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 You are invited to The 2014 Annual Hassle-Free Thanksgiving Event.

I started it in the early 80s. It’s no longer annual or face-to-face, but I do it as many years as I can, because it makes me happy. Hey, the silly title alone always lifts my spirit.

The news came at work, in a text from my fiance: Oregon's ban on gay marriage has been overturned, and the state is issuing marriage licenses to gay couples effective immediately.

It's big news for us, because it means when we say our vows next September we'll be able to do it on Oregon soil--or, in our case, sand, because we want to be married on the beach. I immediately have to go lock myself in a bathroom and cry a little bit, because up until this moment I wasn't convinced it was really going to happen.

It's been one of those weeks where it's been a little hard to see my blessings, and all to easy to see my roadblocks. I'm participating in a community on Facebook where we post three things that we are grateful for each day, and it's helping me to stay focused on all the wonderful things in my life -- even when it seems all I can see are the setbacks and the "what ifs." So I chuckled a little when Changing Woman, The Navajo Goddess of the Corn, came dancing into my life tonight.

I am so grateful for the Goddess gifts that I have received this week! These gifts always come at just the right time. This week I was feeling sad thinking, "Am I really making a difference?", when I puttered down to check the mail and found these pendants from Molly of Brigids Grove waiting for me!

Their beauty and symbolism really touched me. The tree pendant reminded me that everything has its cycles and Spring is coming. Patience it said to me. Keep sowing the seeds and stay grounded. The crescent moon reminded me to continue connecting to my lunar rhythms-- the ebb and flow of my own energy during the month. Honor where I am in my cycle and acknowledge how that effects my productivity it said to me. Then there was the note from Molly thanking me for offering my circles (New Moon and Full Moon). I could not keep from smiling as I read it. It reminded me that I am making a difference with my offerings. Breathe and trust it is happening it said to me.

Ultimately this is my thank you note for all the Goddess gifts I receive every day. I am grateful for my network of Goddess sisters that inspire and encourage  me and each other. I am grateful for the unexpected little gifts like a text from a friend or a picture of friend's newborn. I am grateful for my partner who surprises me with kisses. I am grateful for all of these tangible and intangible Goddess gifts.

That is the power of  Goddess gifts if we are open to hearing their message. They connect us to our Goddess selves-- where we can find our inspiration, our encouragement and our joy.

♥ What about you sisters? What Goddess gifts have your received lately? ♥

There is a quiet place that burns brightly with the hearth fires. Family and friends gather round and love flows through each stone and tile. Food is prepared with loving hand and warmth flows like liquid honey sweetening the time spent together. There is no one location, for this space resides wherever there is heart enough to hold its flame of contentment and acceptance.   The days are feeling shorter and the nights longer and I am ready to burrow in and tend to my need fires.  In response to this turning within I have been thinking alot lately about the relationships and people in my life.  About what nurtures and feeds my soul and which interactions could use a bit more tending to keep those fires of connection burning. And, the energy of gratitude has been called front and center as I am reminded of how truly fortunate and blessed I am.

As a child I was always told to be polite and to say please and thank you for what I hoped to receive and what gifts had come my way.  I was taught that these were part of the routine of daily life and that gratitude offered would bring abundance in all endeavors. I was loved and cared for by my mother and grandmother and although we did not have much financially, there was always enough good food lovingly prepared by my grandmother and time to spend together with my mother despite her demanding schedule of two jobs at times.  Hestia's flame burned deeply and love and gratitude was etched very deeply into everything that occurred in that home. The Goddess was present in the strength of the women who shared my life and actions were infused with the tools needed to teach how to call those flames of strength into my own life.

       Lughnasad has come and gone. The altar was decorated with blackberry vines and wildflowers; fruits (apple, pear and avocado) were placed in a bowl of beans and grain to acknowledge the early harvest. My family gathered at table to celebrate the yield of local farms and fields. A vegetarian feast was prepared: light vegetable soup, zucchini and tomato tart, salad, and for dessert, blackberry buckle, made from berries my youngest son and I picked by the side of the bike path that runs along the river. There is bliss to be found in the smallest acts. I hope your Lughnasad was blessed with abundance and such quiet happinesses as you enjoy.

            Today there is a stillness in the air, a certain sense of waiting, as though nature has taken a rest, leaving everything to watch over itself, if just for this short while. The breeze that is tugging at my kitchen curtains carries within it the fresh breath of fall before it is seasoned with bonfires and mulled cider, candle wax and long-simmered stews.