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Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards: Yemanya and Mother Earth
What is your intention for the week? Do you wake up in the morning and ask yourself this question for each day? Do you spend a moment considering the day’s potential and wonder what it is that will make it special? I hope you do. This is a much better way to begin than with a worry or a concern; a fear or some other source of stress you may be facing about the day or week.
One way to do this is to shift into the intuitive mind on first awakening. This could include recalling a dream and writing it down. Another way is to reach for a tool; maybe it is as simple as drifting into meditation on the question: “what does this day hold for me; what is mine to do?” Or it could be more active, for example, reaching for an oracle deck and drawing a card to set an intention. Shifting from sleep state to awake state is a critical moment in the day and can set the tone for the entire day. It is good to be intentional about this shift.
My intention for this day is to be productive and for the week it is to consider purchasing an Apple iPad. Then just before I drew cards from the Goddess Guidance Oracle deck and the Grandmothers deck I glanced at yet another headline on the oil disaster in the Gulf. The cards speak to all of these points that were bouncing around in my mind as I drew them.
I drew Yemanya from the Goddess Guidance deck by Dr. Doreen Virtue. Yemanya’s message is “Golden Opportunity: Important doors are opening for you right now. Walk through them.” This is always a good message to receive; it is reinforcement to keep moving in the positive direction chosen. Yemanya goes on to say: “Like the ocean, life moves in waves and tides. Timing is everything, so when an opportunity presents itself, you must dive in at that moment.” This is also a good message to receive and consider under a waxing moon. Last week we passed through the cycle from Old Moon to New Moon. Under the Old Moon we let go of those things not serving us and to make room for the new coming into our lives. Just as the Moon empties and fills, we must empty and fill ourselves; and the Moon drives the tides; dive into that tide as it rises and presents itself as the opportunity to flow!
Yemanya is an African and Brazilian Goddess who created the sea. Dr. Virtue says: “Since the sea is the root of Earth Life, Yemanya’s connection to it makes her a very powerful and nurturing mother goddess.” Is anyone surprised that I drew a Goddess card connected to the sea as I was thinking about the Gulf? What are we doing to these Mothers; the Sea Mother and the Earth Mother? Will we now learn the lesson we missed in the 70s during that OPEC generated oil crisis? This is the opportunity; this is the open door that we must step through. Some lessons are very hard to accept and very long in the learning. But this one is clear and it is now immediate.
The Grandmother card always seems to reinforce the Goddess card. Today I drew Mother Earth of the Clan of Gifting. She say: “As your Elder Mother I invite you to enjoy the bounty, sustenance and support of me. Partake of the riches of my fertile land, enjoy my forests, and be flowing like my rivers and oceans. Harvest the food of my plants and see the beauty of my flowers. To honor me is to understand our interdependence and to respect all forms of life. The Clan of Gifting reminds us that we each have gifts of abundance that we can share for the benefit of future generations.”
Through the gift of Yemanya the Sea gave birth to Earth Life. Mother Earth gifts us with life and abundance. And our opportunity is to give of our own abundance for the benefit of the future. How often do we consider our own gifts and our own opportunities as gifts for future generations? It is time to “remember forward” and take today’s opportunities as lessons so there might be a future generation to carry us forward.
from The Divine Feminine: Watch for the Daily Messages from the Universe
The Mystic Message for the week is about signs from the Universe. Whether these are things that show up in our lives as confirmation, or they are serendipitous events that “just happen” (I haven’t used the word “coincidence” since I read the Celestine Prophecy a lot of years ago), or answers to questions we might have, the Universe is out there to respond to us. We live in a reflexive Universe full of wonder, power, and, yes, answers for us. All we have to do is ask, and then listen/watch for the Universe’s response; another way of saying this: “We are the Universe, and the Universe is us.” (sort of like that old Pogo cartoon where Pogo the Possum says: “We have met the enemy and he is us.” (published on Earth Day 1971)
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Do you have a reflexive relationship with the Universe? The Divine Feminine are suggesting we need to “watch for the daily messages from the Universe. And I’d go even farther and suggest we need to “ask” for daily messages. This is a great way to hone our intuitive skills. Ask and then listen. There are many ways to listen: inside, to what your heart or gut or another part of your body might be saying; in nature, to animals showing up or trees waving, or a stream running, or the ocean roaring; just being as you go about your day, someone calls, a package shows up, you get an appointment you were hoping for.
You can also be very direct, as I’m doing on Tuesdays and Thursdays on this blog by using oracle cards or other forms of divination. Go to yesterday’s post to see how meaningful and accurate oracle cards can be. Or get out a pendulum and ask it (and your body) to give you answers; muscle testing is a form of divination not unlike using a pendulum; and there are more esoteric forms of divination, including one of my favorites: the I Ching. One of the keys with any of these tools is to formulate your question or intention carefully. The Universe can get pretty specific, so try to be as direct and specific in your request as possible.
There are also forms of active meditation that can provide answers to questions you may have for the Universe. One of my practices is journaling in the form recommended by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way. I write three long-hand pages in a notebook every morning (at least I try to). For me this becomes a meditation and I often just write what comes to me, without really thinking about it; I simply relax and let the pen write the words. There are many answers to be found in these scribblings. An approach Rosemary suggests is to write down a question with your dominant hand then answer the question with your non-dominant hand. This is a way to activate the intuitive part of the brain. (I would do this but my handwriting with my left hand is so bad I couldn’t read the answer!)
And there are very direct and active ways to seek answers such as Shamanic Journeying, holotropic breath work, yoga asanas, trance dancing, hypnosis, drug induced trance states, etc. All of these approaches I would call reflexive in nature; they are ways to seek answers from our Higher Self, the Cosmos, the greater Collective Conscious of which we are a part.
What kind of relationship do you have with the Universe? I hope it is a trusting one in which you feel supported and your questions are answered. “Watch for the daily messages.”
Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards: Sekhmet and Coyote Woman
It is a cool and cloudy day in Colorado. We are expecting rain, maybe even some snow between today and tomorrow. And the wind is blowing. With trees blooming there is all kinds of stuff in the air. Both Rosemary and I are feeling the effects of blowing dust and pollen, low pressure and clouds. Oh, and the moon is waning rapidly so we are dealing with a very old and tired moon. She becomes new again on Thursday at 7:04 pm MDT.
All of this “weather” tends to lower my energy; it’s almost like a combination of “hay fever”, Springs fever, Moon weakness – it’s just an overall low feeling. If you are feeling anything like this consider the moon’s influence in your life. Begin to watch your own bio-rhythms as the moon travels through her phases every 28 days. The moon’s phases are just some of the many signs to point us toward guidance for conscious living. I’ll talk more about this tomorrow as I comment on this week’s Mystic Message.
So, as I drew cards this morning in this low-energy state, I asked as an intention for strength. And, the Goddess Guidance Oracle Card I drew was Sekhmet: Be Strong! And, according to Dr. Doreen Virtue, Sekhmet says: “You are stronger than you think you are, and your strength assures a happy outcome.” And even more specifically she says: “See yourself as strong and victorious. Don’t complain about anything. Don’t blame anyone or any condition. You’re the embodiment of strength, not victimhood.” Yes, I get that. And here I am trying to blame the weather, the moon, tree pollen, any other condition that I can think of rather than telling myself to “suck it up and get on with it.” Yes, I asked for strength and got the message to find the strength within myself. Oh, and if the words are not enough, the card pictures Sekhmet seated on a lion thone. I am a Leo; of course I can find the inner strength!
Sekhmet is the Egyptian Goddess of the Sun. “Her name means strong and mighty.” You may have seen her depicted as a woman with a lion’s head. She is fierce and protective.
The Grandmothers Card I drew this morning is Coyote Woman, Wise Woman. She says she became a Wise Woman through Coyote. “Coyote kept laughing at me and showed me how foolish my ideas about myself sometimes were. Finally I gave up and learned to laugh at my own foolishness and it has been such fun to grow with humor.” I can find strength in humor too. As I look at my sense of low-energy and my excuses for feeling weak I need to chuckle at myself; yes, I can find lots of ways to blame the Universe for my weaknesses. But I also know I have many sources of strength. Rather than sink into blame and fatigue I can call on my powers for strenghtening my resolve and I can look back, or look inward, and laugh at my hesitations and my foolish reactions to everything that is natural and occuring around me in its own time.
And I can laugh at the cards I draw today! There is so much humor in the guidance the Universe provides.
Coyote is a wonderful teacher. Call on her when you need a good laugh! And Sekhmet is the strong Sun Goddess. Call on her for a boost of lion energy.
Something New: Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards
I missed posting yesterday; I postponed it while I was immersed in other projects. Fortunately I got a lot done, including some thinking about the direction for this blog. While I have really enjoyed posting my comments on the books I’m reading, especially my series on Joseph Gelfer’s book on Men and Spirituality, I have to streamline what this is about and also perhaps focus it a bit better.
That said I do plan to continue my reviews on what I’m reading of a spiritual nature, especially as my choices relate to men and spirituality. So, starting next week Mondays and Fridays will be given to book reviewing, and since I’m in the middle of Matthew Fox’s The Hidden Spirituality of Men I will write a series of reviews on the “Metaphors” (really archetypes) he discusses to “awaken the Sacred Masculine”. I’m sure the title alone sends a shiver up Dr. Gelfer’s spine!
On Wednesdays I will continue to comment on the The Mystic Message as channeled to Rosemary by The Divine Feminine and published each week in her Ezine and on her blog (www.wisdomconnections.net). This leaves Tuesdays and Thursdays for something new! I am going to pick up a practice I did a few years ago and share it online. For most of 2002 I drew three “oracle cards” each morning and recorded them in a journal. I wrote out a synopsis of their meanings, pulled out a theme from the three and then related them to my day. Looking back through that journal today, I recall how powerful, helpful and meaningful those cards were for me as I was living through a rather chaotic period then. I used three decks: an old Osho deck, the Voyager Tarot deck, and a deck of “Grandmother Cards”.
We have a new deck this year that Rosemary and I have both been enjoying: it is Doreen Virtue’s “Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards.” I plan to start using this deck each Tuesday and Thursday for multiple purposes:
1) the main purpose is to get a sense for the week from the oracles the Goddesses offer;
2) each card and the booklet with the deck teaches something about the Goddesses, something for all of us to learn;
3) with time we may begin to see patterns in the cards drawn which may inform how the months and year are unfolding.
I also plan to draw a Grandmother Card each day with the thought that they may amplify what the Goddesses have to offer and may also bring forward some ancient wisdom from the Native American Grandmothers represented in this deck.
OK, so I realize today is Friday, but I want to get started with this project. I also want to set an intention for this project, as noted above. So I will draw a Goddess Card and a Grandmother Card today to see what guidance they offer as we begin.
Goddess Card: Ostara – Fertility
The quote on the card is “It is the perfect time for you to start new projects, access new ideas, and give birth to new conditions.” See how this works!
Grandmother Card: Dancing Morning Star of the Wise Women
She says: “I love to dance, and the dance taught me how to be a wise woman. To dance you must discard everything but the music you feel in your body. So I released all distractions and moved in radiance to the beat of my own heart and I expanded to the stars.”
I think we are off to a good start! Ostara is the Goddess for whom the direction East, rising Sun, and Easter are named. She represents the return of light and new growth. She is a Teutonic Goddess of fertility and Spring. What better Goddess can we call upon to help with our new project! And today is Beltane Eve, the day the fires a lit on hill and mountain tops to celebrate the return of the Sun.
Dancing Morning Star says this is a time to dance, to celebrate the Sun’s return, new growth, Spring, May Day! Shall we dance the Sun up tomorrow to honor his return? Shall we turn to the East, remembering Ostara, and offer our thanks and praise for the glorious light and warmth of him who gives us life?
One of Dr. Virtue’s meanings for the Ostara Card is “Your new idea or venture will be successful.” Yes, I think She (Ostara) will help make it so!
Queen of Heaven
We are in store for a beautiful weekend in Colorado. I hope you have a wonderful one wherever you are! On Sundays Rosemary and I host “Sundays at The Center“, a celebration of spirit. During our celebration this Sunday I plan to talk about Isis and some of what I’ve been reading which connects her to alchemy. It is also clear to me that she is connected to Inanna, Sumerian “Queen of Heaven” of whom I’ve written earlier in this blog.
The origin of the Egyptian Goddess, Isis, is unknown. But at some point in her history and associated stories it becomes clear that there is some linkage to the Sumerian Inanna and the Semitic Ishtar. First, along with Mari, Diana, Hecate, Pasiphae, Selene, Brigit, Cybele, the Shekinah, Lilith, and Persephone, they are Moon Goddesses (ref: Diane Wolkstein in Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth). And the three were also known as “Queen of Heaven.” How much cross-cultural exchange took place across the middle east from the Mediterranean area to Mesopotamia is unknown. But the parallels of myths, stories and religious rites and observances is highly synchronistic.
What are we dealing with here historically? Was there significant exchange across these civilizations or are we seeing an archetype at play? And does this archetype continue to play out in our lives today? One of the dominant religions of today, Christianity, has at its core a story which resembles the Isis/Osiris/Horus story with uncanny parallels. Yes, until recently, the patriarchy has driven much of the Isis story out of Christianity. But Mother Mary and Mary Magdalene are coming back into their own. Is this archetypal or cultural mixing of stories?
I did not realize before my deeper readings into the stories of Isis that her significance and recognition as the Queen of Heaven extended throughout the Mediterranean area, even reaching Britain, and lasted well into the first millennium AD! The last temple of Isis and Osiris continued in operation on the island of Philae in the Upper Nile into the 6th century. How much influence did the parallel worship of Isis have on the Christian mythos? We know that Christian churches and holy sites are built over more ancient spiritually significant sites throughout the world. The Church adopted calendars, saints and sites to fit as an overlay and displace what came before. How much of the story of Jesus, the whole basis of a dominant world religion, is nothing more than an overlay on stories which came before?
What did change in translating the stories of Inanna and Isis to Christianity was the loss of the Feminine as the Masculine worked to dominate and control. The various cults of Isis rose in the Egyptian Delta area; they varied from city to city; they rose in power above the cults of Ra, the masculine; but I find no evidence of a purge of all worship of Ra in order for the Feminine Isis to dominate. This displacement was a gradual shift from masculine to feminine influence. The Christian story is different: The Theodosian decree (in about 380 AD) required the destruction of all pagan temples. Control. The masculine approach to imposing rules on the population.
Marie-Louise von Franz describes the masculine this way: “With this development and increase in the sun cult came a development in law, science, geometry, the planning of fields, of buildings, and so on. There was an enormous progress in rational civilization and in organization and war, etc. That was a development of the masculine world, of the mind world and the world of order”. Sound familiar? It was after this “increase in the sun cult” (by a couple thousand years) that the “men became tired” and the cult of Isis rose – enantiodromia.
We are due for another episode of enantiodromia. We are watching the failing and fading of the current age of masculine dominance. We are in the middle of a swing away from rationalism and war. At least I hope we are! It is time for us to pay attention to the Queen of Heaven. She is due!
Alchemy and the Goddess
My posts have been sparse lately as we travel coast to coast and back home. Experiencing all these climates has been enjoyable but a bit hard on the environmental body controls. Rosemary and I are both a bit under the weather (so to speak) from the changes. It was good to get home to Colorado last evening and back to our regular schedules. My posts will be regular again as well!
Last night Rosemary and I hosted our “First Monday” Spiritual Exploration Group meeting here in Colorado Springs. We had a good turn out for our topic of the month: What’s All This Hype about 2012? What’s the Basis for it and What Do We Think Might Happen? I found some interesting references to both Alchemy and the Goddess in my readings in preparation for the discussion. There seems to be a strong synchronistic potential at work in my life. The books I am choosing to read and the topics I am choosing to write about and discuss all align with the topic of this post. More of this as we work through the week
The first story of my current book on Alchemy (Alchemy, an Introduction to the Symbolism and the Psychology by Marie-Louise von Franz) is from the Codex Marcianus. It is called The Prophetess Isis to Her Son and is about Isis seeking the secret of “the holy technique” – the preparation of gold and silver. Interestingly Alchemy and the Goddess are immediately linked not only in my mind (see my post on March 25) but in the very first material I take up on the subject!
The story itself is fascinating: Isis encounters an angel who wants to have sex with her in exchange for the knowledge of alchemy. She puts him off until she obtains the knowledge; then he admits this is above him and he needs to hand her off to another more powerful angel. The next day the more powerful angel appears; this one too wants to have sex with Isis. Again she refuses until she receives the secrets of the preparation of gold and silver. In the story the recipe is actually presented but the names of the various substances used are so arcane as to be not identifiable today. But Isis does obtain the secret knowledge and is allowed to share it with her son, Horus.
The significant part of this is where von Franz takes the discussion: she draws the parallel between this myth and the creation myth of the Bible where Eve is the source of the “fall” when she suggests Adam eats the apple whereby they gain knowledge. Of course the Isis story is a positive one: not only does Isis succeed in gaining the information she sought, but she also avoided payment for it by not having sex with the angels. The Eve story is negative: the payment for the knowledge gained is expulsion from the garden. Von Franz would say both stories are archetypal and related; they likely have the same source. The Biblical story is much younger than the Isis story. How is it that the newer story was twisted to have a negative outcome to the gain of knowledge?
And this becomes the crux of the evolution of western civilization, even consciousness! There was an ancient track that seemed to consider knowledge as good. And women were the seekers and keepers of knowledge. This track was diverted a few thousand years ago to declare knowledge as evil; and the cause of this evil was Woman! What is this all about?
Is knowledge good or evil? You might think this is a silly question in the post-modern world of today when science and technology are supreme icons of advancement. But this debate continues. How many people today would still say Eve was wrong in offering the apple, knowledge, to Adam? How many people today deny the science behind the evolutionary process? Believe it or not there is still a sizable portion of the population of this country that believes the Earth is the center of the Universe! (And I suspect these people do not want to discover anything that would contradict their beliefs.)
Is knowledge evil; is ignorance bliss? The question is not as simple as it seems. My posts will continue to consider the question – as we seek answers through knowledge!
Alchemy?
Rosemary and I are moving into the “scurry” phase of life getting ready to travel for the next 10 days. We are going west first for a workshop for “holistic practitioners” to gain traction in the market place. Since I left the field of marketing in the corporate world more than two years ago I have learned a great deal about how to market in the new world of Web 2.0 and all that goes with it. One of the purposes in my retirement was to devote full time to getting the word out about Rosemary and her gifts. And I’ve been scrambling ever since. I frequently tell people “I don’t know how I ever found time for a 9 to 5 job before retiring!
From the west we are heading all the way east for some family time and to plan a wedding for some very dear friends of ours. So, if you notice a day or two of missing blog posts you’ll know why. (I thought another thing I had retired from was frequent travel! I retired from an airline communications company for which travel was second nature. That nature seems to have followed me into retirement.)
I am the blessed and frequent recipient of Rosemary’s gifts! Last night she hosted “Conversations with The Other Side,” one of her regular events where participants get messages from The Other Side – from loved ones who have crossed over, angels, guides and spirit guides. It is always a good time with some laughter, some tears, and deep wisdom.
And true to form I did receive some fascinating messages last evening concluding with a visit by a “wizard from the middle ages”! And, yes, historic personalities, real and legendary, do show up from time to time; we also had John Adams make an appearance last night. The message from my wizard guide was to take a close look at alchemy; to “tune into the teachings of alchemy at the very deepest levels. Understanding of alchemy, about what we can do with ourselves, is becoming more and more needed on the planet because the whole evolution of human consciousness is relying on alchemical shifts within human beings. That’s how the energy shift is going to happen.”
OK, then! No problem here; I’ll get right on it! Seriously we do have several books on alchemy which I’ll be taking with me as I travel. And I do have a background, my first degree, in chemistry (not sure if this gives me a head start or not!).
Actually the real head start I have is a book I’ve been reading by Joseph Donlan: “Ordaining Reality.” (It’s now actually three books, the unabridged version and two abridged versions for people who want to get right to the meat.) Mr. Donlan states his purpose behind the books “is to explain the underlying laws of nature supporting the theory that positive thinking produces positive results. This knowledge will significantly enhance your ability to bring about desired changes in your life.” And if I hear my “wizard guide” correctly, alchemy can be used to bring about these desired changes. What I’m thinking is Mr. Donlan’s book is about the underpinnings of alchemy.
One of Rosemary’s favorite expressions is: “change your mind, change your life, change the world.” And I’ve seen this work time and again. Mr. Donlan’s work explains why this is so. Clearly there are alchemical processes at work here, and I’ll do a lot of further reading to not only discover these processes, but put them to work in my life and let you know how to activate them in yours!
At this point you may be wondering what this has to do with “The Goddess.”My message from “my wizard” was to investigate alchemy not for curiosity’s sake or for the academic enjoyment of the pursuit of knowledge. He said I need to help people “understand how alchemy happens in the 21st century – how people can get rid of the lower vibration of lead and turn it into the higher vibration of gold.” This is the ascendant story all over again; this is Inanna, born a Moon Goddess, descending to Earth to bless her people with growth, descending to the lower world to appease the Goddess Ereshkigal, rising again to reestablish her rightful place and ascending to the upper world again in her cycle of birth, life, death and new life. Lead vibration to gold vibration is part of this cycle. The golden grain from the fertile Earth is part of this cycle. The moon phases and Sun seasons are part of this cycle. My adventures into alchemy parallel my adventures with The Goddess.
Stay tuned for my further adventures!
The Wildness of Spring
As predicted it is in the mid-50s today and going to the mid-60s for St Patty’s day here in Colorado. Mother earth will be wearing some green tomorrow along with all the Irish and pseudo-Irish like me. Hey, I figure I’m half Norwegian and I know there was a lot of mixing back in the Viking day; I’m certain to have some of the “raiding blood” in my veins along with some of the Celtic from the Emerald Isle. Anyway, that’s my story and I”m sticking to it!
Did you feel the impact of the dying Moon yesterday and the zap of the new? She was reborn out of the heart of the Sun at 3:01 pm MDT. I felt her birth pangs pretty strongly with a restless night and wild and crazy dreams. I’m glad I’m through that one more time and can get on with all the excitement the waxing Moon will bring.
Speaking of wild, Don’s essay on his harbingers of Spring yesterday included a call from the wilder side. I must be feeling that call as well; every place I look and word I read has some reference to wildness too often buried and ignored in the overly domesticated world we now live in. Of course, this is a choice we make. We can stay safe and snug in our artificial world of light and sound, a tasteless and scentless environment of air-conditioned tameness, or we can join Don on a hike, whether in Colorado on the Section16/Palmer Trail or wherever you live. The wild is never that far away that we can’t choose to join and run with it. A deer in our yard this morning seemed to want to come right up on the deck and join us; maybe the wild are hearing the call of the tame!
I’m reading a collection of William Stafford poems selected and introduced by Robert Bly: “The Darkness Around Us Is Deep.” Just the title says a lot. I found this remark by Bly on the subject of domestication and wildness particularly apropos: “The artist owes language to the human community but owes his or her breathing body to the animal community. Every poem we write, every day we live, we think about what we owe to each. By knowing what to take from the world of culture and what to give back, what to take from the world of animals and what to give back, we become adults.” And this applies to more than artists, poets. We all have breathing bodies; we are closer to the wild things “out there” than we might sometimes wish to think! When do we free ourselves to “walk on the wild side”? It is good to stop talking and start walking!
Or, as Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ in “Women Who Run With the Wolves” writes: “Go back and stand under that one red flower and walk straight ahead for that last hard mile. Go up and knock on the old weathered door. Climb up to the cave. Crawl through the window of a dream. Sift the desert and see what you find. It is the only work we have to do. You wish psychoanalytical advice? Go gather bones.” She is referring here to plumbing the depths of the psyche – exactly where the wild things run. And what better way to do this than in the depths of the physical as well!
Gaia, Mother Earth, is a wild Goddess. She is fiercely protective of her children, all whom she bears. Read what She did to Uranus, Father Sky, through Cronos and his adamantine blade when she learned Uranus was hiding away her offspring!
It’s a beautiful day here in Colorado. What are you doing today to get in touch with the wildness in you? Whatever it is, be careful out there!
Spring is just around the corner; not that we are anxious!
Our “little or no accumulation” of snow yesterday amounted to three inches! It is melting quickly today and tomorrow will be in the 60s. I love this time of year with fickle weather, unexpected returns to winter and wonderful hints of Spring. Newness is in the air and everywhere I look.
Today we have a new moon bringing in a fresh look to the evening skies and the energy of the planet. It’s a great time to let go of old stuff, whatever that is. The old moon is taking its last breath and will sweep away any of the “clutter” that might be holding you back. And on Saturday as the Sun moves into Aries to begin the new astrological year, Spring rolls in with it. The Vernal Equinox on Saturday is the day of balance between light and dark. It is this balance that is required in everything. If we are to bring in new then old must be chucked.
Persephone is the Greek Goddess of Spring. She’s the Goddess captured by Haides and abducted to the Underworld to be his wife. She was rescued but still had to spend some of her time with Haides. She returned from her Underworld sojourn in Spring and brought with her fresh growth and new beginnings. She returned to Haides for the balance of her time in the fall as growth ended in withering and death. Persephone’s story reminds me of Inanna’s which is much older and the likely basis for the Greek stories.
So, we look for Persephone’s return! I saw my first Robin last week no doubt looking for sluggish, still nearly frozen worms. In telling this story at our Sunday Celebration yesterday I reminded Don of his story on his harbingers of spring. It is so good I am including it here for your enjoyment:
Harbingers of Spring
The return of the robin, businesslike in his red vest industriously extracting earthworms from the front lawn, is a sign of Spring so enshrined in American art and literature that it is almost a cliché. So, too, is the first crocus, small and delicate in the garden testing the cold air and the lingering snow as it reaches up, opening itself to the sunshine of the lengthening days. Despite the overused words and oft reproduced images recapitulating these annual events, the events themselves are new and fresh each year. For many, they herald not only the biological reawakening of a new growing season but also a personal emotional revitalization.
For much of the time when I was growing up in the 1940’s and 50’s, the only water we had fell from the sky or was hauled from a spring in jugs and cans. And, even after we got water from a pipeline, our attempts to grow a garden or a lawn met with limited success. So, the harbingers of Spring which touched my youthful soul (and still touch me the most deeply) were different, wilder, more robust.
Spring was heralded, not by the robin, but by the meadow lark standing erect on a fence post, yellow bib bared to the world, loudly trilling a crisp melodious flute like greeting to all, as I passed on my walk to school. Rather than the smooth petite crocus of the garden, I saw the floral face of Spring in the larger, hairy, almost disheveled, yet delicately beautiful pasque flower.
If I could choose to live again the Springtime of my life, I would again choose to live it where the meadow lark announces the season of reawakening.
Perhaps that is one reason I am passionate preserving those wild places where our increasingly urbanized and regulated community can reconnect with the meadow lark and the pasque flower, the dynamic order of nature in contrast to the designed and manicured order of the city.
Walk the Section 16 trail connect with the pasque flowers.
We are at the beginning of a new season!
Don Ellis
Thanks, Don!
What are your harbingers for this wonderful season of newness and growth?
Men and The Goddess 