Author Archives: Molly

Birth flower…(#30DaysofMay

Posted on May 8, 2015 by Molly

Goddess is my name for

that which holds the whole

that which weaves the all

that which knows the story of the ages…

via Woodspriestess: Pelvic Cradle | WoodsPriestess.

I’ve taken a lot of pictures of flowers for 30 Days of May already, so today I took the prompt in a slightly different direction. The prompt was to find a yoni-like flower. I won this tapestry in a contest from Orgasmic Birth a couple of years ago and it hangs in my bedroom. Today, while thinking over what to photograph for the prompt, I looked up and saw the tapestry and knew I had my pic!

Categories: #30Daysof May, art, Goddess, thealogy | Leave a comment

A flower’s fragrance (30DaysofMay)

Posted on May 8, 2015 by Molly

The wild raspberries are covered with blooms already. The fragrance of these flowers is of…cobbler, tea, sisterhood, conversation, community, inspiration, and wild, natural magic.

Categories: #30Daysof May, nature | Leave a comment

Restoring Women to Ceremony: The Red Tent Resource Kit

Posted on May 7, 2015 by Molly

“… Every day, we witness the positive, transformative effects of, ‘restoring women to ceremony’…another reason it is vital that we continue our work…”

–D’vorah Grenn (Stepping into Ourselves, p. 56)

We’ve been hard at work over the last three months giving birth to a new project!

Introducing…The Red Tent Resource Kit…

I actually ended up sort of accidentally writing a whole new book to go with this kit. It was originally going to be a collection of handouts as a pdf. However, as I put the handouts together, I realized I was actually writing a short book or manual instead. I also reflected on how I am tired of only getting pdf manuals and ebooks when I sign up for different programs, rather than an actual, printed book. One of my mottoes this year is to follow the inspiration, so I went with it, and at the end of last month our new books arrived and they’re beautiful and I’m so excited about them!

Our unique, signature Red Tent Kit includes ALL of the following resources:

Womanrunes Book and Card set: ideal for personal guidance and self-development, or for the inspiration and renewal corner at your Red Tent Circle.
Red Tent Goddess Sculpture: symbolic of self-care and of both receiving and giving.
Carnelian Pendulum (kit exclusive!)
Brand new 58 page book: Restoring Women to Ceremony, The Red Tent Resource Kit, written exclusively for this kit. In this collection of essays and ritual resources, you will find a complete Red Tent “recipe,” circle leadership basics, moontime musings, and readings, quotes, and poems to help you facilitate a rich, inviting, welcoming, creative space for the women of your community.
Moontime pendant with silver-tone, solid crescent moon charm
Red altar cloth
Red organza bag to store your resources
Coupon for $100 off the companion Red Tent Initiation online training to be held in July-August
Extra surprise bonus goodies intuitively chosen for you!

The contents of this Kit are valued at $100 when sold separately!

When I was taking pictures for the Kit, I randomly drew three Womanrunes cards to include in the pictures. The ones I drew were absolutely perfect for sharing the message of what this collection has to offer to others and what we hope to create in restoring women to ceremony:

Categories: blessings, books, moontime, priestess, resources, retreat, ritual, womanspirit, women, women's circle, writing | Tags: red tent, ritual, womanrunes, women's circle | 2 Comments

Nine powers of nine flowers (#30DaysofMay)

Posted on May 6, 2015 by Molly

Nine powers of nine flowers

About me this day…

Sweetness of strawberry
Smile of sorrel
Tang of oxalis
Health of kale
Wildness of geranium
Surprise of star grass
Love of dianthus
Practicality of Brussels sprout
Sisterhood of raspberry.

Today while I was outside with my kids, I made it a personal challenge to find nine different flowers to photograph in that moment, rather than using pictures I’ve taken on other days. While briefly stalling out at five, I eventually ended up with 11 different flowers in the space of about thirty minutes. 🙂

Categories: #30Daysof May, nature | 1 Comment

Flowering tree* (#30DaysofMay)

Posted on May 5, 2015 by Molly

“Walk softly, walk lightly, the Earth is sleeping. Walk softly, walk lightly, She is pregnant with dreams.”

–Mary Mackey (The Year the Horses Came)

(*actually a gigantic snowball bush the size of a tree at my mom’s house)

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Beautiful birds (#30DaysofMay)

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Molly

…And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything?
And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for?
And have you changed your life?

–Mary Oliver

When I took Ecology of the Sacred at OSC, I wrote about my chickens so often that I joked about writing a book called A Thealogy of Chickens. Seems fitting that they should finally make a 30 Days appearance.

Today was a long day with lots of work! I’m off to bed!

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Green Man (#30DaysofMay)

Posted on May 3, 2015 by Molly

Today is my birthday and the prompt was about sensory images of May. Based on this post, tonight at dusk we made a Green Man in the field by our greenhouse. It was quite lively and fun.

As we finished his beard, we looked up and the full moon was rising beautifully over the trees. It was one of those moments of natural magic that was really potent.

Whippoorwills were singing, dogs were barking, fireflies were twinkling, and frogs were calling and we drummed and danced together in the moonlight.

Now let the song begin! Let us sing together!

Of sun, stars, moon and mist, rain and cloudy weather,

Light on the budding leaf, dew on the feather,

Wind on the open hill, bells on the heather,

Reeds by the shady pool, lilies on the water.

—Tom Bombadil’s Song, Lord of the Rings (via Beltane Ritual)

Categories: #30Daysof May, family, holidays, nature, night, ritual, seasons, spirituality | 2 Comments

Friends (#30DaysofMay)

Posted on May 2, 2015 by Molly

I’m off the actual theme for today, but I’m delighted to be home again! Tomorrow is my birthday. When we visited friends on the way to our mini-vacation, my friend surprised me with this beautiful print of one of her paintings! In the painting are several sculptures I made. I love it so much and I was very touched to receive it. Then, on the way back home today, we stopped to visit a different friend who made us lunch and then had surprise birthday cupcakes for me. It was nice to be remembered. 🙂

Categories: #30Daysof May, art, friends | Leave a comment

May Morning (#30DaysofMay)

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Molly

Happy May Day! Apparently, I’m not going to give up on my post-a-day commitment even while on vacation! While I’m enjoying our trip, the city atmosphere is really difficult for me energetically. I don’t feel like myself here. I read today’s prompt and was thinking about how disconnected I feel from my spiritual grounding while surrounded by the city noise and environment. I really wanted to take a picture of a dewy flower and instead have a hotel room view of the interstate and industrial hotel heating/cooling equipment! So, I re-focused on what is actually here in front of me and that was my baby peeking out the sunny window and being delighted by the difference between closed and open curtains. He played and played, seeming surprised anew and blinking rapidly in the brightness each time he opened the curtain. Like peekaboo with the sun.

I drew a Womanrunes card then and wasn’t surprised when it was The Tree:

These cards know me well!

Categories: #30Daysof May, family | Leave a comment

Doorway to Beltane (#30DaysofMay)

Posted on April 30, 2015 by Molly

Today we went to Cahokia Mounds near St. Louis. It is the site of the largest earthwork in the Americas and the largest, most complex “prehistoric” native site north of Mexico. It was a really gorgeous day out. We climbed to the top of Monks Mound and for a few minutes we were actually the only people at the top and that was cool.

I really liked Woodhenge. It works like a big sundial and apparently observances of the solstices and equinoxes are held at the site.

I have always felt a connection between my own sculptures and those of ancient people. 🙂

Categories: nature | Leave a comment

Loving myself (#30DaysofMay)

Posted on April 29, 2015 by Molly

I puzzled over today’s prompt for a long time…what to choose, what to choose. But, in that synchronistic process that I’ve mentioned with this class, it finally hit me. What is actually most loving to myself in the next few days is to release myself from my commitment to my daily blog post while I am out of town on vacation with my family! 😉 So, while I will likely still do my Instagram picture and possibly a mini blog post to go with it, it is okay if I don’t.

The other “loving myself” piece represented in this picture from this afternoon is letting go and enjoying a very needed time out from my usual routine and responsibilities for the next couple of days.

Also, who says you can’t nurse a baby on top of a huge chain of buoys!

I swooned over this wonderful pink dogwood at my friend’s house this afternoon as well.

Categories: #30Daysof May, family | Leave a comment

The singer and the silence (#30DaysofMay)

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Molly

I am the blossom, I am the bee
I am the branch, I am the squirrel
I am the acorn, I am the oak
I am the breath, I am the words
I am the space, I am the fullness
I am the song of the May.

Categories: #30Daysof May, blessings, nature, theapoetics, woodspriestess | Tags: #30DaysofMay | Leave a comment

An offering for the Fae (#30DaysofMay)

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Molly

Something that keeps coming up for me lately is the concept of creating a container for an experience. I feel like this is what I do with my women’s circle and Red Tents and also what I do with my students. And, this is what taking the 30 Days and my Sacred Year class does for me. Today, it was taking an “offering for the Fae” down to the woods. This is not something I would have done on my own, but I’ve made a commitment to responding to the prompts, so by golly, I did it! It was a very sweet experience. My little girl and I went out and searched out some tiny flowers and put them in a blue glass bottle. She was so cute talking about the fairies and picking flowers:

We took our little offering down to the woods and placed it on the rock and then said a blessing together.

When I was a little girl myself, I remember often feeling like I could see glimpses of or feel the presence of fairies in the woods—like if I could just be still enough and look hard enough, I would be able to interact with them. It was fun to bring a little bit of that magic back into our lives together today.

Categories: #30Daysof May, family, nature, parenting, sacred pause | Tags: #30DaysofMay | Leave a comment

Temple of love (#30DaysofMay)

Posted on April 26, 2015 by Molly

This wild life is ours
I am within you and around you
I hold and enfold you
My promises
Are the colors of green leaves
Blue sky
Red berries.

My potential is in your hands.
Incubating
Stretching
Stirring
Dreaming
Becoming

I love my daughters
And their sons and daughters
I hold your souls…*

I read today’s prompts this morning, as I usually do, and then reflected on the themes all day. One of the most magical things about these 30 Days courses is how very many connections and synchronicities emerge during the day that bring the themes to life. It is really powerful to observe. As soon as I read the theme, a quote came floating back to me and it remained in my head throughout the day, like a refrain in the background of the rest of my thoughts: This is my body; this is the temple of light. This is my heart; this is the altar of love (Sufi song, quoted in Birthrites). Altar of love. Temple of light. Over and over today these words replayed in my mind. I’ve shared the quote here before, but it felt like it wanted to come back again today. At the same time, I was turning over some scheduling details and a few stresses about fitting everything in that I want to do during the coming months. I turned my We’Moon wall calendar over to May to check some dates for classes and this was the quote opening the month:

love these Earthlings every day
bird, insect, cloud
listen, stop, watch
sorrow for species lost
Earth will feel your love
giving you back
every day.

(Carole Gale)

My husband and kids are participating in the 30 Days of Bringing in the May course with me. As I have made a commitment to take a photo and to write a blog post each day (however short or simple!) related to the themes of the course prompts or materials, my husband has committed to drawing a picture and my kids to making a video. This afternoon, my husband took his picture:

And, this evening I served as a “videographer” as my kids danced in the living to drum music in the costumes they selected for themselves to represent spring and the temple of love (turtle, mermaid, and king were the selected costumes tonight).

(*poem originally published as part of a post at SageWoman)

Categories: #30Daysof May, family, nature, poems | Tags: #30DaysofMay | Leave a comment

Waning Dogwood (#30DaysofMay)

Posted on April 25, 2015 by Molly

Each day
offers new gifts
new mysteries
new discoveries
new promises
kissed with rain
and garnished
with dogwood blossoms…

via Woodspriestess: Real Magic

I happily anticipate the dogwoods each year. Today, the 30 Days* photo prompt was to photograph a blooming tree. The dogwoods are already waning, the edges of the flowers browning a little, spots on the petals, the centers yellow instead of green. Looking back at previous years’ posts shows me that this happened earlier this year than the two prior years, with early May sometimes holding the full splendor of the dogwoods. We’ve had a warm spring so far and that must be why.

I spent today at an all-day spring retreat with my women’s circle. It was just what I needed. While I was feeling rushed packing everything up to bring and lamenting about my to-do list and upcoming busy week, I really enjoyed myself and felt like it ended up being really important to have given ourselves this time together.

Art journal project from today.

New mini prayer flags.

Teeny, tiny wish bottle necklace.

“The tools are unimportant; we have all we need to make magic: our bodies, our breath, our voices, each other.”

—Starhawk

“Individually, and in like-spirited groups, we and our culture can be healed; we can come fully alive, and recognize ourselves and others as deeply holy.”

–Seena B. Frost, SoulCollage

(*In case anyone is wondering, the Thirty Days of May class is about ushering in the May, which is why it began prior to May 1st!)