mother earth

ancient voices

Goddess was the first word that the Oracle gave me this morning. The collage above is a very old one I named “sha/wo/man”–it’s a stitched collage. I did a few of them about 10 years ago. I don’t know where the original is, but I recently found a photo of it in my files.

I found Ishtar in my files also–a message from the Collage Box Oracle in 2019 with a very similar theme.

I am listening for
the language of the goddess–
dishonored and swept away
by linear time

nightwings remember when
our motherworld was a sacred song,
a home for voices belonging
to the spirits of stars

if only we could soar
the daysky on our dreams

beyond the veil

I was looking at this High Priestess collage the other day. I did it awhile ago, as part of my Egyptian-themed tarot collages, and it’s been hanging in my office since then. But I’ve never had the right poem to pair it with. Of course the Oracle is always attuned to what I’m thinking.

I’ve also been thinking–how could I not be?–about the current attempts of our government to once again deprive women of equal standing with men. Which are of course intimately tied to the destruction of Mother Earth. The High Priestess represents all the parts of women that many men fear–“what lies beyond the veil”. As Rachel Pollack states in her tarot commentary: “Our society, based completely on outer achievement, fosters a terror of the unconscious….The High Priestess represents all these qualities: darkness, mystery, psychic forces, the power of the moon to stir the unconscious, passivity, and the wisdom gained from it.”

As always, the Oracle knows.

as if
I could rest between the moon
and this long wandering path
listened
with rootforest rainlight
songs seeding the wind

why
do we grow only quiet
as our seasons leave us?

come she said–
follow my secrets
breathe into always

on a turtle’s back

turtle back round s

we cling to ourselves
(a)mending all our invitations
with threads that must be pulled
in just the right way

we disguise our own
houses as fortresses–
foundations sunk deep
into the growth of the economy

we arrange nature
to reflect order, not chaos,
not seeds strewn on the wind–
we kill the intruders,
the unwanted, unexpected,
the exceptional,
with chemicals and pruning

we have forgotten
awe, the strangeness
of wonder, of what
we did not know
to look for

we’ve forgotten to be
curious, to open
the door, to enter
into dialogue with
forces we cannot control

we no longer know how
to return what is given
with care and kindness–
to celebrate the earth,
to leave room for her
to sing her own song

turtle back half a

Merril’s photo of the turtle she moved off the road on one of her walks provided the inspiration for both my art and my poem.  Turtles are symbols for Mother Earth in many cultures, and are said to carry the world on their backs.

They could use some help right now with the load we have given them.  For the earthweal challenge culture and nature.

turtle back close up s

Nina and I both love turtles and have posted about them on memadtwo many times.  You can see some of the posts here.

turtle shell s