The Blanket Around Her

maybe it is her birth
which she holds close to herself
or her death
which is just as inseparable
and the white wind
that encircles her is a part
just as the blue sky
hanging in turquoise from her neck
oh woman
remember who you are
woman
it is the whole earth

~ Joy Harjo

🌎

Photo by Ruthie Martin
on Unsplash

New Moon in Scorpio

New moon in Scorpio, queen of watery depths, secrets, storms and magic. Jupiter and Pluto are playing together. Mars just went direct and Venus passed through a moon gate…

Whew. If you’re feeling wrung out and emotionally exhausted, you are not alone. What a wild and stormy time!

Create a calm, quiet space to nest and rest. Think soft blankets, warm comfort foods, happy movies, slow walks in nature, long hot baths. Nurture yourself. And if tears come, allow them to flow. Scorpio can be quite wet and watery.

Every new moon is a wonderful time to set intentions for the next cycle. After nesting and resting awhile, consider what you want to focus on or create in the next month.

🌙❤️

Goddess Reclaimed

I realized that in spite of the very helpful healing work I had done in the past, that as a woman, the modern Western and even ancient spiritual techniques that served me before fell short of fully addressing my physical, mental, emotional, energetic, and spiritual nature as a woman. And how could they, for they were created by (and generally made for) men?

For example, while the Vedic and Buddhist meditation techniques I learned helped me observe my pain from a place of detachment, they guided me away from delving into my pain—to feel and own it. The Goddesses, however, showed me that as a woman, it was vital for me to fully feel my pain before I could heal it. Another revelation was when I realized that instead of just talking about my feelings to process them, that unleashing them through physical movement, sound, or sacred ceremony profoundly elevated my experience of release.

And so it wasn’t until I re-discovered the buried ancient mysteries and wisdom teachings of the Goddesses that I was able to truly heal and flourish on every level as a woman. At first, embracing the Goddesses of the underworld led me to uncover the deep-seated lack of self-love, self-worth, and self-value that was mirrored back to me in my outer patterns.”

-Syma Kharal, Goddess Reclaimed:
13 Initiations to Unleash Your Sacred Feminine Power

🌙

image: Mother Goddess
by Nancy Lankston

She is the Source

Sculpture by Agnes Arellano

She is intuition,
she is far-seer,
she is deep listener,
she is loyal heart.
She encourages humans to remain multilingual;
fluent in the languages of dreams, passion, and poetry.
She whispers from night dreams,
she leaves behind on the terrain of a woman’s soul
a coarse hair and muddy footprints.
These fill women with longing to find her, free her, and love her.
She is ideas, feelings, urges, and memory.
She has been lost and half-forgotten for a long, long time.
She is the source,
the light,
the night,
the dark,
and daybreak.

~Clarissa Pinkola Estes
🌙☀️

Initiatory Full Moon in Taurus

Full moon in earthy Taurus on Halloween. The moon is visiting with Uranus, a powerful agent of change. Meanwhile, the sun is in wise and witchy Scorpio. 

Our cultural initiation continues.

During normal times, full moons stir up sensitive humans (just ask an ER nurse how crazy people get during full moons). And these are wilder than normal times. A contentious US election is just around the corner. The COVID pandemic is worsening as well. You can bet that this full moon will deliver more chaos and crazy surprises.

Time to get physical.

The antidote to chaos and craziness is to ground in the physical world. Focus on physical movement : walking, jogging, dancing, squats, yoga, weight lifting, etc. Eat grounding foods such as carrots, potatoes, beets and other root vegetables. Sit or lie down on the ground and feel it’s support. Become a creature of the soil and rocks again.

Your ancestors can also be a great source of grounding support. The veils between the worlds are especially thin right now, making it a great time to honor and connect with your ancestors in some way. Every family has ancestors who survived floods, droughts, famine, wars, pandemics and more. Reach out to them now for guidance and support.

Come back to ground.

Prayer to the Mother

Sacred Mother
give me roots within your heart.
Let my mind and imagination soar in the vastness of you.
Let my words and actions express your peace, your joy, your wisdom.

Mama, wrap your energy around me
and pull me all the way
into you.

☾☽

Photo: Altar to the Earth Mother,2016
by Nancy Lankston

Change Ourselves, Change the World

“The world which men have made isn’t working. Something needs to change. To change the world, we women need first to change ourselves – and then we need to change the stories we tell about who we are. The stories we’ve been living by for the past few centuries – the stories of male superiority, of progress and growth and domination – don’t serve women and they certainly don’t serve the planet.
Stories matter, you see.”

~Sharon Blackie 
🌙

Photo by Benjamin Lossius