by
Are
you a woman (or man) who has lost touch with yourself spiritually -- or
has never gotten in touch with yourself spiritually -- or who just
wants more joy in each day? If so, you may want to try entwining more
goddess energy into your life. Many anthropologists believe that human
societies were originally goddess-centered, and goddesses are still
worshipped on every continent. Whatever your desire -- strength,
wisdom, compassion, fertility, creativity, sexuality -- there is a
goddess who can help you. Connecting with the goddesses who call to you
-- in the form of jewelry or art, words and music, or simply your
thoughts -- can sweeten and enhance your days with bright threads of
unity, wonder, and female power. But how to begin? The number and
diversity of goddesses loved, worshipped, and celebrated throughout time
and into the present, in every corner of the earth, is so
breathtakingly large that trying to keep track of them can feel like
counting the stars. To start you off, here are nine of my own favorite
goddesses, chosen from among the most popular female divinities
celebrated today (please note that many of them may also be known by
different names or spellings).
Durga. The great
Hindu mother goddess Durga is really nine goddesses in one. Durga's nine
manifestations -- embodying qualities from courage to piety to blissful
joy -- are celebrated in India during a huge nine-day festival called
Navarati. Durga is often pictured as a fierce goddess with many arms
riding a lion. I have revered her ever since I found an ancient and
powerful stone carving of her in the Asian wing of the Museum of Fine
Arts in Boston. You can call on Durga's invincible spirit when you need
to be strong to your core!
Yemaya. A queenly and
beautiful ocean goddess, Yemaya is mother of all waters in the Yoruba
religion of Africa, which has spread to Cuba, Haiti, and elsewhere. Once
a year, tens of thousands of people float flowers and other gifts for
Yemaya out into the ocean from the shore of Salvador, Brazil. Bringing
Yemaya into your life, perhaps with this chant,
which brought her to me from a women's drumming group based in my area
of Maine, can sweeten your life with compassion, fertility, nurturing,
and healing.
Brigid is the ancient Irish goddess
whom the Catholics renamed St. Brigid. She is the Goddess of healing, as
well as poetry, song, and metalwork; Ireland is dotted with springs
that are sacred to her. Since 1993 the Brigidine sisters have kept an
eternal flame burning in Brigid's honor in Kildare, the same place it
used to burn in ancient times. Every year during the first stirrings of
spring on February 2, people gather there to celebrate St. Brigid's
Day. To me as a poet, Brigid is a source of deep joyful creative
inspiration -- a reassurance that life renews itself.
Kuan Yin,
the Buddhist Goddess of compassion and mercy, is the most revered
goddess in Asia. I first encountered Kuan Yin's image, in a
characteristic pose with one hand raised in loving blessing, in the
garden of an acupuncture center in San Francisco and have counted on her
gentle presence in my life ever since. Just the thought of Kuan Yin can
bathe us in the warmth of understanding, forgiveness, and gentle
compassion. There are beautiful temples to her all over the world,
including one on Spring St in New York. There are some gorgeous songs of
peace and bliss on this recent CD of chants in her honor.
Sekhmet.
An ancient Egyptian lioness goddess of war, healing, and
menstruation, Sekhmet is actively worshipped today among neopagans in
Europe and the USA. A temple to her
has been built in Nevada. Sekhmet's breath was said to have formed the
desert, and she embodies a raw fierceness, a kind of primeval force of
survival, growth, and self-realization. At a rebirthing ceremony in
which I participated last year, I found myself channeling Sekhmet's
power and felt myself filled with a transformative courage I didn't know
I had.
PachaMama. This powerful and widespread
Earth Mother goddess of Latin America causes earthquakes and often takes
the form of a dragon. On the day before Ash Wednesday, people bury
food, throw candies, and burn incense to honor her. In the traditional
Pachamama despatio ceremony, offerings of plants, candies, and symbolic
items are wrapped up and burned in gratitude and supplication to
Pachamama. To me, Pachamama is an intimate, physical goddess; I feel
moved to whisper to her when I am outside with earth, plant, and
insects, and I feel her voice sounding wordlessly inside my core.
Inanna.
The Queen of Heaven and Earth in ancient Sumer, Inanna is best known
for the gripping story of how she descended to the underworld. Inanna
reminds us that we need to make ourselves vulnerable in order to be
reborn. As a poet, I feel a special connection with Inanna, since poems
in her honor by the priestess Enheduanna (2285-2250 BC) are the first
known poems ever to have been signed by their author. When faced with a
difficult transition, I think of Inanna and contemplate the story of
her descent and rebirth, captured in Diane Wolkstein's powerful
translation, Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns From Sumer.
Changing Woman.
When the Apache earth-goddess Changing Woman begins to age, she walks
towards the rising sun until she meets her younger self walking towards
her. Today, many Apache girls mark the beginning of womanhood by
participating in the challenging four-day Sunrise Ceremony that Changing
Woman is said to have taught to their people. Thinking about Changing
Woman, and the graceful way that she both changes and stays the same,
helps me learn how to navigate change more smoothly--whether the natural
progress of time or life's occasional wild rides.
Gaia
is the ancient Greek Earth Mother who birthed the world and humanity
out of Chaos. Today, the name Gaia is known mainly through Dr. James
Lovelock's influential Gaia theory, which proposes that the Earth and
all its organisms are interconnected in a complex "living" system. I use
the word Gaia when I want to think of the planet Earth itself as a
generous, vulnerable, life-giving Goddess, the source of all the beauty
and wonder and life for which we are so grateful -- and which so much
needs and repays our care.
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