The Goddess is the “All of Creation.” She is the Creatress and the Created. She is the life force of all there is. She is one, whole, and complete. Before Her, nothing was. She arose from the Great Void, the source of all potential, giving birth to Herself before anything else had ever been born. She separated the sky and the water and She danced. In the ecstasy of Her Dance She conceived of all there is.
In every culture, in every part of the world, the Goddess has been revered as the Birth Giver of all Life. From the very beginning of time, in our earliest primitive state, we sought to explain the unexplainable by drawing from what we knew. The female of every species brought forth life; therefore, the Creatrix also had to be Birth Giving Mother and the Great Mother was given Her identity.
She has been loved, feared, respected, honored, and glorified in every way imaginable throughout thousands of years of human development. She has been given a “face” for every conceivable aspect of Her nature. She has taken the form of animals, humans, and elemental energies. She has been given associations with plants, colors, sounds, stones, music, and more. For every aspect and every view, She has a face.
As a goddess woman in modern times, I have chosen to not limit myself to any one culture as I draw upon the energies of Her many faces. I have not limited myself to think She is only One, for to me, She is One and She is Many. From that, I consider myself monotheistic as well as polytheistic. I call to Her in human form from the many goddesses throughout the world. I call on Her from her animal, plant, and mineral kingdoms. I call on Her from the Light and in the Dark. She is what illuminates as well as who lives in the Shadows, for She is All.
To see this in a more simplistic way, I see all of Creation as Goddess. The entire web of life is Goddess, all connected by the threads of Her web. All exist as interconnected threads, never separate. What happens to one, happens to all.
Because I am a part of that web, then I too, am Goddess. As Goddess, I am empowered to create. I am empowered to be all that I can be and for me, that means there are no limits, other than the limits I impose on myself.
I am both a spiritual woman and a scientific one. The scientist in me loves the big bang theory, the string theory and I am incredibly interested in how the world has evolved and continues to evolve. When growing up, the spiritual side of me hungered for a spiritual life that could embrace both sides of my hungry mind. It was not until I began to see “religion” as a process of adopting a metaphor that I was able to create my own spiritual practice, satisfying all of who I am. I was the wild child whose favorite place to sleep was nestled in the arms of an old oak tree and whose best friends were the snakes and lizards found under rocks in my mountain home. Finally, I could account for all of the many rocks brought home or the snips of tree branches I called my friends. By adopting this metaphor as my own, I could name the many parts of who I am. Then, when I needed to call out an aspect from within, in a time of need, my own feelings of strength and power where magnified. Such are Her power and beauty to me.
This metaphor says that I am related to all that is; that I am kin to trees, animals, birds, insects, rocks and stones. I am also related to the sun, the stars and the moon. The same energy, the same force is in us all. We are all of the same Divine Source.
My way of honoring this Goddess is to be with Her. I feel Her as my hands when touch Her soil, when I sit on Her body, or when I am walking with Her trees. I see Her in the birds flying overhead and in the small feather left for me on the ground. I think I am closest to Her when I am by the sea. That may be because the ocean is the source of life but I believe it is because I truly feel Her might and healing power as I stand in Her waves. I view the mountains with awe, knowing that She is there. I see the rivers as Her blood flowing , just as our own blood flows through us carrying life force throughout our bodies. The air we breathe and share with all is given to us by the plants and the trees in their process of photosynthesis, everything carefully crafted in our co-existence.
All of these outdoor glimpses of Her are seen only on occasion. I am, for the most part, now an indoor person, due to physical limitations. I am, however, a woman whose memories, imagination and mind are strong. I can, at will, bring these images of Her to myself in my mind’s eye and into my body not only from my memories, but from those things I collect when I can be outside in nature. I have shells, sand and salt for the sea. I have rocks of all sizes, shapes and types. I have feathers and fur.
For all the myriad goddesses who represent the many facets of who I am, I can place a statue on my altar or call Her to me in my Sacred Dance. This dance is the spiritual practice of ecstatic dance. As in my creation myth above, “She arose from the Great Void, the source of all potential, giving Birth to Herself, before anything else had ever been born. She separated the sky and the water, and She danced. In the ecstasy of Her Dance did She conceive of all there is,” my practice of ecstatic dance is part of my own creative process. When I wish to “know” a goddess, after studying what is written about her, I call her into my dance. In this way we are intimately connected, not to ever be separate again. Because she becomes a part of me in the Dance I come to know her in ways, perhaps no one has read about. I do not claim this difference to others to dispute any myths about her because I know that this is how She wishes me to see her, not others. My rational mind knows that I am seeing an aspect of myself not seen before. It is one in which I will, in calling upon this goddess, find the strength, knowledge and ability to do what is placed before me.
I also learned, through experience, that through the Dance, I am at my creative best. Many of my poems and much of my writing has been done at the close of the Dance. I learned this for the first time when I danced with Eurynome and this poem came straight out of the Dance.
from space I arose
awake in the great nothing
that is all potential.
the great swirling field
the empty void of space ~
all that can be
all that is ….
my joy, so complete,
be-ing overcome with delight.
my body moved
in ecstatic pleasure
ripples of laughter
bubbling forth, I am
lost in my intensity …
I dance forth creation
dividing earth and sky
dancing on the waves,
birthing the north wind
creating in my joy.
lost in my dance
I am all that is.
It is interesting to me to see when I look around my house, that those goddesses that I have “embodied,” are not present in the statues on my many altars. Those sit with the shells, rocks and feathers that I use when I need to use my imagination to bring Her to me.
My spiritual “gnosis” includes a belief in my ability to manifest what I need. This manifesting process I call magic. Some spell it “magick” but I seem to stick with the original. For me it begins with thought and a personal assurance and belief in my abilities. I add symbols to stimulate my senses. I might use incense to trigger my sense of smell and I choose that incense for its spiritual properties or values as related to my work. I might play music to stimulate my sense of hearing and it will serve to awaken the energy in my body with rhythm. I choose visual symbols associated with the work I will be doing. I might even have something to eat handy to stimulate my taste buds, but usually if food is present, it is more for grounding when I am finished. As you can see, I choose everything as it relates to my goal. When I do this magic, I usually dance to involve myself fully in the work and raise the energy and emotion necessary to send my intentions out into the universe to be accomplished.
Another aspect of my spiritual practice has been to delve into the study of the Ogham. I was drawn to the Ogham because as a symbol set it was nature based and included not just letters, but goddesses, trees, birds, animals and stones. I can look at all of these with a naturalist’s eye or through the mythological stories contained in their teachings. By following them, as used in a year and a day calendar and guide, I have found them to be tools for personal growth.
Because I have set no limits on my spiritual practice, other than to explore and do what feels right to me, the boundaries of my exploration are limitless. Because I know that all is sacred and of Her, I am obligated to honor that in my daily life and in my daily interaction with others. When I can look within and see Her, in others, I honor that and make every effort to see beyond what that person may be manifesting at that given moment. I see Her in everything around me, which obligates me to care for this planet, and to do my best not to do anything that will destroy or corrupt Her beauty.
Loving life and all that it includes has given me the ability to grow in compassion toward others and not to be so self-centered in thinking only of myself and how things affect only me. I am conscious of the ripples I make in the waters of life. Through my studies of religions, I have come to learn that the only real value of adopting a religion is to explain the unexplainable, to have a guide to go by, and to offer comfort when life becomes overwhelming. Being a sensing, feeling woman, a woman who must experience in order to know, has made it very difficult for me to adopt another’s religion. By coming to my own, by honoring this Goddess from whom I come, and who is also me, there is help for me to understand what is unknowable. I receive guidance at my every breath and am shielded and comforted all of my days. As the nurturing, all loving Mother, she suckles me at her breast and shelters me in her lap. I also know that I can be the wild woman I am without fear and to understand that sometimes my anger is a great thing! Her world is open for me to explore, to study and to grow. I am driven to stand on my own and I know that should I fall, help is there. She is all of that because all of that is in me. I do not need to seek it outside of myself other than to be with it. While it is in me, I can also find it without. This knowledge strengthens me, guides me, and lights up my soul. She has taught me to be Her beacon, a beacon to shine so that She can be seen by any who might glimpse my way.
Meet Mago Contributor, Deanne Quarrie
Bibliography
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Inspired by the art of Monica Sjoo, 1938 to 2005 (to view her work http://www.monicasjoo.org/)