PaganSquare.com - WitchesAndPagans.com

August, particularly post-Lughnasash, is a time when thoughts of abundance are fairly high in conscious awareness. The stalls at the Farmers Market are filled to bursting with fresh produce. Driving through the city these days – near where I live anyways – roadside produce vending stalls are popping up like Springtime dandelions. Pickup trucks with back beds filled with corn ready to sell to passing cars can be seen parked by the side of the road. The harvest is nigh and energy reverberates with the resonance of abundance.

So it was not really much of a surprise that Lakshmi showed up at the Goddess Meditation last week. Most commonly associated with abundance, Lakshmi’s influence touches on all areas of life. She is a much loved Hindu Goddess whose name appears to be derived from the Sanskrit word for “aim” or “goal”, indicating that if we want to have success (or abundance in myriad forms) in our lives, then we must have a focus.

This weekend, I led a goddess-centric workshop at my local new age store. Although I’ve been working with goddess for over a decade and writing and participating in rituals for about half that time, I’d never led a class with strangers. The opportunity popped up unexpectedly because of my book Goddess Spells for Busy Girls, and in the years since I penned the book, I’ve realized to trust that it knows what it wants, so when I was invited to present, I embraced the unexpected abundance and said yes.

I had a wonderful time sharing four of my favorite goddesses with the lovely workshop participants, and, in the spirit of abundance that typifies the work I do related to my little pink book, I wanted to share one of the meditations I wrote for this weekend with you. It’s a Lakshmi meditation, and since abundance is on my mind (and since we’re turning the tide to Beltane this week), I hope you’ll enjoy this journey.

Recently, my good friend and Daughter's of Evecolumnist, Crystal Blanton wrote a powerful piece for the Wild Hunt about Ferguson, the shooting death of Mike Brown, the riots, and the wider implication this type of systemic racism. She solicited thoughts from Pagans in the public eye about where and how we can confront, heal, and grow community when events of power, oppression, and racism plague our world. There among the many voices were my friends, New York City activist and witch, Courtney Weber and teacher and New Jim Crow activist, T. Thorn Coyle. For the piece I offered this opinion, which Crystal used to sum up the article:

"I really am struggling with this because I want to believe that love is still the law. I want to believe that humankind is better than this savagery that is power, oppression, privilege, and racism. I want to believe that love is stronger than fear, but I can’t help but know that every mother of a brown child lives in fear that her child will be the next Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin or Mike Brown. In times like this I ask how do we as Pagans lead and be vessels for change? How do we become the Goddess’ conduit?