I twist and turn as the Fates
Spin the multicolored threads
That are the web of life.

Strength and beauty grace my path
And Mother’s gaze softens
As she looks upon my weaving.

I awaken joyous and bursting
With life and renewed spirit
Youth my ally and wisdom
Just from hand’s reach
Not ready for the taking.

I sigh into the pain as
New life issues forth
I am caretaker and guardian
Of this sacred living gift.

I close my eyes and slumber finds me
Her beating heart echoes through me
Arms cradling Her child of making
Welcoming me home into her
Womb of creation.

We, as pagans celebrate the duality and polarity of all manner of things as we perform our workings of magick, make offerings to the Deities and weave the rich tapestry of our magickal and mundane lives. Contained within these polarities are the concepts of the masculine and the feminine that transcend gender and sexual dynamics. These are the outpourings of the solar and the lunar, strength and emotion, force and form. Each dynamic is needed as the informed companion of the other and each must work in collaborative effort to form the whole.  They are the mainstay of our paths and the underpinnings of the universal laws we follow as we move forward in our evolution as spiritual beings. 

Historically, as we have moved through the ages the shift of focus from that of a matriarchal society to one of masculine dominance has shaped the ways we interact and respond to the energies of the Goddess.  Out of necessity for survival, the honoring of the Sacred Feminine was for the most part hidden and cloaked by the stereotypes of what woman should be and what roles they played both spiritually and mundanely.  Now, we see a newly developed understanding and reaffirmation of who and what the Goddess is in relation to who and what women (and men) are.  We honor the reverence that was held for woman and the life giving properties contained within her womb, her hands and her heart.  We celebrate the Divine expressed in the female form and call to the archetypal energy of the Goddess to manifest in our actions and our will.  We acknowledge her presence as the flowing and changeable tides of our emotions and our intuitive nature.  And, we cower in fear when she wields the blade of the warrior and calls into accountability those who exert their will and ego in unjust actions put upon those who cannot defend themselves.

She holds the mystery of our destiny in her breath of life and the many forms she takes are the foundations upon which we learn, thrive and grow.  She is the most intimate of our companions; being ever within and around as our relationship with her endures the test of time, faith and imposed suppression.  We need never look far to see the power of her radiant energy and for many the first understanding we have the Goddess is held in the beauty of the Moon.

Lady Moon

We hold dearly and heed the call of the Lady Moon as she moves through her cycle of New, Full and Dark.  The phases of the moon and the ebb and flow of her tides are the experiences of return and release that we engage in at each interval of our own cycles of newness, full expression and waning light.  It is her hand that we cling to as we begin the descent in the shadows of our being.  And, it is her light that illuminates those things within ourselves that need refining and polishing by the gentle flowing waters that mold and sculpt. 

We follow her cycle through the night sky and know of the potential held in the newness of Maiden Moon, but do not always fill ourselves with the enthusiasm and joy of that growing energy.  The Maiden acknowledges that everything and anything is possible and change is not to be feared, but simply the taking of another road.  In the simplicity of re-engaging the wonder of seeing with fresh eyes and new perspectives our workings grow and seek out what will encourage and support their maturation.  The Full Moon brings to us the product of what has been nurtured and tenderly crafted.  The wonderlust of youth now stabilized and foundations anchored more fully.  Ownership and pride in what has been brought forward fills us and we stand in the fullness of her light as creator and that which has been created.  The darkness hides her beaming face as the Moon wanes and the yearning to once again see the brilliance of her light growing and guiding the way for productive passage wells up deep inside.  We look up at blackened sky and see the future that soon will be as the Goddess as Moon reveals herself in her many and eternal phases.

The Creatrix

We call to the Goddess as the Creatrix and experience the sacred act of union that is her creative outpouring.  We raise our voices in joy at the birthing of new life and its manifestation from the dark waters of her womb.  Her union is the quickening and enlivening of what makes us most truly human and opens the paths to compassion and the expression of all encompassing love.  We seek her as the Divine guardian of what we bring to birth in our lives and ask her intervention when that product is less than viable and seems all but lost to manifest form.

The Quickener

We rise with her to greet the morning’s light shone brightly from her solar consort and retire with her into the labyrinth of our dreams and intuitive sight as we slay the serpent of chaos and illusion.  We move through our daily activities ever mindful of our impact on the world around us as the energy of her intent places each foot in front of the other imbued with her grace.  It is the radiant Goddess who stands at the prow of the Solar Barque in her aspect as Hathor and acts as catalytic opener to RA.  Without her feminine polarity weaving its magick of enlivening and protection the Sun’s daily journey would fall into chaos and the cycle of Dawn to Dusk would be a hollow shell of the power that is held because of her presence.

The Serpent of Wisdom

She is the serpent of wisdom and the revealer of the truths of our existence and divine nature.  She is Sophia, the gnostic Goddess of Wisdom who holds the key to the deep gnosis of regeneration and empowerment.  The Goddess weaves her circuit of energetic outpouring to be received by that of the strengthened container that is the God.  In the Eastern practices of raising Kundalini it is the energetic nature of the feminine (or lunar) and the masculine (or solar) that rises as the twin serpents coil in ascent; opening, informing and enlivening each of the vortices of the chakras.  These twin serpents, however, begin their journey as one, the perfect union of the sacred feminine and the masculine each dependent upon the other, yet singular in expression. 

Healer and Place of Return

We surrender to the Goddess in request for healing and it is to her dark waters of birth that we return when life’s end has come to claim us.  Our prayers are lifted to her Divine awareness and we call out to her to heal and transform all manner of ailment and discord.  Her greatest transformative and healing power comes not as we desire, but in the grace of her wisdom as she sees what we truly need.  We ask that she take us quietly into her embrace and ease the suffering of those in pain.  She stands with us in the darkness of our own inner landscape and breathes her light into those parts of our being that fear the scrutiny of her gaze; opening, removing and cauterizing the wounds. 

SHE is All and SHE is Nothing

The paradox of her energy is that She is the essence of everything and She is also the nothing that is the great void of all beginnings and endings.  It is her energy that quickens the emptiness of non-existence and her form that becomes the container that receives its potent flow that will ensure that life will issue forth.  She is humanity in manifest form and we are She in our true forms as bodies of light and spirit. 

These are but some of the gifts of the Goddess and her hand is present in all the workings of our life cycles.  And, it is this balancing point of nurture and intuition, strength and form that the mysteries of life and death itself are held.  When we call upon the Goddess we are issuing a call to that part of ourselves that is creativity, catalytic exchange and the quickening waters held within her womb of transformation.  We are offering up the deep wisdom of our being to be held in the embrace of her light and then to be transformed as the union with her polarity of the masculine takes hold.

Her power is held within all of us, regardless of gender.  For, we are born of woman and it is in the throes of that pain that the true nature of sacrifice and purpose are taken up so that the beauty that is the soul of man may be expressed in our life’s work.  We stand in her strength, walk in her beauty and sleep in her embrace at every turn of our existence and it is to her that we return as the darkness of death takes hold and breath is issued in its finality.