Nancy Lankston
Today is International Women’s Day.
The Goddess does have a sly sense of humor… it is lined up with a total Solar Eclipse!
Now is the perfect time to honor the women in your life – including yourself!
☾☽
Find out about IWD events in your area.
Or create your own private event; take a few moments today
to express your appreciation for all the feminine love, wisdom and tenderness
that helped get you to this place and time in your life.
Heaven is hers!
Earth is hers!
She is a warrior.
She is a falcon.
She is a great white cow.
She fought the dragon and slew it.
She seduced the scorpion and tamed it.
The golden lion slept at her side.
She is the singer.
She is desire.
She is the mountain of silver, gold and lapis.
On her hips tall trees grow and grasses.
From Her waters spout and savory grains.
Her lap is holy.
Her lips are honey.
Her hand is law.
Her breasts pour heavenly rain.
She is the healer.
She is life-giver.
She is the terror, the anger, the hunger.
Fierce winds blow from her heart.
Hers is the thunder, the lightning, the glory.
She is the morning.
She is the evening.
She is the star.
She wears the gown of mystery.
Heaven is hers!
Earth is hers!
Who can argue?
Inanna’s Chant by Janine Canan
Inanna is an ancient Sumerian Goddess of fertility, love and beauty. The people of Mesopotamia worshipped Inanna as far back as 4000 BCE (perhaps even earlier) as the undisputed Queen of Heaven. No other Goddess in any culture has come close to matching Inanna’s stature and power. The Akkadians also knew her, calling her Ishtar. And many anthropologists assert that Inanna later morphed into the Greek Goddess Aphrodite, and then the Roman Venus.
The story of Inanna’s journey into the Underworld has been told and re-told since ancient times. Inanna enters the darkness of the Underworld and must strip away her adornments and clothing piece by piece. Inanna is tested and must let go of who she once was. She is laid bare. Eventually Inanna embraces her naked and vulnerable true Self. And ultimately, she emerges from the dark and rises again as the Queen of Heaven.
Inanna’s myth is an ancient story. Yet it still holds deep wisdom about the transformation many of us go through. Hers is the story of a woman embracing her true self and recovering her Soul.
Every 584 days, the planet Venus traces Inanna’s mythic journey in the skies over our Earth. Venus appears in our sky as a bright morning “star.” Over many weeks, Venus descends toward Earth and then disappears from view. Weeks later, Venus emerges from the dark Underworld. She has been transformed and is now a mature evening “star.”
Venus, Inanna, Aphrodite, Ishtar… there are many names for this sacred Goddess, the Queen of Heaven. Her roots are ancient and deep. And her wild wisdom flows through the Souls of all women. By any name she is one original #BadassWoman!
A wonderful post I found on Facebook this week:
“The problem in America isn’t just that hate is speaking so loudly;
it’s that love is speaking too softly.”
~Marianne Williamson.
I am not responsible for other people’s happiness or healing, I am not responsible for their problems or pain. And yet every interaction I have with another person can be healing or hurtful depending on how I choose to be with that person.
Am I open hearted and authentic? Am I distracted and disinterested? Am I mean and hateful? I chose. And what I choose affects my entire world.
We ‘do’ so much to get praise, we ‘do’ to distract ourselves, we ‘do’ to convince ourselves of our own worth – if only we could relax and just BE! Just BE our big beautiful selves in this moment. Stop trying to get somewhere else or be someone different. Just BE.
The cosmic joke is that all our pushing and striving to accomplish so much matters far less than how kind we are to other people – and to ourselves. But we’re so busy pushing to finish our to-do list that we lose sight of basic love and kindness. We don’t have time to be kind, we’re too busy to stop and open our hearts. In the process of hurrying towards our next goal, we strip our lives of what truly matters.
Love is the Force that Binds the Universe Together.
Love is the Source of all Things.
Love is God. God is Love.
The Mending
There comes a time
when the mending is out of our hands.
It falls beyond the reach
of needle and thread,
of determined fixing and worn self help patches,
all manner of effort falls short.
When the unraveling comes
do not be afraid;
the Unmaker stands before
a greater loom where
chyrsalises are shed,
tight knots in life unspooled to the floor
the splendor of leaves fall from the trees
returning to the humility of ground
a glint of ebony on the raven’s wing,
as the black thread is shuttled,
back and forth, our questions,
back and forth, crashing wave to shore
rocked by the drum of the heartbeat
lungs empty and fill again,
until the essential nature
of a larger design speaks
quieting us with
the eloquence of stillness.
Simple as a breath,
into the great unwinding we go
we are rendered out of our hunting grounds,
and delivered into something that opens our eyes;
we become kin to the seasons and
kneel before the wise counsel of winter
bare and humbled
reaching toward our inner sky.
by Margo Stebbing
You are always praying; thought itself is prayer.
Whatever you focus your mind on, increases.
To change the world, change your thoughts about the world.
If you want to experience peace—become peace.
Peace is always present, though sometimes hidden.
Love is the only force in the universe.
The world is already healed.