that began in the mid 1800s sparked a widespread interest in being able to communicate with the dead. Anyone could do it with a little belief and the right tools, one of the most popular being the Talking Board, upon which the spirits could spell out messages to those waiting anxiously on the other side of the veil. While Elijah Bond didn’t invent the Ouija board, he did make it accessible to a wider audience of people by patenting it. His final resting place in Greenmount Cemetery—marked by a new stone that is a model of his legacy—is a testament to the acceptance of such a magical tool into popular culture. Does it work? That’s up to the user, but its presence has made millions surer of the existence of something beyond this life.
Go to the back of Westminster Hall Burying Ground to find the humble grave of Edgar Allan Poe. The memorial at the front of the hall is lovely (and on which, for years, a masked stranger left a rose on the anniversary of Poe’s death), but the actual grave is located in the back of the churchyard—a fitting spot, as the master of the macabre is interred only a few steps away from the catacombs under the hall.
Cedar Hill Cemetery is filled with headstones and dotted with statuary that’s seemingly carved out of wood. It’s only when you’re up close that you realize that the chair, bridge, and hollow tree trunk are made of stone. In the 1930s Mexican artist Dionicio Rodriguez was engaged to create seven sculptures to beautify this graveyard. Rodriguez worked in faux bois, a medium using concrete and dye—his own secret mixture—to mimic wood. Walk across the Bridge of Life, duck into the shade of the Tree Shelter—or, better yet, grab your partner and take a seat in the Annie Laurie Wishing Chair. Based on the Scottish love ballad of Annie Laurie, who “gi’ed me her promise true,” the chair is believed to be an exact copy of the one in the Glencairn Church in Scotland, where the lass herself used to worship. Legend says that couples who sit in the chair (preferably on their wedding day) are blessed by the fairies.
Sacred Sites and Magical Spots
The Rockwell Formation and Calvert Cliffs
A cutaway in the side of a mountain along Route 60 in Washington County exposes 810 feet of earth and millions of years of history in a dramatic strata of layers and lines—a vast, precious, and sacred record despite its roadside location. The Rockwell Formation looks like the rings of a gigantic tree and is a mixture of shale and sandstone. Fossils are abundant in the lower layers, mostly plant imprints and footprints. The visitor’s center and museum connected to the cliff are closed, but the Sidling Hill Rest Area parking lot and walkways that overlook it are still open. Bring binoculars or a zoom lens to capture a glimpse of the past.
If you want to hunt for fossils, Calvert Cliffs State Park, on the opposite side of the state, is the place to go. The mile and a half trek from the parking area to the waters of the Chesapeake is an easy walk on an established trail that winds through woods of pine, holly, and rhododendron, moss-covered hummocks, and mires created by beaver’s dams. Keep an eye out for the mysterious siren, an elusive land-water creature something like an eel and something like a lizard (it only has front legs) that haunts the wetlands of the park. (Usually found in the south, sirens have been spotted in this area sporadically since the 1970s. If you see one, take a photo and share it with the Department of Natural Resources.)
Once at the beach, the cliffs loom up on either side and can be explored at low tide. You can find the fossils of Miocene shark teeth as well as shells and other sea creatures in the cliffs and on the ground. (Be aware that erosion can compromise the integrity of the cliffs. Never dig into them to get a fossil, and obey ranger barriers when they’re up.)
Shark teeth—also called “tongue stones,” serpents’ tongues turned to stone—represent sharklike qualities such as strength and domination. As a magical tool they bring a powerful vibe when they’re used to carve symbols and words into candles or as a quill with ink and paper. If you find a shark tooth, bless it with sea water and cleanse it for use as a tool for magical writing or as a talisman.
The Labyrinth at Brookside Gardens
Daedalus designed the labyrinth to contain the Minotaur, but that path was more maze than true labyrinth. A maze has false starts, tricks, and several paths to choose from to reach an end goal. A labyrinth is a single circuitous path that loops back on itself and has a single destination, the twists and turns bringing you so close to the next circuit—and yet so far.
In 2006 a labyrinth was installed on a small hill at the southern end of Brookside Gardens in the town of Wheaton. Sited next to water, the stone block and brick path is laid out in a Santa Rosa pattern designed by Dr. Lea Goode-Harris and inspired by the courtyard labyrinth in the Angela Center in Santa Rosa, California. It is a mélange of the classical labyrinth: seven circuits and eight walls with medieval-style quarter- and half-turns. (The classical labyrinth has seven circuits and eight walls that frame a single path to a central goal.)
Seven is a significant number. There are seven seas, seven wonders of the ancient world, seven colors in a rainbow, seven chakras. The Santa Rosa labyrinth has seven paths. Walk the labyrinth and do a chakra cleansing for clarity, strength, and grounding, one chakra for each circuit:
- • Enter the labyrinth focused on your root chakra. As you make your way over this circuit, picture yourself and the path bathed in bright red light. Repeat to yourself or aloud, “I am rooted in the path.”
- • When you reach the second circuit, focus on your sacral chakra. As you make your way over this circuit, picture yourself and the path bathed in bright orange light. Repeat to yourself or aloud, “The path leads me to my creative self.”
- • When you reach the third circuit, focus on your solar plexus chakra. As you make your way over this circuit, picture yourself and the path bathed in bright yellow light. Repeat to yourself or aloud, “I believe in myself and my path.”
- • When you reach the fourth circuit, focus on your heart chakra. As you make your way over this circuit, picture yourself and the path bathed in bright green light. Repeat to yourself or aloud, “I find love on the path.”
- • When you reach the fifth circuit, focus on your throat chakra. As you make your way over this circuit, picture yourself and the path bathed in bright blue light. Repeat to yourself or aloud, “I speak my path with conviction.”
- • When you reach the sixth circuit, focus on your third eye chakra. As you make your way over this circuit, picture yourself and the path bathed in bright indigo light. Repeat to yourself or aloud, “I see the path before me.”
- • As you enter the final circuit of the labyrinth, focus on your crown chakra. As you make your way over this circuit, picture yourself and the path bathed in bright violet light. Repeat to yourself or aloud, “All paths lead to enlightenment.”
When you reach the center of the labyrinth, visualize yourself surrounded by a rainbow of light. Inhale through your nose for a count of three, hold the breath for a count of one, and then exhale smoothly. Repeat three times and then release the light into the universe.
Find a Labyrinth
Labyrinths (and mazes) can be found all across the United States, from public parks to churches. Labyrinthos Journal (http://www.labyrinthos.net) is an online publication dedicated to the study and construction of labyrinths throughout the world. Visit the Labyrinth Society’s Labyrinth Locator to discover your neighborhood’s magical pathways.
• http://labyrinthlocator.com
Brookside Gardens has been a display garden since it opened its gates in 1969. Paths through the garden will take you past the labyrinth and other stops for spiritual refreshment:
- • Reconnect to nature along the woodland walk, a path through the forest that surrounds the gardens.
- • Take a moment to sit quietly under the tatami roof of the tea house in the Japanese garden. Gaze into the pools populated by turtles and koi. An essential element of feng shui, koi are the ultimate “goldfish.” They’re incorporated into the landscape to bring luck, wealth, health, and all other good things in life. The Chinese introduced the koi to Japan, and while the fish is an auspicious symbol in both cultures, it was the Japanese who cultivated koi based on their attractive scale patterns, assigning each a different meaning. White-bodied koi with red spots invoke career success; black and white koi represent change and transformation; silver and gold koi bring wealth, and koi with red mouths symbolize love.
- • In season, the rose and fragrance gardens provide ample opportunities to indulge in aromatherapy.
- • Walk through the butterfly garden in the warmer months, when you can watch butterflies (and sometimes honeybees) dance from flower to flower.
The Vox Populi Sculpture
The assemblage—a glossy black pyramid framed by a pair of black and white striped arms that look like they’re straight out of a Tim Burton film—sits in front of, perhaps ironically, the New Carrollton headquarters of the IRS. The Vox Populi sculpture by Larry Kirkwood is a mélange of symbolism—firstly as an expression of the right to vote and freedom of speech as laid out in the Constitution—made larger than life.
A pyramid, the same that appears on the Great Seal of the United States, is etched with the Preamble to the Constitution. And then there are the hands. Men and women carved in silhouette swear oaths and deliberate through hand gestures. There are single hands, flat palms of greeting, and fingers raised in signs of peace, but attention is ultimately drawn to the hands that crown the pillars. The right is open, the sign of the voter, while the left points its index finger to the sky, the gesture of the speaker. The imagery ties neatly into the sculpture’s theme, but these symbols may have other messages.
The pillars on which the giant hands are perched appear to create a gateway to the pyramid—a symbol with a myriad of meanings: ancient knowledge, the afterlife, and divinity, to name a few. The pillars are striped in alternating bands of gray-white marble and black granite, the colors of duality—God and man, day and night, sun and moon, light and darkness—and reminiscent of similar pillars on the High Priestess tarot card. And then there are all those hands. As body parts go, the hand is practical as well as expressive—and, according to the practice of palmistry, a roadmap of our lives. It’s interesting that the gestures of the hands at the top of the pillars are close to those on the statue of George Washington as Zeus and, again, Baphomet—but reversed (right and left).
Pillars and pyramid and their location have given conspiracy theorists quite a bit to chew on, but for those who walk a magical path, perhaps the message is a bit simpler. Vox populi translates to “voice of the people,” heard not only in word but in gesture. Action. Stand at the threshold of the pillars. How will you make your voice heard?
Kunzang Palyul Choling Monastery and Temple
Look for the prayer flags. You can’t miss them: hundreds of colorful squares strung from the trees and rippling out like rainbows. Some faded and tattered, others bright with newness, they flutter in the breeze, and, touched by air, carry blessings of peace and goodwill from this place out to the world. The modest building beyond the festooned front garden is Kunzang Palyul Choling, the seat of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo—the first Western woman to be recognized as a “reincarnation of an enlightened mind.” Within the walls of this Buddhist monastery and temple is comfort crystallized.
Step into the prayer room and instantly feel the warmth of a thousand eyes. From the walls and altars all around, Buddha’s gentle gaze lights on you, but there is another presence: there is always someone here. Since 1985 at least one person has sat in this space, offering up a prayer—silent or chanted, sometimes accompanied by drums and bells—to end suffering for all beings. And then there are the stones.
The Palyul Choling tradition incorporates the use of crystals into its energy-drawing practice. These are focusing tools, amplifying the intention of effecting positive change. Some massive, some palm-sized, glittering hematite, purple amethyst, and smoky, rose, and clear quartz sit on altars, rise up from the floor, and peek out of niches in the walls, adding their powers to the healing work of this place.
Some of the stones are unseen. Placed in the cardinal directions and at the center of the property, chunks of clear quartz form a living crystal grid to stabilize and direct energy. If you look closely, you may encounter some of them in the peace park, an outdoor sanctuary of meditation gardens and stupas, linked together by trails that form a mandala in the earth.
Antietam
Antietam feels like it lies at the end of the earth, an open field stark and nearly empty save for the obelisks that pierce the sky. The American Civil War has many battlefields. Antietam’s use as a milieu was brief, but it was among the bloodiest.
Paved roads wind through fields and farms and past Dunker Church, rebuilt with its bullet holes (the original collapsed in 1921 after souvenir hunters weakened the structure by taking bricks from it). Monuments and plaques mark key points and give the play-by-play of the battle; so many wounded here, so many fallen. So many dead.
It is essential that we remember the cost of life that is a part of every conflict. Times may change and the scars of things past may fade. Visiting Antietam today one might see only a field, houses from another era, and granite monuments. All is peaceful. And yet, so many years ago, we know that so many died violently in this place. Young, old, family men, farmers, generals…did they know what they were walking into that September day?
One of the most moving ways to experience Antietam is at the annual illumination ceremony. A twenty-five-year tradition, 23,000 candles are lit, one for each person killed on the field. As the sky darkens, bagpipers and bugles play and a choir sings as the cortege of visiting cars slowly winds its way around the battlefield. With rows upon rows of lights, the candles turn the field into a glowing graveyard, a temporary and poignant shrine. The illumination usually takes place the first Saturday in December, but the date can change depending on the weather. Volunteers are needed each year to light the candles, a sacred act to perform if you can. If you are unable to make the journey to Antietam, light a candle for a veteran, known or unknown.
Crystal Grottos Caverns
“You want to see total darkness?” the guide asks.
You think about it for a second. You’ve seen darkness—night darkness—but never total. You nod hesitantly. “Okay—but you have to promise to turn the lights back on.”
Your answer is a laugh and a promise, and a second later, no more light.
Really, no more light.
It’s unsettling, this kind of dark—this emptiness, nothingness that only feet of earth between you and the sun and stars can make. A few rapid breaths—yes, you’re still breathing—and you hear another sound, the drip of water. Strangely calming, like a heartbeat, it sets a steady rhythm, and you find that your breath is marching to its measure. Is this what the womb was like? It wasn’t what you’d come here to see, but it is an experience and surprise that’s as magical as it is enlightening, despite the shadow; sometimes shadow shows the light for what it is.
When the lights go back on, Crystal Grottoes caverns sparkles to life again. The stalactites and stalagmites of limestone dolomite and clay all around you formed millions of years ago, but they were only discovered in 1920 when road workers quarrying for limestone stumbled upon them. Crystal Grottoes has more natural formations per square foot than any cave in the world. And for a show cave—a cave where the public can go in and explore safely—that naturalness has been kept intact.
Underground it’s a balmy 54 degrees even in the winter. Limestone calcium carbonation, the natural process of seeping rainwater over thousands of years, leeches into the ground and is responsible for the creation of the cave’s many formations. Some are named for their uncanny shapes: the king on his throne, the mermaid, the turtle. The Golden Lake is maintained by the drip of rainwater and in the springtime fills with frogs and salamanders.
Be dazzled by the glittering underground kingdom of the caves—but also revel in the darkness. If you ask nicely, maybe your guide will turn off the lights.
National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes
The darkness of the cave flickers with the light of hundreds of candles—in jars, in stands, and on the ground. Each represents an intention carried on a shimmer of heat and burst of flame. Above, her eyes raised skyward, Mary acts as intercessor.
She has many incarnations. She is the Star of the Sea and Queen of Peace. Mary—simply Mary—inspires, loves, heals, and comforts; she embodies the purpose of faith and spirituality. Shrines honoring her are extensions of her presence, one of which can be found on the grounds of Mount Saint Mary’s University in Emmitsburg.
Nestled in the side of a wooded mountain, the National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes is a replica of the cave at Lourdes in France dedicated to the visions of St. Bernadette. It is a pilgrimage in miniature: the journey up Rosary Lane will take you to the grotto, paved with a stone from the original Lourdes. On the way, gardens and statuary beckon you to pause for moments of contemplation. Various saints and Mary in several of her many guises—Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Our Lady of Grace, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of the Poor, Our Lady of La Vang—offer blessings.
The path opens up on a pool surrounded by trees over which Our Lady of the Esplanade casts her benevolent gaze. The grotto screens the mountain spring from which holy water flows. Collect the water from the taps next to the pool. Does it heal? No miracles have been reported to date, but people have felt energized, blessed, and refreshed after taking a drink.
Map Some More Magic
Three miles north of the Lourdes shrine is another, this one dedicated to Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton. The first native-born American to be canonized, Mother Seton was known for her ability to see the Divine in all people.
Find Mary
To those who practice the Catholic faith, she is the mother of God and, ultimately, our mother. To others, she is an aspect of the divine feminine. However you perceive Mary, she is the embodiment of unconditional love, offering comfort to all who seek her—and she may be closer to you than you know.
Among many more in the Northeast, you will find the Madonna, Queen of the Universe Shrine in East Boston, Massachusetts; the Shrine of Lourdes in Litchfield, Connecticut; and the Our Lady of the Highway Shrine in Little Falls, New Jersey.
The University of Dayton maintains a listing of Marian sites by state:
• http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/resources/shrines/us.html
The King and Queen Seats of Rocks Park
Chrome Hill Road snakes through forest and overlooks a rocky riverbed before it reaches Rocks State Park near the Maryland-Pennsylvania border. The first trail you’ll encounter—and the one you want—is the one that will bring you to the king and queen seats.
The short walk to the summit is less than a mile, and though it winds serpentine up and up, the ascent is steep, with rocks and roots in the path. Soaring almost 200 feet into the air, the seats seem set on top of the world. The king seat juts over the forest, rocks, and river below, while the queen seat next to it holds back with protective boulders and crannies to shelter in. The Susquehannock Native Americans used this site for ceremonies, and the stones are carved in places with the names of visitors past, some dating back into the nineteenth century.
The court cards of the tarot have a king and queen for each suit that reveals unique character insight. Do a king and queen seat tarot reading: separate the kings and queens from the rest of the deck and put them in two separate piles. Think of your question and pull a card from each pile. What advice does the king give? What does the queen say? You can do this reading at home, but if you can, do it atop Rocks State Park, drawing the king card at the king seat and the queen card at the queen seat, bringing the energy of this sacred site to your reading.
The FIRST First Unitarian Universalist Church
The Unitarian Universalist Church has always been welcoming to people of all faiths and paths, providing a safe and accepting haven to search for truth and peace. Each Unitarian Universalist community has its own unique spirit, but all follow seven basic principles of belief culled from various religious, spiritual, philosophical, and cultural sources:
- Z “The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
- Z Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations;
- Z Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
- Z A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
- Z The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
- Z The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
- Z Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.”
In 1819 William Ellery Channing—considered to be the father of American Unitarianism—cemented Unitarianism’s validity when he preached his Baltimore Sermon from the pulpit of the church on West Franklin Street. Crowned with the Angel of Truth, this is the oldest building in America built and used for Unitarian services—the very first First Unitarian Universalist Church in America.
Map Some More Magic
The Druid Hill section of Baltimore was named in the seventeenth century for its abundance of oak trees, sacred to Druidry. Today there are at least two Druids in the land now known as Druid Hill Park. Carved from the stumps of fallen oaks by sculptor Mark Acton, these woody spirits can be found near the entrance to the park zoo. The park is also the site of the area’s annual summer solstice festival.
Annapolis’s Houses of Hoodoo
The symmetrical brick front of the Brice House, with its dual-sided staircase and white framed windows, seems almost plain next to some of the other houses on the street, but something planted on the inside of this building hundreds of years ago has made it sacred space. Annapolis has been home to African Americans since the eighteenth century, some of whom were active—though secret—hoodoo and root workers.
Preservation and archeological work at the Brice House has revealed collections of talismans including shells and bone fragments placed at directional points in the house. The placement of these objects formed a crossroads, effectively making the house a power-drawing site. The Brice House isn’t alone in this practice. Mojos—ritual collections of items, usually three, bundled together to effect change—have been found in other historic buildings through the city. Beads, shards of crystals and glass, and a black stone were found in the Charles Carroll House, while a piece of glass with a checkerboard—believed to have been used to catch and hold the spirit of a place—was unearthed in the Adams-Kilty House on Charles Street.
Map Some More Magic
In 2008 a unique object was found under Fleet Street near the waterfront: a clay vessel containing bent nails, copper pins, lead shot, and an ax, thought to represent the god Shango. Archaeologists say it is the oldest cache of its kind to be found in the city, dating to the early eighteenth century and likely African rather than African American in origin. Originally displayed at the Banneker Douglas Museum of African American Heritage, the bundle now resides in the archives of the city of Annapolis.
This magical work, long hidden, has awakened at last. When you walk past these houses or go inside, remember the reason these practices stayed underground for so long and the struggle of African Americans to maintain their traditions while fostering acceptance.
Assateauge Island
You can sense their presence as soon as you cross the bridge that divides the island from the mainland. And if you can’t sense it, then you can see it—in the piles of droppings that dot the side of the road. You might think nothing of it at first. Many federal parks allow horseback riding, but on Assateauge no horses are ridden. They reign here. And they will surprise you. They emerge from the trees and brush along the roads, foraging for food. Or perhaps you’ll encounter a galloping herd on the sand between the ocean and the dunes. This is their island, and you are the visitor.
Two-thirds in Maryland and one-third in Virginia, Assateauge is a barrier island of constantly shifting sand that plays host to shore, marsh, and pine forest as well as a variety of wildlife including ghost crabs, eagles, and that famous herd of feral horses. Where did they come from? One theory is that they were the survivors of a Spanish shipwreck. (Ruins of a Spanish ship bolster this theory.) Another is that they were colonial horses left to run wild. The horses you see today are descendants of those sixteenth-century forebears.
Horses evoke passion and power, direction and travel, and the many valid paths that lay ahead of us. Walk among the horses at Assateauge to take those qualities into yourself—but obey the rules: keep a safe distance, and don’t feed them!
Stop By for a Spell…
Caroline Kenner was born and raised in Washington, DC, and inside the Beltway in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Calling herself a Washington Witchdoctor, Caroline is a shamanic healer and teacher at Gryphons Grove School of Shamanism. She helps organize Sacred Space, an annual conference on magick, mysticism, and metaphysics. Caroline is Mistress of the Fool’s Dog, an app company with more than fifty tarot and oracle card decks for sale on iTunes and Google Play.
Maryland is one of the smallest, most densely populated states in the union, but our geography—from the Atlantic seaboard to the Appalachians—is so diverse, we are sometimes called “America in Miniature.” Our state is considered the birthplace of religious freedom in America—a proud heritage the local Pagan community embraces.
Maryland was founded as a New World haven of religious tolerance at a time when Catholics were a persecuted minority in the English-speaking world. Chartered by King Charles I of England in 1632, Maryland’s name officially honors Henrietta Maria, the king’s wife. But many people believe Maryland was actually named for the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The first European settlement in what is now Maryland was St. Mary’s City, where the ships the Ark and the Dove arrived from England in March 1634. My first American ancestor arrived in December of that same year, working as an indentured servant in Maryland’s second settlement, on Kent Island.
Whether or not Maryland was named for her, certainly Mary has blessed Maryland generously. Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American canonized by the Roman Catholic Church, settled her religious order in beautiful Emmitsburg, Maryland, home of Mount St. Mary’s University. Mother Seton had a great love for the Blessed Virgin, as many religious people do, within and outside Christianity. So here is a blessing ritual invoking the Virgin Mary.
It’s nice to have a candle to gaze into while speaking this prayer aloud. Set an altar to Mary with silver and white, blue and palest pink. She likes all flowers and incenses like rose, rosemary, or orange blossom.
Mary has been carrying the archetype of the goddess in Western culture for almost two thousand years. Now that we have arrived in the twenty-first century, in an era of religious freedom way beyond the monotheistic binary of Protestant and Catholic, many of us continue to love and adore the Blessed Virgin Mary. We who worship the goddess by her many names and in her many aspects celebrate the many emanations of Mary, the Blessed Virgin, as yet more faces of the goddess.
The Nine Marys Charm For Protection and Empowerment
Stella Maris, hear my prayer
By flame, by dust, by sea and air.
Throne of Wisdom, with this rite
Embrace me in your gentle light!
In heaven Guadalupe gleams
The Magdalene shines in caverns low
Within, her sacred heart burns bright
Sanctified and all aglow
Surrounding me on every side
I ask for Mary to abide:
La Vang in the East
Caridad in the South
Czestochowa in the West
Fatima in the North
From every garden on the earth
Mary’s brilliance blossoms forth.
Held safe within your radiant light
I find my strength, I find my might.
Saint Anne’s beloved little flower
Helps me to step into my power
This is the time, now is the hour
May the Marys of the world arise
Transfiguring before our eyes.
Blessed Lady of Mount Carmel,
I call on you to bind this spell.
Nine Marys seal this work with love
From deep below to high above.
And so it is.