Sister Sun Slept

Once Upon a Time Sister Sun Overslept.

It's hard Rising and Setting every day. It's rough Climbing high in the Sky pouring Energy out to all the Planets.

Earth is the most Demanding of all the Children of the Sun.

The Plants need Her to Grow. People need Her Vitamin D and that great Summer Tan.

Even the Rain requires that She cause Evaporation so the Cycle can be complete.

So one day, Sister Sun Overslept!

She really didn't mean to! She knows Her Importance. But doesn't a Gal get to Sleep In every now and then?

What's the worse that can happen?

So Once a Time, She did just that! She hit the Snooze button, Rolled over, and Covered Her head with Her Quilt!

The Birds stayed Silent, confused by it all!

Morning Glories stayed closed.

And Grandmother Moon didn't know if She was to keep Moving or Not?

Once Upon a Time, Sister Sun Overslept.

Her Children became restless. They didn't know what to do. They had Things to do and the Sun Sleeping was most inconvenient.

So they Screamed and Yelled and Stomped their Feet. Her Children threw one big Temper Tantrum.

So much for Oversleeping!

Single Threads of Gold

Single Threads of Gold poured from the crevices of Her Heart.

Never had She felt so Complete and Happy!

He had come into Her Life!

Right there Sitting in the Lifeguard Chair was her Adonis. Her God!

They Met, they Dated, they held Tightly to each other as they Floated after hours, in the cool Waters of the Swimming Pool.

There in the Lifeguard Chair sat Her God, her Lover, her One!

She was so sure he was the One, she didn't notice the first Tugs on the Golden Threads cascading from her Heart!

The Journey became less about Love and Play and Floating Together. The Journey became all about the Golden Threads. The Journey became all about Adonis using the Golden Threads to Control and eventually Strangle this Woman who had Fallen desperately in Love with The Man in the Lifeguard Chair.

Sometimes we Choose the Lifeguard, convinced he will save us from Ourselves.

Sometimes we Confuse Love and Control and let Another use our Golden Threads to Silence our Voice.

Once Upon a Time, she Gathered the few Remaining Threads not Bound around her Throat and Walked Away from the God of the Lifeguard Chair.

Slowly, the Golden Threads Unwound and once again Flowed gently from her Heart.

She Sang the Song of Guarding Her Golden Threads!

Once Upon a Time......

The Ruby Slippers

She Promised that the Ruby Red Slippers would take her Home. "Click three times" said the Fairy Goddess Mother.

The Woman stood still.

"Click your Shoes so You can Return Home." Fairy Goddess Mother insisted.

But what if I don't Want to go Home, she thought?

What if the Colorless World awaiting me is not one that I Want?

"But you Have to Go Home!" said the Fairy Goddess Mother. "You Must! You have no Choice!"

"I have NO CHOICE?" the Woman said. "Really? Don't you see: I CAN CHOOSE NOT to click my Ruby Red Slippers! I HAVE CHOICE!"

Fairy Goddess Mother was dumbfounded.

"But people are Waiting for you! People Depend on you, Need you, have Expectations of you! You MUST GO HOME!"

The Woman thought about it and

Gently reached Down and Removed her Red Ruby Slippers.

"No Thank You! I Choose Not to go Home."

"I Need Me! I Want Me!"

"I have been Waiting for Me!"

And so, the Fairy Goddess Mother, took the Red Ruby Slippers.

The Woman turned and put one Bare Foot in front of the other. Each Foot taking a Step was a Choice in and of Itself!

Fairy Goddess Mother smiled!

The Invisible Woman

She sat at her window seat Once Upon a Time.

This Window Seat had become the Lens she looked through into a World passing her by.

No one stopped to Wave.

No one paused to Smile.

No one noticed her sitting at her Window Seat.

And yet she sat Waiting.

Waiting for someone to Notice her.

This, The Invisible Woman!

No one Noticed her in Elementary school when she fell off the Teeter Totter.

They Laughed.

No one noticed her in college as she lay on the couch Sobbing after being raped by three fraternity brothers.

No one noticed her as she tried to hide the Bruises graciously awarded her for Burning the morning Toast.

No one noticed her when she was left for Dead by the man who promised to love her, 'til death does us part.'

This The Invisible Woman!

At her Window Seat, she Gazes through the Lens of Hope and Survival.

This, the Invisible Woman, sits at her Window Seat, Gazing at the World.

Waiting to be Noticed.

Saying Goodbye to Persephone: Mabon arrives!

Good and gracious Tuesday! We move toward Mabon this week and as such we begin to say good bye to Persephone! I do not accept the patriarchal rewriting of Her Story where She is stolen away by Hades, raped and kept captive. No, I accept the original story where Persephone makes the decision to leave the care of Her mother, Demeter, to care for the Underworld for 6 months.

We have a lot to learn from this story and I think it may be why this time of year is always different for me. I was married in the Fall. Both my miscarriages happened in the Fall, I returned to work after the birth of both my children, in the Fall. Then my children went to public school and then college, in the Fall. And I ended my 30 year marriage in the Fall.

Persephone stands for me: Major Transitions.

It is necessary that Persephone leaves Her mother, Demeter. And as we all do, during major transitions, we grieve. Demeter grieved so much that even when Hecate came to minister to Demeter and assured Her that Her daughter was ok; Demeter still was so sad that the Garden rested and went barren.

One of the major gifts of aging is the ability to look back and see how life unfolded and have faith that it will continue to unfold for our highest good! I learn a lot in the Fall. I learn about being quiet, about what harvest looks like in my life and the life of others. I learn about sharing what I have with others and I learn to be a gracious receiver when I am in need of something from someone else.
I am drawn to going within and "licking my wounds", of acknowledging what has died and what I need to let die! Patricia Monaghan says in her book: Seasons of the Witch: "This is the time to decide what will die. Not all of last spring's calves and lambs and ducklings can be fed through the winter. Some will die, and in the dying provide food. It is a season of decisions. And of prophecies: for as other life dies, it foreshadows our own deaths.... As she moves through autumn, a woman.... does not try to nurture everything and everyone, for she knows not all can---should----survive. She becomes selective. There is enough of everything---strength, love, passion, lust---everything but time."
Persephone leaving Her mother, had Demeter realize that. What would it look like if we followed suit.

We know that Persephone will return to Demeter and to us bringing flowers, vegetation, and all that grows to nourish and sustain us. That is Hope. But what about those who have lost that hope? That seem to be my challenge in the Fall and Winter.

The answer is we share from our Harvest! We each have something to bring to the Table. It may not be actual food and water, but it may be compassion, understanding, a sweet and unexpected note, or a message of "I get it and I care."

 Mabon will arrive without a fanfare, without fireworks and without front page news, but come She will. She will come in Silence. Soon, Persephone will be deep within the Cave and before we know it, our fires will be lit, the harvest will be over and we will be cuddled up on our chairs with hot cocoa and a good book!

 May we all be aware of the Silence, of the need and the want and the deep stirrings in our soul of what it means to be without Persephone for the next 6 months!

Blessed be and So mote it be!

Wear the World like a Loose Garment!

I have never ever liked tight clothing and I still don't.

I feel smothered and restrained and if it is two things I despise they are not being able to Breathe and being restrained! Or maybe you haven't noticed!

So today as I was listening to a recording, the woman said these words that were really not the point of the teaching but made everything else she said disappear from my thought processes. I guess I will have to go back and listen to that recording again sometime.

She said, "We are to wear the world like a loose garment!"

What would it look like, I wonder, if we all wore the world like a loose garment. You know a garment that only touches us in certain places... those places we desire them to touch. Yes, we want pants to fit around our waist so they don't fall off, but does that mean we pull the belt so tight that we can hardly breathe? And is that about not wanting the pants to fall off or is there another meaning to be gleaned there?

Yes we want our shirts to hold on to our shoulders so they won't fall away either, but what happens when that strap has to be so tight that it causes a mark on our shoulder? Or how about the shoes we wear that hurt our feet but we wear them because they make our legs "sexy"? We could go on and on you see!

Most of us take personally, what is happening in the world, especially since the last presidential election. So that, no matter who won, we take it personally and the garment of the Election begins to make us so uncomfortable (like those too tight shoes) we become irritable, angry and down right mean!

Our family drama... and yes, that is personal.... begins to strangle us like a scarf tied too tight to keep out the cold.

And we can't breathe.

What would it look like if we Wore the World like a Loose Garment?

I imagine it would make me feel free and light. It would not make the World go away, it would make me less restrained and bothered by that which causes me to be irritable, angry and mean. It would hang on me like my Goddess cloak hung on me during my Croning Ceremony. I could barely feel Her on me and as such I felt Powerful, Empowered, and Authentic to accept the anointing and also then be free to decide what this meant for my ongoing Journey. How would I stand in my Croneship? How would I treat others? How would I live a life standing in my Truth and Wisdom?

If that cloak had been tight, I would have spent more time adjusting and fidgeting and would have been distracted and ultimately irritated and angry. That would have ruined the Journey for me.

So I choose... yes it is a choice.... I choose to wear the world like a loose garment; only touching me where I need and want it to touch me. Notice, this does not mean I choose not wear the world at all. Oh my goddess.... that is not possible and most certainly not wise. The point is I will choose how it touches me and hangs on me. I want the world to hang on me in the same Divine Fashion that the Goddess Cloak hangs on me. 

I choose to Wear the World in a way that gives me pause to Breathe and Reflect so I can make decisions from a Divinely inspired place and not a place of irritation, anger and meanness!

I want the World Garment to touch me in my Heart and Soul for those who are marginalized, hungry, abused, neglected, discriminated against, and for women's right to choose. For others, they will choose for the Garment to touch them in different places. But for all of us, the garment that hangs loosely allows space to Breathe, to Speak, to Listen, to Pause, and to Act!

What pieces of clothing need adjusting in your life? Is there a way you can loosen the belt, scarf or buy a different pair of shoes?

A loose garment allows me to flow through the tough times, allows me to twirl in celebration and to spread my "wings" when I need to go into battle!

I choose to Wear the World like a Loose Garment! Want to join me?

Blessed be!

What happens in the Pause?

For the past few months, I have listened as my Gentle Flow Yogi, Brenda,  reminds us to Pause before taking the next Breath. Just a second or two, but to Pause. It is interesting how just a second or two Pause makes me feel like I am smothering. But yet, today, I finally GOT IT!

Today, I sat in the Pause.

Today, only for the second or two there, I soaked in the Quiet, the Stillness, the.... Pause!

The Pause from thinking about the next breath!

The Pause from thinking about the next Pose or the next Thought!

Pause!

In this fast paced life we now Journey through, there are seldom Pauses! We rush from one thought to the other, one thing to the other, one person, event, relationship to the other.

And we wonder why we are always Tired.

Now, I won't be intentionally Pausing between Breaths as I go through my day, but this is what I gleaned this morning.

It is important to Pause between the things on our list, the thoughts going through our head and even the channels as we cruise through the remote!

If we would, I do believe we would find ourselves in a much different place. A place of Quiet and Stillness and even Void!

A lot happens in those 1-2 seconds. I did not suffocate. I did not panic or even die.

What I did do was experience the Divine in a new way and in a new place..... INSIDE ME!

That is where the Pause exists!

Come with me and find the Pause! As you are rushing through your day, intentionally Pause before getting out of the car at your next stop. Pause before answering the phone or sending the text. Pause before selecting your words during a confrontation or even a moment of tenderness.

Pause so you don't miss the Rainbow, the cloud formation or what Moon Phase is shining in the nighttime sky! Pause to actually taste the coffee or the sandwich you are swallowing whole to get to the next appointment.

Pause to give thanks! Pause to give or receive a compliment! Pause to laugh and pause to cry!

Just Pause!

You will be glad you did!

Blessed be!