Musings From The Trail
“Everything on Earth began with her, grew out of her, and will return to her. This is Mother Earth as a womb and tomb, personified as the Great Mother of ancient and indigenous peoples: Our Mother who art the Earth.”
-Jean Shinoda Bolen
“Originally the Goddess ruled, or co-created, the magical life cycle forces of sexuality, birth, life and death. With the coming of patriarchal religions, the power of life and death became prerogatives of the male God, while sexuality and magic were split off from procreation and motherhood.”
-Barbara Koltuv, The Book of Lilith
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Image: the Laussel Relief 27,000 BCE. Found in southern France. It depicts the connection between a woman’s body and the mystery of the cosmos; one hand holds a crescent moon and the other points to her pelvis. Archeologists debate about what the 13 lines on the crescent moon signify. One possibility: 29,000 years ago, humans already knew that there are 13 moons cycles in a year.
🌙 ❤️
#SacredFem
#Herstory
This is the solstice, the still point
of the sun, its cusp and midnight,
the year’s threshold
and unlocking, where the past
lets go of and becomes the future;
the place of caught breath, the door
of a vanished house left ajar…
~Margaret Atwood
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For many of us, this may be the first time in our lives that we have felt so little control over our own destiny and the destiny of those we love. This lack of control initially feels like a loss, a humiliation, a stepping backward, an undesired vulnerability. However, recognizing our lack of control is a universal starting point for a serious spiritual walk towards wisdom and truth.
To be in control of one’s destiny, job, or finances is nearly an unquestionable moral value in Western society. The popular phrase “take control of your life” even sounds mature and spiritual. It is the fundamental message of nearly every self-help book. On a practical level, it is true, but not on the big level. Our bodies, our souls, and especially our failures teach us this as we get older. We are clearly not in control, as this pandemic is now teaching the whole planet.
Learning that we are not in control situates us correctly in the universe. If we are to feel at home in this world, we have to come to know that we are not steering this ship. That teaching is found in the mystical writings of all religions. Mystics know they are being guided, and their reliance upon that guidance is precisely what allows their journey to happen. We cannot understand that joy and release unless we’ve have been there and experienced the freedom for ourselves.
~Richard Rohr
🌀
#surrender
Image: Desert Electric
by Jessie Eastland
Beltane Blessing to you on this beautiful spring day. ❤️
My Celtic ancestors celebrated Beltane with bonfires, dancing, maypoles and ritual sex as well as plentiful food and drink. Sounds good to me!
This is a traditional time to celebrate the sacred union of the masculine and feminine – either with a partner or within one’s self. The merging of masculine and feminine energies allows something new to be created. Sacred union is natural magic.
Beltane / May Day is a favorite of mine. My partner David and I were actually married on May 1st many moons ago. This day is filled with deep personal meaning for me.
Time to celebrate and DANCE!
🌙☀️
Image:Fire Dance by Jula C R Gray
New moon in sensual, earthy Taurus. Mama Earth is calling.
In these wild quarantine times, a connection to Mama Earth is more important than ever. Find a way to maintain social distancing and GET OUTSIDE!
Venture out to a nearby park, garden, trail or natural space where you can walk or sit. Breathe in life sprouting and blooming all around you. Revel in the beauty and abundance of spring.
Ask Mama Earth to hold you, support you, calm you. With her help, you can come back to ground and connect with what truly matters.
☾☽
Image: Pachamama, Mother of us all.
Artist unknown
Full moon in earthy Virgo, sacred keeper of nature’s rhythms and cycles.
With the craziness and chaos in the world today, we all could use some earthy focus to anchor and ground us. Spend time out in nature. Watch your neighborhood for signs of early spring.
Is that joyful birdsong from the tree? Has the wind shifted into a warmer spring pattern? Can you smell the soil waking up? Is that a bit of green poking through? Are the bees out buzzing around yet?
Dig in the dirt, if you can. Plant something to tend and love and help grow. Or perhaps you want to watch the night sky and follow the moon through her phases this month.
Our Earth can hold and anchor you in the current chaos, if you open and connect.
Here’s to Mama Earth and the sacred rhythms of spring.
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