On Being A Creation Woman by Kimberly Moore and Genevieve Mitchell

contemplation, Creativity, Divine, Empowerment, Goddess, Gratefulness, Priestess, ritual

creation-woman-womanroots-kimberly-f-moore-shakti-womyn-ysl

What does it mean to be a Creation Woman? What does it mean to take my creativity, open it up to Divine inspiration, stir in some excitement and adventure….and head in to 2017? Where can I find my creativity? When I find it…then what? I’m pleased, puzzled, grateful and baffled by the opportunities I have to be creative and impactful. I also pray that I make wise choices.

It’s the last week of 2016….what a year, personally, professionally, politically and providentially. As as Creation Women, women and men with the power to create the world in which we want to live, it’s time to honor that creative capacity. Creativity is the powerful flow from the universe, it’s the energetic force infusing our lives. This creative flow, comes from Source, and manifests as Divinity in all manner of our creations. Our own creative potential is evidence to me that God/Goddess/Source exist…because we manifest that creativity in the mystery of living and in the creation of art, music, dance, ideas….the building of amazing building, the collaborative efforts to solve world problems, the creation of new technology….

Creativity is everywhere! Let us celebrate it, honor it, and use it, to create a world where there is respect and honor for the Earth, humanity and all our relations to the seventh generations. So how can we use ourselves as Temples of Creativity? Kimberly Moore from MotherHouse of the Goddess and Mystery School of the Goddess, shares some profound and very timely observations. Thank you Kimberly!

“Breathe Me, Woman, into your head, your thoughts, your intentions.

Breathe Me, as I breathe you into Creation.

Breathe Me deep, Woman, into your womb, your throne. Lay me bare on

your heart, your altar.

Let us embrace as Sisters on our thrones of Creation.

Give Me your seeds and let us laugh over them, pour tears into them, hold silence unto them.

Let us set them gently onto our thrones, adorn them, infuse them.

Let us clasp our hands on our bellies and feel them growing, kicking, burgeoning.

And when the time is ripe and our thrones are bursting,

Let us crouch and moan and rock.

Let us birth these seeds grown strong with intention, with our beauty, with our secret Selves.

Give me your Creation – I am your Midwife. I am your throne. I am the receiving Earth.

Breathe Me, Woman. Breathe Us into Creation.

Creation Woman calls upon us to claim our thrones. Unite with our divine soul seeds, to unveil our life mission, fight for our heart’s desire, to “bleed” with purpose. She is not to be ignored and if done, can result in pathologies such as depression, anxiety, and even more serious illnesses.

This month, part of your sacred living work is to work on your Temple, your throne. Notice where it needs work. Adorn it. Breathe into it daily, mindfully, powerfully. In this, you are creating your reality, making healthy and vibrant the place that allows you to CREATE. “

~ Kimberly Moore

Kimberly F. Moore is a Creative Catalyst and Mentor for Women; Shakti-Powered Entrepreneur; Goddess Priestess; Blissful Revolutionary; Hungry Goddess (food writer); Writer; and Photographer. She offers coaching and online courses to promote the Everyday Sacred in women’s lives for personally and professionally.

Kimberly is offering her Year of Sacred Living http://mysteryschoolofthegoddess.net/2016/10/17/a-year-of-sacred-living-with-kimberly-f-moore-open/ where she shares a year of Living Deeply with the Sacred. The poem above is from her course.

She is the Founder of the MotherHouse of the Goddess and Mystery School of the Goddess. Kimberly has been a Goddess Priestess for more than 20 years. Her areas of research, practice, and teaching are focused on Goddess Spirituality, Comparative Mythology, Archetypal Psychology, and Ritual Practice. She has a special connection to the Goddesses from the Greek, Hindu and Yoruban traditions, but has worked with many other Goddesses through the years. She is also an Aborisha in the Lukumi tradition and a Daughter of Oshun. Kimberly lives in Delaware with her son, two kitties, surrounded by Goddess altars everywhere.

Genevieve Mitchell is a Partner with Goddess Ink Publishing. She is a Priestess, a Seeker, a Flower Essence Practitioner, a photographer, a socially responsible investor, a mother, a grandmother and a devotee of God/Goddess/Divine/Spirit. You can contact her at genevieve@goddess-ink.com.

Goddess Ink is your source for inspiration for the Divine Feminine. Find books, classes and sacred tours to feed your soul. For more information and to follow Goddess Ink Blog visit www.goddess-ink.com or visit us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/goddessinkbooks/. Also, please sign up for the Goddess Ink Newsletter for a monthly dose of inspiration.

Photo Credits: Top Photo by Kimberly Moore, bottom photo by Shutterstock.

Mid Winter and Solstice

Divine, Empowerment, Goddess, Priestess, ritual, Solstice

shutterstock_242072233 I want to start out this post with the phrase “the mid-winter of my discontent.” But I do not want to let the beautiful darkness and stillness of the Winter Solstice devolve, filling the cave of my mind with fears, worries, anxiety and nightmare scenarios, driving out all possibility.
The winter solstice marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. The sun appears at its lowest point in the sky, and it literally stills, rising and setting at its southernmost position on the horizon the few days before and after Mid-winter.
It is in the stillness of this time of year that I find solace. When I am lucky enough to be surrounded by snow, it seems as if the earth is silent – slumbering and dreaming. It is a time I love to be in bed early and gaze out the window at the velvet darkness, the bright stars and moon punctuating the sky.
I usually look forward to this time of year, to the stillness, the silence, the time to incubate and dream. But, as I said at the beginning of this post, I keep fending off the specters of political futures. It seems I am either lost in Shakespeare or Dickens.
But at this moment, here on the precipice of the solstice and on the edge of stillness, held and embraced in the gentle darkness, I open to the long night. I open petal by petal, a night-blooming flower, and trust in the deepest beauty that I know imbues this world. I trust in the love that lives deep in the molten core of our Mother. I simply must.
Deepest Blessings of the Season to you. — Anne
Note on Dates: Astrologically, Mid-Winter may be calculated as the date the Sun is at 0 degree Capricorn. Winter Solstice (Latin: “sun ceases”) is known as Midwinter or Yule (from the Germanic and possibly Norse)

Award winning writer Anne Key is the author of two memoirs. The first, Desert Priestess: a memoir, relates the three years she spent as Priestess of the Temple of Goddess Spirituality Dedicated to Sekhmet, located in Nevada. Her second, Burlesque, Yoga, Sex and Love: A Memoir of Life under the Albuquerque Sun, recounts her time in Albuquerque performing under the stage name Annie O’Roar. She is co-founder of Goddess Ink.

Photo Credits: Shutterstock

The Writing of Dancer for the Goddess by Diana Rivers

Dance, Divine, Empowerment, Fiction, Goddess

Editors Note: Diana Rivers authored Dancer for the Goddess, recently released by Goddess Ink Publishing. Diana shares how she conceived and wrote the book.

“In this wonderful novel, Zaia, a beautiful young temple dancer, came to me in a Breathwork session many years ago. I had no plans to write such a book until, at the end of the session, behind my closed eyelids, I saw this Dancer standing in the archway of a Temple in her magnificent Dance garb. She seemed to beckon me into that Temple and that world. Quickly acquiring a name, a family, a story, she lured me into her life and into the world of the Goddess.

In spite of her mother’s strong objections, as a young girl Zaia goes to the Temple to learn sacred Dance. She becomes one of the Temple’s best Dancers and takes a pledge to go on the road for five years, walking from place to place, Dancing in villages too small to have a temple and a Dance troupe of their own.

I have enjoyed the journey that Zaia has taken me on; and it feels as if she took me rather than the other way around. Once her training is over and she starts her travels, each chapter is a new place, a new Dance, and a new adventure. The people in the little towns and villages where she Dances welcome her joyously. While she is Dancing for them she is a living embodiment of the Goddess in their midst.

But not everyone she encounters in her travels is so pleased with her. Men from the patriarchal cultures to the north see a woman traveling alone as a challenge to everything they believe, and they confront her on the road. She is witness to the very beginning of the invasions from the north, invasions that will eventually shatter her world as well as shape ours – and that will force her to find new ways to survive.

This is not an academic treatise on certain Goddesses from certain areas. Rather it is as if you have been snatched out of your own time and plunged back into the Goddess world – full of beauty, surprises, and dangers – with Zaia as your guide.”

Author Diana Rivers is a Lambda Literary Awards finalist and a winner of the Golden Crown Literary Award for Speculative Fiction. Diana is also author of the seven novel Hadra Series. You can read about Diana in this entry from the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture.

You can find Dancer for the Goddess at Goddess Ink or on Amazon. When you read it, please share your review with us and with Amazon; we thank you so much.

Goddess Ink provides books, classes and sacred tours to honor the Divinity within you. For more information and to follow Goddess Ink Blog visit www.goddess-ink.com or visit us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/goddessinkbooks/. Also, please sign up for the Goddess Ink Newsletter for a monthly dose of inspiration.

Photo Credits used with permission: Book Cover Art work by Cedar Kindy, photo: Diana Rivers.

Introducing the Goddess Ixchel and Cozumel, Mexico By Maria Veronica Iglesias

Divine, Goddess, Mesoamerican Goddesses, Mexico, Priestess, sacred sites, spring equinox

Editors Note: Veronica Iglesias will be leading a Sacred Tour of Mexico for Spring Equinox 2017.

Ix´Cheel or Ixcheel, the feminine energy in the Mayan Cosmos.

Cozumel was a place of worship for the Divinity Ix’Cheel or Ixchel. She is related to the moon, fertility, rains, medicine, divination and childbirth. Grand Mother Ix’Chel is a beautiful goddess who can teach us to honor our cycles, our darkness, our shadow and our great light!

Ix’Cheel represents the feminine principle of the cosmos and together with her partner Itzamna, are the creative energy of life on Earth. She is the guide of the wise women, of those who heal, of those who read the destiny of the newborns; Of those who weave and narrate cosmic stories in their fabrics. Ix’Cheel is the Mayan grandmother, guardian of the female mysteries, guardian of the pregnant women, the newborn children, the moon, the medicine, the medicinal plants, the water that cleans and purifies. Ix’Cheel is the feminine divine energy that creates life and also destroys it, specially when she represents the energy of the water. She was asked for rainwater in times of drought and she was also asked to stop the force of water that destroyed houses and crops.

She is the guardian of sacred jade, of life, of the heart of her priestesses who honored her in her two sanctuaries, in Isla Mujeres and Cozumel. There is no doubt that Ixchel and Cozumel have many secrets to unveil. Recently women from various parts of the world have restarted the pilgrimages to consult the energy of the oracle related to health, fertility, initiation into the medicine, pregnancy and finally, with the weaving of life.

ixchel

Photo of Ixchel banner by Lydia Ruyle in Goddesses of the Americas, available at Goddess Ink or Amazon.

Cozumel

Cozumel was a sacred site of great magnitude, not only because it was the sanctuary of Ixchel but also because its architecture turned it into an earthly reflection of the cosmos, a great Tollan (a paradisiacal mythical site and center of pilgrimages) in the middle of the sea. Cozumel was a strategic site in Mesoamerica, its importance is not in monumental buildings but in its place of the cosmos, it was considered another Tollan and was also an oracular sanctuary, where thousands of people of all The Mayan area came periodically, especially women.

Cozumel is the third island with the largest territory in Mexico, located southeast of the Yucatan peninsula. It is known mainly for being a tourist site to which cruise ships arrive daily across the Caribbean, as well as all the tourists who come to enjoy the crystalline beaches of the Mexican Caribbean. Historically, it has been inhabited since preclassic times (1500 BC to 300 D.C), until the arrival of the Spaniards in 1518.

In addition it has been found that in several settlements in the coast in front of Cozumel are buildings with lunar orientations. These are small temples, with direct views of the sea, including Playa del Carmen, Xcaret, Paalmul, Xel-ha, Tancah, and Tulum, as well as Coba. (Sprajc, Ivan, “Sitios arqueológicos en la isla de Cozumel: el papel de la astronomía en la planeación arquitectónica y urbana”, in: UNESCO, El papel de la arqueastronomia en el mundo maya: el caso de la isla de Cozumel, Mexico: UNESCO, 1916. p. 72).

Most of these buildings and those existing in Cozumel were built in the Postclassic period (900-1518). Many of the new settlers are thought to have been Mayan-Chontal or Putun, who arrived after the fall of Chichen Itza (1200 BC).

Mayan Cosmology

As in all Maya territory, the observation of celestial bodies was also very important in Cozumel, “the orientation of it’s location, it’s island character, the evidence of pilgrimages, the lunar alignments of its constructions, the worship of the goddess Ixchel, confirm that Cozumel is unquestionably a center of knowledge production to address the intellectual legacy in Mesoamerica. “(Saenz, Nuria, “El paisaje cultural deleste como patrimonio y desarrollo”, in: UNESCO, El papel de la arqueastronomia en el mundo maya: el caso de la isla de Cozumel, Mexico: UNESCO, 1916. p.13).

The pre-Hispanic architecture of the island shows great alignments with the solstices and phases of the moon, particularly the full moon, whose cosmic force was also linked to the rains and procreative and propitiating energy. With all these constructions aligned with the earth and moon movements, the spaces in Cozumel are also related to the ritual calendar and to the consecration of the spaces, common practice in the Mayan culture and whose origins go back to the Olmec culture.

Taking into account all the astronomical and architectural marks in the buildings of Cozumel and its relation with the Moon and the Sun, the mystical-cosmogonic importance of the relevance of the Night Sun is remembered, that can be considered like the Sun that during the night travels to the underworld, but also like the moon that shines in the sky at night. It also highlights the relevance of the four cardinal points and their relationship to the creation and sustainability of the world and the creation of time.

Additionally, for the Maya, the divinity of the Moon was also associated with water, caves and cenotes. The Maya believed that during their absence in the sky, the Moon would retreat and reside in a watery cave or cenote. There are still two expressions in the Yucatec Maya that denote the Moon’s invisibility period: benel u tu che’n, “Moonrise to your cave” or binan u tu che’n “Moon. (Iwaniszewski, Stanislaw, “El tiempo y la Luna en la cultura maya: el caso de Cozumel”, in: UNESCO, El papel de la arqueastronomia en el mundo maya: el caso de la isla de Cozumel, Mexico: UNESCO, 1916. p. 49).

Sacred Tour to Mexico

The Goddess Ixchel, Mayan Grandmother is guardian of Cozumel and Isla Mujeres in Mexico. We hope you join us on the Goddess Ink Sacred Tour for a wonderful adventure that we will have during Spring Equinox in 2017, visiting the two Sanctuaries of Ixchel, Isla Mujeres and Cozumel, where you can experience the magic and wonders of the place.

Maria Veronica Iglesias

Maria Veronica Iglesias Ramos was born in Mexico City, Mexico. She has a Bachelor´s degree in Library Sciences and a Master´s Degree in Mesoamerican Studies from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (La Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico). She grew up in a family that always honors the Earth, the plants and all the living beings.

She was initiated as a sahumadora (bearer of the Sacred Sahumerio) when she was 8 years old. She studied about medicinal plants, crystal therapy and healing with gems. She also was initiated in the sacred knowledge of Mesoamerican shamanism and she became a Portadora de la Palabra, bearer of the Sacred Word. She is also a Priestess of Ix´Cheel, the Mayan Goddess of Medicine. She is currently researching gem stones and their therapeutic use, Pre-Hispanic medicine, Feminine Shamanism in Mesoamerica, Feminine rites of passage and Goddesses from Mesoamerica. She can be found at https://www.facebook.com/Papalotl, and at http://papalotl.net/.

For more information and to follow Goddess Ink Blog visit www.goddess-ink.com or visit us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/goddessinkbooks/. Also, please sign up for the Goddess Ink Newsletter for a monthly dose of inspiration.

Photo credits: Veronica Iglesias and Shutterstock photos.

Thank You, I Have No Complaint Whatsoever

Compassion, Divine, Goddess, Gratefulness, Priestess, Thanksgiving

shutterstock_518846149 “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.” – Meister Eckhart

Thanksgiving is upon us, as a holiday yes, and in my mind, as an opportunity to remember and acknowledge all the ways I am blessed.

My own personal world has been stunned and shaken by the turn of events in the US political scene, the ongoing concern about how we (collectively) treat our dear Mother Earth, and my own life and how it is evolving. I keep wondering, how can I best respond to these circumstances? Gratitude, thankfulness, appreciation for what I DO have, that just keeps coming up.

There is a story by Alan Cohen about a woman Zen Master named Sono who taught one very simple method of enlightenment. She advised everyone who came to her to adopt an affirmation to be said many times a day, under all conditions. The affirmation was, “Thank you for everything. I have no complaint whatsoever.”

Many people from all arenas of life came to Sono for healing. Some were in physical pain; others were emotionally distraught; others had financial troubles; some were seeking soul liberation. No matter what their distress or what question they asked her, her response was the same: “Thank you for everything. I have no complaint whatsoever.”

Some people went away disappointed; others grew angry; others tried to argue with her. Yet some people took her suggestion to heart and began to practice it. Tradition tells that everyone who practiced Sono’s mantra found peace and healing.

Thank you for everything. I have no complaint whatsoever. http://bit.ly/2galzdJ

I know that we all have the capacity to go to gratitude, but it is so easy to go to the place of drama, trauma, judgment, and complaints. But I know we are so much more than all of the complaints. Thanksgiving is an opportunity to practice having “no complaint whatsoever”. This idea of “Thank you for everything”, is such a powerful concept. How wonderful it could be if we could just be a vessel of appreciation and gratitude and share that with those we encounter, even when others are complaining. Yes, I know there is much to complain about, but those things require action, not complaints. So, right now, that’s how I am choosing to respond, to be a channel of gratitude.

My prayer for this Thanksgiving is “Thank you for everything, I have no complaint”.

Many blessings and a deep bow for this Thanksgiving week.

Genevieve

Photo Credits: Shutterstock Photos

What Now? Reflections on Moving Forward by Sidni Lamb and Genevieve Mitchell

Compassion, contemplation, Divine, Empowerment, Goddess, Learning, Loss and Grief, ritual

“All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.” –Julian of Norwich

In the bigger spiritual picture, “all shall be well” and we are indeed, okay. The Divine, however we define It, Her or Him, is SO much bigger than us, our community, our nation or our earth. The Divine is unknowable to us…., knowing that, yes, we are okay.

So, why don’t we feel okay? Many of us have feelings of pain, distress, heartache, sadness, fear and shock about recent political events in the nation. There’s grief and a sense of loss that makes us feel wounded and anguished, for our nation and for ourselves. Both during and as a result of the election, it has become painfully obvious that many of us have not felt heard or acknowledged. So, how do we move on in this very challenging climate?

What now?

Deepen Your Spiritual Practice– Take time to find the core of your spiritual practice. It could be meditation, ritual, praying, chanting, sitting in circle, celebrating in community. Find and attend to something that connects you to the Divine, to your sacred center.
Be In Nature– The Japanese call it forest bathing. Connect with the natural world, a tree, a park, go to the mountains, watch a rainstorm, be with the larger, deeper force of nature, the spirit of our holy Mother Earth.
- “You should sit in nature 20 minutes a day, unless you are too busy, then you should sit for an hour”– Old Zen Saying
Connect to Kindness– Offer or exchange a smile, offer a small act of kindness, ask or give a hug, call a friend. This is our opportunity to be of service to a world in need of kindness and compassion.
Feel Your Emotions– Be aware of what you are feeling, allow those feelings, honor them, exactly as they show up. In the same way, allow others to be where they are with their feelings, even if you don’t agree with them. Everyone processes in a different way.
Practice Good Self Care– It is time to take very good care of yourself. Eat well, get plenty of rest, care for your physical and emotional needs. When we have filled ourselves, when we are compassionate and caring of ourselves, we can respond more compassionately to others.
Take a News or Social Media Retreat– Turn off the news, turn off the radio, take a vacation from Facebook. Allow time for silence. Give time to others face to face, instead of digitally. Allow yourself rest from the outside media influences, allow yourself time to heal.
Find Something To Do Right Now– For some, it will be to write letters, sign petitions, participate in protests. For others, sitting still, helps us with our creative juices and finding direction for the “what now”.

Taking a purposeful pause to deepen our practice, take care of ourselves and to be kind allows us to get grounded for the hard work ahead.

Sidni Lamb is the founder, visionary and motor behind Mindful New Mexico and the New Mexico Leaders in Mindfulness Conferences.

Sidni’s work and passion focuses on connecting people to their communities and building bridges for collaborative relationships across all sectors and disciplines through mindfulness-based capacity building training, curating conversations for meaningful connections and teaching peace studies courses.

Genevieve Mitchell is a Partner with Goddess Ink Publishing. She is a Priestess, a Network Weaver, a photographer, a socially responsible investor, a mother, a grandmother and a devotee of God/Goddess/Divine/Spirit. You can contact her at genevieve@goddess-ink.com.

Photo Credit: “New Mexico Sky” Genevieve Mitchell

Pondering Priestessing

Divine, Goddess, Learning, Priestess, ritual

What does it mean to be a Priestess? What is required? What are the skills and talents you need to be a Priestess? What tools are necessary to master to walk, talk, act and stand as a Priestess?

I’ve been pondering these questions deeply in my own life. I have a very full life, I am engaged in a variety of business, work, volunteer, community and family endeavors. My guess is that if you asked people to describe me; very, very few would describe me as a priestess. Why is that I wonder?….Isn’t my connection to the Divine and the work I do as a woman walking a spiritual path, isn’t that a Priestess role?

I am really quite interested in pondering this question of what it means to be a priestess. I have Priestess friends, I have Priestess teachers, I’m in a Priestess program, I lead ceremony, do invocations, give blessings, I set up altars and call in the directions. Why do I still ponder what it means to be a Priestess? I don’t have an answer, but I would be interested in knowing what you think.

As a Priestess, I see a big part of my work is bringing the Feminine Face of the Divine into the world. Here are a couple resources I use to do that work. I love the book Stepping Into Ourselves: An Anthology of Writings on Priestesses, edited by Anne Key and Candace Kant. It’s a wonderful resource, including a whole section entitled TOOLKIT. I also look to Kimberly Moore’s Mother House of the Goddess for inspiration, resources and wonderful classes.

If you have other ideas, resources or good things to share, please email me at genevieve@goddess-ink.com.

Blessings to all you Priestesses!

Genevieve

Photo Credits: Stock Photos

Autumn Equinox

Fall Equinox, Goddess, Seasonal Greetings

Los árboles nos están apunto de mostrar cuán hermoso puede ser dejar ir el pasado.

The trees are about to show us how lovely it is to let go of the past.

Thursday September 22 is the Autumn Equinox. It is the point of balance, when all parts of the planet receive the same amount of light from the Sun. It is a moment when inward and outward balance is possible.

However, I feel the exact opposite of balanced. The fall brings new classes, new students, the rush of work. While the Autumn Equinox is at the apex of the fall season when growth is finished and readying for winter begins, my work is just beginning. I already feel behind.

And, just like in the picture above, this fall I am wrapped in leaves of my past. They seem embedded in my very pores, and I am not sure how to let them go. Will I feel naked without them?

But, if I am ever going to dig my toes in the rich compost of my life, the leaves must fall. The equinox provides us with a day of balance, a moment of clarity. Let’s take stock and see what we need to release.

Bright Blessings of the season to you.

Historical and Astrological Tidbits on Mid-Autumn: Mid-Autumn is the Fall Equinox. Equinox means “balance”, and this is the point when the dark and light of the day are most at balance. On a global scale, the equinoxes are at the points of the year when the entire world is in balance, with both Southern and Northern hemispheres receiving about the same amount of light. The equinox has another important feature as well: it is the only point during the year that the Sun rises in exact east and sets in exact west. For while the Sun “stands still” at the solstices, the Sun moves very rapidly across the horizon at the equinoxes, leaving only one day to calibrate to the east and west. The Fall Equinox festival is also called Mabon (derived from Welsh mab meaning “son” or “boy”);Harvest Home (in British Isle traditions the time when the harvest is complete); and the Witches’ Thanksgiving. Astrologically, Mid-Autumn may be calculated as the date the Sun is at 0° Libra, which usually occurs between September 21-22.

Fall, Learning and New Endeavors

Classes, Divine, Fall Equinox, Goddess, Learning, Priestess, ritual

gi_fb_ad1

It’s the fall ritual, thinking about going back to school, getting new pens and paper, figuring out what you want to learn about, what classes to take and what topics are calling to me. Where does your soul want to journey as the seasons change, we nestle down to cooler temperatures, changing colors and Equinox? What are you called to? Goddess Studies? The Divine Feminine? Your own course of Women’s Studies?

There’s so much to learn, so many options available. From the Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary:

learn play

verb \ˈlərn

Simple Definition of learn

: to gain knowledge or skill by studying, practicing, being taught, or experiencing something
: to cause (something) to be in your memory by studying it
: to hear or be told (something) : to find out (something)

I agree, but to me learning is interest driven, interesting, eclectic and at my age, self-directed. This fall I’ve added two courses to my schedule. I’m delighted to be taking a Molly Remer course, and a Visionary Priestessing Course with Priestess and MesoAmerican Scholar M. Veronica Iglesias, and you can learn more about her work here.

Learning has been a passion for me since I was very little. I read every book in the house, pestered my mother to take us to the library on a regular basis and secreted a flashlight in my bed to read after lights were out. I love learning about things that interest me, photography, art, nature, priestessing, music, cooking. I love reading biographies, learning about the knowledge, times, feelings, events and places that I will never experience. I am fascinated by the things people do to earn a living (drive a 18 wheeler, work with women coming out of prison, do surgery…). I love having a new experience, especially with someone who knows about the topic. Learning by yourself is good, learning with a guide can be magical!

I’d like to share with you that there are a variety of wonderful classes offered by Goddess Ink. If that isn’t enough to wet your appetite for new topics, see Kimberly Moore’s Mystery School of the Goddess for some wonderful opportunities.

What are your plans for this fall? New classes? A new book? A new project? I wish your blessings and success in your new endeavors.

May your fall be as beautiful as the fall colors!

Bright Blessings,

Genevieve

Genevieve Mitchell is a Partner with Goddess Ink Publishing. She is a Priestess, a Network Weaver, a Flower Essence Practitioner, a photographer, a socially responsible investor, a mother, a grandmother and a devotee of God/Goddess/Divine/Spirit. You can contact her at genevieve@goddess-ink.com.

Photo Credits: Stock Photos

Harvest

Divine, Goddess, Priestess, Seasonal Greetings

Today is the midpoint between Summer Solstice and Fall Equinox, at the cross of the quarters. In Anglo-Saxon England, this day was historically considered a harvest festival. But this day makes me think of a different kind of harvest.

This year, the monsoon rains came late to Albuquerque, and our plants have been wilting in the heat. The flowers in the front yard have only a few leaves (and only one blossom from a stalwart purple petunia). Our tomatoes were ravaged not only by heat by also by hookworms. The grapes are only now ripening, and the clusters are sparse, having been hit by hail at the beginning of the season and then a harsh monsoonal downpour last weekend.

My harvest this year is a harvest of the heart. My anniversary is today (celebrating 11 wonderful years of marriage), and I am held and supported by many friendships that are forged by the love of the Goddess, a commitment to connecting with the Divine, and honoring the web that weaves us all together.

Take a moment today to contemplate your harvest. Where are your seedlings thriving? Which blossoms are the fullest and brightest? Give an offering of gratitude to the fruits that nourish your life.

This day also marks the first day of autumn. The days are beginning to shorten, and we will begin to turn within. Take some time in these last days of the season to dance, sing, and enjoy the outward expression of your innermost beauty.

Love and Blessings for this day — Anne

N.B.: This cross-quarter festival is commonly called Lammas (from the Anglo-Saxon for “loaf mass”) or Lughnasadh (from the Irish god Lugh), traditionally celebrated August 1^st. Astrologically, the First Day of Fall may be calculated as the date the Sun is at 15° Leo, which currently Falls around August 6^th and 7^th.