Category: Notes From The Trail

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Growing Yourself in Darkness

“The woman who takes the time to grow herself in darkness becomes familiar — perhaps for the first time — with the real source and containment of her psychic strength. No longer is her strength dissipated in obeying an idealized father figure, in pleasing a lover, in trying to satisfy a perpetually unsatisfied mother figure, in accommodating to a patriarchal organization or culture, in appeasing the inner witch who tells her she is worthless. No longer is her strength lost to obeying compulsions, drives, and obsessions that can slip in during the dark night of the soul and substitute for the real thing.

“And what is the real thing, the thing for which she longs? The love affair with her own spirit, the inner marriage that commits her to her destiny, the rituals of soul that feed her deepest hunger, and the sense of being pregnant with her Self, her creative essence.”

~Jill Mellick

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On the Trail of the Feminine

“We must remember that the feminine works in a non-linear fashion, so while many are impatiently looking to new-age checklists and dream dictionaries for a bottom-line, the final answer, they rarely find anything enduring. This is because there is a greater genius at work which we could never integrate all at once. Instead we must follow a mysterious and melodic trail, which lures us deeper into the unknown, fortifying our trust in that which is parenting us. One day, sometimes years down the line, we finally understand how the symphony resolves itself.”

~Toko-pa Turner (toko-pa.com)

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#NavigatingByMoonlight

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You Are The Medicine

“Cure yourself, with the light of the sun and the rays of the moon.
With the sound of the river and the waterfall.
With the swaying of the sea and the fluttering of birds.

Heal yourself, with the mint and mint leaves,
with neem and eucalyptus.

Sweeten yourself with lavender,
rosemary, and chamomile.

Hug yourself with the cocoa bean and a touch of cinnamon.
Put love in tea instead of sugar and take it looking at the stars.

Heal yourself, with the kisses that the wind gives you
and the hugs of the rain.

Get strong with bare feet on the ground and
with everything that is born from it.

Get smarter every day by listening to your intuition,
looking at the world with the eye of your forehead.

Jump, dance, sing, so that you live happier.

Heal yourself, with beautiful love,
and always remember… you are the medicine. “

~Maria Sabina
Mexican curandera and poet.
🌙☀️

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Gratitude for Time and Light

The Word

Down near the bottom
of the crossed-out list
of things you have to do today,

between “green thread”
and “broccoli,” you find
that you have penciled “sunlight.”

Resting on the page, the word
is beautiful. It touches you
as if you had a friend

and sunlight were a present
he had sent from someplace distant
as this morning—to cheer you up,

and to remind you that,
among your duties, pleasure
is a thing

that also needs accomplishing.
Do you remember?
that time and light are kinds

of love, and love
is no less practical
than a coffee grinder

or a safe spare tire?
Tomorrow you may be utterly
without a clue,

but today you get a telegram
from the heart in exile,
proclaiming that the kingdom

still exists,
the king and queen alive,
still speaking to their children,

—to any one among them
who can find the time
to sit out in the sun and listen.

~Tony Hoagland
in Sweet Ruin, 1992
☀️

Image: Pacific Sun
by Nancy Lankston

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Moon Wisdom

The moon does not fight. 
It attacks no one. 
It does not worry. 
It does not try to crush others. 
It keeps to its course, 
but by its very nature, it gently influences. 

What other body could pull 
an entire ocean from shore to shore? 
The moon is faithful to its nature, 
and its power is never diminished.

~Deng Ming-Dao

#PowerofYin
🌙

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Finding Your Way Home

To the North within you, 
may you express the wisdom of your true self.

To the West within you, 
may you be reborn with every season.

To the South within you, 
may you hear the counsel of your heart.

To the East within you, 
may you be blessed with illumination.

To all Above that is within you, 
may you be guided be angels and divinity.

To all Below that is within you, 
may you discover the blessing of your shadow. 

To the Spirit within you, 
may you find your way home. 

~ Tanya Markul, Thug Unicorn ~

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She Has Always Been With Us

Mother Goddess, 27,000 BCE

“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 moon cycles in a year.

🌙 ❤️

#SacredFem
#Herstory