Tiny flowers know
that hope blooms eternal
pushing the way
through cracked stone
reclaiming
repopulating
rebirthing the Earth
It is my favorite time of year again! The bright new promise of springtime, the pretty weather, the sense of discovery as new flowers start to bloom. This evening I headed down to the woods and saw that my baby’s memorial magnolia tree is just about to bloom! That always makes me so happy!
I made my way down to the priestess rocks and admired the lovely rue anemone: 
I heard buzzing and looked up to see the wild plum blooming high above me and attracting bees and butterflies:
My favorites, the wild violets, are blooming now too (over by the woodpile):
Grape hyacinths from a friend surprised me earlier in the week:
And my grandma’s memorial hydrangea is coming back too!
Today my new Red Tent on the Go arrived via ebay! I’m planning to use it to vend in at the Gaea Goddess Gathering (“it is like a sacred temple of Brigid!” my ten-year-old said), but maybe for some other things too. I love it!
Last weekend I finished transcribing the 40th and final Womanrunes interpretation (which included having to do two new recordings for the stones I’d overlooked and never done!). It is a lot of work! I’m so excited about what I’m doing though. I submitted my workshop proposal to the GGG as well and plan to have my little book finished by then.
I warned my friends that The Pap Smear Diaries was coming and I did it! My most recent post at Feminism and Religion is Pap Smears I Have Known:
One afternoon at the skating rink for homeschool playgroup, a few of my friends sit in a hard plastic booth and the conversation turns to pap smears and pelvic exams. Later, I read Michele Freyhauf’s post about her hysterectomy experience and the skating rink pap smear stories come back to me with vivid clarity. Being a woman is such an embodied experience and we have so many stories to tell through and of our bodies. During my conversation with my friends, I warn them: watch for my new show–Pap Smears I Have Known. At the time, several other friends are preparing for a local production of the Vagina Monologues and I have a vision: The Pap Smear Diaries. But, really, how often do we have a chance to tell our Pap smear stories, our pelvic exam stories? Where are they in our culture and do they matter?
This week, I finished my first assignment for my Women Engaged in Sacred Writing class at Ocean Seminary College (how lucky am I to get to take classes like this?!) and my theme was (surprise!): story power!
“Human connections are deeply nurtured in the field of shared story.” –Jean Houston
I’ve gotten several questions about OSC lately and I hope to do a blog post about it soon. My short tip is that you do have to be extremely self-motivated to be a student there. There is not a lot of feedback and can be long delays in communication. So, lots of self-discipline, self-motivation, and self-starting is very key to actually making progress! Alas, I must heed my own advice when it comes to my thesis project. I’m just not doing it! I have a long file on my computer (300+ pages), but every time I open it, it feels overwhelming or like the wrong time and I end up going away without making any significant changes.
Tomorrow morning I’m going to a workshop and then to our spring women’s retreat. This is what planning a ritual looks like for me: it starts with a general idea and some books and turns into a little scribbled outline with arrows and question marks and then eventually moves into my laptop where it becomes a four page ritual recipe!
I’ve been feeling a little down today about how “little” I’ve gotten accomplished today, but looking over this post makes me feel pretty satisfied. 🙂
WoodsPriestess 
Thank you for writing this blog which then led me to read the entire pap smear writing. My heart is sad and angry at the same time as I look back over my own pap smear stories (I am now 61 and had a total hysterectomy at age 40 due to fibroids). I hated them and in those days there were few women OBGYN’s. What is sad tho’ that the women that did go into this field did not seem to do anything different from the men. How empowering it would have been to know I could say no to these intrusive medical techniques. I also ended up with two Csections that I believe may have been avoided if I could have walked around, etc. but alas that is now done in my lifetime here, so now I will speak to women about this in my own way! blessed be on your journey!
Hi Molly,
Yes, I am so with you on this;
“I’m just not doing it! I have a long file on my computer (300+ pages), but every time I open it, it feels overwhelming or like the wrong time and I end up going away without making any significant changes.”
My poor book is in this very state right now, too. Maybe we should create a study/writing small group to keep ourselves motivated. I’ve tried everything!
And you are right, too, about OSC. I am starting two new courses in my Thealogy program and I want to do at least one lesson each week. No more procrastinating! 🙂 You can see I really need to motivate myself… but it’s also about the distractions, something I want to work on eliminating more and more in my life.
It’s great touching base with you again.
Raymonde