Goddess Centered Practice
In the woods behind my house rest a collection of nine large flat rocks. Daily, I walk down to these “priestess rocks” for some sacred time alone to pray, meditate, consider, and be. Often, while in this space, I open my mouth and poetry comes out. I’ve come to see this experience as "theapoetics"—experiencing the Goddess through direct “revelation,” framed in language. As Stanley Hopper originally described in the 1970’s, it is possible to “…replace theology, the rationalistic interpretation of belief, with theopoetics, finding God[dess] through poetry and fiction, which neither wither before modern science nor conflict with the complexity of what we know now to be the self.” Theapoetics might also be described, “as a means of engaging language and perception in such a way that one enters into a radical relation with the divine, the other, and the creation in which all occurs.”
Armadillo Surprise
In 2013, I engaged in a year-long Woodspriestess experiment in which I visited the same place in the woods behind my house every day for an entire year. The experience described in this post occurred eight months into my experiment...
I continue to be surprised by this same small patch of woods. Last night, if you chanced to overhear me in my sacred space, you would have heard me scream:
“Oh my GAWD!!!!! I just STEPPED ON an ARMADILLO!!!!!!”
Yes, that is correct, I stepped squarely on a genuine, real live armadillo on my way through the woods last night. I’d gotten “too busy” to visit the woods during the day and by the time I made my way down there, it was totally dark. I opted to go out without a flashlight, feeling a bit smug, if I do say so myself, that I know these woods so well and am just so connected that I don’t even need a flashlight to find my way and then…STEP…bizarre-growling-squeal-grunt-and-scuttle and me screaming the above. My first thought as I grasped what had happened was actually to try to take a picture for a blog post, but by then it was too late and only the scaly tail was dimly visible under a nearby shrub! By the time I stood on the rocks, I was laughing semi-hysterically and my heart was pounding with the adrenalin and surprise. I reflected again on how very many creatures share these woods with me and I wondered how many other woodspriestesses of various species cross these very stones each day. I think of this space as “mine,” but clearly an armadillo also finds it a useful nighttime exploration place.
I spoke aloud…
Dark Mother
Rising up to surprise us
stumbling in the night
stepping on armadillos
startled by a snake in the path
surrounded by bug song
and mystery
A place to incubate dreams
arising with purpose
and potency
but always reminding us
to watch your step.
Dark Mother
rising up in surprising places
leading us beside choppy waters
holding back our hair if we vomit.
Dark Mother
do not go easy
into the night
you claw and scratch
jumping up
clad in armor
that we may trip over.
Keep us on the edge
keep us on our toes
keep us in the dark
keep us in the mystery…
I never want to stop being surprised by this place, even if it makes my heart pound.
Thank you.
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