Epicycles

The Moon is Like a Boyand the Sun is Like a Girl 

The Moon is Like a Boyand the Sun is Like a Girl 

Maia ZelkhaMay 1, 20234 min read

And God created the two great luminaries… the great light… and the small light. —Genesis 1:16  Originally, the sun and moon were created of equal size, but the moon protested, and so God made it smaller. —Midrash Rabbah But He…

The Lazy Girl and the Butter-Yellow Pot

The Lazy Girl and the Butter-Yellow Pot

Nartana PremachandraApr 26, 202312 min read

Everything is finished before it has happened, everything is finished before it has happened…. The young girl in red sang to herself. Carrying a butter-yellow pot, she shielded her eyes from the blossoming sun and looked out into the graceful…

Out of the Box: How Raven gave light to the world

Out of the Box: How Raven gave light to the world

Leslie HebertOct 30, 20223 min read

Before I gave birth to the child, I lived alone with my father in a cold world of eternal night.  Outside the door of our longhouse a thick blackness covered the earth. It was so dark that when I took…

Healing Water Goddesses

Healing Water Goddesses

Betsy CornwellJan 31, 20215 min read

Water is crucial to all life on Earth, and from the earliest records of human history we have venerated its healing and regenerative powers. It is no surprise that many healing water deities are goddesses: the life-giving, wellness-nurturing properties of…

Suvannavanna Hamsa Jataka: The Golden Swan

Suvannavanna Hamsa Jataka: The Golden Swan

Margo McLoughlinMay 1, 202024 min read

Prologue Long, long ago, in the far distant past, the Bodhisatta was born as a swan.1 He grew up to become the leader of a great flock of swans. They were known as the Dhatarattha clan. Their feathers were the…

The Moon is Like a Boyand the Sun is Like a Girl 

The Moon is Like a Boyand the Sun is Like a Girl 

Maia ZelkhaMay 1, 20234 min read

And God created the two great luminaries… the great light… and the small light. —Genesis 1:16  Originally, the sun and moon were created of equal size, but the moon protested,…

The Demands of the Way, by Tcheslaw Tchekhovitch

The Demands of the Way, by Tcheslaw Tchekhovitch

Tcheslaw TchekhovitchMay 17, 20174 min read

IN THE EARLY 1920S during the Bolshevik Revolution, Tcheslaw Tchekhovitch, a young officer in the army of the Tsar, settled in Constantinople. Haunted by the barbarity and violence of war,…

The Verses of Ambapali, by Margo McLoughlin

The Verses of Ambapali, by Margo McLoughlin

Margo McLoughlinNov 8, 20165 min read

A new translation and commentary by Margo McLoughlin Ambapali | Buddhist In Vesali, in ancient India, at the time of the Buddha, a baby girl was born spontaneously at the…

The Lazy Girl and the Butter-Yellow Pot

The Lazy Girl and the Butter-Yellow Pot

Nartana PremachandraApr 26, 202312 min read

Everything is finished before it has happened, everything is finished before it has happened…. The young girl in red sang to herself. Carrying a butter-yellow pot, she shielded her eyes…

Suvannavanna Hamsa Jataka: The Golden Swan

Suvannavanna Hamsa Jataka: The Golden Swan

Margo McLoughlinMay 1, 202024 min read

Prologue Long, long ago, in the far distant past, the Bodhisatta was born as a swan.1 He grew up to become the leader of a great flock of swans. They…

O My Country!, A Maghreb folktale, Retold by Anne Twitty

O My Country!, A Maghreb folktale, Retold by Anne Twitty

Anne TwittyApr 29, 20183 min read

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art. King Salomon knew the language of all living creatures, and all obeyed him, especially the birds. One day this great…

Healing Water Goddesses

Healing Water Goddesses

Betsy CornwellJan 31, 20215 min read

Water is crucial to all life on Earth, and from the earliest records of human history we have venerated its healing and regenerative powers. It is no surprise that many…

Sarabha-miga Jataka, The Noble Stag, Retold by Margo McLoughlin

Sarabha-miga Jataka, The Noble Stag, Retold by Margo McLoughlin

Margo McLoughlinApr 28, 201910 min read

A Deer Hunt. c.1775 from Kotah, Rajasthan, India. Pigments on paper Once the Bodhisatta was born as a deer. He grew up to be a magnificent stag—a Sambar, the largest…

Kuzunoha

Kuzunoha

Parabola EditorsFeb 26, 20171 min read

Kuzunoha the Fox Woman. Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861) Kuzunoha is a popular figure in Japanese folklore. In this print, Kuzunoha’s true form (a fox) is visible in…

How Wisdom Became the Property of the Human Race, by Anonymous (West African)

How Wisdom Became the Property of the Human Race, by Anonymous (West African)

Parabola EditorsApr 11, 20162 min read

Again and Again Anansi Tried To Climb the Tree There once lived, in Fanti-land, a man named Father Anansi. He possessed all the wisdom in the…

The Christmas Angels, by Risa Levenson Gold with Artwork by Jean Zaleski

The Christmas Angels, by Risa Levenson Gold with Artwork by Jean Zaleski

Parabola EditorsApr 29, 20154 min read

By Risa Levenson Gold with Artwork by Jean Zaleski It was a bitter cold, rainy December twilight in Manhattan several days before Christmas. I was waiting in the persistent drizzle for…

The Awakened Eye, by Frederick Franck

The Awakened Eye, by Frederick Franck

Frederick FranckApr 2, 20183 min read

Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926): An Orchard in Spring, 1886 I was five years old. My mother and a friend I was expected to address as “Aunt”…

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Ceremony, an Aztec myth, By Fray Juan de Torquemada and Translated by David Johnson

Fray Juan de TorquemadaJul 26, 20182 min read

Tezcatlipoca from the Codex Borgia They say that after the birth of the Fifth Sun, when the Gods had sacrificed themselves to get the Sun moving…

The Thanksgiving Prayer, Adapted from the Mohawk

The Thanksgiving Prayer, Adapted from the Mohawk

Parabola EditorsNov 24, 20166 min read

Illustration by John Kahionhes Fadden THE THANKSGIVING PRAYER Adapted from the Mohawk by John Stokes and David Kanawahienton Benedict The People Today we have gathered and…