Nancy Lankston
…Sometimes you have to say goodbye.
To people, places, jobs and things.
Sometimes you have to let go
And let go.
You are the navigator.
You are the map.
You are the snake shedding her skin.
You are the new story wriggling out.
You are the surrender.
You are the compass.
You are the yes
And the no
And the alchemist in between.
Be bigger.
Rise higher.
Root deeper.
Say yes to change.
Your life IS the Great Work.
Serve the Golden honey of your Soul.
~The Wild Matryoshka
excerpt
“I who am the beauty of the green earth
and the white moon among stars
and the mysteries of the waters,
I call upon your soul to arise
and come unto me.
For I am the soul of nature
that gives life to the universe.
From Me all things proceed
and unto Me they must return.
Let My worship be in the heart that rejoices,
for behold—
all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals.
Let there be beauty and strength,
power and compassion,
honor and humility,
mirth and reverence within you.
And you who seek to know Me,
know that your seeking and yearning
will avail you not,
unless you know the Mystery:
for if that which you seek,
you find not within yourself,
you will never find it without.
For behold,
I have been with you
from the beginning,
and I am that which is attained
at the end of desire.”
~Starhawk
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adapted from Doreen Valiente’s
Charge of the Goddess
Image: Lake George
by Georgia O’Keeffe
“…To a woman of the Celtic nations, to become Elder is above all to become Cailleach: to represent the integrity and health of the wild places and creatures of this world.
To become Elder is to become strong – strong as the white old bones of the earth, strong enough to endure the long, lonely vigil to the end of the world.
To become Elder is to hold the power, stay the course.
Above all, to become Elder is to become the bean feasa, the Wise Woman: the one who knows the secrets and speaks the languages of the land, who speaks with the moral authority of the Otherworld, who weaves the dreaming of the world.”
~Sharon Blackie
www.sharonblackie.net
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I have a new goal.
Image by Carolyn Hillyer
“Tell me it is not too late.
Tell me the sisters are awakening.
Tell me the moonlodge is rebuilt.
Tell me that the words of White Buffalo Calf Woman were not in vain.
Tell me that Kwan Yin’s heart is not breaking.
Tell me that Venus is safe.
Tell me that Artemis roams free in the woods.
Tell me that Lilith is welcome at your table.
Tell me that you remember that pleasure is holy to me.
Tell me that you refuse to believe that you delight in pain.”
~ Susun S Weed
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Image: Lady of the Beasts
by Kleitias 570-560 BCE
I am dawn’s flame
Arching through treetops
I am a whisper of wind
Playing in the weeds
I am dark loamy ground
Supporting roots and shoots
I am cool mountain waters
Tumbling toward the sea
I am holy Mother
Creating and holding you.
~Nancy L
“In the beginning, people prayed to the Creatress of Life,
the Mistress of Heaven.
At the very dawn of religion, God was a woman.
Do you remember?”
~Merlin Stone
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#sacredfeminine
Venus of Willendorf Goddess 22,000 BCE
Photo by Nancy L
We locked up our wisdom into our bones
And swallowed the keys
They sank in our rivers of blood
And we forgot the maps
Because we had to forget the mysteries
To keep them safe.
We wove our hair into brooms
And swept over our paths
And then burned the earth with our rage
We didn’t teach our children
It was the only way to protect them,
we thought.
But in them we planted seeds, seeds and keys
And told them stories and riddles and songs
With no roots, just tangled threads
That would take years to unwind
Just enough time
For the rains to fall again
And put out the fires.
For the dams to break
For the rivers to flood
For the paths to be walked again
For the soil to breathe.
And as the old bones crumble
Deep beneath the rubble,
We find we’ve always had the keys.
Our stories and our maps
Our paths are revealed to some
And the seeds grow again.
The threads are unspun
And woven again
~Amara Bronwyn Hollow Bones