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It must be the oldest gay joke in the world.

Q: Is it possible for two men to have a baby together?

A: Theoretically no, but they sure do keep trying!

But for gods, now: well, that's another matter.

***

Earth's two Husbands, Sun and Thunder, have been together (so far as we know) nearly forever. You could say they're an unlikely couple. You could say they're well matched. Whichever it be, they're very different from one another.

Sun is hot and dry. He comes from the east, and he's always going west. Steady, predictable, he's all about the rational.

Thunder, now? Cool, wet, comes from the west, always going east. Volatile, unpredictable: with him, it's all about emotion.

Theirs is an explosive relationship: with all their differences, how could it not be? Oh, the fights. But, in the end, they always make it up.

They have a daughter together, born of their love: Rainbow, gentlest of goddesses. To see her is to love her, she's that beautiful.

In these latter days, they've named her the patron of same-sex love. Well, how could she not be?

After all, she has two fathers.

***

These days, Twin Cities Pride is a matter of corporate sponsorship and hundreds of thousands, but back then it was just a few hundred of us, marching down Hennepin Avenue.

Being daughter of two fathers (gods, being gods, can do that sort of thing), it makes sense that she should be patron of same-sex love.*

Rainbow was a goddess known to the ancestors, but in our day she takes on new meaning and new importance.

As Lady of Many Colors, she protects the times and places when peoples of different kinds, of different colors, come harmoniously together.

She gathers beneath her wings the gender-nonconforming.

And of course, the men for men, the women for women, and those who move creatively between, are her special people, hers to her.

When her namesake flowers bloom, during the month of June, we see her banner prominently displayed.

Interestingly, for meteorological reasons, during this same month we often see her standing, in her own person, there between Earth and Heaven.

In the old language of the Witches, frith means “peace.”

They say that it's also the name of the Goddess of the Rainbow.

Why? Not difficult.

Daughter of Sun and Thunder, contentious couple that they are, she is child of their reconciliation.

Last new moon I set out for our coven meeting just before sunset. Although the day had been gray and rainy throughout, suddenly the clouds parted and everything began to glow with a long, red equinox light.

And there in the east She stood in the sky with Her twin sister, vast and shining.

I live in a gritty urban neighborhood where it's sound practice to be a little chary of people you pass on the street.

This Lady and I have been wrestling for quite some time. Now that I have her on the canvas, I have to chuckle at the struggle to finally manifest Her. It turns out to be the point of our journey, the reminder that there is always a struggle, a labor of love, to create that which you desire.

You see, the muse came to me this time as Ixchel, but I did not know that until the very end. She is a moon goddess in the ancient Mayan culture, and as such, possesses the triple aspects of maiden, mother and crone. She controls the tides and is known as a midwife and healer. Pretty standard stuff. But I was to learn more.