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She who shows her incisors
She who midwifes death
She who illuminates the crossroads.
She who gathers and releases
She who creates and destroys.
She who covers and reveals.
She is the darkness and the light within it.
She is the crossroads and the path.
She is the guardian and the wayshower
before her and behind her is the knowing unknown.
—
I was inspired to create a new little Hecate-themed blessing bundle through my participation in #30daysofhecate as well as that persistent sensation of drawing inward as we move into the waning part of the year.
While you are cutting the vegetables, preheat the oven to 350. Put the honey and butter into a cake pan and set it in the oven to melt (about 7 minutes). Toss the cut up vegetables in the melted honey and butter mixture and return to the oven for 45-60 minutes, stirring/tossing every 15 minutes. Vegetables are most delicious when they have some browned areas and are caramelized.
Today is the first day of our Divination Practicum. This morning, when I saw that the photo prompt for 30 Days of Hecate was “flaming torches,” I thought: “what if I get The Flame today when I do my Womanrunes pull? Wouldn’t that be cool?” In the afternoon, I did a little ceremony to begin the course and what did I draw, but yes, The Flame! I just love cosmic winks.
In keeping with the themes of crossroads and thresholds and being “between the worlds,” I want to share a little story from tonight that is a reminder of how our “torches” impact others in surprising locations. (I teach on a military base.)
Me: drives up to the entrance to the Fort listening to “Amazon Warrior Princess” by Big Bad Gina.
Young army guy at gate: “that’s a cool necklace, what is it?”
Me: “which one?” (I’m wearing three)
Guy: points to the homemade spiral goddess pendant.
Me: “she’s a goddess.”
Guy: “neat. What does that mean? What does it represent?”
Me: has no elevator speech prepared that seems suitable for man with gun who is looking in the back of my car and inspecting my license. Say something to effect of, “oh, she represents honoring and celebrating life’s important transitions.”
Guy (enthusiastically): “oh! Could you make one that is a werewolf holding a moon?!”
Me: “we do make one holding the moon, but she’s still a goddess, not a werewolf.”
Guy: looks disappointed and sends me surreally on my way…
—
And, still reflecting on thresholds, on this day one year ago, I was forty weeks pregnant! I have now nearly completed a full “sacred year” with my baby…
On this day last year. Yes, I am wearing my same spiral goddess pendant from the story above!
*Blink* Suddenly, walking around dressed up like Draco Malfoy.
…We arrive at a crossroads on our path through the woods, and we have the choice of three ways to go. Is that a mantled figure with silver hair gleaming in the moonlight we see standing there? Or is it a snag of old twisted deadwood? A bony finger is lifted to point the way. We have heard it said that Hecate, the Great Crone herself, is always found where three paths come together, and always at the crossroads of our lives.
Come, listen closely. Can you hear Hecate’s whispers on the wind?
— JPC, Gaian Soul Seasonal Practices for Hallowmas
I simply can’t resist the 30 Days ecourses from Joanna Powell Colbert and I’ve signed up for 30 Days of Hecate as well! I almost didn’t sign up for it, because Hecate makes me a little nervous—she’s actually one of the first goddesses I have had any contact with or exposure to, but I never pursued the connection. About twelve years ago, when my first child was a baby, I was practicing yoga one morning in the guest room and I “heard” the name Hecate whispered to me. I was only tentatively and tenderly exploring goddess spirituality at that point and had never heard the name Hecate before—I even got up from my yoga mat to look it up on the internet, because I didn’t even know if it was a real goddess name…
—
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Blessing from the Harvest Queen
May the sunset cloak of shorter days enfold you
May you dance with the patterns of crimson and gold leaves
May you sing with owl and coyote in crisp moonlight
May you savor the orangeness of pumpkin and yam
and feel the sweetness of honey on your tongue.
May you listen to the dreams of seed corn
May elderberry strengthen you with stored sunshine
May persimmon grant you a fleeting hello
May the poignant flare of an October rose
kiss you with hope.
May your rooms be wreathed with smiles.
And, may you remember the grace and wisdom
found in both gathering and releasing.
I didn’t expect my last prompt for 30 Days of Harvest to be so literal. I gathered up all of my supplies for a Red Tent call tonight. I was supposed to be the guest speaker for Journey of Young Women talking about Womanrunes and how to make and use them. Tons of technical difficulties and associated confusion meant we had to postpone the call after about twenty minutes of trying to make it work. That would be the releasing part…
I also did a Womanrunes reading to close out the 30 Days experience. I got the Two Circles (rune of merging), followed by the Dark Moon (rune of wisdom), and then the Wheel…rune of fate. “The wheel turns, life unfolds, your breath moves in and out.”
(My candle is lit for the #waveoflight for Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day today.)
“Some October, when the leaves turn gold, ask me if I’ve done enough to deserve this life I’ve been given. A pile of sorrows, yes, but joy enough to unbalance the equation.”
–Barbara Crooker
Today I spent almost all day working on the modules for my upcoming Divination Practicum course (course supply kits also shipped today!), but I took some time in the afternoon to enjoy the woods and the beautiful patterns of sunshine there. I did a quick Womanrunes reading, while thinking about the Practicum and hoping it goes the way I imagine. I got the Crescent Moon (rune of divination), the Witch’s Hat (rune of magic), and the Heart (rune of passion). Sounds spot-on to me! 😊
And, of course, I was compelled to get a new picture of the roses…
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
And find that the dark, too, blooms and sings.
— Wendell Berry
The fall nights literally sing here. Walking on the veranda, a chorus of insect song fills the air, owls call, dogs bark, coyotes howl.
I enjoyed this post which popped up synchronistically today:
But darkness has its place too, especially when we are working to understand ourselves, or to create a shift in our lives, or to transition from one state-of-being to another. These shifts and transitions are dark experiences lacking clarity and structure. And here is this little gland in the body that rides around in our brains with us, helping us perceive whether it is day or night, light or dark, stop or continue, yes or no. I’m inclined to think that this hidden jewel of the brain is not only a night-time regulator but also the source of the deep, overwhelming sense of imbalance and extraordinary “lightness of being” and loss of firmament that we experience when, for instance, we go caving.
Source: Darkness with a Capital D – PaganSquare – PaganSquare
I also read this newsletter from Moontime Rising and appreciated this reminder from Giuliana:
So, dear one, as the sun sets and the dark sky fills with stars…
Harvest what feeds you, and compost the rest.
And welcome the inevitable walk through the dark…
(My photo from tonight is of a planter on the back deck/veranda.)
In January of 2014, I sat on the stones in the woods, came face to face with a raccoon in the tree and suddenly knew that I was pregnant again. In October of 2014, I sat on these stones in the woods awaiting the imminent arrival of my new baby boy. Today, I sit on these stones in the woods with a baby boy who is now approaching his first birthday. The wheel spins quickly.
Today, my mom reminded me that it is the 26th anniversary of her father’s death.
This tiny boy whose fuzzy blonde head I nuzzle is somebody’s grandpa of the future.
“Unlimited,” his shirt reminds me and yet I also know that time is short.
Pay attention and tell about it. ❤️
Woke this morning thinking of Womanrunes The Winged Circle, rune of freedom, and the sense of lightness and freedom I have as I let go of residual stress, tension, and overwork from grading. As I tried to lay out a lovely, symbolic, “letting go” mandala this afternoon, the cat, the baby, and the little girl all walked on it. The wind blew my leaves out of pattern and scattered my seeds. The blue jay feather I’d synchronistically found kept flipping over. I had to laugh at myself as I kept trying to make it “right.” I get it, I get it. Let go. 🌀❤️🍂 (yes, those are baby toes in the lower left corner).
Our Women in the Wild inspired photo shoot last weekend thanks to Little Mother Photography felt like a nice response to today’s earth mother prompt.
I actually struggled to come up with a photo today for quite a while. I took a couple at my mom’s house as possibilities. One a palette of fall colors…
And one with my mom herself in it…
Part of the material in today’s prompt included this message:
Give no part of yourself to what does not sustain you.
Given that I’ve spent the last three days doing hard and largely unenjoyable work finishing up my current class, this gave me something to chew over. I start to feel very skewed and off-balance and tense during the end of the session. I start feeling like I’m doing things wrong, that my priorities aren’t in order, and that I don’t have “enough time” for all of my life, and that something needs to change. I get very irritable and strained. It is temporary and subsides when the job is done, but I don’t like experiencing it. This time, not only did I finish my work more quickly, I also became mindful of those old, familiar, unpleasant, exaggerated, feelings in the middle of the downward spiral and kind of laughed at myself about them. Grading papers does not feel like it sustains me. But, teaching does provide more than half of our household income and since grading papers is part of teaching, I guess in their way they do sustain me…
Yes, I know, my subject for today’s photo is a real shocker! I took all of these pictures today on the very same rosebush (no filter or color manipulation). The very epitome of ephemeral. Luckily, also ephemeral is my personal sense of tension and overwhelm at having end of session grading to complete. May I release it with as much grace and beauty as my roses lose their petals…
The Labyris from the Womanrunes deck reminds us to make hard choices and firm decisions, keeping enough room around us to swing the blade freely. Look out! She’s chopping there…
where I find them
the old wounds
the old misdirections
and I lift them
one by one
close to my heart
and I sayholy
holy.— Pesha Joyce Gertler
Creating goddess art that attempts to communicate an experience for another feels like a sacred trust. We have several designs that honor women’s scars. And, their courage.
(Side note: whenever I type “scared” or “scar” or “scarred,” it always comes out as “sacred” first and I have to correct it. Or, do I?)
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!
This is the real color! I don’t do anything to the pictures to get this day-glo look.
WoodsPriestess 