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.”

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Lavender Memories

Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs

“Awakening doesn’t happen all at once. It is a thread that once pulled it unravels a little at a time.

Slowly tug by tug the holes appear. Nothing fits you the same in this threadbare world.

The old former self falls away into the four winds and a new truth is born in the space that remains.

The truth is your authentic self-emerging.

Once the thread is pulled, you cannot go back to sleep. ”

— C. Ara Campbell

Today, I held a small personal ceremony to acknowledge the seventh anniversary of the death-birth of our b2ap3_thumbnail_November-2016-008.JPGthird baby, Noah. I sprinkled rosemary for remembrance and lavender for love, loss, and letting go on the stone under which he is buried. I walked the labyrinth, sang, and drummed, and left blue sage and pineapple sage flowers with the Jizo who guards his resting place. I received a sprig of cedar from the tree by which he is buried and two acorns in return. He changed my life forever and I am grateful. I don't post today because I need condolences or sympathy, this loss is not raw for me, but is instead finely woven into the fabric of my life. I post today simply in acknowledgement, memory, and gratitude. He cracked me open to understandings, experiences, purposes, and paths I wouldn't have had without birthing him, as well as opened the space in our hearts and family to then welcome a rainbow daughter and another small son, who I may never have known without sharing Noah's brief life.

I wrote about the impact and legacy of these experiences in my Priestess as a Shamanic Path post.

And, his birth story is here (warning: miscarriage/loss/blood/grief).

During my labor with him, I held and smelled a lavender sachet that had come as a free gift with an etsy purchase the day before. (I also took it to the hospital with me when I transferred from home and smelled it as a way to revive myself when I was fainting. The smell of lavender remains intimately linked to his life for me and unlike sometimes when a traumatic experience associated with a specific scent/item then puts you "off" of that item forever, I continue to find lavender incredibly powerful at soothing, calming, reassuring, and comforting me. It wasn't until after I had held that sachet through his birth chanting, "let go, let go, let go" and saying: "We have to let go, baby. I have to let go of you and you have to let go of me," that I looked it up in an herbal remedies book and saw that lavender is for letting go.

My Womanrunes card of the day was the Witch’s Hat, which is absolutely perfect, because this baby definitely helped me to stand up and claim my magic.

b2ap3_thumbnail_November-2016-013.JPG“I am a bit of moonlight.
I am a piece of the web.
I am a part of the world soul…”

(Lunea Weatherstone, Tending Brigid’s Flame)

november-2016-005
We are also offering our Liminal Space Ritual Kit free here.

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Molly Remer, MSW, D.Min, is a priestess, teacher, mystic, and poet facilitating sacred circles, seasonal rituals, and family ceremonies in central Missouri. Molly and her husband Mark co-create Story Goddesses at Brigid’s Grove (brigidsgrove.etsy.com). Molly is the author of ten books, including Walking with Persephone, Whole and Holy, Womanrunes, the Goddess Devotional, and 365 Days of Goddess. She is the creator of the devotional experience #30DaysofGoddess and she loves savoring small magic and everyday enchantment.

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