The role of the Priestess is to not only walk between the worlds, but to merge them together, to take the 'as above so below' truths and bring them into one, solid, grounded focus.
...PaganSquare is a community blog space where Pagans can discuss topics relevant to the life and spiritual practice of all Pagans.
I grew up in a house surrounded by trees. The backyard maple was a favorite perch for reading the afternoon away when I was a child. Before I climbed I was careful to loop a rope around the branch above me so I could pull a basket of apples and books up after me. The willow tree often found me seeking faeries among her branches, and later, after I had deemed myself too old for tree-climbing, reading or drawing, imagining myself one of the elegant ladies I read about so often in my beloved faerie tales. More and more I would seek the willow, both a source of wonder and magick as the Pagan Path opened before me. My greatest heartbreak at leaving home was that there were no trees near my new apartment.
Four apartments later, I now have some trees, not many, but enough for the dryad-at-heart to feel satisfied if not happy. A leggy young maple grows against my back steps, towering over a neighboring lilac bush much in the manner my nineteen year old son towers over me. Indeed, in tree years, the maple may very well be his contemporary. The grapevine that coated the back of my building, lush, leafy, gorgeous; the grapevine that grew so prolifically that one of my kitchen windows had a beautiful green screen was torn down earlier this year, a sacrifice to the siding that needed to be replaced. (Probably due to said grapevine. I'm no fool.) She has taken her own back, however. A newer grapevine grown from sturdy roots has wrapped herself around the lower railings and is beginning to wind herself around the maple. Outside my bedroom window grows my favorite of the trees, a crab apple, so close to the building that her branches tap the window every time the breeze sets her dancing or a bird leaps amid her branches.
...I love the current memes that combine a photo of a gorgeous white-haired woman with text celebrating older women. These memes convey an important message.
But there's a serious problem: with rare exceptions, every photo is obviously someone who was blonde and fair skinned when she was younger. This gives the hurtful and disempowering message that only blondes can be wise, empowered, gorgeous elders.
We're all beautiful, inside and out. We're each a goddess with wisdom and power.
When I mention the Minoans of ancient Crete, the first thing that comes to mind for many people is the famous Snake Goddess statues. For us modern folks, they're icons of this ancient civilization. But what, exactly, do they represent? If we're really honest, the answer to that question is, "We're not sure."
There are many theories, of course. I think that falls under the umbrella of "Everyone has an opinion." But we simply don't know for sure because we don't have any Minoan-era documents that tell us anything about these figurines, no art that shows them being used. Linear A, the script the ancient Minoans used to write their native language, has never been deciphered. And the few documents we have that are written in Linear B, the script that records Mycenaean Greek from the time toward the end of Minoan civilization, don't say anything about snakes.
...Before I tell you about a great short film, "Belly Button," let me remind you that my free Womb Wisdom conversation, Connecting with the Sacred Feminine, goes online on Wednesday, April 22.
If you haven't already done so, register for Womb Wisdom at nourishthefeminine.com by Tuesday, April 21 so you receive the email with the link to the conversation.
Remember, once you register for this free event, you're on your way to receiving two gifts I'm offering, each complementing The Woman's Belly Book: a $5 discount on the Honoring Your Belly instructional DVD and a 20% discount on the full-color illustrated paperback, Rite for Invoking the Sacred Feminine.
Now, to the movies:
Early on in my career as Belly Queen — championing women's bellies as sacred, not shameful — a friend showed me a poem she had written. The piece included the words: "first scar, mother scar."
David Hewitt's gem of a 10-minute film, "Belly Button," offers its own take on that theme. The cast includes Sharon Small and Don Gilet, two of my favorite British actors.
Hewitt describes the story this way: "Six strangers are drawn together at one moment in time, but with different dreams."
Myself, I see the sacred feminine at the crossroads. What's the story you see?