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Love and Self-Love
(Epilogue: I went back to the post office this morning and they did have my glasses, pretty much right where I had left them. My immediate reaction was delight and gratitude, even for this small event. And then I asked myself about the lesson: mindfulness, gratitude, and never sweat the small stuff!)
In my on-going exploration of this subject of Self-Love (why is it so important?) I wrote something worth sharing in my daily “Pages” the other day:
It all comes back to trust. This is always hugely important. And trust falls back on Love. Everything rests on Love. All of creation springs from Love! And where does this love spring from? How did this “energetic” get launched, and “who” launched it? Of course, this is the mystery, this is The Goddess, The Holy. And this is Their echo across the gulf of time to now. It is Self-Love that launched all of Creation. It is the reflexive “thing” that initiated everything. And ultimately this “Thing” is a vast and unfathomable emptiness. It is the Void, the Deep referred to in Genesis. It is over this Deep that the Voice of Love spoke it all into being. (Or did She sing it?) How? Does it really matter? Why? This is the bigger question. Clearly, for me, this is about Self knowledge. It comes back to the reflection, the echo, the mirror we are for the Love Energy that pre-exists the All! That which came first is this “Thing” of which I write.
We, our consciousness, our love are the reflection of that original Love. This is the Image of God we wear and act. This is the image we see in every face, in every creature, in every being, in all of creation, The Created.
To Rosemary’s Video Inspiration and Exploration this week, her call to Self-Love, we respond as a reflection of creation and the creative force of Love. There is no way around it! If we are a reflection of the Love Energy that created everything, then we are Love and our response must be Love; it is essential for us to be the mirrors in which The Holy see themselves. Without us They don’t exist! Without our Love They show us faces of more limited emotions!
When we love ourselves, we love. When we love we reflect the face of Goddess. When we reflect the face of Goddess we are lovable and are loved. Love is this energetic through which all echoes reverberate. It is the Ether carrying the songs of praise across the valleys. It is the Water of Life carrying the whales’ songs from wave to shining wave. It is the Earth carrying the deep ground vibrations, the songs of the rocks from peak to purple peak. All of this is Love, nothing more. There is no deep mystery here other than What started it all. And maybe this question doesn’t really matter either. If Love is All then the beginning is Love as well. Accept this and everything becomes clear and real.
So, the words of Jesus are true: God is Love; and Love is God. We are Love; we are God. Love is both inside and outside. It is the substance and the substrate. It is the container and the contained. It is the bridge across the gulf and the gulf. It is emptiness and everything. It is nothing and All. It was before the beginning, It is now, and It will be after the end.
As a creature of now it is my purpose to reflect this power of the Universe, this Love in all that I do and through my very beingness. If I am Love, God, this creative force, this very Life Consciousness, then I can only be and act out of Love. And this includes loving me.
Self-Love. Not a simple path. Practice Love; begin with self!
Love
A couple of days ago I wrote about Peace and my charge to be a “Warrior of Peace.” I wrote that there is only one place to begin the quest for that peace, which must be known so intimately well that it is like our own skin if we are to be true defenders of Peace, and that’s inside – the first step of the quest is inward!
And what do we find when we go inward? I am reminded not only that today is Valentine’s Day but also that Rosemary’s daily video message today (you can get it here: TheScientificMystic.com) is about Love; and not just any kind of love, romantic love for example, but Self-Love! When you go inside do you find there that sense of love, especially self-love?
If we have no sense of how to love ourselves then how can we love others? If our mantra is “Everyone is doing their best” then doesn’t that apply to ourselves first? Love, forgiveness, peace—they all begin with oneself!
We are each a unique expression of humanity with a unique soul, purpose, mission, destiny. We have to be here and be us to make everything work in some incredibly complicated, interdependent way. The Universe created us to be here now. That is a lot to love about ourselves! Without us the world would be incomplete, imperfect.
There is both grand praise and deep grief in this self-loving. The grief comes from the immense responsibility we fall so short from standing up to. But if we are doing our best at all times then forgiveness finds a home in our consciousness if we let it in.
I am reminded here of a deep thought given to me by Martín Prechtel, one of my most honored and revered teachers (his most recent book published this January, expands on this concept much more eloquently than I could ever attempt. See it at: The Unlikely Peace of Cuchumaquic). We are all mutually and forever indebted for our life. Think for a moment of all you have that you are indebted for. And I’m not talking about “stuff” or bank-debt here. I’m talking about the deeper elements of life without which we could not live. How can we ever pay back the plants for the nourishment they provide and the air they produce for us to breathe? But we do our best and we offer all we have to pay the debt knowing all along that we can never make it; we can never pay it all back. The toll it takes from everything, everyone, especially Mother Earth to allow a human to grow, survive, thrive is just too great.
Knowing we can never repay is a source of both grief and praise at the same time (these feelings are really two sides of one emotion!). We grieve our indebtedness and still celebrate our lives as worth something, worth living, worth fulfilling our purpose. If we can’t celebrate life then there can be no meaning to any of it! We need to celebrate the perfection of our lives as token repayment, an honoring of the Mother for giving us this life in the first place! As Martín might put it: we feed (honor) the Holy (God/Goddess in all things) by celebrating our lives; and in turn the Holy feed us!
And out of this grief and praise comes Love! The Mother loves us into existence at great sacrifice. We are all born of love. And this is our first debt. We need to repay this love in kind. And this is where self-love really is important. It is not only the source of knowing how to love, it is partial payment for our very existence—the love that created us!
Peace, joy, fulfillment all spring from Love of Self! Celebrate this!
Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards: Maat and Isolt
Greetings on this fine Monday in Colorado: cool temperatures, bright sun and a nice breeze; it would be a sailor’s delight if we had any water! It’s also “remembrance day” (aka Memorial Day) in the US. When I was a kid growing up we also used this day to remember all of our relations who had crossed over, not just the war fallen. I still do that preferring to avoid the whole concept of celebrating war.
Rosemary and I leave for Maryland tomorrow to celebrate something very special, a wedding in DC! Since we’ll be out of town for this week, and then I’ll be in New Mexico the following week mudding the adobe hall (The Lady), the home to Bolad’s Kitchen, posts may become thin. I’ll keep Rosemary’s blog going and will at least attempt to post on Wednesdays here to comment on the Mystic Message. Divination using the Dr. Doreen Virtue Goddess Oracle Card may fall off a bit. So, these cards may be the guidance for the next couple of weeks.
Today the card I drew is Maat. But as I drew her from the deck another slipped out: Isolt. So, I retained her as well and took her emergence as part of the message and the amplifier to Maat. I did not draw a Grandmother Card today.
Maat’s message is Fairness; and she says: “This situation will be handled in a fair and just manner.” She goes on to define fairness and I really like this: “Let me suggest another definition for fairness: It’s when all parties surrender their personal agendas in favor of the greater good for the entirety of the group.” And perhaps on this Memorial Day this is a good thing to remember: for the sake of fairness we are called to surrender our personal agenda for the greater good. This doesn’t sound exactly like the current “American Way.” We have been so caught up in the rights of the individual and, especially, the rights of the corporations, that the “common good” is often completely ignored. Yet Maat would have us surrender these individual rights, these corporate rights for the sake of the group.
It used to be that corporations were granted their status and privileges by states to serve the people, the common good. And that certainly seemed fair. It’s not clear to me that corporations these days have the common interest in mind. In a perfect world the corporations would respond to their boards of directors which would respond to the stockholders who would represent the common good. How far have we come from that perfect world? And as we remember those who waged war to defend our democracy how far have we come from that democracy? Do we still have a government of, by and for the people, or do we have the best government money can buy?
Whew, sorry! Not sure where this is coming from. I guess the word “fairness” on this Memorial Day took me down a rather serious and dark rabbit hole! Let’s look at the meaning of Maat for ourselves and then take a close look at Isolt, who will soften this whole discussion – and calm me down!
“Maat is the Egyptian goddess of integrity, fairness and justice, who holds a scale that measures souls against a feather at the time of death to detect any heaviness from guilt.” writes Dr. Virtue. That is a beautiful and potent image! I would love to be able to claim that my guilt rests as lightly on my soul as a feather!
For me this week I will call on Maat to remind me to be fair; this will mean putting the common good before my own agenda. And this is in excellent congruence with this week’s Mystic Message from The Divine Feminine channeled by Rosemary. Check out the message and post titled Send the Judge on vacation and choose Compassion! I’ll comment more on this post on Wednesday, but note how this plays into “fairness,” into the message of Maat! And this takes me smoothly to Isolt.
The subtitle of the Isolt card is Undying Love, and Dr. Virtue has her say: “The love you have shared is eternal regardless of the situation.” The message of Isolt is one of healing, especially of the heart. And she calls on us to first heal the hurts inside ourselves by going to that inner space and examining the wounds, the places of grief, loss, betrayal, despair. Be patient and gentle in this process. Compassion comes from within and begins as compassion for one’s-self.
Isolt is the Celtic goddess who was caught up in a love triangle between her husband, King Mark of Corwall, and the knight, Sir Tristan. Her message is to balance all of our love relationships. “She reminds us that – regardless of the situation – our love is real, powerful, and undying.” And our love can heal all hurts.
It’s certainly an interesting time for me to draw Isolt as we prepare to travel to Maryland to visit family: daughter, son-in-law, GRANDCHILDREN, sisters, husbands, nephews, nieces; and friends. And we go to marry a beautiful couple, to join them in a bond of love. I will carry the message of Isolt in my heart on this trip and hold Love as my motivating emotion.
Fairness and Love. Maat and Isolt. They seem to go hand-in-hand. (Clearly Isolt slipped out of the deck as I drew Maat because she knew they belonged together!) How can we have fairness without love: the common good requires our love. How can we have love without fairness: compassion calls us to surrender.
Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards: Athena and The Teacher
Time is continuing to play tricks acting like Coyote with me. My Friday, when I like to draw oracle cards for the weekend, dissolved into activities and dinner with friends. Today has been similar, the morning dissolving into procrastination and dabbling with the iPad. Then I finally took some action and drew two cards.
I drew Athena from the Dr. Doreen Virtue Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards. Her tag line is Inner Wisdom, and her short advice is: “You know what to do. Trust your inner wisdom, and take appropriate action without delay.” Right! In other words, stop procrastinating and get on with your day! I get that. She goes on to say that this “inner wisdom” is right there; “to access this wisdom, you must quiet your mind. Surrender all worries and other concerns to the loving and almighty power of the universe. Close your eyes, and note the thoughts and feelings that come streaming into your consciousness. If you like you can ask me to give you a signal that you’ve heard your inner wisdom correctly.” The first meaning of the card that Dr. Virtue offers is “Stop procrastinating.” OK, I get the message!
So, instead of writing this blog I moved on to my to-do list which had garden work at the top . I needed to get the pond back in action which meant getting filter material for the pump and the normal spring cleanup stuff plus some new plants – a lily for Rosemary! It felt good to get on with the day and get that task completed. Our water-fall is flowing and falling again and the new plants seem happy.
And this is one of the many reasons I draw these cards; they get me going because they reinforce what I already know. I knew I was procrastinating; I knew what I needed and wanted to do; and I knew it had to be done today. The card gave me that little extra boost to get on with it! Thanks, Athena, Greek Goddess, daughter of Zeus. Although Athena is a warrior goddess, she does battle with wits instead of weapons.” She is a diplomat; we need more like her in our world!
The Grandmother Card I drew from the Megan Garcia deck is The Teacher of the Clan Elders. She say: “We have learned from the records of those who have walked before us, and we continue to preserve the understanding. We pass to the next generation the teachings of our ancestors. We see in our her-story/his-story the truths we need to continue as Humans. We challenge, communicate, and guide others on a path of discovery of themselves.”
And just as Athena advises, Grandmother says we need to walk the path of self-discovery. It is all inside for us to know, to learn and to reveal. Yes, I procrastinated this morning avoiding the simple tasks put on a list to get done. That was a small thing. I also procrastinate reaching for that inner wisdom; and when I do reach for it I hold it inside, or I write it in my journal, locking it away again. And I avoid the role of “teacher.” A true teacher elicits the inner wisdom of others. It is our combined inner wisdom which will save us, will show us the “truths we need to continue as Humans.”
So, as I conclude this post, I realize I am still procrastinating. I am avoiding my “writing chair” and my meditation cushion. I will devote more time to these “spaces” over this long weekend.
How will you go about seeking and sharing your Inner Wisdom?
Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards: Abundantia and Grammie Freedom
Happy Monday! Since I ended last week with Oracle Cards I thought it would be good to begin this week with some new guidance. For the weekend the cards from Friday suggested rest and quiet time. And since I wasn’t feeling my best physically I did just that. In fact we canceled plans for Friday evening and Sunday afternoon so we could take it easy.
Then I got an email “astronote” from our friend, Chris Largent, who shed some “light” on what’s going on in the sky! It seems we are still being impacted by the old Mercury retrograde which left us on May 11 but is still having some influence. Here is what he offers about the rest of the month:
“Greetings, everyone!
“For those of you who noticed the overwhelm of the last ten days or so, it’s clear that this is one retrograde shadow that is almost like the retrograde itself! As planets move into Gemini now, collective consciousness should feel lighter – and so will demands and tensions. So, I hope we all get plenty of rest and prepare for a lighter time.
“The good news is:
(1) the retrograde shadow ends just before Memorial Day (and is fading everyday between now and then),
(2) aspects symbolizing enthusiasm, optimism, and sudden opportunities and insights come into play the end of this month through the summer, and
(3) most of us have trained for these times on some other level of consciousness, according to various elders – so we can make the best of our struggles (and we all hope that this is true!).
“One cautionary note (and what would astronotes be in this era without at least one of these annoying things): there may be sudden releases of energy at the end of the month, coinciding with Memorial Day weekend, so in addition to my usual ‘please drive carefully’ note, I will add ‘please drive VERY carefully and deliberately and keep an eye on others on the road.’
“I hope you have a productive week and a great holiday weekend!
Chris”
Note that you can subscribe to Astronotes and contact Chris through the following email address:
ideahse@aol.com
And now to the cards for the week:
As you might guess Abundantia brings Prosperity. She says: “The universe is pouring its abundance out to you. Be open to receiving.” I like this card! But I do take careful note of the “receiving” part of the message. And to receive we have to recognize, be open, listen, watch, wait, and then, accept. Dr. Doreen Virtue goes on to have Abundantia say: “I’ve heard your prayers, worries, and affirmations…expect unforseen windfalls and gifts. Notice the new ideas, feelings, and visions within you. This guidance gives you clear direction about actions to take in conjunction with my assistance. Together, we’re unstoppable!”
This is a powerful message for any week; and I also notice the Moon is filling waxing to fullness on Thursday. This is an expansive period; I also take note of point (2) by Chris as we move into this expansive period of “enthusiasm, optimism, and sudden opportunities and insights.” These will be coming from Abundantia; watch and wait and listen for them. The ideas, feelings, insights, visions are all inside; bring them out. It might be a very good time to meditate and journal. Watch your dreams as well and ponder the messages coming from your unconscious mind.
And Abundantia’s message this week is reinforced by Grandmother Card, Grammie Freedom who is the “Guide of Promise” for the whole deck of Grandmothers! I’ve scanned in her image today because she is so beautiful and full of promise from so many directions and sources. Here is her message:
“You heard the voices calling from very far,
You heard the voices calling from distant star.
You heard the voices calling…
“You came as Freedom Child.
You sang your song,
You wrote your story,
You saw your vision,
You built your shield,
You made your dolls,
You became your dream,
“‘You are the patchquilt of your heart. You are the heart and spark of our Grandmothers.’
“Namasté” And thank you Megan Garcia, for your beautiful images and Grandmother messages!
Call and response. We call and the Universe answers with abundance. When the Universe calls it is up to us to respond in kind!
Blessings for an awesome week!
Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards: Sige and Dancing Fire
As I drew oracle cards today I was thinking about and toward the weekend. The intention I held was to have an active one, to get some things done that have been hanging over my head, to be upbeat and energetic! Interestingly the Goddess Guidance Oracle card I drew for this intention is Sige: “Quiet Time”! The words Dr. Virtue has her say are: “Take some quiet time alone to rest, meditate, and contemplate.” What? Quite time, rest? I had every intention to get motivated. Why did I draw this card?
Sige is the gnostic goddess of the Great Silence, the void from which the creation blew into existence. “Sige reminds us that words create duality, and that in silence, we find our true origin and self.” The creation, the Universe, is telling me to move into the silence to find my center, to re-balance and get grounded, alone, in non-dual time. All those things that need to be addressed: they’ll be there on the other side of this silence. All the planned activities, the weekend events, the “fun” to be had: this is not the time. Do I take this advice and close down for a day or two this weekend? Or do I push through and ignore my own intuitive guidance from these cards?
The strange thing is I am not feeling completely up to par today. Low energy, low spirit, low motivation is pressing down on me. Is this why I drew the card in the first place? Is the Universe telling me to slow down and take it easy? How often do we allow ourselves to do this? How often do we simply “close the door on life” for a while to find our center?
My Grandmother card today is: Dancing Fire of Woman’s Lodge. She says: “I am full of energy and ideas. They named me Dancing Fire because of my spontaneity. My motto is, ‘it is not where the journey is taking you, it is how you are taking the journey.'” Wait a minute! How does this reinforce or amplify on Sige? Sige say to be quiet and rest. Dancing Fire says she is full of energy and ideas. Yes, but she also says “it is how you are taking the journey.” The journey can certainly be an inward one. Am I being told to slow down and consider where I am? Is it suggested that I move inwardly and just be with myself for some time? I can do this with energy, with purpose, with plenty of ideas! But I can also do this in silence.
How often do you take time for just yourself? Do you travel inward to ask the hard questions? Do you assess in silence when you reach some point in life that requires centering and balance. I don’t do this often enough. Too often I simply bull-doze through issues to get through them, to get to the other side. I think maybe, for at least part of this weekend, I’ll take some time to just be with the issues, the to-do list, the actions needing attention. They won’t go anywhere; they’ll be there Monday. They are more patient that I am!
Sige says “Shhh, dearest one. Quiet you mind. Breathe and let go of words, worry and plans.” I think I will…
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.
Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards: Kuan Yin and Woman Connecting Time and Space
We are in the final “death throes” of the old Moon; she dies and is reborn tonight at 7:04 Mountain Time. She will remain hidden from us for three days in her newness; she will be residing in the Underworld during that time. Watch for her in the early evening as she reappears over the western horizon as a shy, barely-there sliver of silver.
In these final hours of the old Moon it is not too late to throw out “stuff” that no longer serves you. The “stuff” can be material things, but it is more often things like old habits, old thinking, old practices, old emotions, old “recordings in our heads” that replay messages that no longer serve. Some of mine are: “I don’t have time for that” and “I’m not good enough to do that.” Clear away the old to make room for the new.
As I drew cards today my intention was to set the energy for this New Moon in Taurus. Kuan Yin is the Goddess of Compassion. The words Dr. Doreen Virtue has her say are: “Release judgments about yourself and others, and focus on the love and light that is within everyone.” Judgment is always a good thing to release…what better time to do so than at this very moment as the moon wanes to nothingness. Let the judgments go into that void; let them fall into the Sun as the Moon does as it goes conjunct with the Sun and disappears in Her brilliance, the brilliance of Sekhmet whom we met in Tuesday’s post. Dr. Virtue focuses the message of Kuan Yin on the self first and then others. She says Kuan Yin helps us to “release guilt and shame to Heaven for healing and transmutation” – yes, let the old Moon have it and transmute it in the fires of the Sun. She also says “don’t be so hard on yourself or others; release perfectionistic tendencies.” This is particularly good for me to hear and perhaps many men who struggle with doing the right thing, being all that we are called to be in this very complex time of transition we are living through. Let go of getting it perfect and realize you are doing the best you can under the circumstances.
From the Grandmothers I drew Woman Connecting Time and Space of Woman’s Lodge. I have included the picture of this Woman to bring alive the image of this connection. She says: “I live in the Mystery. I am trusting of the unseen world, but I have difficulty with the seen world. I joined the lodge knowing that in joining with other women we could bridge these two worlds and become balanced and whole in both.” One of the things we are called to do is to let go of our fear. As the Moon goes dark she descends into the Underworld, the Mystery; she does not fear! All will be well; she will return; the cycles of birth and life and death are repeated throughout the “seen world” just as they are repeated in our own experiences. Growth in consciousness is part of the cycle of life. Connecting time and space is an expansion of consciousness. And it is a reminder of our vertical connection between the Earth (Time) and Heaven (Space). As humans we stand at the intersection of immanence and transcendence. And we are called to balance in this position.
So, as we go into the New Moon energy be compassionate toward, first, yourself, and then others; see the light inside you reflected in the presence of others. And remember we are all standing on this balance point between the physical world of time and the metaphysical world of mystery- utter expansiveness and deepest void.
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.
Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards: Sulis and White Lamb Woman
I love these oracle card days; I get so much information from the cards which are always telling me what I need to hear. I hope they are useful for you as well. My intention when I draw them is to seek and offer sound advice for the days going forward.
Today I thought about Thursday being the “new Friday” as the weekend approaches; and both cards I drew are about renewal! And as we are still in a Mercury retrograde period, until May 11 it is a great time to rest and relax. My good friend and astrologer, Chris Largent, has this to say about this time: “If we all hang in there until Tuesday at about 6:30 pm (actually 6:27 pm EDT), the Mercury retrograde will be over. So, let’s try not to react too much (and stay away from people who trigger us), AND let’s also get plenty of rest and play (in the ancient world, cultures often just took these times off – what an idea, eh?). And please keep in mind that this is a good time for reflection and contemplation. So, if we slow things down as often as we can – if only for a few minutes – and treat ourselves to something relaxing, this could be a rewarding time (astrologers have to say things like that in times that are a pain in the neck).”
Sulis, a “Celtic Sun Goddess who oversees bodies of water associated with healing”, says: “Spend time near bodies of water, such as a lake, river, or the ocean, to recharge your batteries.” Water is both a purifying agent and the element that holds our emotions. Dr. Doreen Virtue writes: “Water can wash away sadness, pain, and the ill effects of suffering. Engage in purification rituals involving water more often, and you’ll experience an uplifting in your spirit and outlook.”
Grandmother White Lamb Woman is of the Lodge of Dirctions North. She says: “I was born from White Fire with wisdom, grace and abundance. I offer clarity so your spirit may be restored and renewed.” She is a beauty with smooth, unblemished features and dressed in a lovely robe of white angora wool and a headdress of white and black striped feathers. To gaze on her countenance is to feel the relaxation and peace of restoration.
As the weekend approaches consider taking time to relax and rejuvenate. If you are near water take time, even a few moments, to meditate and let go of any disturbing emotions – let the water wash them away. Or soak in a tub and purify both body and spirit as Sulis and White Lamb Woman sooth away any stress or pain. And while Mercury is retrograde do this as often and as much as you can!
Men and The Goddess 