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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Questions of the Year

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Where might you find
a spot to nestle?b2ap3_thumbnail_49781219_2253077831571093_4813848419653124096_o.jpg
To watch and wonder.

To listen and feel.
To incubate your own being
and soothe your own heart.
This is cave time
soul song
heart call
life beat.
The listening hours.

A devotional practice that I added to my life last year was the keeping of a daily magical journal. My word of the year was “magic” and I decided that as a way to engage fully with my word, I would be alert for, and record, at least one magical moment in every day. And, I did it! I experienced 365 magical moments and recorded them in my little book. Not every day was easy, I had to really reach and stretch pretty hard to find the magic in some of the days, but I did it—I felt something magical happen in every day of the year and this was an act of devotion, to teasing it out, to being willing to dig if I didn’t find it, to recognizing if I got to the end of the day without feeling the spark of magic that I like to feel, that I could still go out and find some—the way the light from the fading sunset filters through the cedar trees, or watching three crows arc overhead. I often find that seeing a bird can be my magic moment of the day and I have learned to step outside and to look for one if my day has been short on magic. It can also be flowers or sunlight or oak leaves twisting through the breeze.

I am continuing this practice this year and I’ve added another practice based on my new word of the year, which is “listen.” In addition to my magic note, I’m adding a note of my listening moment of the day. This b2ap3_thumbnail_49509453_2249658011913075_3714078909155770368_o.jpgmoment is not always magical—it could be listening to the crows calling, but it could also be very basic and simple such as listening to my need to have a drink of water or to go to the bathroom instead of waiting until I have to pee super badly. This may not sound like a radical act, but in a world in which self-care can be a struggle, it can be an act of body wisdom and a type of devotion to pee when you need to pee. So, I listen carefully to my world every day and I write it down. If I have to reach and struggle and strain to find that moment, it is my sign to listen more. This is never used as a way to berate myself, but rather as an opportunity to check in—was there any moment in this day in which I listened to myself and acted upon what I heard?

I am also guiding a free class online called Living the Questions. Questions, for me, are intimately entwined with listening and living. Zora Neale Hurston wrote, “There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” For me, this is a year for questions and for living and leaning into our questions. Living the Questions, to me, begins with listening. Listening to yourself, to your heart, to your soul, to the whispers of the wild, to the goddess in your veins. I find that listening to and for your own questions then provides the action: if you were living this question, what would you do next? How would you act, feel, know, or understand?

Danielle Laporte says: "How you listen is how you live." I’ve come to recognize that I also have some “questions of the year” that are guiding my life this year, not just a word of the year.

Your questions may be different, but my own questions of the year are these:

b2ap3_thumbnail_50314400_2251662981712578_6478435614524964864_o.jpgWhat do I want?
How am I listening?
What would happen if I trusted myself?

I would be honored to know yours!

“The earth itself responds to our listening and sends us the whispers that only the practiced ear can record.”

--Anne Wilson Schaef

We are embedded within a rich tapestry of guidance and wisdom all of the time, we only need to make the space to listen to it.

May you be mindful and attuned.
May you listen to your dreams,
to your intuition,
and to the messages all around you.

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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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