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
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.
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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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”And the Great Mother said:
Come my child and give me all that you are.
I am not afraid of your strength and darkness, of your fear and pain.
Give me your tears. They will be my rushing rivers and roaring oceans.
Give me your rage. It will erupt into my molten volcanoes and rolling thunder.
Give me your tired spirit. I will lay it to rest in my soft meadows.
Give me your hopes and dreams. I will plant a field of sunflowers and arch rainbows in the sky.
You are not too much for me. My arms and heart welcome your true fullness.
There is room in my world for all of you, all that you are.
I will cradle you in the boughs of my ancient redwoods and the valleys of my gentle rolling hills.
My soft winds will sing you lullabies and soothe your burdened heart.
Release your deep pain. You are not alone and you have never been alone.”
~Linda Reuther
Image: Mother Goddess
by Nancy Lankston
Imbolc is upon us. Celtic stories tell us that the Cailleach—the divine hag Goddess who rules over winter and death—gathers firewood for the rest of the winter on Imbolc. If the Goddess Cailleach wishes to make the winter last a lot longer, she will make sure that the weather on Imbolc is bright and sunny, so she can gather plenty of firewood. But, if Imbolc is a day of foul weather, it means the Cailleach is asleep and winter is almost over.
The Cailleach was worshipped by the Celts as the sacred Earth Mother in her bare winter form. And she is not just a dark and evil hag who arbitrarily decides how long winter will be. The Cailleach is also the Bone Mother who collects the bones of the animals that die in the winter. The Bone Mother is said to sing or pray or sleep over the bones all winter long. She does this out of love, so that the animals will cross over and can return as new life in the spring.
There is a magic to Imbolc and the early days of February. It is there, running just beneath the surface. Can you feel it? Mama Earth holds the seeds of spring safe for us all winter. As the cold wind blows and the snow piles up, she holds them safe in her soil.
#Imbolc
#Bone Collector
#Hag Goddess