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The Goddess Path Issue #041
The Goddesses of
Spring
April, 2006
This Issue:
Table of Contents
1. Rebirth: The Message of Spring
~ from SoulFullFilled Living Newsletter~
2. The Goddesses of Springtime
3. Party Time
4. The Red Headed Girl from the Bog:
by Patricia Monaghan
5. Bunnies and Baskets:
The Pagan Origins
of our Easter Traditions
There are few things that charge our batteries more than
more daylight. It's almost like, as the buds pop and the
bulbs sprout that we pop and sprout too - stretching into a
new season with a big 'ahhh'. It feels good, doesn't it -
bursting with all that possibility?
Now if we could ask those buds and sprouts
if their popping and sprouting was a bit uncomfortable at
times, they'd likely say yes. Not unlike most new mom's
would about the pains and strains of labor.
But who'd trade the prize when the popping
and sprouting and stretching is done? Who'd trade the new
life that arrives? Not us - although mid sprout, or pop, we
might occasionally be tempted to do a bit of bargaining...
Life - all of life - is a journey of many steps, many
seasons, each of them intended to help us know us and be us
- the real us - right down to our toes. And each step along
the way, jagged or smooth, up or down, is a blessing filled
with newness and the riches of moment by moment opportunity:
to understand and flat out marvel at ourselves if we just
take the time to pop - to unwrap the gift of that momentous
step - and the piece of ourselves in it.
And tomorrow, there's more!
~from the
SoulFullFilled
Living
newsletter (April, 2005)
Do you believe in Kismet (as in, meant for
each other)? Love at first sight? Let me introduce you
to my new friends,
Randy Boles and Lissa Bergin-Boles
of SoulFullFilled Living. They are a Canadian couple, both
life coaches, who describe their work as supporting and
enhancing
"authentic and
soul-full-filled living and loving".
And in their spare time, they
manage to put out one of the finest e-newsletters that I've
ever read! I fell in love with it on first glance. What an
unexpected gift for all of us! This monthly
e-newsletter is full of spirit, good humor, and
it absolutely sparkles with soul filling energy.
So if you've got an inch of space
left in your email inbox (and you should if you followed last
month's recommendation to do your Spring Cleaning
to make room for good things in your life!)
......You're invited. So use this
link to sign up for the
Soul FullFilled Living Newsletter.
You'll be in for a real treat!
Spring . . . a time of rebirth and renewal, a time to
reclaim the heady powers of youth. A time to let go of any
weary cynicism that doesn't serve us well and to reach out
to embrace the new possibilities that are spread before us,
to shed the old, itchy skin and start again shiny and
refreshed.
These are the lessons of the goddesses of springtime.
For Kore, the young daughter of
Demeter, it was time to
leave the innocence of childhood to become
Persephone, the
Queen of the Underworld. Never mind that she did not choose
to go -- she learned to love and chose to stay, becoming a
woman in the process.
Persephone reminds us that, not matter how many roles (and
competing ones at that) a woman plays in her daily life, she
can handle them with grace. But to do that she must
take care to return from time to time to allow herself to be
the one who's pampered and, yes, even babied for a little
while.
Flora, Roman goddess of spring, insists that we invites riotous color, heady fragrance,
and wild abandon into our lives.
Her festival was the rowdy
Floralia that culminated with May Day.
The
goddess Brigid, and the Celtic festival of Imbolc, urge us to nourish
the tender new urges that try to establish themselves and
become part of our being . . . and also to be gentle and
forgiving when we face our weaknesses and failures.
The Lady arrives in spring and bids us to find our passion,
the purpose and meaning of our lives. Her coupling with the
Horned God each year during the Beltane fires empowers us to
achieve the great things of which we dream.
Spring is nature's way of saying,
"Let's party!"
~ Robin Williams
A recent customer who was excited about
receiving her Goddess Report contacted us saying she wanted
to order 16 more to give to her friends when they have their
annual 'Women's Weekend' this spring. They've declared a
goddess theme for the event and she called to get my help in
arranging for her friends to take the Goddess Quiz without
their knowing about the report so she could surprise them by
giving them their reports at the retreat. What fun!!
Her phone call reminded me that many of you
who are new subscribers had probably missed the "Goddesses
Gathering" issue that we did some time ago. So perhaps it's
time to revisit this piece that celebrates the value of
friendship between women and contains the wonderful stories
that subscribers shared about their own celebrations of the
goddess with their friends.
For a delightful read (and lots of ideas for
a gathering of your own), check out:
Goddesses Gathering.
(And be sure to read the
fantastic review of the Goddess Quiz that appeared recently in the Soul FullFilled Living newsletter. How kewl is that!)
Read the Rave Review
Sometimes a Great Notion . . .
. . . comes along and the world is never the
same. Perhaps the concept of 'The Goddess Path' has been
around since time immemorial
but it was the work of Patricia Monaghan who put
it all together and enhanced the lives of countless
contemporary women by showing them how they could reconnect
with the ancient goddess energies.
And now she's done it again! The author of
The Goddess Path , The Goddess Companion, and numerous other
'goddess books' has a new one that deserves space on our
shelves.
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The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog: The Landscape of Celtic Myth and Spirit is partly
an exploration of the myths and legends of
Ireland, partly a travel memoir of a search for
the spiritual essence that has shaped
Ireland . . . all of it movingly told in the
powerfully human voice of this brilliant scholar
whose works have brought the goddess back into
our awareness. And such a captivating title!
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A Brief Reminder
. . . that we recently set up a separate
mailing list for those of you wishing to be notified when we
become aware of joint ventures that others are offering lots
of special gifts or freebies. If you haven't signed up
already, now's your chance-- there are a couple of "biggies"
coming up within the next few weeks. Click here to sign up
for the:
Special Offers Mailing List.
Bunnies and Baskets:
The Pagan Origins
of our Easter Traditions
The history of Easter reveals rich associations
between the Christian faith and the seemingly
unrelated practices of the early pagan
religions. Easter history and traditions that we
practice today evolved from pagan symbols, from
the ancient goddess Ishtar to Easter eggs and
the Easter bunny.
Easter is named for a Saxon goddess who was
known by the names of Oestre or Eastre, and in
Germany by the name of Ostara. She is a goddess
of the dawn and the spring, and her name derives
from words for dawn, the shining light arising
from the east. Our words for the "female
hormone" estrogen derives from her name.
One year the Goddess Ostara arrived late with
her gift of spring. Feeling quite guilty about
it she took time to save the life of a poor bird
whose wings had been frozen by the snow. She
made him her pet or, as many versions have it,
her lover.
Filled with compassion for him since he could no
longer fly, Ostara turned him into a snow hare,
named him Lepus, and gave him the gift of being
able to run with incredible speed so he could
protect himself from hunters. In remembrance of
his earlier form as a bird, she also gave him
the ability to lay eggs (in all the colors of
the rainbow, no less).
The randy little rabbit started fooling around
with some bunnies and Ostara, in anger,
threw him into the skies where he would remain
as the constellation Lepus (The Hare). When she
calmed down a bit she decided
to lighten the punishment and allowed him to
return to earth occasionally, but only
once each year to give away his eggs to the
children attending the Ostara festivals that
were held each spring.
And this is the story of the origin of the
Easter bunny.
You can use this link to read about the goddess
Ishtar and the first resurrection,
the history of Easter eggs, and other pagan
traditions that have been incorporated into the
Easter holiday:
Easter Traditions
In closing, remember to . . . .
Lighten up,
notice the wondrous world around you,
celebrate the possibilities in your life,
then sprout and grow!
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