our altar
it's not recognizable but I brought a little turtle, my totem,
emerging from her egg...the intent there is obvious..
alway hope to be changing and emerging...
Growth can be hard, looking at flaws and weaknesses..
Change, oh my, how I sometime resist...
but the alternative is not so good..
I belong to a Sacred Circle..
.every other week my goddess sister friends and I come together to talk, and love, and explore our paths on the twisty, turning, sometimes crazy journey we are all on. We take turns leading. We are a spread out group of women...and although the gatherings are at different places each time, someone always has to travel an hour or so.
It is a commitment...and not always an easy one to keep...but we do...
we make every effort to be there for each other...
A few weeks ago our hosting sister asked that we come as our most glorious goddess selves and talk about how Goddess works in our lives...
which one, or two, or three, we most identify with..
or the goddess whose qualities we'd like to evoke..
Of course Goddess Nu Kua is my art muse...
I've written about her many times...paying homage...
She is my partner in so much that brings me bliss.
And for a while now I've been aware that Aphrodite has come along to teach me a few things about love...
I decided to pay a little closer attention to her...study up a bit.
I pulled out my beat up copy of
Goddesses in Every Woman by jean Shinoda Bolen
So much of what she has to say about this,
the alchemical goddess, resonated with me.
Yes, she is the goddess of love...but not just romantic or sexual love...
She is also there for platonic love, soul connections, deep friendships...
Bolen says..."when ever growth is generated, a vision supported, potential developed, a spark of creativity encouraged"...Aphrodite is there.
"Aphrodite consciousness is present in all creative work, including that done in solitude...." Whenever she is present energy is generated...she adds the spark, the sizzle, the passion, to every encounter...rather it be in our creative life, or in our relationships.
She brings so much energy to the creative process we often lose track of time when under the influence of her magic.
Aphrodite is also there to encourage the sorting of things..
when a crucial decision must be made she reminds me to go within and sort those jumbled feeling...take an honest look at what is important to me and what my motives might be....what passion is at work.
I decided that I wanted to call in Athena too...
she is the goddess of wisdom, strategy and clear thinking...much needed here.
And I called in Persephone...to help me stay open and receptive when sometimes I want to close up and run away from life....it happens...
I am an emotional being.
Hera came to me to help me make commitments that I can be comfortable with, and faithful too..
and last but not least..I called in Artemis
to help keep me focused on my goals...
not let myself be detoured from what it is I vision for myself...She reminds me that I don't always need to know every step to getting where I want to go....that sometimes it is enough to be clear and to take the steps as they come...I don't need to have all the answers..
often intuition speaks loudly enough...if only I'm clear enough to listen.
I've covered some bases here...yes, I have...
I think we can learn a lot by reflecting on the archetypes,
and the myths and stories about larger than life women.
It helps me to look at my strengths and weaknesses...call in balance.
There is a lot of joy in being a woman, exploring with other women...
we are so multi-faceted...
so much to share and offer each other and the world....
I think we could use a little more Goddess energy floating around...
.woman energy...not so much the energy of women who have turned away from their feminine qualities to be more like men in this man's world...
but women who celebrate our feminine strengths. We are pretty amazing in our ability to love so deeply and live so creatively..stay so strong.
Hat's off to my sister goddesses..xo
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