The Erinyes - Crisis

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/

We snap you

crack you

flapjack you

We are that wild chaotic place

that sharp edge

the point that activates your fears

the point of no return

the point where anything can happen

We always demand your death

or complete surrender

you can´t get beyond us

around us

or over us

you must meet us and go through us

We are the cosmic steamroller

the place of greatest opportunity

We are crisis.

Mythology

The Erinyes (pronounced eh-rin'yees) were the forces of retribution personified as three immortal dark maiden Goddesses. They took revenge and punished anyone who killed their kin in matriarchal pre-Hellenic Greece. In poet Aeschylus´s play, The Oresteia, Orestes – the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon – kills his mother, thus enraging the Erinyes who go after him. When his trial results in a deadlock, Athene, Goddess of Wisdom, is called on to cast the deciding vote. Her vote sets Orestes free from ay punishment for the matricide. The Erinyes, unappeased, demand vengeance. Athene consoles them with promises of special rituals in their honor. They are then renamed the Eumenides, or kindly ones.

Meaning of the Card

The Erinyes are howling after you because you and/or a loved one are in crisis. The way to nurture wholeness for you now lies in reaching out and asking for help. Whether it is from the human, animal, or spiritual kingdoms, help is required at this juncture of excess, psyche-breaking stress, and instability. Identify and name the kind of crisis you are in. If your crisis is psychological, call a crisis hot line or make an appointment with a healer of psyches. If your crisis is financial or job-related, seek financial assistance or find a career counselor. If it involves your health, visit a health-care practitioner. It is vital for you to get the help and support you need, for you are not in a place where you can help yourself. Do something. Or ask a friend or loved one to do it for you. Crisis in your life also brings the experience of crisis into the lives of your loved ones. Don't blame yourself or try to take care of them. Be selfish. Deal with your crisis and let them deal with theirs. The Erinyes say all crisis are accelerated growth/transformation points that bring opportunities. However, before you get to the opportunity, you must get through the crisis, and for that you must reach out for help.

Ritual Suggestion: The Cocoon

Click the link below to download the meditation for The Erinyes for $.75

http://deepspiritualnourishment.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=40

The time to do this is now, wherever you are. No time to look for perfect conditions. Use this ritual suggestion to give yourself some breathing space while dancing with your crisis. There is no limit to the number of times you can do the Cocoon.

You can sit or stand anywhere. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath and release it gently. Sense, feel, or see a cocoon being built around you of the most nurturing and comforting materials. Do you like silk or cotton flannel? Does lambswool or a blanket of your favorite flowers soothe you? It could even be a cocoon of rosy pink light or your favorite soothing sounds. Once you have wrapped that cocoon around you, fill it with the love of those who care about you. You can also include animals, plants, stones, the Goddess, trees, the sky, the universe.

Once your cocoon is filled, allow yourself to take the love and comfort of your cocoon into every cell in your body. Feel yourself handing over to the Goddess the challenge that overwhelms you. Feel the comforting sensation as she takes the challenge from you. Keep breathing in the comfort of your cocoon until you feel full. When ready, take a deep breath and exhale gently, open your eyes, and come ot of the cocoon. Or you may prefer to stay in while you go about your tasks in the world. Remember if you leave it, you can always come right back by taking a deep breath and sensing, feeling or seeing your cocoon around you.

Nut - Mystery

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/

Reach for me

touch me

I am always beyond your grasp

Don´t try to figure me out

for you can´t

I am the ever present unfathomable unknown

I am the immensity of the star-filled sky

I am beyond human comprehension

In the vastness of my being

I am a mystery

even to myself.

Mythology

Nut (pronounced not) is the Egyptian Goddess of the night sky, also known as the Great Deep, the Celestial Vault, who daily gives birth to the sun each morning then consumes it again each night. Disapproving of the nicest of Nut as she lay over her brother Geb, the earth, Ra, the sun or high God, has them pried apart. Nut was then lifted into the sky where she remains, her body formed into an arch. Painted inside the inner lid of a sarcophagus, she mothers and protects the dead on their journey.

Meaning of the Card

Nut´s twinkling vast dark vault stretches out in your life to remind you to open to the mystery. Have you been planning every aspect of your life and left no room for mystery? Is your life wound up too tight? Are you trying to make everything safe by defining it, labeling it, knowing it all? Give way to the mystery, the unknowable. The Wise Woman knows there is much in the universe that will remain a mystery and leaves space for it in the weaving of her life. Nut says the way to nurture wholeness is for you to trust that the mystery you let in will be exactly what you need for your journey to wholeness.

Ritual Suggestion: Nut´s Embrace

Click the link below to download the meditation for Nut for $1.75

http://deepspiritualnourishment.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=55

You can do this as a journey in imagination or as a ritual if you life where you feel safe outside at night. If you choose to journey, find a time and a place when and where you will not be disturbed. Sit or lie comfortably with your spine straight and close your eyes. Take a deep breath and exhale quickly. Take another deep breath and exhale slowly. Take another deep breath and exhale with the slowness of a turtle.

If you choose to enact this ritual, go outside. If you are journeying, visualize, sense or feel the immensity of Nut´s body, the night sky, above you. See her form clearly. She is smiling at you. She holds her hand out to you, inviting you to come to her. She points to a spiraling path of stars that begin to twinkle in front of you. You step onto the path of stars. Now you are surrounded by Nut´s immensity, her vastness, her blackness. You see her waiting and you continue to climb the spiral path of stars until you are standing before her. She holds out her arms and you walk into her embrace, you also feel something you will never comprehend: her mystery. She urges you to open your heart to her and to trust her. You open your heart and experience a deep sense of oneness with the unknown. You feel safe and calm, centered and secure. You stay in her embrace until you feel full, satisfied, ready to move on. You thank Nut, and she tells you it is time to return. You walk the spiral path of stars back to Earth, back to your home, back to your body. Take a deep breath and, when ready, open your eyes. Welcome home!

Minerva - Beliefs

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/

I am what I think
my life is shaped and formed
by what I tell myself
Who I am in the world
is who I think I am
WHat I have in the world
is what I think I can have
The contents of my mind
ae what I choose
I discard, cut out, drop
that which doesn't contribute
What others believe about me
is their story
It tells more about what they think
than who I am
In my journey
I make sure that what I carry
is of my own careful choosing
and serves me well.

Mythology:
Minerva, the Roman and Etruscan Goddess of inelligence, creativity, wisdom, domestic skills, and handicrafts was the patroness of artisans, of all people whose handiwork was guided by their minds. Her very name comes from the ancient root for "mind". Minerva appears here with her sacred tree, the olive. She wears an aegis, which is a breatplate edged with snakes, and an owl on her headdress which identifies her as a Goddess of death and the deepest mysteries.

Meaning of the Card:
Minerva has come to tell you it is time to examine your beliefs and change them if they do not nurture your wholeness. How are old, outworn, unhealthy thoughts undermining your life, your energy, your happiness? Do you believe what other people think and/or say about you? Are you still running the tape of negative messages your parents or caregivers gave you when you were a child? Do you believe the worst about yourself, or the best? Are your beliefs too rigid to permit and support your evolution? We are all born with a story. It is our choice whether we want to live the story we were born with or create one that nourishes all we want to be. Minerva says that wholeness is nurtured when you see yourself with all your parts - both dark and light - and choose your beliefs to serve your highest good.

Ritual Suggestion: What's in My Attic?

Click the link below to download the meditation for Minerva for $1.75

http://deepspiritualnourishment.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=52

Find a time and a place where and when you will not be disturbed. You will need paper and a pen. SIt or lie comfortably with your spine straight and close your eyes. Take a deep breath, breathing into all the parts of your body, letting the breath fill you as if you were a balloon. When you are absolutely filled, release it. Take another deep breath and release it. Close your eyes and sense, feel, or see a flight of stairs leading up to an attic. It can be an attic you know well or one you imagine. Climb those stairs. At the top of the stairs is a door. You have the key to the door on a cord around your neck. Take the key and open the door. You enter a room. On one wall are shelves. On one of the shelves is a box marked "beliefs." Take the box down and open it. Inside the box are your beliefs. Reach inside, pull one out, and examine it. After you have finished examining it to your satisfaction, ask yourself the question: "Does this belief serve my highest good/wholeness?" If you answer yes, put it back into the box and take out another. If you answer no, then change the belief into something that serves you, something that feels good, something nurturing.

Repeat your new belief several times and feel it sinking into your heart, into your consciousness. Let yourself feel the joy of having this new belief. When finished, put the new and improved belief back into the box and return the box to the shelf. Close the attic door and lock it with your key. Come down the stairs. When you arrive at the foot of the stairs, take a deep breath and exhale slowly as you come back into your body. When you feel ready, open your eyes. Welcome back!

Note: If you find that your belief seems to resist your efforts to change it, repeat this ritual at another time. This is a process and te beliefs you are working with have been in place for a long time. Commitment is important here. You might even try writing your new belief and posting it in a prominent place where you will see it often.