Ask Your Mama: A Question of Rain by Mama Donna Henes

Are you cyclically confused? In a ceremonial quandary? Completely clueless? Wonder no more.

*Ask Your Mama™

The What, When, Where, Why, How, and Who of

Ceremony & Spirituality

by

©Mama Donna Henes, Urban Shaman

A Question of Rain

Dear Mama Donna,

Rain dance. Rain dance. There is no such thing as drought. Our lack of

consciousness and our scarcity thinking bring it about. The Rain Dancers pray with abundance for what is our god given right — rain. I witnessed a deluge of rain on the Hopi reservation like I have never seen before — five days of pure water. We can claim our divine inheritance now, Water Goddess is always with us and in us. We can restore our connection to the thunder beings and lightning beings.

Aho Mitukye Oyasin,

Dancing for Rain in Arizona

Dear Dancer for Rain and Life,

Thank you for your beautiful testimonial.

Rain is the vital, vivifying fluid, which flows down from the heavens to recycle and replenish the world's water stores. To refresh and revitalize the lands and all those species who live upon it. Celestial substance of necessity, rain is absolutely elemental and essential. But quite quirky. You never know with rain. Too much, too little, too late, too soon, too hard, too long. You can't really depend on it. And yet you have to.

I agree totally about our limiting ourselves by questioning divine abundance. However, I also believe that each one of us has a responsibility to protect and not waste or abuse our rich natural legacy. We are ethically bound not to take the precious gifts of Mother Nature for granted. Native peoples across the globe have always seen themselves as caretakers of Earth, Sky, Fire, and Water. They believe not only in god/dess given rights, but also in god/dess-centered responsibility. They have always participated in partnership with the planet to preserve, conserve, and create in reverence and due respect.

While water is a renewable resource, it is not inexhaustible. We all need to be conscious about conserving water. Flush fewer times, take shorter showers, shut the faucet when brushing teeth or shaving, watering plants with bath water, use low flow toilets and shower heads, etc. There are many creative ways. We all need to do our part and not simply depend on divine largesse.

I wish us all abundant rain and sun and wind and dew.

xxMama Donna

*Are you cyclically confused? In a ceremonial quandary? Completely clueless? Wonder no more. Send your questions about seasons, cycles, and celebrations to CityShaman@aol.com.

**************************************************************

Donna Henes is an internationally renowned urban shaman, ritual expert, award-winning author, popular speaker and workshop leader whose joyful celebrations of celestial events have introduced ancient traditional rituals and contemporary ceremonies to millions of people in more than 100 cities since 1972. She has published four books, a CD, an acclaimed Ezine and writes for The Huffington Post, Beliefnet and UPI Religion and Spirituality Forum. Mama Donna, as she is affectionately called, maintains a ceremonial center, spirit shop, ritual practice and consultancy in Exotic Brooklyn, NY where she works with individuals, groups, institutions, municipalities and corporations to create meaningful ceremonies for every imaginable occasion.

www.DonnaHenes.net

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Book Review: Radiance - Experiencing Divine Presence by Gina Lake: Review by Dawn “Belladonna” Thomas

Book Review by Dawn “Belladonna” Thomas: Radiance - Experiencing Divine Presence by Gina Lake

I found this book listed as a free e-book and downloaded without any expectations. I found it to be more than I thought it would be. My initial thought was how good of a book could it be if it is free. I was completely wrong. Though it is not a big book, the messages within it are valuable. It is broken down into five chapters with very simple and easy to follow exercises. None of the exercises took long to do and I found that afterwards my awareness had increased. These are the chapter headings.

Chapter 1: The Divine is Everywhere – You are not who you think you are – Who you are – Being awake – The need to choose – Everywhere you look

Chapter 2: The Windows to the Soul – Seeing Radiance – Being Radiant – Moving from the Ego to Essence – Seeing from Essence’s Eyes

CHAPTER 3: Love Is Everywhere – Love is Your Nature – Every Act is an Act of Love – Love is all Around – Attention - Acceptance

CHAPTER 4: The Divine in Action – The Divine Lives Through You – Seeing the Divine in Your Actions – Seeing the Divine in the Actions of Others – Aligning Your Actions with Essence

CHAPTER 5: The Divine Speaks – Talking to the Divine – Listening to the Divine – Expressions of the Divine

Gina Lake is a spiritual teacher devoted to helping others through counseling, intensives, and her books. She is the author of eight books. Her website offers information about her books, e-books, consultations, blog, and audio/visual recordings. www.radicalhappiness.com

This is a feel good book that I hope you enjoy as much as I did.

Intentional Insights by S. Kelley Harrell

Intentional insights: Q&A From Within by S. Kelley Harrell

Catching Dreams, Decoding Paths
Kelley, I had a devastating breakup with my partner. The last 10 months have been the worst of my life; however, I am healing and things are going better. I would like to relax and open up, but I have some anxiety because I have had sleep paralysis episodes since I was a child and find them frightening. Any advice on how to move forward?
Thank you, Shelley

Thanks for your note, Shelley. Sleep paralysis in child intuitives is very common, particularly for those of us who grew up without tribal support or insightful education of what they are. As a child, you had intense shifts of consciousness in your sleep, the sort of experience in which just as you were about to unravel something significant, just as you were about to grasp some deeper understanding, just as your higher consciousness was about to push some wisdom down to your Earthly consciousness, you would begin to wake. The unfamiliar sensations and shifting of your life force as this was happening, your brain processed as panic and fear. However, as an adult your spiritual quest has shown you that it doesn't have to be this way. You now know that you can allow higher insight from yourself and guides, and such a delivery doesn't have to be traumatic.

My suggestion is that you learn ecstatic, or shamanic, journeying. My sense is that you are a natural star traveler, but you need to learn the mechanism of how to do it thoroughly and safely. I've taught these classes for several years, and one thing that is a pleasant side effect of them is that your lucid dreamstate becomes far more negotiable and navigable. The more you study techniques to move into a theta brainwave (cognisant dreaming) willfully, the less you are afraid. Learning to approach trance from a shamanic perspective will enable this ease, as well as teach you boundaries in interspiritual communication. I expect that when you learn ecstatic trance techniques, you will eventually (or perhaps spontaneously) learn to widen that gap of consciousness in your lucid dreaming state, and you will get the significant information, the symbols, the next step in the direction your soul is leading you.

If you're near NC, I am teaching an intro to journeying class in the next couple of months. I'd love to meet you!
Blessed travels, Shelley!

~*~*~*~

Inception and the Modern Dreamwalker

"We only use a fraction of our brain's true potential. Now in a dream, our mind can do almost anything."

"Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange." - Dom Cobb

Don't worry. No spoilers here. I will leave it to the many wowed by the dazzling spectacle of Nolan's Inception to review the film's theatrical successes. My fascination with it lay on an entirely different level than most film buffs will relate, and that is the very thoughtful depiction of the power of the unconscious mind. I was a little annoyed that they kept saying "subconscious," a term that is not used in mind sciences but in the modern lay depiction of them, instead of "unconscious," the stream of information that is dormant in the mind until specific provocation activates it in consciousness. I won't even dwell on its reliance on one of my most grating pet peeves, which is a concept that is perfectly viable in Mind-Body-Soul alignment requires an external technological catalyst in order for the viewing audience to accept it. With regard to dreams, it is not only possible to control dreams and knowingly enter into the dream of another being, it's a finely honed technique many refer to as dreamwalking. I have been aware of dreamwalking lifelong, and am aware that the unconscious mind conveys itself vividly through dream symbols, although the ability to forge a mindful connection between the unconscious and the conscious isn't as quickly done as the film's technique implies. Maybe I should get one of those machines.

Anyway. For me the film's strengths lay in its very accurate presentation of the dream world, thus, the dreaming mind. I can't begin to express thoroughly how tired I am of dream dictionaries, mystics who insist that Regular Guy has no business interpreting his own dreams. Sure, having a handy index of alphabetized symbols scribed from the collective consciousness since the dawn of humanity is helpful. My ego's not that big. My experience as someone who teaches dreamwork, though, is that while those tomes do a great job of describing common archetypes, they rarely actually help a person unravel symbolic meaning as it relates to her present circumstances. As for intuitives who imply that we are each not the captains of our dream vessels and navigating their star paths... I say Inception's Cobb knows better.

Inception presents the dream world as it truly is: a reflection of the self. The Dreaming is the collection of symbols unique and wholly meaningful to an individual as presented by that individual unconscious. Rarely is an element of a dream truly interjected by another force, and when it is, the individual's unconscious allowed it to be. Consider that everything greeting you in dreams is some facet of yourself--the beauty, the scenery, the horror, the relatives, the peace. All are components of you projected onto the screen of your mind for you and you alone to receive, process and use as agents of change in your life.

So maybe Hollywood still needs a mechanism to propel self-awareness. Fine. I'll give it that. But the fact that it opened its audience to truths in controlling dreams, that it presented the potential to use dreams as catharsis for the self, and that it nailed the underlying mechanics of the dreaming human consciousness is a strategic and welcomed leap forward in mainstream entertainment.

~*~*~*~

The Wisdom of the Land

Kelley, I just moved from Los Angeles to Washington DC, and I'm not happy here at all. That said, I'm considering moving to Nashville or back to Los Angeles. Which location is best for my career?
Thanks, Bonita.

Thanks for your note, Bonita. I don't have a simple answer for you. The technique I use to address geographical concerns involves a map and connecting with the spirit of each location. In the Nashville position I am greeted with discord and dissenting factions. I don't feel, overall, that it would be a location to support your power or needs. In the Los Angeles position is the will to thrive after a disempowering wound, though there lies the source of the wound, itself. So, as you can see, neither is bunnies and roses. What stands out to me is that in Nashville, whatever wound was originally inflicted or confronted you in Los Angeles will only be further provoked by the dynamic in Music City. That doesn't mean you couldn't do well there, just that you would have some extraneous barriers put upon you by other people that you would have to work through before you could really focus on yourself. Do you need more limitations? Is the change of location worth distancing from the self-work you know really needs to be done? Perhaps it is.

Returning to Los Angeles entails confronting a karmic situation that is ripe for resolution. In confronting this situation you find the will to thrive beyond the wound. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that isn't easy or pretty; however, it feels like the location your soul is leading you.

Can you find the will to thrive beyond that wound anywhere? Yes. Do you have to return to the scene of the crime in order to heal? Of course not. Because I don't know what the challenge you face there is, I can't tell you how or why Los Angeles is the most supportive location to help you heal what is before you at this time. There may be other locations that are more neutral and supportive, but my feeling is that their comfort would not foster your need to stand in your power. Remember, it's not called the City of Angels for no reason. You're not alone. I wish you the best.

~*~*~*~

Intuition and the Ethics of Prophecy

Kelley- Recently, a new intuitive friend revealed that he had a vision about a horrific crime happening in my home. In roughly nine months, a man randomly breaks into my home to rob me for quick cash. This man realizes that we are in the home--myself, and my daughter--and he ties me up and then rapes my daughter in front of me. The young girl my friend describes seeing doesn't match my daughter. However, I have an identical twin sister with a daughter who quite matches it. Over all, he left me with a terrible vision of something that may happen to myself or my sibling. I just can't fathom this crime, yet I don't want to ignore the warning either. Can you give me any advice?
- Carolyn

I generally don't give advice, Carolyn, but in this case, I suggest getting a new friend, most definitely a new intuitive. The fact that he would so carelessly deliver to you such graphic yet vague information indicates that he isn't very grounded, and that he isn't showing you compassion. Now, I'll tear myself away from my knee jerk reaction long enough to give you an actual balanced, intuitive response.

A lot of people ask me the difference between psychics and shamans--and I admit--I'm being very general here. Anyone can see. Anyone. Whether someone can stand on the conviction of his or her intuition to do so in the service of others, is another matter. What makes someone a shaman, a healer, a conduit between the senses of the form and the senses of ether isn't just seeing that connection but also knowing what to do with the information that comes. Not everyone can find the cord connecting the fantastic with its mundane anchor. My measure of progress with every client is that my work must have meaning for their daily lives, else I've not done my job. Regardless of what I see, however tragic, joyful, or ethereal, past, present or potential future, it's my role to understand how the vision relates to the client in the moment. Sometimes things come in a language I don't understand, but the client does. Or sometimes neither of us understands the language, but both feel the significance of the message. What matters is that on some level of the client's being a cord was plucked, and its vibration evoked power. What your friend did to you was disempowering, akin to cosmic gossip. The cord he plucked was fear, and it jarred your peaceful connection with All Things.

Something else to keep in mind is that all glimpses of the future are merely glimpses of potential outcomes. People who truly walk between worlds are both confident and humble enough to know that everything is mutable. Every thought, every choice, every action we make shapes potential outcomes. There is no one potential outcome--there are an infinite number of potential outcomes for every consciousness on this planet. That means there is no one future.

As for what your friend saw, I hold visions as equally literal and metaphoric, one having no more significance than the other. Bless it and let it go. Who can say the reason for what he saw? Not I, and at this point, not even himself. Every moment that passes changes who we are, our life force, our potential... Were he to read you now, you would not be the same person he read then. Given that, I can't validate or invalidate what he saw. I can tell you with my barest truth that it was but one potential outcome of an infinite number of possibilities. With that in mind, I ask your guides how you need to move forward from this experience. Without hesitation, the Osage elder who comes tells me your need is to develop your own intuition, and to learn to release what energy you take on from others. In other words, focus on setting etheric boundaries. He says this in regard to your friend, and others like him, who do not have good etheric boundaries and thrive on creating drama in the lives of others. This friend is not a bad person, but he has behaved carelessly with you, and likely others. I highly suggest looking to an intuitive who is more grounded, someone who knows how to process charged information and help you hold it in a way that empowers your ability to make choices in your present.

Focus on expanding your own intuition and let that be what leads you. And remember, the Universe loves you. The Universe is trustworthy. The Universe is looking after you.

Be well, Carolyn.

~*~*~*~

Intentional Insights is a Q&A column inviting you to look inside yourself. Submit questions regarding a brief Soul Reading, spiritual healing, paranormal experiences, or shamanism, to kelley at soulintentarts dot com, or contact me to schedule a full-length Soul Reading. Intentional Insights is a production of Soul Intent Arts and appears here in the Global Goddess Oracle with permission.
Soul Intent Arts ©2010 All Rights Reserved

Mama Donna's Spirit Shop

Moon Schedule from First Harvest to Samhain by Dawn "Belladonna" Thomas

Moon Schedule from First Harvest to Samhain

By Dawn “Belladonna” Thomas

(Times are Eastern Time)

4^th Quarter – August 3^rd 12:59 a.m.

New Moon – August 9^th 11:08 p.m.

2^nd Quarter – August 16^th 2:14 p.m.

Full “Corn” Moon – August 24^th 1:05 p.m.

4^th Quarter – September 1:22 p.m.

New Moon – September 8^th 6:30 a.m.

2^nd Quarter – September 15^th 1:50 a.m.

Moon Void of Course Schedule

Date Starts Ends

Planting Days

August: 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 7^th, 8^th, 16^th, 24^th, 25^th, 26^th, 29^th, 30^th, 31^st

September: 3^rd, 4^th, 11^th, 12^th, 21^st

Harvesting Days

August: 1^st, 5^th, 6^th, 9^th, 27^th, 28^th

September: 1^st, 2^nd, 5^th, 6^th

Pagan Everyday - First Fruits by Barbara Ardinger, PhD

August 7: Birth of Hathor

One of the eldest goddesses, Hathor was originally a local deity of Dendera in southern Egypt who was incorporated into the cults of Ra and Horus as Ra’s mother or daughter or Horus’ mother. “Hathor” is her Greek name. First, she was Het-hert, or “Sky-house” or “My house in the Sky.” Worshippers of Horus renamed her Het-heru, or “House of Horus,” meaning she was the sky through which the hawk flew. Hathor also become the solar eye, the cow of the sky whose right eye is the sun and left eye is the moon.

Like Isis, Hathor corresponds to “golden Aphrodite” and is the goddess to invoke when you’re “in sexual need.” She’s the goddess of singers, dancers, artists, cosmetics, and intoxicating drinks. Early inscriptions also identify her as the goddess of the date palm and the sycamore tree. On New Year’s Day, Hathor’s image was brought out of the temple to be bathed in the first rays of the rising sun.

In an early Egyptian story, we learn of the Seven Hathors, goddesses of fate to whom a childless king prays. When his wife gives birth to a son, the Hathors arrive and pronounce his destiny: he will die by means of a crocodile, a snake, or a dog. In another story, the Hathors tell a beautiful young woman that she will die by the knife. It is possible that Hathor not only foretells the fates of humans, but she also receives them when they arrive in the Underworld, which makes her a goddess of regeneration.

Sometimes, however, Hathor causes the untimely ends of those whom the gods decide must die. As the Eye of Ra, she was once set upon blasphemers. As Sekhmet, she “prevails over humanity” with such joi de mort that the gods have to pacify her.

The Elemental Salamander

Research is wonderful. I have just found one—marginally—trustworthy source that asserts that “today was the ancient Greek salamander festival.” I don’t believe it for a moment, but because I want to talk about fire in August, I’ll use this make-believe festival as my hook. I dug into The Secret Teachings and learned what Manly P. Hall has to say about salamanders, which are spirits of fire

who live in that attenuated, spiritual ether which is the invisible fire element of Nature. Without them material fire cannot exist; a match cannot be struck nor will flint and steel give off their spark without the assistance of a salamander, who immediately appears (so the medieval mystics believed), evoked by friction. Man is unable to communicate successfully with the salamanders [emphasis mine]….

I don’t know much about magical salamanders, having never met one personally. I have trouble keeping candles lit, but I recognize the importance of fire, both real and metaphorical.

When I cast a circle, I invite the powers of the four directions and elements to bring their gifts to the circle. The gifts of air include discernment; of water, compassion; of earth, growth; of fire, creativity. If we can draw these gifts into our lives and our consciousness, I believe, we will live more magical and more productive lives.

Reader, nearly every “expert” says that the elemental spirits are untamable and should be invoked with enormous care. They are mischievous and not much interested in our petty human concerns. Do you invoke elemental spirits into your circles? What kinds of manifestations have you had? Try this experiment the next few times you cast a circle. Follow my lead in asking the elemental powers to bring their gifts to your magical work. See if there are any changes in your magic.

Isis

Isis, Great Lady, Queen of Heaven, mother goddess of Egypt, is mentioned in papyri that date back to 1500 B.C.E. We know that the Romans brought her worship to Italy in the second century B.C.E. Some years later, as she later became associated with the Ptolemaic god, Serapis, she became the foremost Hellenistic goddess and was soon as popular in Greece and Rome as in Egypt.

Thanks to the Romans, the “cult” of Isis found its way north and west into Europe, where she was often identified with local goddesses and is probably the original of Europe’s many Black Virgins. She was likewise carried east by the Romans into Asia Minor. Temples to her, called isea, were built in nearly every land. There are isea, for example, in the ruins of Pompeii, and her likeness appears on Roman coins as late as the fourth century. In 188 an iseum was built at Szombathely, Hungary; it was enlarged in the third century. This same iseum was rebuilt in the 1950s and now an annual Mozart festival is held there.

The popular worship of Isis thus endured from the fourth century B.C.E. until past the fourth century C.E. The Serapeum in Alexandria was destroyed in 391, the last official festivals of Isis and Magna Mater took place in 394, and the last mention of an Isis festival in classical literature dates to 416. Although her worship gave way to Christianity, we know that her iconography endured in the images of the young mother nursing her holy son.

Our major literary sources of information on Isis are Plutarch’s Of Isis and Osiris, which was read by Shakespeare and countless other poets, and The Golden Ass, a novel by Lucius Apuleius. The first is Greek, the second, Roman; both were written in the first century.

Barbara Ardinger, Ph.D. (www.barbaraardinger.com), is the author of Pagan Every Day: Finding the Extraordinary in Our Ordinary Lives (RedWheel/Weiser, 2006), a unique daybook of daily meditations, stories, and activities. Her earlier books are Finding New Goddesses, Quicksilver Moon, Goddess Meditations, and Practicing the Presence of the Goddess. Her day job is freelance editing for people who don't want to embarrass themselves in print. Barbara lives in southern California. To purchase a signed copy of Finding New Goddesses, just send Barbara an email at bawriting@earthlink.net

The Girdle of Ishtar: Astrology for Everywoman by Jessica North-O'Connell

The Girdle of Ishtar: Astrology for Everywoman

(c) 2010, Jessica North-O'Connell

It seems that summer has barely begun and yet we find ourselves already at First Harvest, six weeks beyond the Midsummer celebration of the Sun at its height.

The festival of Lammas, also known as Lughnasadh, honors the Celtic god of light, Lugh of the Long Arm, those far-reaching shafts of sunlight that illuminate our lands during the summer months. Irish Celtic myth tells us that it was Lugh who inaugurated the festival and seasonal games in honor of his foster mother, Tailtiu, who died of exhaustion after having cleared lands so that her people could plant crops. So it is fitting that at this time our own diligent gardening efforts begin to “bear fruit,” with the ripening of many berry varieties, transparent apples, salad greens and other early crops.

According to some sources, Lughnasadh in Ireland was a popular time for handfastings, trial marriages lasting for a year and a day, which would then either be formalized or dissolved at the end of the contract.

The season of Lammas calls to mind those myths which revolve around the Green Man, and the sacrificial son/lover of the Mother Goddess, with their seasonal contract of birth, death and rebirth.

GREEN MAN: The Captive King

“You can cover your ears to drown his cries -

Yet Pan just keeps on calling.” - Mark Simos (1)

He is known by several names throughout our many cultures and has been part of our collective heritage since time out of mind. Consort, son or brother of the Great Goddess, his annual death and rebirth represented the great cycle of nature, his role as god of fertility essential to the well-being of the people who honored him. He is the archetypal Wildman, the representative of male nurture and wholeness, the pure, untrammelled energy of the Masculine spirit.

Often featured as the “foliate head,” a leaf-enshrouded mask (sometimes with horns) carved into the pillars of old churches, the Green Man represents the Earth-honoring masculine aspect of Divinity, he who cyclically dies and is resurrected, in contrast to the Goddess who generally remains deathless. It is thought that his pillars may have been erected on the sites where those trees held sacred by Pagan cultures once grew.(2)

He was Tammuz to the Babylonians, Osiris to the Egyptians, Kernunnos and Herne to the Celts, Pan and Dionysus to the Greeks, Minos or the Minotaur to the Minoans, Jack o' the Green, Green George, the May King or the Leaf Man on the British Isles where, as the legendary year king, the sacrifice of his life ensured the return (or rebirth) of the land’s fertility, both of the harvest crops and of the animals who fell to the hunt, or who were cultivated for food and clothing. The theme of his death and resurrection is visible in the myth of Jesus the Christ, upon whom rests the foundations of Christianity.

The Sumerians knew him as the shepherd Dumuzi, (whose name means “faithful son”) (3), chosen by the Great Goddess Inanna to be her love, husband and king, though by accounts of their courtship their initial alliance was not an easy one. (4) This suggests that the farming people of Sumer were initially reluctant to ally themselves with the herdsmen of the steppes. However, with his promises of prosperity, Dumuzi finally won the heart of the Goddess who eventually made him her “mate.” The most famous aspect of their myth is the tale of Inanna’s descent to the realm of her dark sister, Ereshkigal, Queen of the Underworld, to satisfy her own “curiosity,” or to further the process of her own personal growth. This is one of the few myths where the Goddess dies and is resurrected, as this is usually the role of her consort.

The story recounts Inanna gathering together her riches, the sacred me, and her descent during which her wealth and status as Queen of Heaven were stripped from her, a metaphor for death as the great leveller, before she could enter the Underworld. She instructed her trusted secretary Ninshubur to enlist help in the event that she, Inanna, did not return within three days, the traditional length of time for the mythic Underworld journey and/or process of resurrection.

Under the pretence of wishing to observe the funeral rites of Ereshkigal’s husband, Inanna approached the first of the seven gates to the Underworld and demanded entry. At each gate she was commanded by a guardian to surrender an item of her office: her crown, lapis beads, double strand of beads, breastplate, gold ring, lapis measuring rod and royal robe. Finally she entered the throne room of her sister where:

“...Ereshkigal fastened on Inanna the eye of death.

She spoke against her the word of wrath.

She uttered against her the cry of guilt.

She struck her.

Inanna was turned into a corpse,

A piece of rotting meat,

And was hung from a hook on the wall” (6)

When after three days and nights Inanna had not returned, Ninshubur proceeded to seek help as she had been instructed. Twice she was refused by gods, among them Inanna’s own father, an indication of the ascendency of male social dominance which was becoming established at that time. Then Enki, god of wisdom and bridge to the Feminine realm, agreed to help. He fashioned two beings, the kurgarra and galatur, from the dirt under his fingernails to be the bearers of the food and the water of life. These he sent to accompany Ninshubur to the Underworld with instructions to sprinkle the corpse of Inanna with the food and water of life so that she would be restored. The kurgarra and galatur were instructed to slip into the throne room of Ereshkigal and to mourn with her in sympathy for her pain. Some accounts say it was the pain of childbirth, others that it was the suffering of existence.(7)

So grateful was Ereshkigal for their empathetic expressions that she offered them a gift. They chose the corpse of Inanna upon which they then sprinkled the food and water of life, as they had been instructed by Enki, and she was brought back to life.

Ereshkigal, however, was not prepared to release Inanna without a substitute. Refusing to surrender Ninshubur or her own sons Shara and Lulal, she finally decided that Dumuzi would be the one to take her place, after finding him ready to usurp her throne in the upper world.

“In Uruk, by the big apple tree,

Dumuzi, the husband of Inanna, was dressed in his shining me garments.

He sat on his magnificent throne; (he did not move)....

Inanna fastened on Dumuzi the eye of death.

She spoke against him the world of wrath.

She uttered against him the cry of guilt:

‘Take him! Take Dumuzi away!’ (8)

Dumuzi, the shepherd king, fled and hid on the steppes. There he dreamed about his sister, Geshtinanna, who would eventually trade places with her brother in the Underworld for half the year, by agreement of Inanna in sympathy for her suffering.

When Dumuzi was finally apprehended by the agents from the Underworld called the galla,

“They surrounded him.

They bound his hands. They bound his neck.

The churn was silent. No milk was poured.

The cup was shattered. Dumuzi was no more.

The sheepfold was given to the winds.” (9)

Though he had usurped the Goddess’s place, all women mourned the disappearance of Dumuzi, including Dumuzi’s mother, Sirtur, and Inanna, despite it being Inanna herself who had “...placed Dumuzi in the hands of the eternal.”

While on the one hand the tale clearly represents the seasonal year, with its dependence upon both crops and livestock, we can see social implications inherent within this myth which portend the rise and fall of status according to gender and, hence, the organization of society. Upon her return from the Underworld, Inanna finds that her husband, rather than mourning her own disappearance and death, has happily assumed her throne. By condemning him to the Underworld she forces him to accept the conditions of her own fate, that of hanging lifeless upon a hook in stasis, if not actual death, stripped of all status. Yet it is the compassion of Inanna and the sympathy of Dumuzi’s own sister, Gesthinanna, which allow him to return to the land of the living for part of each year and to actively engage in the cyclic nature of the world, an attribute of the life-bestowing grace of the Goddess.

The growing awareness of the Feminine aspect and the emergence of women into the public eye of the present-day world are reflections of the story of Dumuzi and Inanna. In recent years many women have made Inanna’s perilous questing journey into the “Underworld” (represented by the deteriorating environment, the threat of nuclear war, de-feminization, legislated poverty and other social inequities, etc.) Returning, we have “fastened the eye of death” upon those oblivious or uncaring perpetrators, most of whom are men, if not “men in skirts,” who occupy positions of dominance, influence and control (which some refer to as “power over”), which profoundly influence the immediate destiny of this planet and the lives of women, children and those men who serve, for it is upon our backs that the current system of hierarchy has been built in this earthly realm. We cannot climb down from the “hook on the wall” nor receive the “food and water of life” while we support our own oppression. In order to redress the balance we must all be ready to assume our share of the responsibility to recreate sustainability for the Earth and for our descendants, to not allow the further abuse and degradation of our planet nor of ourselves.

This necessitates self-knowledge and a commitment to our own personal evolution, the courage to stand for what we believe in and to stand against that which causes harm. It demands of us that we diligently apply ourselves to our own re-education in the principles and practice of an egalitarian partnership model and that we then find ways to teach it to those who would usurp our birthright. All children of Earth require and deserve liberty, dignity, respect and quality of life.

We must allow ourselves to hear, once again, the call of the Green Man and to celebrate him with our dance of life, he who reminds us that life is ecstatic, creative and fertile, who joyfully gives of himself for the common good, he who lives dormant and captive in the hearts of all men, the brothers, fathers, lovers, mates and sons of women; he whose premier role it is to be the guardian, support and protector of Mother Earth in her many expressions, of which he is one.

The Celestial Seasonal Outlook

(Calculated for sundown, August 1, 2010, 48N25, 123W22, PDT. Please note that this choice of date is based upon the 'static' Gregorian calendar, rather than the actual lunar calendar used by the Celts. )

As the sun sets, in the fashion of the Celtic tradition, the Feast of Lammas, festival of bread and grains, begins. Amidst the excitement and merriment of the First Harvest, there lingers an air of sadness, knowledge that the summer days will be drawing to an end, and the bustle of the harvest season will soon be upon us, in preparation for the long winter months.

The rising sign of this chart is Aquarius, suggesting a commonality of purpose, a drawing together in community, though with Neptune as the rising planet, we may not all be in agreement as to our supposedly “common” goals. Truthfully, there are as many goals as their are those who dream them!

At times of possible confusion, it is always advisable to check our own motives, which may be tricky, and to ask for clarification from others if there is any chance of misunderstanding. With Neptune close to Chiron, both also in Aquarius, we ostensibly embrace principles of healing, especially self-healing. Chiron asks us to look at the “wound in the thigh” of patriarchy itself. This may be the perfect time to ask ourselves how our long-held personal behaviors and habits impact our greater community and how they may impede our collective evolution.

With eruptive and changeable Uranus next to expansive Jupiter, both in impulsive Aries, also occupying the first house of this chart, we may find ourselves impatient and over-eager, resenting the call for balance that is currently being invoked through an opposition to grounding and structure-loving Saturn in Libra. We may feel that others are “holding us back” or interfering with “the flow.” Take a deep breath and count to ten before proceeding.

Aries' associate planet, Mars, is also in Libra and in close proximity to Saturn, attempting to learn how to take a leaf from the Book of Balance, or could that possibly be the plotting of war-like strategies?

At its best, Libra calls for us to consider things from more than one perspective, weighing all options before moving forward. Hasty Mars butting up against staid Saturn can lead to blow-ups, arguments and stand-offs – remember the deep breathing and counting!

As if this opposition set isn't enough, we also have to contend with both Jupiter/Uranus and Saturn/Mars challenging Pluto in Capricorn. Mythically, Pluto is god of the Underworld, the realm of the disowned, disembodied, dishevelled and the very, very deep. Consider this a time when it is possible that every deep or hidden part of us may suddenly erupt from the Upperworld, and very likely at times we may consider inappropriate.

However, in another attempt to help us keep a sense of balance, Sun in Leo in the sixth house of service provides a wide opposition to the Aquarius ascendant, which may even allow us to laugh at our own foibles and to enjoy finding creative ways to encourage our personal expression within the collective. Leo represents creativity, self-expression, playfulness, and the child-like, after all, as well as the theatrical...Can we express ourselves creatively through service and have a chuckle at the same time? The sixth house also concerns itself with pets – it could be the perfect time to reconnect with our animal allies and friends, both manifest and spiritual.

In the second house, Moon in Aries contributes to innovation, especially with regards to our personal resources and how we value them. One of the interpretations of the Moon is how (or where) we find personal nurture. The Moon's position here has some of us trail-blazing new attitudes: do we own or are we owned by our possessions? How do our personal values impact our relationship with the community at large? Can we find refreshment and inspiration for ourselves through helping community members who are perhaps less privileged or fortunate, or in a disadvantaged position in some way? Aries is a champion and a Romantic, in the truest sense of the word. In a disenchanted age, we all need a little Romance to see us through.

Both Mercury and Venus in Virgo in the seventh house, though not making aspect to each other, show a need to consider the details and fine points of any situation involving others. Venus tends to graciousness, hospitality and ettiquette, while Mercury's trine to Pluto in Capricorn encourages us to dig below the surface, thus helping us avoid settling for “bandaid” solutions. The mythic Mercury was no stranger to Pluto's realm; in fact, as Psychopomp his visits were very frequent as he guided souls to the depths. Taking a cue from Dreambody (10) work, now is a good time to pay attention to health matters, and to watch our dreams for messages from our own “depth realms.” With lofty Sagittarius crowning this chart at its Midheaven (tenth house cusp), we are challenged to seek the big picture, to pursue the overview rather than getting stuck in the details to which Mercury in Virgo may succumb. “Put it in context...”

Gemini at the foundational midnight point (nadir or fourth house cusp) further reminds us that solutions often lie in more than one direction. It's a good idea to consider multiple options rather than jumping to conclusions, a tendency certainly shown by other chart elements! This may, indeed, be an appropriate time to consider the “wisdom of our elders,” and to truly appreciate our remarkable heritage.

As a friend and colleague of mine states: “...Just as the infant must endure the long hours of suffering in the birth canal and loss of its amniotic innocence in order to enjoy the ecstasy of crowning and delivery, sequences of hard spiritual labor and dark night of the soul in the collective psyche are followed by explosive releases of tension, breakthrough and awakening.  During the moments of hard contraction that precede them, it is important to aim our aggressive energies at transcendence - rather than at each other.”(11) 

...which echoes words I wrote, as one of the facilitors, to mark and commemorate the Harmonic Convergence of August 17-18, 1987: “We are birthing a New Age: this is the re-emergence of an awareness of and respect for the Feminine principle and of her Holy Marriage to the Masculine principle. The child of their union is maturity of consciousness. At the time of birth, one stands between the worlds, between Life and Death. As the birthers, we are responsible for our own physical health, our frame of mind, our emotional well-being, our creativity, our spirituality. As the midwives,we require patience, skill and reverence for what we do, for who we are.”

A joyous and celebratory Lammas to all! Be kind to one another. See you at the Fall Equinox!

Notes:

1. Cited in The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess, Starhawk, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Toronto, 1979

2. Barbara G. Walker, The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols & Sacred Objects, New York, Harper & Row, 1988, pp. 256-257

Sylvia Brinton Perera, Descent to the Goddess: A Way of Initiation for Women, Toronto, Inner City Books, 1981, p. 81

Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer, Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth, Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer, Toronto, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1983

Ibid., pp. 33-34

Ibid., p. 60

Perera, p. 70

Ibid., p. 71

Ibid., p. 84

Arnold Mindell, Dreambody: The Body's Role in Revealing the Self, Boston, Sigo Press, 1982

Renn Butler, “Cosmic Ego Shredder,” essay, July 20, 2010

The Hanged Woman's Crown by Courtney Polidori

The Hanged Woman’s Crown:

A mother teaches her daughter about a constellation while in jail in Salem, 1692

On the eve of the hangings Corona Borealis shone down,

Nineteen stars bejeweled Ariadne’s crown.

One for each who’d swing from the gallows,

Ever after Salem’s hill would be hallowed.

Omen of death haunted midsummer sky,

Announced the witch hangings of 19 July.

Sarah Good, one accused, chose to die rather than lie,

In their jail cell, she kissed her little daughter goodbye.

“Women, as goddesses, must hold their heads high.”

She said with a sigh, “As Ariadne ended her life,

She chose to die rather than be enslaved as a wife.”

The hanged maiden kept vigil that night,

Stayed with the innocents until first light.

Omen of hope luminous in midsummer sky,

Soothing the prisoners to be hanged on 19 July.

In the morning mother was hanged, an inchworm swinging from a tree.

Before she died Sarah Good made her daughter promise to agree:

“My love, confess as a witch and you shall be free!”

The little girl Good grew tired and cold,

She’d lived only five years but felt a thousand years old.

She pondered the weighty decision all day,

Wished she knew a God to whom she could pray.

Soon after sunset Ariadne floated down,

Nineteen stars bejeweled her ethereal crown.

The hanged maiden kept the Good girl warm that night,

Stayed with the one who wanted to live until dawn light.

Summer nights see Corona Borealis shining down,

Nineteen stars bejeweling Ariadne’s crown.

One for each who’d swung from the gallows,

Ever after Salem’s hill would be hallowed.

Then, place of specters, place of sin,

Garden of Eve who invited the serpent in.

Now we fly to Salem for Samhain under the moon,

Twas never with the devil we sought to commune.

 Courtney Polidori (2010)

The Huntress by Phoenix LeFae

The Huntress

I pull the string back to my ear. With a breath, I steady myself and focus on the target ahead of me. In reality the target is only a paper bull’s eye, but as I aim I see more than just rings of concentric circles. In my mind’s eye, the wind is whipping through my hair, as I stalk the deer in front of me. In my mind’s eye I am covered in earth tones, mud rubbed onto my skin, hair, and clothing. In my mind’s eye I am deep in the heart of the forest, connecting to the spirit of the animal in front of me.

As I let go of the string I feel the plastic fletching from the tail of the arrow wiz by my fingers. In reality my aim is true and I watch as the arrow disappears into the target. Not in the center bull’s eye, but close enough to make me happy. In my mind’s eye the arrow also hits its mark and my prey falls to the Earth. It has given me the gift of its life and I am honored, knowing that one day I will also fall and feed the Earth with my own body.

My obsession with bow shooting all started with a book, as these things usually do for me. In this particular book, the world as we know it had stopped working and people had to revert to ancient ways for survival. One of those ways was in taking up ancient weapons, like the bow. For me it felt like a weapon from the Otherworld; classic, smooth, and sexy. I fancied myself an Elvin Warrioress in training. When the bow was gifted to me it was more than I could have imagined. I cried tears of joy when I opened the package, waves of Lord of the Rings imagery flooding through me. I felt like I was about to take my place among the great warriors of ancient times. I felt surrounded by golden light as I lifted the bow in front of me…and then the reality set in. I had no idea how to shoot the thing.

My shooting lessons were taught by a small firecracker of a woman. I found it very fitting that a woman would teach me how to use this artful weapon. In my first lesson we practiced aiming with a shoelace. We learned the proper way to hold the bow and how far back to pull the string. We learned about the proper stance and bow etiquette. That felt good and safe. In the second lesson, I finally got to shoot arrows.

Standing on the line I raised my new bow. Holding the bow with my right hand, I drew the cord back with my left. Holding the string close to my ear, I listened to the instructions from my teacher, on how to correct my stance and where I should be looking to aim. I let go of the string for the first time and watched my arrow fly across the range and impact several feet below where the target sat. Although I missed my mark, I didn’t care. My body felt like it was singing. It felt like this was meant to be.

When I stood with my bow in the proper shooting stance I felt like Artemis. When my position was right on the mark I could feel it, because there seemed to be a shift in the world. When holding the bow properly I feel like I have tapped into a great and mysterious secret. There is no other feeling in the world that I can compare it to. I don’t know that I will ever really be able to take down an animal. It is not something that I aspire to do at this point in my life. But when I am shooting, something inside me knows what it feels like to shoot down an animal; it feels like I have done it many times before. I am a Huntress and the forest is my playground.

Bow shooting connects me to something so primal and sacred within myself. Sometimes I want to go to that place and run with the wolves, never to return to the land of the mundane. The most powerful magickal tool that I have is my bow. With it I can transform myself into the Huntress and claim the power that lives deep within my cell memory.

If you get the chance, I highly recommend it.

The Moon and Goddess Mythology by Angie Skelhorn

All Gods are one God, and all Goddesses are one Goddess, and the names one uses are a matter of choice. Knowledge of Gods and Goddesses helps one choose the energy most appropriate for purpose. In our remote past by calling on the masculine Sun, the feminine Moon and Spirit of Earth, Air, Fire and Water to appeal to that power and that power alone to assist in rituals, one is accessing an energy available.

Friedrich Max Muller, a German born philologist (one versed in the scientific study of our origins) of the nineteenth century, held that early human- beings have experienced an awe of such natural phenomena as fire, wind, sun and moon personified them and began to worship them. The early Greek and Celtic legends provide examples of Muller's theory.

The Greek Goddess Artemis was recognized as the goddess of moon and night. She gradually acquired more and more human attributes, but still retained her original character of representing natural phenomena. Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and complementary as the twin sister to Apollo, the God of Sun and day. Artemis was born first and without pain immediately helped her mother with the delivery of her twin brother. Thus, she is known as a goddess of childbirth. She was known to bathe in pools with her nymphs and became the goddess of water and tides and is protectress of fishermen, guardian of harbors. Artemis was thought to exercise a powerful influence over the physical life of women, the lunar cycle of 29 days corresponding to a women's menstrual cycle.

In her youth, wearing a short tonic suitable for running and a silver bow and a quiver of arrows (her silver bow stood for the New Moon, the arrows for the shafts of moonlight) she ran through the wilderness. She loved the chase, especially that of stags. She became to be the goddess of the hunt and protectress of herds from beasts of prey. She is also the goddess of wildlife and the young of all living things. She was quick to take satisfaction for an injury done to her and her maidens and animals. She sent plagues and death among men and animals. The legendary Caledonian hunt, Artemis sent a wild boar to ravage the ancient city S of Aetolia, Greece, as a punishment for not including her in the sacrifice of the first fruits harvest.

Diana, in Roman legend, is the goddess of the moon, of forest, of animals, of women and childbirth. With the slow Christianization of Europe, Diana became identified with, and replaced by, the devil and everything evil. The legend of the Wild Hunt states the Goddess, transformed to the guardian of sorcery flew through the air bathed in enchantment of the Full Moon light on Samhain, All Hallow's eve, leading a nocturnal spree of ghost who destroyed the countryside. Her night train of restless dead riding phantom black horses and dogs, broomsticks, shovels and pitchforks and punishing the lazy and wicked. She rewarded those who left food for them by replenishing what they ate before they left. The Church associated the Goddess deities with evil. Their propaganda sought to destroy the Moon's Divine Force over women. The lunar goddess Artemis (Diana) is closely associated with Selene and Hecate. These are three personalities of one archetype. The Triple Goddess is a virgin-mother-crone goddess.

Selena was a winged, silvery woman who presides over the night skies, flying along in her chariot pulled by shining, winged, white horses, bulls, or cows. She influenced the fertility of all life forms on earth. She rules over New and waxing Moon, a two week period related to new beginnings.

Artemis armed with a silver bow and a quiver of arrows roamed the mountains with thirteen hunting dogs. She serves as the patron goddess of women and witches. She presides over the Full Moon, a seven day period that last from three days before fullness to three days after.

Hecate roamed the earth at night with a pack of hounds and dead souls. She is a destroyer of life. She is the underworld goddess, of fertility and plenty; the queen of the night; ghosts, spirits and other dark and hidden things, the ruler of magic and deep wisdom. Hecate is associated with the dark side of the moon.

In Irish tradition the Triple Goddess is associated with the phases of the moon – waxing, full, waning and the relationship with nature. It is the eternal cycle of becoming and ceasing and becoming again. The fundamental aspect is three goddesses in one. The threefold Goddess consists of: Maid, spring, inspiration, enchantment; Mother, summer, fall, maturity, ripeness; and Crone, winter, wisdom, destiny.

The Goddess Brigit, the maid wears a radiant crown of candles and braided white flowers in her hair. She dressed in a long white robe that flows to the awakening earth. She represents the waxing moon which symbolized by awakening seeds around or just after new moon.

Dana, the Great Mother, wears a crown made of Spring tree twigs as she carries a bouquet of blooming flowers and three leaf grass. She symbolizes the Full Moon as the time for sudden change, opportunities or breakthrough.

The Goddess Morrigan, with wisdom of Death, and Re-birth dressed in the traditional black robe represents the waning and Dark Moon.  This phase is mainly the clearing out. There is a sense of completion and a period of limbo before the new cycle begins.

The Goddess has acquired a thousand faces and a thousand names. The Moon - waxing, full, waning; the Queen of the Heaven is the Goddess - the maid - mother - crone.

Sources:

The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft by Rosemary Ellen Guiley

Dictionary of Witchcraft - David Pickering Cassell

Cosmic Connections - Editors at Time life, Time Life Books

Astrology from A to Z - Eleanor Bach, M. Evans & Company, Inc., NY

Author Bio- Angie Skelhorn web site http://witchskel.weebly.com. Her first novel "On The Edge," a must read for all age groups will be released by http://clublighthousepublishing.com in August 2010.