At Summer Solstice, we celebrate the fullness of life and of promise: She Who Creates. Then in July, we recognize The Amazon, She Who Protects That Which Has Been Created.
At Summer Solstice, we honor our lineage as creatrixes. We may look to birthing and mothering as metaphors, but take care to not be lulled into the trance of equating creation with reproduction. We are constantly creating and maintaining tangible and intangible aspects of our lives: jobs, careers, vocations, relationships, health, mental and emotional states, everything.
We’Moon Holy Days: Seasonal Blessings
In each edition of the We’Moon datebook, we feature one Holy Day writer who shares with us her unique perspectives of each of the eight holy days. This year, we have the pleasure of sharing the work of Oak Chezar. Oak is a radical Dyke, performance artist, Women's Studies professor, psychotherapist, writer, & semi-retired barbarian. She lives in a straw bale, womyn-built house. She just published "Trespassing", a memoir about Greenham Common Womyn's Peace Camp. Whilst working & playing towards the decimation of patriarchy & industrial civilization, she carries water. oakchezar@gmail.com
We’Moon
In this season, no matter our age, we embrace our inner youth. This is a good time to journey or quest, learn new skills, practice the balance of self-care and care-giving. We seek the inspiration raging in our guts—our genius—that which is ours alone to manifest. Ask the Maens and Maidens in your life, and within yourself: Beloved, what is it you really Desire?
In May, we honor the pattern that replicates itself in the seasons, the waxing and waning moon, the ebb and flow of ocean, and in the bodies of Women. We respond to both sunlight and moonlight through magical science of hormones and the pineal gland—"the seat of the soul." Our hormones dance and flow in synch with these large forces of nature. This cycling is a built-in mechanism for renewing mental and physical health, taking us inward and outward, to release what no longer serves us.
Archaeology and anthropology teach us that menstruation was central to the development of human civilizations: Women responded to their Blood Cycle by going within to listen then coming out to share with their tribes what they experienced in their monthly "vision quest." This sharing was not about reproduction, but another creation of the whole universe. I ask women to sit with this remembering. There is science involved in this magic, but it is magic first.
...We become She Who Cycles. Now that is something to tell a young woman on the day of her First Bloods!
Kim Duckett © Mother Tongue Ink 2016
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I love that artwork!
Hello Dear Pink Moon! Our sprouting grass moon! The moon of cold frosty nights and the teasing of flowers.
Blessings of spring and happy planting! Make sure to get some good medicines in your garden for self-love and a healthy spirit! Librans love self-care, take some extra time this full moon to check in with your body. Balance your weight on each foot and feel your weight shift. JUMP into the crisp April air, breathing deep.
...Resilience
Amidst the struggle, beauty emerged. The lilies bloomed magnificent and fragrant in the garden, the children laughed and played. we strengthed bonds, made love more often. We gave up resistance and opened ourselves to uncertainty. We chose consciouness over denial, passion over anger, connection over separation. A new understanding of life was born from the remnants of the old. A pathway of possibilites emerged—renewable energy, solar and wind power, green building, rooftop gardens, community. We began again . . .
¤ Carolyn Johnston 2009
...Pisces Solar Eclipse
Solar eclipses reveal a blank slate for us to explore. Open the nooks and crannies of our inner selves, revealing our deepest wishes and darkest desires. Pisces is queen of going "far out" into the astral realms. Eclipses tend to reveal sudden imbalances and creates a hyper-awareness of the world around us. Trust your gut instinct during this time as it is flooded with insight. Pisces offers guidance and curiosity into these spiritual corners. Take note of your dreams and manifest them into reality! Swim on into the rivers of these changes!
Happy New Moon!
...The tides are turning and I am sure we all feel the waves shaking underneath us.This eclipse is a great time to continue the momentum of raising up our voices!
A Lunar Eclipse can be a reminder to release ourselves and ground into our strength.
Feel the power flowing around and through us.
Being a full moon in Leo, this moon encourages us to manifest our creativity and arts. Leo says, "let yourself SHINE!" Allow the fires of Leo to charge us up and volcano ourselves through these times of change.
Blessings and Happy Howling!
Leah
Notorious Women
we are notorious women
spectres of the male imagination
anima working in the half-light
scorned muses
weaving memories from our hair
furies they call us
wtiches and nymphs
banshees wailing down the halls of our fathers
gazing at dusk into mirrors and chanting
calling our voices back
into our howling throats
forgotten goddesses rise
pulling swords from their breasts
setting fire to the temples
etching the names of our dead into skin
heavy as granit
emma, audre, adrienne
wilma, harriet, magdlene
virginia, leslie, valerie,
sacagawea, sojourner, eve
summon them into the circle
the rituals have begun.
¤ Raye Stoeve 2014
Emily Kell (Portland, OR) I am a visionary artist whose work takes root in ideals of divine feminine and a return to the energy of the primordial goddess. I created a language to write secret poems and messages that I include in my female empowerment series that honors women in their many unique manifestations of beaut.
...Imbolc in dark, cold winter can signify endurance in the face of adversity and scarcity: we may encounter fragility, tenuousness, uncertainty, darkness and despair beyond what we think we can endure.
Women know these experiences.
We have held both new life and death in our hands. We have wondered: will this child make it, will the addict live or die, will my lover come home, will I survive this loss? Will I be OK? Will there be enough resources to see us into spring?
I imagine our ancestors sitting in circle at this time of year, with whatever sources of light they had, listening to one another. Just so. we are invited to sit circle together and share how we "are," what we need, what is frozen, what is thawing, what is fragile. In the deep winter, we begin again.
We say Yes again each year: Yes to the living of life again and whatever it may bring. I speak of Imbolc as a time of Faith.
KIm Duckett © Mother Tongue Ink 2016
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