30 Days of Deity Devotion: Day 5 - World Goddess Day

Happy World Goddess Day!

From the World Goddess Day website:

"THE WORLD GODDESS DAY PROJECT emerged to unite the Mother Goddess' worshipers world wide through their many expressions and manifestations. The purpose of the Project is grant to the Goddess one day of visibility to share Her many myths, stories and worship diversity, so everyone will remember or will know that the first religion of humanity was the Worship of the Goddess."

I hosted a World Goddess Day event with my interfaith spiritual group at a local park. In the interest of being inclusionary, the event was a relaxed, non-denominational affair. We shared a potluck lunch, strolled through the lovely forest, napped, shared our experiences and meditated to heal the Earth.

It was so lovely. I sincerely wish we had planned an even longer event. I love to use my energy for a good purpose, and there aren't many that trump healing the planet. I also could not think of a more fitting topic for today's 30 Days of Deity Devotion post. What higher form of sacrifice is there than to give your time and energy to the Gods? To gather people together, connect with others around the globe and do magic for the good of all beings. For the good of our home. 

This, all human beings ought to be able to agree upon. We may disagree on everything else, but for this purpose, we must unite. We need to work together to find a way to heal the conflict between human beings, between nations, between religions, between genders, between races.

We need to find a way for the human race to live in harmony with the needs of the greater ecosystem. This is essential for our survival as a species on Earth, though most days I retain enough optimism to think that She will carry on even if we self-destruct. Her way is one of implacable victory and irrepressible adaptation.

At the end of our meditation, I taught the group a song, "The Earth is Our Mother" (see video at right). She is Mother to us all. From Her, all of creation has sprung. To her, we must all return. It does not matter what you call Her, or that you even think of this swirling ball of elements and energy as a Deity or as Goddess…our Earth is our Mother. We must take care of Her. She will take care of us.

I leave you with a lovely prayer, adapted and expanded from "Artemis" by Kat Brown
:

Mother of Life, hear our prayer


Light into dark, dark into life


Queen of the Earth, the sea and sky


Mother of all


Artemis, Artemis

We call to you, Mother

We honor you, Goddess of the Crescent Moon

We walk in beauty 

Each step a prayer

Upon your sacred Earth.

Love, healing and peace be upon you and all beings. May the love of the Goddess be ever in your heart. Blessed be! 

30 Days of Devotion: Day 4

Or, Our Heroine Breaks the Rules To the Surprise of No One

So the 30 Days of Deity Devotion format wasn't working for me. It was essentially asking me to regurgitate facts. In this information age, what's the point? Go to the library or consult the Google.

No, today I want to talk about archery and hunting season. Deer season starts next Saturday, September 13. I am, of course, in a fever of anticipation. Here in North Carolina, archers have their very own hunting season before anyone else gets started. This is my favorite time of year. Just before Mabon, harvests are coming in, summer is ending and fall seems both tantalizingly near and impossibly far. Today, for example, it's approximately eleventy million degrees outside.

But still. The magic of the bow and the allure of the hunt work powerfully upon me. It doesn't matter how hot it is, how many bug bites I will get or how busy I am. It doesn't matter that this year, I truly have nowhere TO hunt. It's almost hunting season!

I've gotten a fair amount of practice in this summer, mostly while teaching students. A few times, I have gotten out with peers to bend the bow. I belong to a traditional archery club - they have several
hundred acres of wooded land and a whole passel of 3-D targets. In August, I took second place in the women's division*. My favorite hunting buddy and I shot together for four hours one afternoon. Fantastic training in a beautiful place with good company. A new archery buddy invited me to a BBQ, at which we took a walk down by the river for some stump shooting**. Not too shabby!

Fist-sized group shot with my longbow.

Meanwhile, I finally broke down and bought myself a practice target. There's a lot of backstory to this fact, but it's not important here. I'm so excited to be able to shoot whenever and wherever I want! It's a dense foam block rated up to crossbow. More than enough stopping power for my bows. This week I'll be sure to practice every day.

But what does this have to do with deity devotion? Everything, when you're a priestess of Artemis. I truly don't know how other people's Artemis-centric traditions work, but in my tradition…skill with a bow is mandatory. The practice of hunting is mandatory, though harvesting an animal is optional.

Practicing these skills is an embodied form of devotion. I choose that word, embodied, deliberately. One of the things that drove me batty about the religion of my birth (Catholicism), is that it is so dis-embodied. I have no interest in denigrating that faith, but I think it's safe to say that deep down, the church fathers wish we didn't have these messy, demanding vessels of sin (by their lights, not mine). Especially us dangerous female bodies!

Artemis, though, she's fully embodied. It's hard not to be when your main activities are hunting, shooting bows, exploring the wilderness, sporting with nymphs and kicking it with Dionysus. She is also into music and dance. This isn't some theoretical, discorporeal deity you're dealing with here. This Goddess can run as fleetly as any deer all day and dance and play the lyre all night.

As of now, there are seven days to hunting season. Seven days to train. Seven days to purify my spirit so that I may be prepared for what, to me, is a truly sacred time. A time when normal rules don't apply. It helps that I live in an area where nearly everyone is crazy for deer hunting. I may be the only one who is performing a sacred devotion when I hunt, but they needn't know that. All I have to say around here is "I can't come, it's bowhunting season", and all is forgiven. This is the one time of year that I'm totally justified in my endless wandering through the woods. That I don't stand out when I have to stop at the gas station in knee high boots and camouflage clothing. That no one takes it amiss when I jabber on with buck fever.

This is the time of year when I feel most myself. This is Artemis's time.






*Don't get me started on the fact that they HAVE a women's division. Let's not go into feminism and human rights today, it's too hot. I'll just say this: I don't like it.

**Using blunted arrows to hit random targets like stumps, leaves, discarded bottles, etc.

30 Days of Deity Devotion: Day 3

Day the Third: Symbols and Icons of this deity - Artemis

For me, what resonates most is the deer and the bear. I have also recently gotten the insight that her colors are white and sky blue/turquoise. I don't have any source material to back that up, so perhaps it's more of a UPG (universal personal gnosis).

• Golden bow and arrows (I've also read silver bow and arrows)
• Spear
• Chariot drawn by four golden-horned deer
• Sacred animals - bear, deer, dog, boar, hare, partridge, quail, buzzard, bees
• Lyre
• Two long torches
• Crescent moon

Here is a blanket roll strap I made in Her colors, with a deer to honor her as well.

30 Days of Deity Devotion: Day 2

Day the Second: How did you first become aware of this deity?

That is an extremely good question. I really don't know. Presumably I learned about her in school,

when we studied Greek mythology. But how I came to know her in my own life is another thing.

When I was a baby pagan, I struggled with knowing which Goddess to call upon. As far as I can remember, I used the generic "Goddess" in my ritual and workings. I always wanted to have a statue, but I never saw one I liked. At one point, I wrote that when I think of Deity, I see stars…like an infinite universal star soup.

Meanwhile, my journey with mountains, woods, streams, archery and hunting has been lifelong. At some point in there, I realized that the presence I felt, the Goddess I was searching for…was Artemis. And she'd been with me the whole time.

I don't know precisely when it happened. Pan now, I have known of him walking beside me for many years. He's my buddy! But Artemis…I can remember feeling so alone in the many years of my spiritual solitude. Feeling alone in my life and in my pursuit of shibumi (more on that in another post; let's say "simplicity" for now), archery, martial prowress and wilderness exploration. I felt a power when I did these things, but it didn't seem to have a face. I was drawn to that power without being able to identify it. I also felt set apart by my independence. I love people, but there are so many times in my life I simply must be alone. I can't be tamed or possessed. Many times I have felt like a mountain lion, prowling alone. 

Somewhere in there, I finally figured it out. What a blessing. It is such a relief to work with her on a conscious level, after so many years of unconscious connection. I do remember telling some spiritual friends about Artemis and Pan a few years ago…and saying that they are as familiar to me as my own skin. So true.

Hail Artemis!

30 Days of Deity Devotion: Day 1

Tonight the crescent moon told me to start my month of deity devotion. I may follow the 30 Days of Deity Devotion (30DODD) format, but I will also change it up. 'Cause I'm like that.

Day 1 of 30DODD is intended to be a general introduction. For this 30DODD, I will be writing about Artemis. She of the crescent moon, Huntress of the Golden Bow, Goddess of lonely peaks and clear running streams, is my patroness. She is a powerful and multi-faceted Goddess of the Greek pantheon. She is the Lady of Wild Beasts. She protects women, children and baby animals. She is also connected to music and dance. To the stars. To mountains, to lakes and rivers. She is the Light Bearer, she is the Savior.

Much has been written about Artemis. Instead of an exhaustive introduction to her as a deity, I will instead share the story of a recent hike and how I connected with her in a new way:

I connected with Artemis in her guise as she-bear, the great mother, today.

"Bear, Bear, you who rule the heaven, the stars, and the whole world; you who make the axis turn and control the whole cosmic system by force and compulsion; I appeal to you." - PGM VII:686-702

I don't now recall how it came to pass, but I do think a lot when I hike. I tend to cycle through all the subjects until my spirit is calm again. At any rate, today, I particularly remember thinking about it when I was on my hill. My Inner Temple is based on this place and today as I hiked up the hill, I felt a strong connection to the she-bear. I remembered that this is one of the faces of Artemis. A light began to shine in my mind.

I began to reconsider my interactions with bear out in the wilderness. I have been both attracted and afraid. That's a signal that a lesson is brewing, but until now I have never understood what this meant.

Part of the lesson of bear, in animal medicine terms, is facing fear as a pathway to power. So previously, I just thought about the lessons of earth power and the cave/bear den. I really hadn't connected the dots with the feminine divine or with Artemis.

Consider my trip to the Black Canyon of Gunnison. I hiked alone down into the canyon, even though the rangers warned me that a bear had been spotted on the trail no more than thirty minutes before I began. Sure enough, I heard a bear, so I began to sing. The route down into the canyon isn't really a trail; it's more of a drainage. It requires a bit of rock climbing technique at times. Once you begin, there aren't a lot of places to stop, nor is it particularly practical to change your mind. 

The bear was with me all the way down the mountain. That kept me awake and aware during a really dicey descent. I doubt I would have been quite so careful had I not been concerned about the bear. I met some folks at the bottom that had been scared by the bear too. We ended up camping together for the night, which was fun. Great folks! At any rate, I was feeling paralyzed by fear and still remember lying awake in my tent, listening for the slightest sound. Which, sure enough, materialized. The bear walked all around our camp, snuffling and breathing audibly.

At other times I feel bear is near and I don't feel afraid. I also have a strong aversion to hunting bear, though it is legal in my area. Surely this is partially due to my hunting ethics - I don't hunt predators in these days of rampant habitat destruction and systemic extermination. But perhaps there is something deeper at work…what if that is the way She shows herself to me? I do feel she's come to me in women, as well. But that's a topic for another post.

The She-Bear. It makes sense. Another piece of the puzzle has fallen into the place. Hail Artemis!

30 Days of Devotion

I ran into the 30 Days of Deity Devotion blog project through some of my colleagues in the Pagan Blog Project. Immediately, I felt that I wanted to be involved. But this last month has been one of many changes, and I've been super busy at work to boot. So now I'm back from a transformative experience, on both professional and personal levels. I'm done with my travels for a while, and I feel a need to get my head back in the game.

So stay tuned, 'cause I'm gonna get started very soon. Maybe I'll pick an auspicious date for my lady Artemis. But maybe I'll just jump in. We'll see.

Anyhoo. Be assured, I am alive and I am rocking out this life transition! Hope you are all well and thriving. More to come...

Harvesting Sorrow and Hope

Lughnasadh and Lammas are festivals of the first harvest, the grain harvest. Metaphorically, it's also a first harvesting of the seeds planted at Ostara, of the magical work we have done all year.

Looking back through my year, the theme has been letting go of things that no longer serve me. I decluttered, organized and donated a lot of possessions. I let go of family relationships that were not positive. I let go of consulting work and a nonprofit that wanted too much free work. I let go of a friendship that went sour. I took a hiatus from my beloved coven. I let go of a longtime romantic relationship.

I have nurtured projects and relationships that do serve me. I have done a lot of work with my ancestors, spirit guides and allies. I have grown my Meetup group to 44 members. I began to write public blogs. I have gotten clearer about my brand. I have been caring for myself diligently. I have worked toward my legal name change. I have been ordained and recommitted to my priestessry. I have taught more than ever before, and had a fantastic time doing it. I have been attending Church of the Earth events and have discovered that I really like their community. I have reconnected with friends and chosen family.

Some of my harvest is sorrow. I loved the place I lived with my partner. We were surrounded by farm fields, near my favorite patch of woods, had lovely kitties, garden, fruit trees, etc. The relationship was longstanding, and that always brings a sense of security and continuity to one's life. It has been a painful transition away from that.

But some of my harvest is full of hope. I am alone again, and free. The relationship was not a positive one, from an objective perspective. Now I can once again do anything I like. I can see my friends to my heart's content. I can spend the day in study. I can priestess to my community as I wish. I can travel. I can dream.

I still don't know what's around the corner. I'm still looking for work and for a real home. But I have faith that I have cultivated the garden of my life well this year. The harvest will be rich in its own time.

So mote it be!

I leave you with a blessing:

May the blessings of the first harvest fill you and yours with joy and abundance. May your larder be full of grains that you never hunger and may your cellar be full of mead and wine that you never thirst. May this harvest season bring forth all that you desire from the abundance of our mother Goddess.

Have a blessed Lammas and Lughnasadh!