Here Comes The Sun

 

Dearest Goddesses,

 

I woke up a little blue this morning – no particular reason. It might have to do with not being able to remember the last time I saw the sun! But as I was sitting in the car waiting for John to get our morning decaf´s, I looked up at the sky. What I saw at first was the grey-black clouds, but when I looked closer, those clouds were moving real fast and peeking out from behind was this beautiful blue sky with peppered white clouds. I thought of flying on an airplane and a lot of times, even if you take off in a crummy storm, you get high enough to where the sun is shining and you are flying through puffy, white clouds.

 

That view – that sunny, blue sky is the backdrop. The clouds and storm systems are just passing through, making its way. You´ll always have the good days and the bad days – the sunny and the not so sunny – but if the sunny days are truly the backdrop – then the other is just a storm doing its business. And living in Atlanta now and knowing that the one thing that would probably fill Lake Lanier is a hurricane – there is a definite time and a place for storms in our life. Rain helps things grow.

 

So take the storms and ride them, for they are just passing through and be confident that your backdrop is sunny blue skies with fluffy white clouds. It´s true! I witnessed it today! (Now I also witnessed the Easter Bunny when I was a kid too, but I think that was just our goddess Nut playing in mystery…!)

 

Find your blue skies ladies!

 

Love to you,

Patty

GPS Continued

 

Dearest Goddesses,

I wanted to share two responses I got from yesterday´s Daily Goddess…(by the way, why doesn´t spell check work in the title? Sorry for yesterday´s Dialy Goddess…)

From Susan:

Patty, I love this idea of a life gps.  I think we have one --  built right in -- we just don't turn it on! or tune it in...it's that inner voice don't' you think?  Often drowned out by the static of life when we are not moving mindfully...so, slowing down, quieting down and tuning in and you have your own personal internal Janie! 

From Rowena:

Ahem.

I believe you are not aware of the Welsh version of my name. It is in fact Gps, but people don't seem to understand the no vowels thing, and rowena sounds better.

Now, knock it off and go join one of those online creative groups I've been sending you.

Silly mama.

That's what G calls me anytime I don't listen to him.

 

It´s absolutely perfect, because of course there is that inner GPS and sometimes when you´re blind and deaf to the directions that it gives, the people in your life step in and help direct you. I feel like it´s been a looooooonnnng time since I was silent enough to be able to hear the directions. I´ve been too busy listening to worry and doubt and my own judgment. Moving mindfully, slowing down, taking purposeful steps. Or enroll a person in your life to be more overt until you actually slow down.

I´m up for the challenge. To slow down and stop listening to the chatter and to truly connect to Nut and the mysteries she has for us and also to the people in my life who I hope will keep nagging me!

Have a quiet day goddesses!

 

Love to you,

Patty

Life GPS

A couple of months ago, John and I were gifted a GPS and it has changed our lives. Suddenly we don´t need pages and pages of mapquest printouts in order to get somewhere and that is priceless in a new city – especially one where you can be at the corner of Peachtree and Peachtree at any given time. It´s changed our experience and freedom in the car, not to mention the improvement of our relationship – getting lost is just one less thing we have to fight about!

I can´t help but crave a GPS for my life though. Janie, which we have affectionately named our GPS tells us our next move – keeping our final destination in mind and when we aren´t paying attention, or we make an "unscheduled" stop, or whatever – she simply recalculates and non-judgmentally lets us know our next move, even if that move is "turn around when possible". I want to plug in my goals and dreams and have a gentle reminder to get me back on track when I get distracted or am not acting in line with what I am committed to. Simple reminders to exercise, eat right, create, write my goddess emails.

If I were a bit more disciplined I would say I would do it myself – create some habits so that I can plan and assess each day. What´s an undisciplined girl without a life GPS to do? ;) Knock it off, I suppose and just do it.

But then, the Goddess speaks. I wrote this before I looked up which goddess from The Goddess Oracle would speak this week – and funny how Nut comes go guide us to embrace the mystery of life. Please read her and open to the mystery, while keeping your goals in mind.

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!

Enjoying the Inquiry

Dearest Goddesses,

John tells me that yesterday's Goddess was not my most brilliant moment and my message was perhaps lost in an attempt to be clever. Oh, the power of distraction and bad tv! I guess I'd love to see real shows about relationships and women trying to really make a difference in their lives instead of showing women put in situations in which they need to fight each other for the attention of a man or for the attention of the camera in shows like "Bad Girls." It just seems like there are so many shows that exploit the insecurities of women. Well, there are probably plenty of good shows like that out there but I still got sucked into the bad ones.

Anyway, I'm sorry that my message was lost and unclear and, most embarrassing – typos!

I've taken on reestablishing my community and rebuilding relationships that may have been neglected while I was out of the country. Where I find that I´ve gotten stopped is – as always – my own perceptions – mostly about how I think things should be or look. And if I don´t show up as at least "together" then people would think less of me. So I´m working on these distorted sunglasses because no matter how NOT together I ever am, the only evidence that I have is that I am still loved.

Where might you need to change your distorted sunglasses – change your beliefs to transform your relationships?

Enjoying the inquiry.

Thank you ladies.

Love to you,
Patty

A Rose is a Rose

Dearest Goddesses,

So – it´s all about relationships this week in honor of Lady of Beasts and I can hardly focus because I'm watching The Bachelor…the quintessential conversation regarding relationships, eh? I´m not sure the goddess had this in mind with her message regarding relationships. I can´t help but feel as uncomfortable as when I watch Steve Carell on The Office, only these women are supposed to be for real..?

Anyway…

I´ve been pondering the idea of creating relationships new. With all of the new years resolutions and goals that you can´t help but think of at this time of year – if our relationships remain the same, can they ever transform? Or a more powerful question might be – if we remain the same inside of our relationships, can they transform? And while we may evolve and transform, if our experience of or our perspective of the people in our life don't transform and evolve, can they transform?

Well ladies – I will explore these question this question further, but right now someone is getting voted off The Bachelor. The Bachelor meets Survivor. Excellent. (I think I'm watching too much tv.)

Love to you,

Patty

Lady of Beasts

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 desire union

in ways comfortable and appropriate

I open to the dance with another

knowing that it will take me

to all the places I fear

some of the places I love

many of the places that need healing.

I listen with the ears of my heart

and communicate from a place of self-knowing

I consciously give myself away

and know how to take myself back

I see myself reflected

so perfectly in the other

that I begin my most important journey to seek out and claim

more of who I am.

Mythology:

The Goddess as Lady of Beasts was known to the people of Sumer, Crete, and the Indus Valley (India). Her name is largely unknown because worship of her predated writing. She was also known as the Cosmic Creatrix, the creative, fertile, life-giving force. Her special animals were held sacred as manifestations of the deity herself. She is depicted here pregnant, surrounded by pregnant animals, which speaks of her as a powerful fertility figure. She usually appears enthroned with a lion at her side indicating sovereignty and strength.

Meaning of the Card:

Lady of Beasts walks slowly and serenely into your life to tell you it is time to focus on creating supportive and nurturing relationships, with your unborn child, the animal(s) in your life, a lover, family, friends, and/or coworkers. Relating to others enables you to look at the parts of yourself that you don´t ordinarily see. Relationships are the mirror in which you can see who you really are. Wholeness is nourished when you see who you really are, accept what you see, and strive to heal what needs to be healed.

Are you in a relationship that presses all your buttons, brings up all your issues, leaves you feeling like a "woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown"? If both (or all) of you are committed to doing the work, willing to accept your pieces, your responsibility, this could be a gold mine. Perhaps you are in an abusive relationship, one that keeps hurting and hurting with no redeeming factors or one in which your partner is not looking at issues. This could be the time to gather your strength, lick your wounds, and move on. Perhaps better communication or acceptance could help your relationship. If you are contemplating a relationship, this is the time to open and engage. Lady of Beasts says the dance of relationship is the fast trace to evolving consciousness and personal power. It is joyful, painful, frustrating, exhilarating, annihilating, and completely worth it.

Ritual Suggestion: Creating Win-Win Situations

Find a time and a place when and where you and your partner, coworker, family member, or friend can be with each other uninterrupted. If the other person is not available to do this with you, you can do this as a journey on your own. You will need something that can serve as a "talking stick or stone"* You and the other(s) should be clear on what you all need, so that each of you can state that need clearly. Creating win-win situations brings all parties together to negotiate for those needs so that everyone wins. If there is any emotion around a need or if some feelings come up during the ritual, those emotions and/or feelings will need to be dealt with before a win-win situation can be achieved.

To create sacred space you can do a full ritual of calling in the elements/directions, burning incense, inviting in your power animals, the Goddess and God, and/or other spirit guides; or you can invoke the spirit of cooperation and completion. It is up to you. Remember to do what is appropriate and respectful for all.

Once sacred space has been created, it is time to pass the talking object. Each person states his or her needs, then you come to an agreement. For example: You want to go roller-skating on Thursday nights and need your partner to watch the kids. Your partner wants to go to science club meetings on Tuesday nights and wants you to watch the kids. You agree to wath the kids on Tuesday nights if he will watch them on Thursdays. This is a win-win situation.

There may be situations where you will have to do more negotiation and possibly some compromise, in order for everyone's needs to be met. It is important to really sit with any proposed compromise. Only you can decide if you can compromise, and in some cases you may not be able to. Not all situations can be resolved in a win-win way. There may be times when you give, the other person gives, and you both give. Relationships are a balancing act. The more you strive to create win-win situations, the more often you will succeed.

*An object held by one person at a time, signifying that s/he alone has the privilege of speaking. All present have the privilege of listening in a respectful way until that person is finished talking. When that person is finished, s/he passes that "stick" to the next person and so on, till all have a chance to express themselves and be heard.