Some rituals celebrate the seasons the way I imagine my Celtic, Germanic, and Nordic ancestors did. The festivities around Easter, Halloween, Christmas, and New Year’s Day are among those that have been adapted from old, Pagan customs. Many of those customs were inspired by agricultural cycles and by the Sun, the Moon, and the patterns in the night sky.

Goddess spirituality inspires many of my other rituals. I’ve been part of several groups -- men and women -- who honor the divine feminine in all of us. For years, I led my own Moon Circle of women who observe the turning of the Wheel of the Year.

If you lead your own Moon Circle, you'll find these rituals helpful.

My Storyteller Bio: I've explored many creative paths. The signpost "Writer" led me down a path I'm still traveling. Here are my key scenic overlooks:

• Three historical romance novels published by Harper Collins for their Monogram imprint
• A one-woman play based on the memoir Warriors Don't Cry by Dr. Melba Pattillo Beals, one of the Little Rock Nine who integrated Central High School in 1957. I co-authored the play which was produced by a Connecticut performing arts center and enjoyed several national tours for student audiences
• Page 1, a community television and YouTube show about writers
• The podcast Ritual Recipes
• The podcast My Spouse Has Dementia
• Contributing the foreword and several chapters of the book 101 Ways You Can Help: How to Offer Comfort and Support to Those Who Are Grieving by my dear friend, the late Liz Aleshire. While Liz was in the ICU waiting for a new heart, I recruited five more friends, all writers, to complete her manuscript. The publisher, Sourcebooks, extended the deadline long enough for the six of us to complete what became a true labor of love.
• Twelve years as a certified Life-Cycle Celebrant officiating weddings, funerals, baby blessings and other rites of passage.

These days, I'm working on a new novel. It's about a group of death doulas in a small New England town. I can see how my journey led me to this new story. Destiny is a wide road.