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.”

Molly
I carried lemon balm
and sweet almond oil with me
...Years ago I dreamed
I was walking around
holding a large sign
that said: “path to awakening”
upon it.
I couldn’t decide
where to hang it
and finally settled
on placing it above
my own bed,
pointing at my own head,
where I then,
woke up.
Disappointingly literal,
or simplistically profound,
I was not sure,
but I think of this dream
and about the things we seek
and how we wander
and what we crave.
Perhaps we already carry
what we need to awaken.
Perhaps we already hold
our own signs
Perhaps we need only
to open our eyes,
to be awake,
right here.
This was written as part of my current month of #30DaysofGoddess.
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Molly, Wonderful as usual, and food for thought. I've had the same kind of dream in the past. It's as if our Higher Self (or pe
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Thanks!
I carry the ocean home with me,
tides moving in my body,
song echoing in my cells,
sunrise in my eyes,
salt in my blood,
a wave-softened heart,
my layers stripped back,
laid bare before
an endless rhythm,
my edges round
and smooth,
like a gray moon snail
pressed into the sand.
I finished reading She of the Sea by Lucy Pearce this week. I don’t have time to do a long review of the book, but I want to give a salt and sun soaked recommendation for this jewel from the sea. It is smooth and sensuous reading, full of emotion and depth. Such a beautifully wrought book–personal, archetypal, mythic, and magical. It makes me yearn once more for sand, shell, and shore.
...I hope your religion
has plenty of roses
and lots of sunrises.
I hope your faith
is full of smiles
and alive with joy.
I hope your spirituality
tastes good,
smells sweet,
and holds you kindly.
I recently finished reading a book called The Spirituality of Imperfection. (Side note: it doesn’t indicate it clearly in the title or book jacket that it has a significant emphasis on AA, but the assumption seems to be that the people who are reading it will be AA members, which I am not.)
...Settle in with Desire,
have a cup of tea,
dialogue about decisions
and destiny
and what makes your heart sing.
Listen to her wisdom,
she knows of what she speaks,
the path is before you,
the sun is shining
and she's ready to guide your way.
Set forth,
hand in hand,
a story of trust nestled in your chest
a soulsong on your lips,
and purpose in your stride.
Take all that you feel
and use it to create.
Sometimes the best rituals
are those we cannot plan,
requiring only pine needles and wind,
open eyes
and a long, slow-sinking sun
settling gently into shadows.
Sometimes the best magic
of all is made with
what is exactly right now,
bluestem grass and gray feathers,
raccoon footsteps
between the trees,
laughter and joined hands,
a faith in the cycles of retreat
and renewal.
This is what we are here for,
days like these.
...