Corn Woman: Nourshment

The following is excerpted exactly from The Goddess Oracle by Amy Sophia Marashinsky and the illustrations are by Hrana Janto. For more information on their work, please visit the following websites:

Amy Sophia Marashinsky: http://www.amysophia.com/
You can download the meditations included in the ritual suggestions at http://deepspiritualnourishment.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2

Hrana Janto: http://www.hranajanto.com/

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I give you my breast

the earth

and suckle you with

corn and grain

plants and animals and fish

all to sustain you

all to feed you

all to nourish you

the great giveaway

my love for you

the food

so you will live

prosper and grow

From my breast

the earth

because I love you.

Mythology

Southwestern indigenous aboriginals and pueblo peoples – the Arikara, Pawnee, Cheyenne, Mandan, Hidasta, Abnaki, Cherokee and Huron – see corn as a Goddess. Corn Woman encompasses the figures of Corn Mother, the Corn Maidens, and Yellow Woman. They all relate to corn as a sacred being who gives of herself to her people to sustain them and nourish them. The Arikara Creator God, Nesaru, fashioned Corn Mother from an ear of corn which grew in heaven. Corn Mother then came to earth and taught people how to honor the deities and to plant corn.

Meaning of the Card

Corn Woman brings her love for you in the form of food to tell you it is time to nourish yourself. Eating is a sacred act. Something living dies and you take it in, whether you hunt/kill the animals you eat with your own hands or buy your vegetables in the supermarket. Part of being human means causing death in order to live. To treat the act of eating as a chore, as something to be feared or avoided, is to denigrate the gift of love from Corn Woman and the plants and animals.

Do you fear food? Does just looking at food make you feel like you are gaining weight? Are you too busy, too stressed, to involved with more important things than nourishing yourself? Do you nourish others but not yourself? Do you have a love-hate relationship with food? Corn Woman says that eating is one of the most basic acts of self-nourishment and that the way to wholeness for you lies in coming into right relationship with food.

Ritual Suggestion

The time is breakfast, lunch, or dinner and the place is where you eat your meals. You can do this alone or with loved ones or friends. You can either prepare the food yourself or have others prepare it. When the food is ready, sit at your place. Take a moment to look at the food, to see, sense, or feel the life force of the food before you. Then close your eyes and take a deep breath. Notice any feelings come up. Now feel the energy from the earth moving up into your toes, into your calves, your thighs, and so on, into each part of your body until you feel centered, focused, aware, and fully in your body. Take another deep breath and feel all your cells breathe with you. Now open your eyes.

Serve yourself some food. Honor the plants and/or animals by saying words of gratitude. As you take a bite, slow down, be with the food, with the sensations, with all your senses. Chew slowly, giving yourself time to really taste, smell, and savor the flavours. Try to taste all the ingredients. With your next bite, focus on the life force. Do you feel a tingling as you chew, like energy surges pulsating in your mouth? Feel how you and the food become one as it dissolves in your mouth. Let yourself take in the life force of the food and feel it nourish your own life force. Give yourself permission to fully enjoy the pleasure you get from eating. Continue to eat in this focused, sacred way, being present in your body, paying attention to all your senses, until you have eaten what you need. When you are finished, take a deep breath and let the energy you have gained circulate throughout your body. Give thanks to Corn Woman and to yourself for nourishment.