cosmology, consciousness, contrariness: the down to earth musings of a Goddess Mystic
If you landed here while looking for the international goddess research newspaper,
Goddessing aka
Goddessing Regenerated and
Goddess Network News), please let me direct you to it. My blog has no affiliation, other than affinity, with this
fabulous publication.
I have come to call myself Sage Starwalker, a name that's both a mouthful and a challenge to live up to, but when you ask for a name,
and the Goddess gives you one .... I started the
Goddess Mystic web site as a record of
my early priestess studies. I'm in my last year of Temple of Diana's
Spiral Door program. I'm an eternal student and have no plans to change that. I've accepted the identifier "disabled," but
fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis haven't completely stopped me. I have a home-based web design business. My ministry consists of
publishing
MatriFocus Cross-Quarterly (a zine); developing
Matrifocus [dot] Net to bring voices of the Goddess Movement to the blogosphere; teaching; peer counseling; dream interpretation;
performing rites of passage and doing divination work for community members; Saturn and Chiron Return chart casting and interpretation;
and web activism. My personal practice consists of contemplative arts and natural magic within Goddess, Pagan, Women's Mysteries, and Dianic Wiccan
frameworks. I'm a member of the Goddess Scholars Group, the Conflict Transformation Group, and Womonsong. I'm looking to
find more time for crochet, beading, and other art-making. Want to know more? Read
100 Things About Me
Goddessing is a recent contribution to Goddess vocabulary, following on from Mary Daly's suggestion that Deity is too dynamic, too much in process, changing continually, to be a noun, and should better be spoken as a Verb (following Buckminster Fuller's "God is a verb"). We can refer to goddessing meaning Goddess culture, Goddess way of life, Goddess practice, or 'my goddessing' as in my individual interpretation and experience of Goddess. (
Wikipedia)
See also:
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Shine on, Shine On Harvest Moon
Those are not just lyrics from a song from my great-grandparents' generation. They refer to a phenomenon of light.
My friend
J-Who-Lived-with-the-Native-Americans says the Harvest Moon lasts for 5 days. We pagans tend to celebrate a three-day window for a full moon, so what gives?
Deborah at Earth & Sky explains it all to us:
The moon typically rises about 50 minutes later each day, but the Harvest Moon rises around the time of sunset for several evenings in a row. Why? The reason is the ecliptic -- or path of the sun, moon and planets ... The ecliptic makes its narrowest angle with the horizon in the evening, every autumn.
A fifty minute average difference in moon rise, down to 30 minutes at the harvest moon and all the way up to 70 minutes in January!
As for why it's called a
harvest moon:
That comes in handy for northern farmers who are working long days to harvest their crops before autumn. The extra dose of lighting afforded by the full moon closest to the equinox is what gives the Harvest Moon its name. In the southern hemisphere, this Full Moon behaves in exactly the opposite way. South of the equator, there will be an extra long time between moonrises from one evening to the next.
There are many moon-naming systems, but in North America we tend to call moons after the tradition of the Algonquin (Native American) tribes. To learn the names and lore of the moons, visit the Farmer's Almanac
Full Moon Names page.
And notice that
the Harvest Moon doesn't always occur in September.So, if you missed your extended-period moon gazing last night (or even Saturday or Sunday), don't fret. There's still light and energy for full moon magic tonight and tomorrow night.
Shine on!
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Monday, September 27, 2004
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Tuesday, September 21, 2004
This and That
Can you tell what's been on my brain lately?
Author Seeks to Reframe Environmentalism in Post-9/11, a review of David Orr's
The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment in an Age of Terror by Howling At The Moon
Energy Efficiency
Quiz (UK-based, but applicable Gaia-wide)
The Elegant Universe, Brian Green, PBS (Nova) (a three-hour video series, available on the web). I read the book several years ago and just found the online video recently. A must-see for those who like to ground their magic and cosmology in cosmos- and life-based reality.
Ecological Footprint Quiz How are you doing as a being on this planet? I just recently took this quiz a second time, and my scores have improved slightly. The quiz gives a clear picture of where you are as a resource-consumer and what changes you might make to lessen your load on the planet.
Ecology Fund The "Hunger Site" phenomenon applied to saving endangered habitats and wildlife. Click, click, click!
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Thursday, September 16, 2004
Uplifting
I find in the web an awesome reflection of humanity -- of our diversity, creativity, pain, flaws, grace, beauty, intellect, compassion.
Recently, these three sites uplifted me with their bodacious, flamboyant, audacious humor:
- The Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Seas Islands
Outrageous! Revolutionary! Clever! A combination of out-satire and savvy politics.
His Imperial Majesty ... is the 19 X grandson of the murdered Gay King Edward II of England and hence is distantly related to all the major Royal houses of Europe.
The Kingdom's Chief Justice, William J. Freeman, created the American Disability Association and the Disability Law Foundation in 1991 and the Alabama Hate Crimes Center in 2004. Born with cerebral palsy, he says his motivation to work for the Gay Kingdom comes from his childhood experience.
As a seriously disabled child, Freeman says that other children, long before any of them had any basis to judge their own sexual identities, and certainly before he had any appreciable understanding of his own, regularly called him fag and queer, and engaged in other hateful assaults. He says he believes that this conduct proves a societal hatred of Queer Culture and was used as hate speech to marginalize him as a disabled child.
The Gay Kingdom's capital, Heaven, is about the size of London. The Kingdom has a constitution, coins, postage stamps, a flag, a seal, and the Gayflower, "a tiny gay government owned boat" that delivered its first citizens, and that is used for bringing supplies in from Australia.
- Taking a Closer Look at the War Medals of George W. Bush
A few weeks ago, when the Swiftboat Veterans were hounding Kerry, and Dole and all manner of good conservative folk were minimizing Kerry's Three Purple Hearts, some clever world citizen offered up info on Dubya's Medals. Info, did I say? Yes! Names, photos and descriptions of eight Bush medals. And these don't even include the controversial one or two you might have read about elsewhere on the Internet. The author says
George W. Bush doesn't flaunt his hard-won war medals. Occasionally he will wear them if he is attending a formal or military event, but for the most part, they are tucked away in his trophy cabinet.
Due to a large number of requests for information about his wartime heroism, I began studying his medals. What I found surprised me, and I felt it was my duty as an American to spread these remarkable findings.
Regarding Dubya's Fire Bears of Friendship Medal (just go have a look at the photo):
I hadn't heard of G.W's Five Bears of Friendship Medal, but when I saw it, I was struck by the intricately carved bears at the top.
Closer examination revealed that they are actually gummi bears that have been spray-painted gold.
- Hathor the Cow Goddess and the Evolution Revolution
A mix of motherhood, family, politics, illustration, and satire. Yes, folks, it's a series of cartoons (and an incredible unassisted birth story) by Heather Cushman-Dowdee, Goddess of Moo.
And off the humor track, here's one final uplifting link: Jason Pitzl-Water's
A Darker Shade of Pagan, his site devoted to "pagan and pagan-influenced music with an edge" (beyond chants and festival folk!). Scroll down to
ADSOP Radio Special Year 4 and listen to this year's annual Darker Shade of Pagan radio special, many minutes of music for your listening pleasure.
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Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Will the Real Celts Please Stand Up?
Celtic nations like Ireland and Scotland have more in common with the Portuguese and Spanish than with “Celts” — the name commonly used for a group of people from ancient Alpine Europe, scientists say. (
Genetic studies hint at unexpected origins of clans)
When I found my way to the Goddess and fell in love with Her, I started exploring what a Goddess Spirituality or Goddess Religion might be like, and assumed I'd find rich and relevant information by exploring ancient cults, cultures and cosmologies associated with historical goddesses.
Like most of us, my introduction to Goddess was through neopaganism, Wicca, "the Craft," contemporary witchcraft. So in addition to exploring ancient and near-ancient myths and practices, there were the contemporary traditions to sort through and then some thinking to do about their roots in western occultism (derived from Jewish, Christian, and Egyptian cosmologies and practices -- Kaballah, alchemy, ceremonial magic).
Truthfully, I'm still wading through all of this and probably will be doing so until my eyes and brain cells give out. Fertile ground for a seeker.
Somewhere along the line, I became interested in the
"celtic" roots of neopaganism, and in my own "Celtic" heritage. More confusion. Consider:
Celtic identity is a chronically vague and indefinable concept, but also one of special importance at the present stage in our history. (It is) a subject of profound uncertainty and over-heated debate amongst both the public at large and academic specialists. (
The Celtic Languages and Cultural Identity: A Multidsiciplinary Synthesis)
The idea of a Pan-European Celtic culture is a myth; rather, aspects of art and technology were shared over wide areas among diverse cultures. (
The Carnyx)
During the 19th century, nationalist groups in Great Britain and France took on the mantle of 'Celtic' culture as a way to unify their various movements and to identify themselves with a unique and proud history. A mythology of 'Celtic' tradition was particularly popular in Victorian England...Much of what we now think of as 'Celtic' is a creation of 19th-century romanticism -- and almost nothing in our popular image of Welsh and Irish culture can be directly traced back to the culture of the Celts who fought Julius Caesar back in the 1st century BC. (
Celtic)
Hmmm. More sorting to do on the Celtic thing. I hope I live long enough to see how genetic studies reshape our thinking about our cultural origins. Fascinating stuff!
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Monday, September 13, 2004
Mom
I woke before dawn this morning and meditated before getting up, as usual. I tried to convince myself to leave the comfort of bed, to meditate on the porch, or down by the lake, but the flesh was unusually unwilling.
Probable cause: today is the 15th anniversary of my mom's death. At the end of my meditation, I sent her brilliant white light and with it these messages:
I love you. You are a worthy manifestation of the divine. What didn't work between us is in the past: forgive yourself, forgive me. As you gave me life, so I send you this light. May you find your way to source. May you find your way to happy and fulfilling incarnations. May you find your way to love. A pagan, new-age, catholic prayer for the dead.
I sat down here to write about her, but find I don't have the heart for it today. I'm holding in my mind's eye the huge double rainbow that spanned the city of Houston on this day, 15 years ago, when I drove in from Austin, summoned by sister. When I saw the rainbow, I knew Mom had passed, and in its beauty, clarity, size and duration I saw an expression of my mother's essential nature, liberated from the social restrictions, neurochemical imbalances, and personal disappointments that constantly did battle with her desire to shine.
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Friday, September 10, 2004
Nature in the Middle
In the middle of the afternoon, Wednesday, a
woodchuck was seen scampering across a neighbor's yard and ducking under the porch, to get away from curious cats.
In the middle of the night, recently, high yipping barks were heard, first from the thicket between me and the lake and then, by intervals, up the hill toward the woods. (How I know it was a coyote: It sounded just like
Howl #49. How I know it was the middle of the night: I was up in my study because I couldn't sleep.)
In the middle of the afternoon, two weekends ago, a huge beautiful butterfly, so big that gravity pulled its body down, at a tilt, while it fed at the waning bee balm, totally oblivious to the big humans 18 inches from it. It definitely preferred the fuschia to the red bee balm. (How I know it was a tiger swallowtail: It looked just like the one in the photo, provided courtesy of
Oscar Gutierrez.)
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Thursday, September 09, 2004
Venus Watch 2012 -- Clean Energy
The big hurrah about this summer's Venus transit is long over, but many of us are remembering the promise of the 2004/2012 eight-year cycle and the Mayan calendar prophecies about the next transit at the Summer Solstice of 2012.
I've been thinking about Venus, the transits, and being part of the
New Consciousness for the Renewed World. Being positive about our future, without being out-of-touch or in denial, is like walking the edge of a sword.
On one side of the blade, bad news today:
The true number of species at risk of extinction could be 50% higher than the total shown on the International Conservation Union's Red List,
according to a bleak new assessment.
On the other side, news that a born-again optimist like me can use to support her fervent belief that we're truly on the cusp of a renewed world:
I've been reducing my intake of bad news and increasing my intake of good news for quite some time now. It's not a bad spiritual diet plan. "Clean and almost unlimited energy supplies" within seven years! So mote it be!
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Friday, September 03, 2004
slow
I'm at the very end of a very long process: getting our individual and joint paperwork organized, up-to-date, pared down, and filed in logical and retrievable ways. I've been working on the last 2% of this process -- you know, the part of every process that seems to take more time and focus than the previous 98% -- since April. Working magic, working my brain, working my body to get this done! The deaths of Cobi and
Is. and all that came with (especially the depression) slowed me down, as did bouts of resistance. When I missed my deadline (Lammas), I put away all my beading tools and supplies, fun distraction that beading is, and have been slogging away at this work until almost all of the resistance is gone and the end is in sight.
I don't like doing this work, but I don't like living a life where it's undone....
The paperwork backlog is due to lots of things besides dislike for doing it, things that can be boiled down to these two: being disabled, and being too busy for my own good, despite disability.
Even disabled, I have
more energy than most people. Unfortunately, I can no longer use it (or misuse it), in primarily physical ways. There's some good in that, no doubt. Slowing down is what has allowed me to develop meditation and contemplative practices, to develop an intimate relationship with Mother Earth as she expresses herself around me, to develop my creativity, to define my priestess path.
I spent some time this week looking at various zines and their book reviews in anticipation of changes in my own
zine. Our next issue will start our fourth year, and I'm stirring redesign and expansion schemes in the cauldron. Very exciting!
I was looking at reviews for format, and word count, and other specs, when I came across a review I read in entirety:
IN PRAISE OF SLOWNESS: How a Worldwide Movement is Challenging the Cult of Speed at
Yes! Magazine, the publication of the
Positive Futures Network.
Here are some tidbits from the review:
Slower living builds community, which creates a sense of belonging and calms people down.
Work has spilled into our personal time. It used to be only “workaholics” worked anytime, anyplace. Now it’s common—and expected—that we work 24/7.
One result is that we don’t reflect—we react. Fast Thinking, which is linear and logical, is what we do under time pressure. Slow Thinking, which we do in the shower or walking the beach, results in insight and creative epiphanies. Slow Thinking, in other words, is unpredictable. Free.
Now reading this was sort of like being a choir member, and being preached at, yet it was also validation and a reminder. As slowed down as my life is, in some regards, I still have a long way to go to really living from my own center.
For example, I was asked to do three things for Madison's upcoming
Pagan Pride Day. I did at first say
no to all three, yet well-meaning, persistent, persuasive friends have talked me into a
yes on two of them: doing a presentation (
Nobody Wins in the Witch Wars!), and leading the pre-ritual drumming. I'll enjoy doing both, and hanging out at the beautiful park all day (I may even split a table with a friend and read cards). Yes, I'll enjoy all of that. But I said no because I had other things on my plate, and had just finished spending a lot of time and energy doing some teaching/presenting and community work.
I suppose it's a matter of balance. And when it comes to the pace and activities of our lives,
IN PRAISE OF SLOWNESS promises both information about how we got out of balance in this area and also models and inspiration for rethinking and rebalancing.
The work of the Positive Futures Network is to give visibility and momentum to ... signs of an emerging society in which life, not money, is what counts; in which everyone matters; and in which vibrant, inclusive communities offer prosperity, security, and meaningful ways of life.
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