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.”
The Holy Well
Trust your magic.
Be alert for beauty.
Attend to the many wonders
of your world.
Take a deep breath. Pause. Listen. Let the rest of the worries of the day drift away for a moment and sit with the center of yourself.
In the quiet space between thoughts, between needs, before scrolling on, pause and listen.
What do you need to know right now?
What magic are you weaving in this wonderful universe?
We got home recently from a trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas. We went quartz crystal mining and also to source gemstones from our favorite warehouse in Mount Ida, Arkansas. And, despite the fact that it was 94 degrees and that the hot springs water emerges at 143 degrees, I made some time to set up a goddess grid by one of the only two uncapped hot springs in Hot Springs. It is always kind of difficult to have a personal ritual in a public setting, but it felt important to do, the sweat rolling down my back, the naturally steaming hot 4000-year-old water scalding my hands as I immersed the stones into the continuous flow.
There were only a handful of other people who passed by while I was intent on my task and they were only slightly curious.
This moment, this union of fire plus water in one steamy blessing will remain with me as a high point of what was in several ways a difficult trip.
“The fountain in the center is the holy well
of water from the river
that flows both ways at once
the flame on the altar
is the earthfire, hearthfire
The story woman winks at you
and you remember
that you are not alone.”
—Starhawk, Truth or Dare
I first read these lines from Starhawk while at the beach the winter and they really captivated me, especially the line about the river flowing “both ways at once.” I turned them into a little song while at the beach and I still sing it periodically in the woods, particularly if I’m having a hard day and feeling alone.When we were on our way home from Hot Springs at the end of the month, we made a quick stop at Mammoth Spring as well. A staggering 9 million gallons of a water an hour emerges from the earth here. As I stood by the motherwaters, I noticed something--the spring bubbled up from the ground and then went in two directions--one stream rushing away to the right and one rushing away to the left. I was witnessing a point in which the river "flows both ways at once."
September is a good time to tune in once more to your internal pace. The weather is changing and so are we.
Can you sense your internal pace?
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