Elder of the Woods

I now live in a Cottage in the Forest.

Oh not in reality, but it is now where I look out from into the world. I would love to live in a cottage in the Forest; tucked away amongst the trees, the smell of wet leaves, the birds flitting from one tree to another. I would love to one day, have that little one bedroom cottage in the Forest.

I grew up playing in the Woods behind my house. I can still go back there when I walk through Woods surrounding my apartment complex. Even then, there was magic there. I loved when I would finally get deep into the Forest and could see nothing but trees surrounding me like a protective shield from a world that wanted nothing more but to pull me into the lies of a patriarchal society brimming with competition and materialism. I could be free in the Woods. I could be anyone or anything I wanted to be; and I very often was.

From my imaginary cottage, I see the world in a different and refreshing way.

I imagine a fire in the fireplace and a large cauldron hanging over it bubbling away with a stew made from vegetables I harvested from my own garden. I see an oak table with chairs around it waiting for women to join me for a cup of tea or cocoa while we talk of all that women share when sipping on their favorite beverage. I might even have home baked scones and a bit of butter and jam to add to our time together.

Here is where time stands still when I want it to. Here is where I slather Autumn Earthsong's Boo Boo Balm all over the still open wounds caused by years of wrong decisions and living in a world where bigotry, hatred and misogynist attitudes picked away the very skin that covered my precious woman body.  

Here in this Cottage in the Forest is where I will finally heal those open wounds and bear the scars with the pride of a Thriver!

There is Peace and Contentment in my Cottage in the Forest. I welcome the song birds and the vultures. I encourage the coyote to sit at my door step and the Wolf to lay by my bed. Mother Brown Bear will bring her cubs to me in the Spring to babysit while she forages the Forest for food for her precious young.

I am the Elder of the Woods, the caretaker of my part of the Forest. I see things here that not everyone is invited to see. I am able to live within the confines of Death and Life and not be afraid when my own time comes. I learn things here as Elder of the Woods that will be offered up as gifts to those who visit with me at my oak table sipping a cup of tea and maybe even having a scone or two. I have Knowledge and Wisdom to share. It is what an Elder of the Woods who embodies the Goddess is called to do.

In the Forest I watch the Moon Goddess change Her Visibility and Her Brightness. I am now so in tune with Her Energy that I too move from Full to Dark and back again in a month's time. I no longer Bleed but my Feminine Clock is set to Her Pulls and Her Power. It is different being a Crone. My eyes See, My Heart Knows; My Senses are heightened to Know the Turning of the Wheel.

I have learned these things from my Cottage in the Woods.

The reality is that I will probably always live in an apartment complex or maybe even one day have to move in with one or both of my parents to care for them as they begin to feel the pull toward what they call Heaven. But even then, I will reside in my Cottage in the Forest.

There is still much to learn here; much to discern and much to share with another woman around that Oak Table with a cup of tea and a scone.

And I bet that these scones that I will actually make with my own hands will be full of chocolate chips. Isn't that the preferred food of a Goddess?

The cauldron is bubbling with a hearty stew, the tea pot is singing her song, and the scones are hot out of the oven. I sit at the Oak Table waiting your arrival.

See you soon!

Blessed be!