So She Stirs

Hi everybody; it's been a while since I posted here.  I hope all reading this are doing well and having joy and magic in your lives.  

You probably know by now that I have been dancing with Cancer since December '05, and it's been a long long dance my beloveds.

Right now I am just home from surgery, and spending a lot of time in bed recovering.  I've been struggling with pain, trying to find some pain meds that won't make me sick, trying to rest a lot.  In between times I open up my new laptop, which, blessedly, I can have right here on my bed, so I can still talk to you.  :0) 

When I got home from the hospital I had a wonderful revelation.  In my last post I griped some about how society has helped to make me ill.  I have kvetched about being blocked in my work as a priestess...prevented from holding circles in my own community...my music and voice silenced.  Thank Goddess for the internet, where I have been able to find some true sisters who care, who are interested, and who share themselves too.

But when I got home from the hospital I saw myself in the mirror and I looked like death.  I have lost a lot of weight; have aged; have been unable to eat much, and my energy is still low, though I do get stronger each day.  But I realized when I saw myself like that, post surgery, fighting with cancer, that I have begun the long journey towards my own death. 

Not that I expect to die soon.  Far from it; I intend to live on this earth a very long time. 

I'm gonna live to a ripe old age
Write my books to the very last page
Keep all my teeth and eat real good
Have lots of friends in the neighborhood!

<grin>

But I realized that I am one of the priestesses in these times who is engaged on the Croning Journey.  I have been given this gift, to discover it, remember, learn about it, share it with sisters, and some brothers too.  I have written about The Seven Stages of Croning, just in brief, and I think each stage could be a book.  Certainly, the final stage, Death Crone, is many layered and filled with tradition, ceremony, lessons, and information.  In the year that I have been on this path I have had so many responses saying how much folks appreciate my sharing of the journey.  They tell me I am still their teacher and their priestess... that they are still learning from me and finding inspiration and revelation through the things I share. 

Well duh, I realized after looking in the mirror.  I was never taken off the Path at all!  I've been priestessing all along, just by being myself and living through what I'm living through and sharing it openly.  Blessed Be! 

Part of this journey, I'm discovering, is preparing for life on the other side.  In a wonderful onscreen conversation with my sister Squash Rose, we agreed to begin the task of visualizing and developing our homes on the other side...a space in the faery realm...in the woods of course...in a magical realm...where we all can have spaces we design to our heart's content; just as we want them.  Together we can build up the reality of this home for ourselves and each other.  

After all, lots of other belief systems do this.  We're given all sorts of messages about what it's like after death... heavens, hells, idyllic places, horrible places, and even places of nothing at all.  Even death is political my friends, and ours to reclaim.  Let's make a women's otherworld together...  with all the beauty and joy we can imagine.  Other groups have built up worlds; why not we?   And interestingly one of the names of Faery is "The Land of Women."  !!  Any traditions we can find of women's afterlife spaces can only serve to strengthen our own. 

My own home in the Otherworld magickal forest is built into a ring of redwood trees.  It is high up in their branches, so that I am nestled amongst the leaves and close to the sky.  You get up to see me by a ladder of stars... or in the basket-and-pulley elevatrix if you prefer.  :0) 

How  do you want your Home in the next world to be?  It's yours to reclaim.  Some sisters in the Moonspell community are working on theirs too, and we are sharing.  Any woman with loving intent is invited to join us.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Moonspells

Peace and blessings,
Shekhinah

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• #1 Comment from judithlaura 
  3/19/07 4:18 PM | Permalink

  This post is just what I needed today, having my own frustrations with pain and the medical establishment. I like your idea of preparing a place on the other side. Blessings, Shekhinah!
  
  Judith Laura