Fresh Eggs Fall Equinox 2023
Fall Equinox 2023
Fresh Eggs
Newsletter of the Women's Spirituality Forum
Edited by Tinnekke Bebout & Lisa Crow
What's Fresh?
Our beloved Z recently had a health scare that required a short stay in the hospital. Thanks to the skillful doctors and nurses that cared for her, she is already home and resting and her best friend is there helping her while she convalesces.
However, this is a timely reminder of just how fragile life can be, and how tomorrow is never guaranteed. We need to seize our moments when they come to us and not always put off until later what we can do now. Z knows she is not immortal, and one day, she will join her ancestors, but that makes every chance that she has now to be with the Sisters that much more special.
The planning for Goddess Festival 2024 is already underway, and many amazing women are coming to present and perform. Early registration for the Festival is currently open, and the early registration price is in effect until the end of December. All you need to do to reserve your spot is to put in a down payment before the end of the year to be sure you get the best price, and to show Z some love by showing her that you want to be there with her in the magickal mountains next September. Those Sisters who have attended festivals in the past, please email Tinn at dreamweaver93@sbcglobal.net if you wish to attend, so you can get the special discount for previous attendees.
Register for Goddess Festival 2024!
FROM Z:
Every Other Year I Go to Heaven
At the end of summer, first week in September after a year of preparations, I drive with some friends to La Honda into the big redwood trees. A deep happy takes me over, I turn my radio on to hard rock and roll, singing as I go on highway number one along the ocean.
The “blue beast” was smoky colored this time. She does clear up after a while, the sea fog still lazy to move, but then morphs into that azure blue. The ocean!
“Whooohoo!” I cry as if my car was a fast horse.
What a blessing it is to be alive now, and to have the privilege to produce a gathering of like minded women. The International Goddess Festival draws all kinds of women come from all over the world. This year we had especially focused on the “Girl Goddesses”, from infants to teens. They are the most vulnerable to the constant messaging of female beauty and how we should be girls/women.
One seven year old little girl was asked what would she ask the Goddess and she said, “I wish for a flat stomach.” At seven they have already made her drink the poisoned cool aid. She was flat as a board all around.
Governed by feminist values, we practice sisterhood in friendships, and rituals. We bed down into our cabins, our nest for the weekend. Birdsong replaces the sound of cars. Redwood paths absorbs the sound of our footfalls.
For a witch this is pretty close to paradise.
Stolen moments of bliss from the jaws of a relentless bitter woman-hating patriarchy.
Spell Thanking the Goddess for Favors Received - from The Grandmother of Time
Diana, lovely goddess who runs in front of the winds,
You who grant the wishes of your children
And tend to their needs like a mother,
Thank you for the blessings you have bestowed upon me,
And thank you for the blessings yet to come.
 |
| Autumnal Equinox by Sharon McCarthy |
Salutations!
Just before mid-night ~ at 11:50 pm today September 22 the Sun enters Libra.
Libra is one of the 4 cardinal signs that initiate seasons.
We breathe in. Gently pause. We breathe out. We care for our lungs in the Autumn.
Libra is an Air sign (mental realm), ruled by Venus and the 7th of our 12 zodiac signs.
This sign of relationship is symbolized by a set of scales to balance weight, so perfect for the Equinox.
Also serendipitous for the Autumnal Equinox is today’s waxing Half Moon.
One half glowing, the other in shadow ~ balanced midway through its lunation.
At the Equinoxes, the sun rises due east, and sets due west.
Daylight hours balance with the dark now (aequi-nox/equal night) at this phase of the solar year.
This is the second of the Harvest holy-days, celebrated between Lughnasadh and Samhain.
By now we know how well our gardens and fields have fared through the growing season and give thanks.
Ancestral ways to experience seasonal transitions include
Sensing and reflecting upon what may bring more balance into our life right now.
Our changing needs can often be felt more directly when we attune to the cycles of Nature.
This awareness supports a healthy balance between our inner receptivity and our wider engagement.
We are designed to sense wisdom arising from our own depths as well as from our environment.
Bringing our attention to this synergy can brilliantly guide us as we gracefully tend to our well-being.
I invite us to contemplate this archetypal pairing so central to harvesting ~
Fully ripened fruit ~ here now ~ pregnant with seeds ~ for a time yet to come.
All life flourishes with a truly caring stewardship of these gifts of continuity.
While deeply sensing all of this, I recently felt my body reclining back, expanding ~
as my whole self became one with Mother Earth.
Perhaps you’ll join me in a similar exploration!
~~~
Late summer’s abundance of fruit and flowers
Burst open to release their precious little seeds.
Some are quickly scavenged by the wild ones.
Some pods pop open launching their seeds into the air.
Some float for hours on a breeze.
Some seeds come home to earth still waiting inside fallen fruit.
They each find a way to carry their future dreams to a safe and fertile haven.
Imagine feeling these seeds accepted into the softness of our earth body
As we remember our past and future Oneness with our Living Planet.
As Earth’s body we might feel each seed’s return as a joy-full reunion ~
Renewing our deeply embodied memories of receiving
Generation after generation of seeds throughout millennia.
Imagine feeling the touch of each seed.
Just relax the specifics of identity and open to pure connection.
Each seed may one day sprout with its accumulated ancestral wisdom.
Each seed that feels welcome will sprout when the time is right in our fertile aliveness.
Let gratitude become that which nurtures these seeds of creativity and insight.
Engaging this meditative practice as a metaphor,
We trust our intuition to receive the energetic Medicine of the Seeds that come home to us.
We deepen into our partnership with Gaia as She Blesses us.
Historically we think of ourselves as the grateful harvesters, the ones who receive Earth’s bounty.
This sense of the harvest invites us to sense Gaia’s Joy as She receives a new generation of seeds…
Seeds that hold the promise of future flowering.
Oh to live on our planet this way…
Taking only what we need and
Saving habitats, natural resources and Seeds of Love and respect for our future generations.
Blessings to all beings amidst our life’s unfolding.
May we revel in the fruits of today, and lovingly tend our seeds of tomorrow!
Love
Sharon
http://www.soulsvisionhealing.com/
Goddess of the Month - September 2023: Oya
WHO IS OYA?
Oya is a powerful Orisha and Goddess Whose origins are in West Africa but Whose worship
spread with the African diaspora caused by the slave trade. She is now honored in South America and the Caribbean Islands by various peoples. Oya is a warrior-queen and rules the tempests and all winds. She is creatrix of the storms, especially tornados. She also rules the thunder, lightning, and rain as well as hurricanes. Perhaps paradoxically for one so associated with water and wind, Oya is also Goddess of fire, Who burns away that which is no longer necessary to cleanse the way for new growth.
Oya is a Guardian of the Ways, Whose voice communicates to us through the beloved dead. She is a Mistress of the Clairvoyant Arts, and She can summon forth the Spirit of Death at will or send it away. Oya leads spirits to rebirth if such is their desire. She is known in the Voudoun tradition as Maman Brijit. She is also the beloved and feared Protectress of Womyn. Oya guides the hands of Womyn leaders if they have the wisdom to ask for Her aid. She loves female leadership and will nurture it. However, Oya will swiftly punish those who abuse their positions of leadership to turn its responsibilities to opportunities for power and self-aggrandizement. Some of Her other names include:
Great Mother of the Elders of the Night
Oya-ajere - Carrier of the Container of Fire
Ayaba Nikua - Queen of Death
Iya Yansan - Mother of Nine
Ayi Lo Da - She Who Turns and Changes
Invocation and Working with Oya
Oya is a fierce but merciful Goddess. Treat Her with deepest respect but don't be afraid to approach Her when you are in need. If you want to work with Oya on a regular basis, I recommend that you learn Her ways from a Priestess of one of Her modern traditions such as Voudoun, Santeria, or any of the other modern African/Brazilian/Caribbean cultures who honor and respect Her. There is also plentiful information on how to work with Her in many books on the subject which are readily available. But if you only want to invoke Her occasionally, then the following information can help you to learn enough to not make missteps.
Altars to Oya need to be covered in beautiful, rich fabrics in jewel tones of purple, burgundy, and copper. Sandalwood is a favorite incense and is good to use. It is best to invoke Her on a Wednesday or Friday if possible, but if you are truly in need, any time is fine. The altar should be laid out with a dish of boiled black-eyed peas and cooked eggplant and a goblet of rainwater as offerings to Her. A small vase of marigolds would also be quite appropriate and they can be grown indoors if they are not in season. If you wish to use candles, ones in dark red, purple, and coppery colors are recommended. Dress yourself with respect and wear flowing, loose clothing, preferably long skirts and luxurious tops. Copper bangle bracelets are very good and so are necklaces which are long with varicolored beads.
Thunder-Woman by Heathwitch
Storm-bringer,
Change-maker,
Woman-warrior:
Oya!
Your name calls the winds
Your name weighs the truth
Your name comforts the dead:
Oya!
Thunder-woman,
May your strength and grace
Shelter me always
May your storms and winds
Bless me with positive change
And may I always know
Your thundering, divine love.
Hecate's Wheel Appearing at Goddess Festival 2024
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