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Like a drop of rain, flowing to the ocean." The above could very well be a "Dianic" creed. We all come from the Mother; we all return to the Mother. We are all of the Goddess, even the "God"? This is an age long debate that I leave alone. Everything is a circle to me, a trinity of the Maiden, Mother and Crone. The Goddess in all her aspects guiding my life. It is She and She alone I seek. As women I believe our power comes from the blood of our ancestors, all the women before us, their joy, sorrow, triumphs, losses and the Goddess that ran through their veins as she runs through ours now. As women we share lunar cycles. We celebrate each of our blood mysteries: our own birth; menarche, the first blood; giving birth; menopause, our crone-ing; and our death. While being born and dying are common to all of us, men do not bleed monthly or give birth. Their energy is and always will be different. I have struggled long to believe the God/male/deity adds completion and wholeness as some of my sisters believe. I tried to keep an open mind but the belief never came. I can no longer deny myself the ascension to my Goddess. I can respect the "degrees" in the craft as a dedication of time, teachings and learning. It is the "Great Rite" that stops it for me. My path is pagan and I am complete with out God/male/deity. I am a 3rd degree Priestess of my Goddess, dedicated to Her and Her ancient teachings. The Goddess is part of every woman and they of Her. It is our birth rite and is not a gift from man or any other woman. Whatever the reason this is the path before me and I choose to walk it. Yes I have a mate, I take great pleasure in his arms and I honor his struggle as a soul on this human plane. Yes I have given birth to a child I love very much. But to my surprise it did not make my life complete any more than the perfect biscuit recipe made my marriage complete. I would be complete if I were still a virgin or living my life single. I am complete in Her. The creativity that comes alive in me is like Gaia giving birth to the world. I am alive because of Her. To reach out to help all women is to give life for me. I see so many women give up their strength by seeking a man to make them complete. It is written "And ye who seek to know me, know your seeking and yearning will avail you not, unless you know the mystery; for if that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without." Some of the strongest women I know lose site of this in trying to pleasure, control or change the men in their lives. In loving one's self first only then is one truly able to love as a woman. The hardest lesson is learning that we, ourselves, are Goddess. It is the hardest lesson many of us ever have to learn, and for some it is a continuing difficulty. To look at oneself in the mirror, searching for divinity that we have been taught for years is just not there, stilling the voices that tell us we are nothing-it is harrowing. It is, however, life changing when we see Her within, and realize we are all powerful to transform ourselves. Naturally, I celebrate Sabbats of a different focus than other traditions. Hallowmas, the new year, is the time of the Crone, well into the labyrinth we started walking at the Autumn Equinox. Yule is still a time of being within, nurturing the seed of enlightenment and our first steps out of the labyrinth. Candlemas, is a time of celebrating the return of the light and the visions of the year to come. It is really the first of spring, the girlhood of the Goddess, a time of initiation. Eostara, the Vernal Equinox, celebrates the Maiden's first blood and budding sexuality. Beltane celebrates the creative force; Midsummer is the time of the Mother, Lammas, the first harvest; and then the Autumn Equinox, leaving motherhood and entering the labyrinth again, to find the wisdom of the Crone. I do not claim my way is the only way, it is the way the Goddess leads me. It is the way the Goddess shows me to help my sisters. Journey DIRECTORY |