Monthly Archives: September 2015

New Class! Womanrunes Immersion e-course

cropSeptember 2015 016I’m thrilled to offer a second section of our Womanrunes Immersion e-course. The first offering this summer was a powerful experience for the women around the world who journeyed together through an intensive study of all 41 runes. We shared so much together in a lively Facebook group and I was surprised, pleased, and humbled by how much I personally learned, grew, and benefited as a result of working with this group of women!

Here’s what some of them had to say:

“…I am so glad I decided to take the Womanrunes course. The timing was perfect…As I consider a new symbol from the deck each day and ponder the writing prompt and the photo/art prompt, I am forced to confront who I really am right now, what I really want right now, and what I really need right now. It’s been a fascinating journey and while I’m still confused about where exactly I’m going, I’m much more certain about the path I need to be on. The more I write, the more I need to write.

Anyway…I really couldn’t possibly recommend it highly enough. It has been a life-altering experience for me…”

–E.R.

“This quick moving 41 day Immersion opens not only the symbols of the Runes but your connection to them. Daily activities bring with it a new awareness of yourself and your relationship to your many aspects. Kick your intuition in gear, follow your heart as I did. You won’t be disappointed. I have grown, opened and enjoyed the process of sharing in our sacred group.”

–K.W.

“The Womanrunes Immersion course has enabled me to look at both the Runes and myself from a different perspective. The insight and guidance Molly provides throughout the course allowed me to find my own deeper, personal meaning in each Rune. Whether you are new to working with the Runes or if you are a seasoned practitioner, this course is a worthwhile investment.”

–B.P.

“I am actually still processing the runes. There was so much new information ,remembering old information, and connecting these powerful messages throughout situations in my life…it has affected me deeply, meaningfully, and I am looking forward to all the ways that they will continue to inspire me in my life.”

–G.D.

“The runes have been a true immersion into a deeper sense of me. Daily the runes revealed just what I needed for support on my journey. I truly and thoroughly enjoyed this process with you and l loved sharing within this circle of amazing sisters. I have to thank them because I learned from them also. Thank you Molly for your sharing, your love and your guidance and now I’m waiting for your next class.”

–M.E.11986976_1661342964077919_7888471579811176826_n

The next 41 Day e-Course Experience begins in late fall.

Categories: classes, divination, practices, programs, resources, Womanrunes, womanspirit, women's circle | Leave a comment

Day 15: Savoring autumn fruits (#30daysofharvest)

 
Nine fruits and nine flavors to preserve my soul

in peace this day.

— Caitlín Matthews

I took today’s prompt metaphorically and went on a walk with my baby to identify nine “flavors” of autumn from my own back yard.

Persimmon for patience
raspberry for reflection,
dogwood for dreams,
rose for enchantment,
aster for starshine,
polk for color,
oak for mystery,
and cucumber for salad.

Okay, so that’s only eight, because the ninth is those cuties in the middle who have been wanting to buy boxes of international snacks online. My husband went to Big Lots today and got them a box of snacks from Germany, Italy, Peru, China, Turkey, England, and the U.S. I think we’re also going to call this a homeschooling win!

For my pictures today, the persimmon is what I went after first, remembering how this time last year I was very pregnant and climbed around in ditches and over fences collecting them in my quest for persimmon cookies. My husband said the other day, “the way to know persimmons are ripe is when they’re all gone.” There is stiff competition from the animals for these little fruits.

Today brought to mind the “nine powers of nine flowers” prompt from 30 Days of May. I can hardly believe it is already fall. I also feel like in September and October I should apparently change my name to “Rosepriestess,” because I cannot stop taking pictures of them!

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This is the real color! I don’t do anything to the pictures to get this day-glo look.

 

Categories: #30DaysofHarvest, family, Flowers, nature, sacred pause, seasons, woodspriestess | 3 Comments

Day 14: the riches of solitude (#30DaysofHarvest)

 

My workload has been significant lately, as it always is as we wrap up another school session. I could really use some rich solitude lately! 

One of the best things about verandahing very day is the opportunity to literally stop and smell the roses. This sacred pause feels more vital than ever as I enter the busiest time of the school session. It is interesting that the busier I feel, the more important it is to take some time to go out on sit on the deck. I feel almost compelled to go and so restored and more capable when I come back inside. I rarely take any tech out with me (except when I want to take pictures of roses!) and I often don’t even take a book. I just sit. 

September roses are magic. 

Categories: #30DaysofHarvest, Flowers, nature, practices, sacred pause, seasons, self-care | Leave a comment

Day 13: Autumn Colors (#30DaysofHarvest)

I boldly take up
the shadows,
wear them
like midnight silk,
honor them
for their part in me

excerpt © Nell Aurelia 2013

via We’Moon Lunar News

My little girl has been craving attention and special time lately. Today, we took some time to make this colorful fall mandala down in the woods.

 

Categories: #30DaysofHarvest, art, family, nature, parenting, sacred pause, seasons, woodspriestess | Leave a comment

New Book! Earthprayer, Birthprayer, Lifeprayer, Womanprayer

Earthprayer_Birthpr_Cover_for_KindleThis the wisdom
of woodspaces
this is the meditation
of Earthplaces…

I’m so excited to announce that my third book has been born! Directly sourced from my woodspriestess practice, cropSeptember 2015 025Earthprayer, Birthprayer, Lifeprayer, Womanprayer is a 114 page book of earth-based poetry containing four thematic sections all rooted in connection to the land and to the cycles of life. This poetry collection is one of the results of my committed, devotional, year-long “woodspriestess” practice. I maintained this practice throughout 2013, eventually spending approximately 330 days during the year in the same place in the woods listening to what they had to tell me about life, myself, and the Earth.

When I enter the woods, I often experience what I have termed “theapoetics”–-spontaneous, spoken aloud poetry that brings me into direct connection with that source of life I call the Goddess. These theapoetical explorations form the heart of my book.

A digital version is also available in print-ready pdf. If you previously purchased the 60 page digital version, we are happy to offer you a 20% discount on the newly expanded version of the book. Please contact us for the discount code to use.

The book is also easily available with free Prime shipping from Amazon US and Amazon UK.

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Categories: blessings, books, Goddess | 1 Comment

Day 12: Entering the darkness (#30DaysofHarvest)

 
At dusk before the lunar eclipse, I did my final recording for our Red Tent Initiation program. We’re entering Crone territory now. Contemplating shadows, conflict resolution, group dynamics, fears, and doubts…

Categories: #30DaysofHarvest, classes, endarkenment, priestess, red tent, sacred pause | Leave a comment

Day 11: Soulful Shopping (#30DaysofHarvest)

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 You are part of the cycle of giving and receiving. You happily exchange your hard-earned cash for goods that will enrich your body and spirit. You present your own gift to the community — the work of your hands and heart — and are pleased to find it so well-received. Your generosity and support of others circles back to you, and increases your own prosperity and health.

– JPC, The Gaian Tarot

I haven’t had as much time as I hoped to write substantive posts in response to the 30 Days of Harvest. We’ve just gotten the first copies of my new book in and so it seemed fitting to have a photo of it in response to “soulful shopping” for today. 😉  Last night, I participated in a really fun call with Kimberly Moore of MotherHouse of the Goddess for Goddess Alive radio. The night before, I was the guest on a virtual Red Tent for mentors with Journey of Young Women. I love collaborating with other people like this. It is so incredible! We’ve got several exciting collaborations in the works too—bulk quantities of our goddess sculptures heading out to other countries and to enrich other women’s projects.

Speaking of soulful shopping, MotherHouse has a very magical etsy shop!

Here are some resources for this weekend’s full moon and lunar eclipse also…

Aspects/qualities of this particular moon:

My own recent Autumn Bounty ritual was actually originally written to take place during the full moon, so you may wish to draw inspiration and ideas from it: Autumn Bounty Ritual Recipe (Fall Equinox Ceremony for Families) – Brigid’s Grove

And, my more simple, basic full moon ritual is easily adaptable to any full moon ceremony: Creative Ceremony Academy: Simple Family Full Moon Ritual – Brigid’s Grove

This beautiful reflection on a full moon ceremony was written by a priestess friend of mine and it might offer you inspiration as well: Full Moon Rising | Kim Macy

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Categories: #30DaysofHarvest, collaboration, moon wisdom, nature, resources, ritual, sacred pause | Leave a comment

Day 10: Kissing the Earth (#30DaysofHarvest)

 
“Let the beauty we love

Be what we do

There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the Earth.”

— Rumi

Categories: #30DaysofHarvest, GGG, nature, quotes, sacred pause, woodspriestess | Leave a comment

Day 9: Generosity (#30DaysofHarvest)


Resting and rocking and nursing the child. Figuring out enoughness. ❤️

Today’s prompt brought the day in and day out body-based connection of breastfeeding to mind. Inexhaustible. Ongoing. The fibers of life and living. Body and blood into milk, into life. Here’s the clincher though, the more you nurse, the more milk you have—the more you put in, the more there is. It expands. Body generosity…

“I know that for me, writing has something in common with nursing the baby. I can’t do it if I don’t do it all the time. Put it aside to build up strength, the flow will dwindle and finally disappear. When the baby was at my breast ten times a day, I had a rare secret feeling that we were violating a law of nature, defying a form of entropy…One cannot hoard some things. The more I gave the baby, the more I had to give her, and had I tried to conserve myself, I would have found that I conserved nothing.”

–Rosellen Brown

Source: Writing and Nursing | Talk Birth

Since I wrote the post below, I’ve re-estimated my total to more like 43,000 times (not kidding):

I calculated that so far in my life I’ve put a baby to my breast more than 12,000 times. Even if I only experienced a single moment of mindful awareness or contemplation or transcendence or sacredness during each of those occasions, that is one heck of a potent, dedicated, and holy practice. In the unique symbiosis of the nursing relationship, I recall a quote from the book The Blue Jay’s Dance (1996) by Louise Erdrich about male writers from the nineteenth century and their longing for an experience of oneness and seeking the mystery of an epiphany. She says: “Perhaps we owe some of our most moving literature to men who didn’t understand that they wanted to be women nursing babies.” (p. 148)

Source: Breastfeeding as a Spiritual Practice | Talk Birth

Categories: #30DaysofHarvest, art, embodiment, family, parenting, practices, sacred pause | Leave a comment

Day 8: Healing the land (#30DaysofHarvest)

Harvest Chant 
Our hands will work for peace and justice
Our hands will work to heal the land
Gather round the harvest table
Let us feast and bless the land.

— T. Thorn Coyle & Starhawk

(Listen to this chant here.)

This morning, I strained my kombucha and started a new gallon. While doing so, I drank raspberry and nettle loose leaf tea I blended myself. I also strained my plantain infusion (from front yard) and made three tubs of plantain salve. Then, I strained and bottled my rose elixir made from my beloved back yard roses. I reflected that there is a reciprocity between the healing offered by the land and offering healing to land. World ecology and personal ecology are inseparable. May we find healthy balance.

One of my favorite images from the beautiful Gaian Tarot is the three of Earth. I thought of it today as I mixed up my own healing potions (it showed up in 30 Days of Harvest a couple of days ago as well).

Tonight while we were cooking dinner, our power went out unexpectedly. Luckily, we were grilling dinner, so we stayed outside and ate dinner on the veranda. Then, we went in and had a drum circle. We were laughing and making up songs and the kids said we should sing, “we are powerless,” because of having no electricity. Instead we sang:

We feel the power of our hearts.
We feel the power of our minds.
We feel the power of our bodies.
We feel the power of our family.
We feel the power of our drum.
We feel the power.
We feel the power.

Categories: #30DaysofHarvest, chants, family, nature, parenting, sacred pause, seasons | Leave a comment

Day 7: Gratitude for the Harvest (#30DaysofHarvest)

  
Had a moment of “gratitude for the harvest” today as I was driving home from class. I was feeling tight and stressed about my to-do list and fretting over how hard it feels to get home from being out of town and immediately have to launch into a million other things (like grading papers). Then, I thought: hang on. What a stressful life I have…traveling to a goddess festival to sell our handmade goddess art to interesting goddess women. Making our living with this art. Writing books and teaching about topics I love. Doing original research. Having “too many” good ideas for classes and projects. Spending my days with my family. Woe is me! The stress!

While I don’t discount the fact that even beautiful and fulfilling projects and activities can register in the body as stress, I had to laugh at myself. Perspective. 

I honour the beginning of the storytime of the year —
as the spring and summer are for living the stories,

the fall and winter is for the telling of our stories…

–Kat Robb

Categories: #30DaysofHarvest, nature, poems, pregnancy, sacred pause, seasons | Leave a comment

Day 6: Honoring the Harvest (#30DaysofHarvest)

 

I always find The Return after a trip difficult. Today is our oldest son’s birthday and earlier today I took a few minutes to lay on my back on his new trampoline and look at the trees against the sky. Fall’s return is crisp in the air. ❤️ And, I saw a bald eagle fly over!
I can hardly believe my first baby is twelve!  

Categories: #30DaysofHarvest, family, nature, sacred pause, seasons | Leave a comment

Divination Practicum Course Announcement!

September 2015 0099I’m excited to announce my newest online class!

Listening to the Deep Self, a six-week divination practicum for women begins online on October 27.

This course is designed to help you flex your intuitive and oracular muscles. It will help you become confident in drawing upon your own wisdom and what you have to teach and source from this wisdom

In this practicum you will learn:

  • How to work intensively with Womanrunes
  • How to make, cast, and interpret Goddess Runes
  • How to use women’s divination resources as guidance for other women
  • How to use a pendulum for yourself and with others
  • How to create personal oracle cards
  • How to create a trinket oracle
  • How to lead a Womanrunes divination workshop for other women

You will gain:

  • Practical experience in giving readings for others
  • Confidence in the resources of your own intuition and the womanspirit guidance surrounding you
  • An opportunity to create income for yourself using your gifts, skills, and resources
  • The ability to speak in the language of the runes
  • The ability to reliably and regularly connect to womanspirit wisdom, the Goddess, the Earth, your spiritual guides, and your own deep self
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Womanrunes in use in the Red Tent in Pembrokeshire

Your Practicum Kit Includes*:

  • Free shipping!
  • Womanrunes book and cards
  • Professionally printed practicum workbook
  • Goddess pendulum
  • Trinket oracle starter kit
  • Gemstone heart palm stone (we will intuitively choose the stone for you)
  • Amethyst gemstone point
  • Amethyst bracelet
  • Purple cloth upon which to do readings smallMay 2015 057
  • Purple bag to store your resources
  • Certificate of completion in Readings for Womanspirit
  • Complete workshop outline and handouts for you to lead a Womanrunes class with other women at festivals, circles, conferences, or events (plus an opportunity to purchase books wholesale to have available to sell to others!)
  • Live interaction, support, and feedback via a private Facebook group
  • Optional add-on: goddess pendant or inner wisdom goddess sculpture

(*contents subject to slight changes depending on availability)

Early bird registration pricing ends September 25th! Register via our Brigid’s Grove website.

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Categories: classes, embodiment, practices, resources, Womanrunes, womanspirit, women, women's circle, woodspriestess | Leave a comment

Day 5: Communal Creativity (#30DaysofHarvest)

  
“…When we work together cooperatively, the final product is one of synergy — it is more than each of its separate parts. The pleasure we take in each other’s company finds its way into the medicine we create.”

— Joanna Powell Colbert, The Gaian Tarot

Today was the final day of Gaea Goddess Gathering and my sister-in-law took this picture of me by the lake. It was a re-creation of a similar picture she took two years ago that now graces the back cover of my new Earthprayer, Birthprayer book (published just last week and still waiting for me to write some launch posts about it!) 

I’m feeling relieved to be home now from Kansas after five days away. Gaea Goddess Gathering was a multifaceted experience as always. Vending was so rewarding with lots of lovely connections woven and stories shared. Many other elements felt like something we survived! It is quite physically taxing to be there–not enough food, water, or sleep, too much climbing up seventy steps up a steep hillside while breastfeeding + babywearing! And, this year there were weather extremes–first, 90+ degrees, follows by rain and wind, then cool. I couldn’t have done it without my mom’s help with my daughter and with the help of my SIL and my mom with set up/take down of the booth. 

Whew! 

Categories: #30DaysofHarvest, community, family, GGG, nature, sacred pause, seasons, self-care, womanspirit, woodspriestess | Leave a comment

Day 4: An altar for Autumn Equinox (#30DaysofHarvest)

 
Time again to dance in a circle of women! Tonight, the main ritual honored the Morrigan and encouraged us all to rise up. As we chanted, the coyotes howled and the fire rose up in a shower of sparks under the crescent moon. 

  

Categories: #30DaysofHarvest, community, GGG, night, sacred pause, seasons, womanspirit, women's circle | 2 Comments

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