Find Feminine Allies– Goddesses that inspire- Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, Bridget, Kuan Yin, Hera, Hestia, Demeter, Persephone, and Hekate.  Learn about the female archetypal forces to help manifest your vision.

Today I will focus on the Goddess:

 

Why is goddess mythology important to the modern woman?

Reclaim self as spiritual-

goddess is in the feminine image.

Reclaim body as valuable-

We learned to disassociate when bodies were said to be evil and minds pure. The body was punished- it responds to reclamation by becoming a more powerful, sensitive intuitive tool.

Also pass on intuitive teachings that have been disrupted. Much of what has been lost for women are the wise teachings.

Greeks have a very rich history of these wisdom teachings. And we will focus on 8 Greek goddesses.

 

Intro to book:

It is possible that in your life time all eight of these Greek goddess archetypes will influence your life. Each of these goddesses provides life lessons in a chapter of our psyches. Each divine being has a different style, intent and influence and will connect uniquely, with every one of us.

Intro to oracle deck: Pass picture around of each goddess type.

 

Soul type:

One of these may be your goddess soul type, the one

with whom you feel most aligned. The others will be visitors that come to teach important curriculums.  They come at times you feel alone are in new territory and without an instruction manual. Such as- a new job, relationship, or unfamiliar emotional terrain.

They enter silently and teach large lessons about

marriage, romance, children, career, freedom, balance, dreams, and

life passages. If we learn to sense their presence we can become more conscious

about working with them.

Visitor:

Having an awareness of ‘who is visiting’ allows their lessons to flow smoother, and helps our understanding run deeper. These centuries-old teachers are accessible to all of us, if we know where to look and how to perceive. Their myths and stories unlock ancient insight and provide medicine for ancient wounds.

 

Some of the following information is taken from my new book- Healing the Goddess Wound.

 

• Athena-
• Zeus’s favorite daughter- mother Metis, but unknown to Athena, as Zeus swallowed her prior to her birth.
• Soul type and overall tendencies:

Sprung from her father’s head. Came out fully grown and armored. Always mature, confident, sure-footed. Calm, cool, collected, intellectual type.

• As a visiting teacher shows us how to: develop our intellectual life. Emphasis on reading, writing, mentoring and career. Lets women learn to negotiate with a male culture and rhythm.

Wounds: Shadow is she is cut off at the head- and doesn’t easily allow in body wisdom. She does not trust or understand women, nor her own feminine aspects.

Gift:  Athena is a negotiator, brilliant, resourceful and practical. Teaches women to establish their own career and become financially independent. To take responsibility in the world. To be a leader, mentor- pass on wisdom.

Goddess Bridget

 

Names:

Brigit, (sometimes pronounced

Breed), Brig, Bride, Brigantia, Saint Brigid and Mary of the Gael; also Breo Saighad meaning fiery arrow or power.

Triple Goddess of the great celtic empire.

Parents

In her Goddess form, Father the Dagda an ancient god-

Mother Morrighan the triple goddess of power and death.

 

Saint Brigid- born in 453 to a servant woman Broicsech and a Druid-(parents on diverse sides of the social structure, just as Dagda and Morrighan).

Just as the Irish were converted to Christianity, so was their goddess.

 

She is born at sunrise a flame reached from the top of her small head all the way to heavens, signaling the birth of a holy babe.

Her birth happened just as her mother crossed the threshold of her house connecting Brigid to the ideal of liminality, between times and spaces. Areas according to Michelle Skye- Goddesses Alive that are neither of this place or that, such as shorelines, dawn, and dusk.  She would not eat or drink the food offered to her. She refused everything, but milk from a white cow with red ears, a fairy animal in Irish Mythology.

She was also known as the mystic mother-bride of St. Patrick, . He may have been a new name for Brigit’s old consort the Dagda or father.

Her original trinity was semi- Christianized as a wonder working triad, consisting of Brigid, Patrick and Columba- (the mother, father and the holy dove).

 

Appearance–

Copper haired.

 

Myths– As a baby neighbors saw a fire leaping from the house where she lay in her cradle. When they ran to rescue her they found the fire was gone and no mark on the baby.

At times people saw a crown of fire leap from her head. Another legend says one day when she was soaked from the rain she mistook a sunbeam for a tree branch and hung her coat from it.

She gives away food just to see it reappear on her plate. She cures lepers sometimes just with a prayer.

She brings a stillborn baby back to life with her breath.

When she puts on her magical cloak many good things happen.

She had sons with a few husbands. They die bloody deaths defending Ireland. Her tears link her to water and healing. After she loses her sons and husband in war she goes through a grieving

 

period, which transforms her more into a saint, than a Goddess.

Another myth tells about her looking for a place to build her sacred abbey.  When Brigid asks the king for her land he refuses. She prays for guidance and returns to the king. “May I have the land over which my cloak can cover,” she asks the king? Laughing, he agrees. Four of Brigid’s assistants take the corners of the cloak and stretch it wide until it covers all the land necessary to place an abbey. Awed by the miracle the king grants her all of the land.

She builds her abbey here and her and her priestesses and nuns tend the perpetual flame, never allowing its light to go out for a thousand years, from the 5^th to 6^th century. In 1220 the flame was extinguished by Bishop Henry in Dublin, who thought it was pagan.

The story of St. Bridgit is that she was so deeply moved by her conversion to Christianity that she decided to become a nun. Her father however, threatened her with marriage and to avoid it she performed a strange miracle of popping her eyes out of her head, so that she was too mutilated to attract a husband.

The convent was known for its heathen miracles and fertility magic.

Cows never went dry, flowers and shamrocks sprung up in Brigid’s foot prints, eternal springs marked her territory.

 

Another myth of Brigid’s healing is that two lepers approached her for healing. She had one bathe the other in a sacred spring. When he was cured she asked him now to bathe the other. The cured man was so revolted by the disease he could not do this.  She then gave him the condition again in punishment.

She also cured a friend of hers with blindness, the friend asked to be made blind again to avoid all the temptations of the outer world that took her outside of herself.

 

In Scotland Brigid’s fire is more domesticated according to Michelle Skye. It centers around cooking and household tasks. Here Brigid embodies the energies of the hearth mother- much like Hestia.

Just as Brigid is said to birth the spring each year, she is also said to be the midwife of Mary, helping to bring Jesus into the world and blessing him with 3 drops of water.

When a woman was in labor the midwife would throw open the door and call out to Saint Brigid.

Bride, Bride, come in!

Thy welcome is truly made.

Give thou relief to the woman.

And give thou the conception to the trinity.

Realms–

Goddess of poets- she brings wisdom and inspiration. Fire to the early Celts was divine enlightenment, into which poets and bards tapped into. Oral pieces were spoken and sung along the country side. These stories and songs were links to the ancestors.

Female physician- woman of leechcraft, healing, midwifery.

She is said to be able to heal eye problems.

Bridgit the female smith – (woman of smithwork)

As Saint, she is also given the job of choosing Bishops for her area. She requires them to be goldsmiths as well as priests.

She was said to bring humanity- whistling, as a way to call her friends.

Queen of the Fairies-

 

Symbols-

Fire- Shaft of lightening, glowing candle; The Hearth.

Arrows.

Sacred Wells- and shallow bowls of water. Sacred wells in Ireland are known for their healing power. Because of their source deep within the earth, they are thought to contain the energy of the night sun. Bridget wells are according to Michelle Skye like the earth’s eyes looking at the sunlight. When sunbeams sparkle in the water, it is considered effective to remedy eye disorders.

Eyes of God-

Crosses

Transmutation-

Doves- Totem of Aphrodite, Mary mother of god and Brigid. The soul returning to the goddess after death was pictured as a dove.. Christians copied to say that the souls of saints became white doves that flew out of their mouths at the moment of death. Dove is also related to yoni- who was then Juno (hera).

The cult of the Doves used to incorporate rites of castration and then circumcision. When Christ was circumsized a dove was used as a symbol. In the fairy tarot it is said Brigid is represented by a dove and when you see the dove it is one of her brigade.

The number 333 or holy trinity also represents Brigid in her triple goddess form.

Friendships with Women-

She is tended by the Daughters of the Flame. Sometimes said to number 9 but  19 is more accurate. Greeks said the sun god visited the temple of the moon goddess once every 19 years. All 19 tend the fire for one day of each month, on the twentieth day, the fires are tended by Brigid herself.

They live inside her sacred abbey and cannot be looked upon by any man. These sacred women spread the wisdom of Brigid among the people. Women who brought them food would be told about healing herbs, which would cure various ailments. Women also learned about the location of healing springs.

Career-

Brigid is related to jobs related to healing, especially with herbs and midwifery. She works with metals in smithery. She works with words to paint pictures and make poetry. She

Marriage and Sexuality-

She refuses to stay married to jealous men who take away her liberty to choose a lover. She tells two men this before marriage and both try to change her ways. They both end up dead for plotting against her.

She does not believe marriage means monogamy. She is upfront about her beliefs before marriage. Her husbands marry her knowing this is a crucial point for her. Yet, she is strongly attracted to partnerships with men during the earlier parts of her life. She surrounds herself with women in the middle to later parts.

Children-

It is in this real that the Brigid archetypes suffers most deeply. She has sons and these sons are warriors defending Ireland. They die for their beliefs and their mother cannot save them. She is torn by her grief and their death and anger about them taking stupid risks.

Psychological Difficulties-

Survivial.

She survived the destruction of her religion and life-style and adapted to something new- Christianity. She rules 3 kinds of transformation- ideas into art; forging of metal into useful objects and energies of healing. For survival to occur transformation is necessary. Whenever we are directly challenged in life, so that our life or lifestyle feels at stake, we are offered the opportunity for great change and growth.

Her transformation also reaches into dying- whatever happens will be transformed; surviving physically means we are changed deeply through the experience. If we move through the portal our experience will remain mysterious to those left behind.

She is the goddess of recovery, good to evoke after a period of grief. It will do no good to hurry her. Her transformations come when she feels it is appropriate. When you call her for this purpose it is said to be useful to show great readiness to transform. Sometimes people will get very different hair cuts, changes in clothing etc. to indicate a readiness for a large inner shift.

It is also useful to hand out- (change)- to indicate you are changing. Sprinkle water from the sacred bowl or well on the change. Acknowledge that change does not come without a price. Give coins to each person in your celebration, or to people in need next time you leave the house.

This affirms that you are willing to give up whatever you need to move out of the stagnant time you have experienced.

 Rituals and Celebrations-

Imbolc Feb 1. Spring is on the horizon. Imbolc refers to lambs lactating, readying themselves for birth. It is about new beginnings, anticipation and excitement. It is a time to light candles to coax light from darkness. Crosses would be woven out of straw to protect the home from fire. The goddess would also be seen in the form of a snake emerging from the winter. Now the goddess appears as a rodent on Groundhog day, Feb. 2^nd, still in her prophesy mode- to tell us if spring is on its way.

Early Christians adopted the candle-lighting aspect of the holiday and called in Candlemas- Feb. 2.

Blessing of Gratitude:

 

Michelle Sky

I thank you, Brigid, for your presence her in my home,

For giving me warmth of heart and hearth.

As the sisters of old, I have honored you

In the traditional way.

My  love for you be felt though time and space.

Across the universe, upon the earth and under the sea.

Although the light of this candle goes out,

I carry your flame in my breast.

Most blessed Brigid,

Living light,

Bright Arrow, Sudden blaze,

Goddess of the sun and

Of the eternal fire,

I guard your flame.

Questions and thoughts- mull these over.

1. Think about a difficult time you have endured. What have you learned from the difficulties?
2. When you made mistakes in your childhood, how were they dealt with? How were you punished? Are there ways you act now that are based on those experiences?

 

3. When you are criticized how do you respond?

 

4. Consider the ways your parents criticized you. Were there specific things you were always in trouble for? How has your life been altered by those criticism?

 

5. How critical are you of other people? How do you express that criticism?
6. When you suffer loss how do you deal with it?

Do you feel blamed or judged by the world? Can you release this feeling?

7. Have you experienced a transformation in any area of your life? What precipitated it? What did you leave behind and what did you gain?

 

 

 Claim own wisdom

Demeter–

Zeus’s sister, Persephone’s mother.

Tendencies and Soul type:

Being a mother to others & learning to mother self.

Putting others first. Large heart. Generous, kind. Rural goddess, natural, not ostentatious. Puts others at the same level as self. Others are attracted- but seem to drain Demeter if a balance is not struck.

As a Visitor: Comes when there is a desire for children, or sometimes creative projects, or nourishing plants, animals etc.

Restore natural rhythms in your life. Possibly become more rural, a local, paradigm shift to become more organic, natural. Care for the planet.

Wounds: Depression and grieving through loss- daughter, which leads to loss of creativity, purpose.

Turning it around: Not giving away vital pieces. Prioritizing. Demeter chooses men who are ‘children’, due to family patterns. Learning discretion. Finding self through asking the right questions

Gifts: Love, Kindness, Nurturing Creativity. Gift of infinite abundance.

Hestia–

Zeus’s oldest sister, Goddess of the Hearth

Soul Type and overall tendencies:

Consolidated, reserved or quiet, yet kind.

Visitor: Teaches to go inward. Brings warmth and blessings into our homes and lives. Claims time as our own- getting out of robotic existence. Learn to go slow and ‘be’.

Find a spiritual connection and makes ex a sacred union. Do nothing out of purposelessness, but find meaning for everything.

Wound: Feels invisible, emotionally ambivalent or apathetic at times.

Feeling alienated from meaninglessness in life:

Gifts: Transforms our ability to be with ourselves and find purpose in stillness. Makes meaning where none has existed. Spiritual fire.

 

Persephone:

Zeus and Demeter’s daughter, Hades ‘kidnapped her’ with Zeus permission. Became the queen of the underworld. Rises to the upper world to be with Demeter 6 months of the year.

Soul type and overall tendencies: Complex, creative, moody, mediumistic, intuitive, princess-like, imaginative, fine-tuned.

Visitor: Teaches ability to claim inner intuition through dream life, understanding personal symbolism, teaches the ability to get through great assaults- being kidnapped, raped, ‘taken into captivity’.

Wounds- Torn between mother and husband, never truly without obligations or expectations of others. Self-destructive, possible addictions, suicidal thoughts, but capable of great transformation.

Gifts: Unshakeable intuition, a good psychologist, dreamworker, guide. When she finds her way out of the underworld and transforms from child to woman she becomes a brilliant guide through dark situations. She learns to see and confront the predator within and on the outside. Understands Dreamtime

and the unconscious mind.

Turning it Around: She teaches us to claim our queen-ship by exploring the dark, (not getting stuck in depression and hopelessness) and telling the truth, even when it is difficult.

 

Kuan Yin Goddess

 Kuan Yin realized that in certain rural parts of China, nobody had every heard of enlightenment. They were all interested in horse racing and all this macho stuff. So she turns herself into a gloriously beautiful girl, comes into town with fresh fish from the river to sell, and when her basket is empty, she disappears. This daily pattern continues, and soon all of the men have become enchanted by her.

One morning when she appears, about ten or twenty of them surround her and say, “You have to marry one of us.” “Well, “ she says, “I cannot marry twenty men, but tomorrow morning, if one of you can recite the Sutra of the Compassionate Kuan-yin, I will marry that man.” The next morning  a dozen men know the entire sutra by heart, so she says, “Well, I cannot marry all of you, but I will marry the one who can interpret this sutra to me tomorrow.”

The next day there are four men who can interpret the sutra, so now she says, “I am only one woman, and I can’t marry four men, but if one of you has experienced the meaning of this sutra three days from now, then I will marry that man.”

Three days later, there is but one man waiting for her. Now she says, “My little house is down by the bend in the river. Come there this evening, and you will be m husband.

So that evening, he goes to where the sore bends and comes to a little house. An old couple is standing outside, and the old man says, “Oh, we’ve been waiting a long time for you. Our daughter is inside.” But when he goes into the room, it’s empty. She isn’t there.. So he looks out the window and sees footprints, which he follows down to the river, where he finds shoes, but no girl.

Then, as he’s standing there, with the reeds blowing, he realizes that all the reeds and everything is she. Through her allure and charm, which is what the female figures represent, he realizes the nirvanic grade of beauty in the universe. Having understood the sutra, he know what he was experiencing, and he received illumination.

 

Symbols of Kuan Yin:

Tiger-

Places of threshold- doorways, (staircases).

Plants: Willow- (flower essence is for releasing bitterness, blame and being more flexible). Lotus- purity, serenity and grace. It rises from the mud and has a divine nature. Like us rising from our ordinary or troubled situations or backgrounds to find beauty and peace. The blue lotus symbolizes finding rebirth in the new land, and white meaning a pure soul.

Also a wish fulfilling gem- (does any one know which gem this could be?)

A rope to bind harm, a jeweled bowl containing healing water, the long-life vase, a brush for banishing hardship, a solar disc to bring light, a lunar disc to counter act poison, a willow branch to sweep away sickness, a jade bracelet for piety and the mirror of wisdom.

Weapons a sword to ward off evil, a thunderbolt to kill demons, an axe to kill oppressors, a dragon-headed tablet to kill wild beasts, a dagger for her enemies, a bow for high flight, and an arrow for friendship.

Sometimes she is shown with forty-two hands, each holding one of these objects.

Water is one of the main ways to depict Kuan Yin. She lives on a magical Island. She is a rescuer of fishers. She shows compassion by showering people with unearthly dew.

Art looks at Kuan Yin as a transforming energy and he has this to say:

 

Pg. 244 Art is the transforming experience. When a situation or phenomena evokes in us a sense of existence, which may be shallow or profound, more or less intense, according to our readiness, or capacity. For example when hearing a sharp bird cry evokes a no-mind, experience, the poetical order. Our own reality beyond meaning is awakened and we experience an affect, an interior impact. The phenomenon has disengaged us, by that principle, well known to magic, by which like conjures like.

Both the magic of art and the art of magic derive from and are addressed to experiences of this order.

The mumbo jumbo of magic and the meaningless verbalizations of metaphysics, lyric poetry and art interpretation, function like the beat of a shaman’s drum, not like a formula of Einstein. One moment later we have classified the experience and may be having utterable thoughts and feelings about it. But for a moment we have had a sense of existence; a moment of unevaluated, unimpeded lyric life antecedent to both thought and feeling, such as can never be communicated by means of empirically verifiable positions, but only suggested by art.

The goal of life is rapture.

Art is the way we experience it.

James Joyce calls proper art that which really belongs to art. Improper art is art that’s in the service of something eg. Advertising.

Art is divinely superfluous beauty. There is the projecting power of maya, that has to do with desiring something, ad the revealing power.

Your attitude determines which of these you experience. It is our consciousness that determines which way we experience it.

We see the Kingdom of the Father when we are in esthetic arrest. To develop this deep inward experience and change our focus we need a sacred space.  It is a space for  initiations and meditations. The world opens when you’ve achieved this inner depth.

Esthetic stasis is when you withdraw fear and desire and duty. You reach the still point in the turning world. You are disengaged form the world and with choice you can be joyously engaged in the sorrows of the world. It is very different from being compulsively linked.

The change of consciousness from stasis to kinesis is the Fall in the garden. The bondages from which Buddha disengaged- desire, fear and social duty are temporal matters.

 

Pg. 263 Art is the set of wings

To carry you out of

Your own entanglement.

 

Exercises:

(Depending on time)

Kuan Yin- Northern Star- Goddess Course

 

1a) Spend half an hour in mindful walking, by yourself and quietly chanting her name

1b) Or—a half hour meditation saying her name and opening your heart to compassion.

 

2a)Question: How do you open your heart?

What helps? What hinders?

 

 

3a)Spend some time creating a ritual to evoke the compassion and forgiveness and kindness of Kuan Yin. Think of using some of her tools or symbols that work for you.

3b)Show the ritual to class.