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There is an ancient myth that keeps popping up in my life, and I am starting to wonder if it is connected to an ancient rift that I have been sorting through in therapy.  The myth is that of Persephone, who was kidnapped by Hades and taken to the Underworld.  Her mother Demeter searched for her desperately, and was only able to find her through intervention from Hecate. During the time Persephone was in the underworld, she was told not to eat, but she was tempted by a pomegranate and ate a few seeds.  The price that was paid for this was that once she was returned to Earth, she was bound to return to the underworld for months out of the year.

This myth first came to me in a reading back in the beginning of June, where I was presented with the card of Demeter and told that this was a Goddess with a message for me during this time. Demeter was a goddess of agriculture and the harvest.  She controlled the weather and the growth of crops in the fields.  When she was angry about her daughter’s disappearance, she caused a famine and people suffered.  This is when Zeus intervened and argued with Hades to bring her back. By the end of that month, I had become intrigued by the Goddess Hecate, as some experiences during the Solstice brought her to mind.  Lately, the story has been popping up again in media that I am consuming, and I find myself contemplating Persephone.

I also find myself contemplating what messages this story has to offer me. The story is one of a deep connection between mother and daughter, and also speaks of a daughter’s desire to be independent and live her life by her own rules.  Lately, I have been working on establishing boundaries with my own mother.  This has been a struggle my whole life, but lately I have become more assertive about this, due to a perception of increased risk by her behavior and from support in my inner growth from my therapist.  I have been working on establishing boundaries and being more assertive at work, and digging into my past to recognize where this behavior pattern stems from. Of course, it all goes back to our roots, and my roots, like most of us, are a complicated web of family history.

This week, my sun is square with the asteroid Ceres in my zodiac chart.  This configuration can show up as tension between one’s self and women, mothers or caretakers. It represents a friction between the care you want to give or receive and your deepest self.  Interestingly, Ceres also represents a Goddess of agriculture, but in the Roman tradition and not the Greek (as in Demeter). During these four days (Sept 2-6, strongest today on the 4^th), it provides an opportunity to acknowledge and heal past hurts.  This is a time for old wounds to resurface, which happens for the purpose of digging deeper into your core wounds. When you acknowledge past hurt, you meet a deeper layer of yourself.  It’s a time for revisiting past memories of your mother and gaining a new perspective.

The stone associated with this time is the moonstone.  As I am writing this, I gather two moonstones that I had on my September altar. I hold them in my hands, contemplating the relationship between my mother and I.  I hold them to the flames of my candle, a “stress relief” candle my close friend recently gave me, and warm them in the glowing flame. As I place them down on the rounded slap of oak, next to symbols of the fields (jars of grass and flowers), one of the stones rolls off and “runs away” to the other side of the desk.  I guess that one is Persephone, disappearing to the underworld. I put it back with the other stone and now they sit together in harmony.

I think a bit about what it was like for my mother to love me.  It is hard to really imagine the love a mother has for their child until you become a parent of your own.  At this stage in my life, I am the Mother and she is the Crone, but at one point, I was the Maiden and she was the Mother.  I feel the exquisite beauty of her love for a second, and it brings tears to my eyes.  I think about how I was always running into danger when I was a teenager and beyond, my fierce desire to be independent of her, my chafing under her control.  I had so much potential, but I made some bad choices.  I ran off to the underworld myself for a while. She went scorched earth on me for a time. I almost stayed there, but she called me back and I answered the call.  I regretted it for a long time, though.  I was under her thumb and even though she was giving me support, her support always came at a cost.  I felt that she did not give me enough positive attention. She never told me that she was proud of me or that she loved me.  All I heard in my head in her voice was criticism, and this made it hard for me to love myself and feel truly confident without being crippled with self-doubt. Lately, I have been purposefully going low contact with her and my dad, as I focus on my own healing from the scars of my past.   I have been working on feelings of self-love and growing in confidence in order to take back my power.

Earlier today, a friend drew a tarot card from a deck for me.  The card was “Understanding”. The meaning was to signify a new awakening and realization. “You have the ability to choose what is right for you beyond perceived limitations.”  I feel that tonight these realizations were around the theme of forgiveness and love, both for my mother and for the girl I used to be, my inner Persephone who ran off and came back, but still spends some time in the underworld, feeling sad and sorry for herself.  I forgive you, Persephone.  I forgive you, Demeter.

Last night my friends and I created vision boards.  I included stickers and images that represented themes of knowing my own worth, that I was enough, that I had power, a kind heart, encouragement to be bold, that I was stronger than I think.  I chose to place the tarot card representing “strength” as a focus on one corner, and included sparkly gems, stars and clover to represent luck and charisma.  In the center, I wrote the words from a card that my friend chose for me from a deck, that spoke to her of me. “I reveal my talents boldly and unapologetically”. 

Lately I have been embarking on a creative period and letting a feeling that I need to share my voice with the world lead me.  I competed in a storytelling contest and recited poetry at an open mic night all within the past couple of weeks.  Now, as Mercury transits Chiron in my chart, I feel a call to express these emotional connections and transform my words into wisdom and healing. I take this time to reflect on how far I have grown this past year in my work on inner healing and breaking free from past behavior patterns. I hope that through sharing my vulnerabilities and my inner journey, I can encourage others to feel safe sharing their own stories and find solace in their own worlds through my words.

The women gather near the nature center at the Houston Arboretum. Some greet each other as old friends, and some are first timers, like my friend Lisa that I unwittingly enticed into this. Lisa and I had already been at the arboretum for close to an hour looking for birds, and she agreed to meet up with this planned group mindfulness hike with the Houston Women’s Hiking Group, despite the fact that I had not explained to much about what was going to happen from here.
What did happen is that this group of women proceeded to form a loose circle in a field of soft, perfect grass in the gentle sun of the morning. There was an invitation to take off our shoes to ground ourselves with the earth. We went around the circle and shared our intentions for the morning. Our leader Bridgette asked the person to share a gesture that represented their intention, and we each copied each other’s movements. After this, we took deep breaths and felt our connection with the ground. Bridgette led us in Dragon and Tiger Qi Gong, a series of movements used in medical qi gong that is believed to have healing benefits. The movements simulated the movement of positive energy from the earth up through and around the body, a flow of energy through the middle, the release of negative energy and an offering of positive energy up to the sky.

After this, shoes were put back on, and we began the mindfulness part of the hike. She asked us to spend the time in observation and reflection and reduce verbal communication, or at least be respectful of others who were observing quiet time in the woods. She set an expectation that at the end of the hike, she was going to ask us to tell her something we had observed, which helped us to keep our eyes open for that one most treasured observation to share with the group.

We started out walking through a garden area with murals on the surrounding walls. One of the murals depicted a butterfly feeding on a purple flower, much like the purple flower I had visualized in my deep-end reflections recently. She also asked the new people to make a joyful noise on a flower-drum sound experience. Beautiful white and purple flowers lined our path. We also all stopped to admire an unusual pine tree that had struggled, potentially during this summer’s storms, and bent over but did not break. This tree captured the imagination of many in our group as a symbol of resiliency.
When we got to the pond, we sat down for Bridgette to lead us in a ten-minute guided meditation. Before the hike began, she had introduced the concept of mycorrhizal networks, the “wood wide web” that connects trees and fungi in a way that allows them to communicate and share resources with each other. In this meditation, she encouraged us to ask for an invitation to allow our “roots” to come out of our bottoms (metaphorically) and connect to this network. She had also let us know that trains would come by during our meditation, and we were to try not to let that bother us, but instead concentrate on allowing any negative thoughts to leave our bodies and imagine them getting on those trains and being carried away.
Lisa and I had chosen to sit on a bench instead of the ground, and we shared later that we were having a similar experience during this time. We were having a hard time hearing Bridgette and although we both wanted to have our eyes closed as she asked and be inside ourselves, the outside world itself was so beautiful that we didn’t want to take our eyes off of it. There were so many dragonflies circling the pond, and emerald lily pads sparkling in the sun. A small group of watercolor painters had arranged themselves in various positions around the pond, inspired by the view themselves. Even the body positions and movements of the other women on the hike were fascinating to me.

Despite this visual observation, I was also feeling connected through my roots to the network below the ground, and also felt the cool breeze in my face and a certain stillness in my soul. Through this stillness, my doubts and insecurities were calm or perhaps they left on that train. I was left with a simple message in my heart. I am enough.
We thanked the earth for sharing with us and withdrew our roots in gratitude. She also asked us to think about people in our life that we love, and send our feelings of love and goodwill to them. I thought about my little group of friends, our “bonded pentagram”, and sent them love and goodwill. We also straightened up and allowed our minds to connect with the higher world. As above, so below.
When we were preparing to leave our seats, I noticed two little oval shaped orange-brown natural objects by my feet. I picked them up and gave one to Lisa and kept one for myself as a reminder of our experience. She referred to it as a “mango” and I thought of it as a baby acorn. I am not sure exactly what it is, but when I see it, it will remind me of that feeling of peace that I left with this morning.

After this, we walked around the meadow. I had just been in this same area last weekend with my sister and found myself again fascinated by the purple rod-shaped flowers that were in the meadow and also were found by the wetland areas. Google Lens identified these flowers today as Prairie or Dense Blazing Star. That name struck me as representing the women on this journey. We are all dense blazing stars. I felt another message inside. I am powerful.
As we walked, I reached out to brush all the plants with my fingers, admiring the softness or coolness of their touch, feeling connected to them and grateful for their acceptance of us sharing their world. We came upon a family in a fork in the path, mother pushing a stroller and dad herding the two small children along the path. Bridgette asked them if they were going in the direction from which we came, and the mother indicated yes. “Oh good, I wanted to let you know there is magic that way. It’s good magic, but magic nonetheless”. The mother said, “Oh, did you hear that? That sounds fantastic!” to her children.
The magic, though, I think, was not so much in the place but in the space we had created. We were the magic, we had formed it and perhaps we had left it for others to find, or maybe we were taking it with us. Maybe the mother would find her own magic, and perhaps just by Bridgette putting that thought into her head, she would know to look for it. Perhaps all that is needed for magic is for us to be open to the experience of it. I am magical.
This hike did not start out as our intention for our experience this morning. Lisa and I had actually agreed to meet at this park yesterday to look for a rare bird, the black whiskered vireo, that had been spotted at this park over last week. However, I had gotten halfway to the park yesterday, and a dreary grey sky had erupted in a gentle rain and thick fog. I had called Lisa, realizing we were probably not going to be able to see any birds, and we ended up going to breakfast instead.
On this morning, I had originally planned to go to Galveston for a sound bath on the beach, but we had decided to try one more time for look for that vireo before the opportunity passed. As it turned out, that vireo might be long gone – it hasn’t been logged on EBird for six days. Also, Lisa had forgotten to bring her binoculars, so we weren’t really set up for success on this adventure. Despite this, we did have a magical morning. Before the mindfulness hike, we had spent about 45 minutes exploring the ravine trail. A small flock of scaly breasted munia had appeared in the bushes next to us on the path, clearly seen with the naked eye. A yellow crowned night heron had appeared on a bridge railing just a few feet from us, allowing us the chance to admire him up close before he flew off again. I had just happened to notice that the hiking group had posted this hike, and she said yes to the experience. If we had been able to make to the park yesterday as planned, we would have missed this experience altogether. We agreed that although we didn’t plan it this way, this hike turned out to be exactly what we needed.

At the end of this hike, we gathered around little logs in a half circle and shared our one special observation, along with a gesture of what it represented to us that we again all imitated for each woman’s invention. I shared the beauty of the dragonflies flying over the water, which represents looking below the surface for the deeper meaning. I truly felt that this physical journey spoke to the deeper spiritual journey that I have been on. Dragonflies can also represent change, maturity and self-realization, which have all been steps in the path I have been on lately. Many of the women expressed thoughts of self-love, appreciation and gratitude for the group and the experience. There were many gestures connected to the heart chakra. The overall experience seemed connected to the root chakra, though, and left us grounded. We all walked away with feelings of peace and goodwill, feelings I hope will last throughout the week and the feeling of which I will continue to seek out in further magical experiences.

In the predawn hours on thus particular Wednesday, August 28^th, the planets Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn were aligned in their orbits around the Sun with the Earth as an observer in a planetary parade.

During this time, I was lying in bed, drifting somewhere between sleep and waking, unaware that the planets were parading in an unusual way.  I was supposed to be swimming laps in a dark cool pool, but I hadn’t wanted to get out of my warm bed to do it.  As I lay there, half-dreaming with my eyes closed, an image came to my mind.  A large circular golden pendant, laying across my throat, pulsing with energy. It seemed to be significant, but my mind wasn’t sure if it was something I was supposed to be seeking or if it represented something already a part of me. Maybe it represented my throat chakra being activated with high energy. Perhaps this was only Neptune speaking to me through a sleep state, bringing me an alluring fantasy.

As evening fell to twilight on this day, seven women gathered at seven pm in the large room in Lighthouse, assembling in a loose orbit around the spiritual leader and a black Great Dane puppy. At some point, we were asked why we each were here.  Some were seeking, some were open to new experiences, some were along for companionship and some were looking for a tribe. Perhaps Jupiter was calling to us, because we were all drawn to the offering of higher spiritual expansion.

The conversation started with the leader Misty questioning how the Mercury Retrograde was affecting us. Mercury is the planet of communication and expression, and during the retrograde, there can be a breakdown in these areas. Some responded with big energy and some shared empathy.  Some were taking notes.  Not all of us were comfortable sharing what was on their mind.  Secrets of our hearts spilled out, safe in this circle. Spiritual insight was shared, a balm for the soul. A feeling of community persisted, although all were mostly strangers.

I shared a story I had been dwelling on for close to a week, wrestling with what to do.  Our leader made it all seem so clear. I had a psychic wound that I had to heal, a karmic debt to make right.  Saturn was doing a shadow dance, mistakes recast as life lessons.  I would have to do some work with my inner child healing this and making it right in order to move on to the next spiritual level.

Another woman shared a story of trying to find her people/ Her desire spoke of Mars energy, a call to action.  Another woman talked about leaving Santa Fe due to spiritual warfare, chaos and upheaval in all she tried.  Uranus was illuminated with her as she liberated herself from this blockage and found a new home in Colorado.  

There were stories on what kind of offerings to make to various spirits to accomplish a particular goal, tales of fairies that emerged during readings, the virtues of gnomes, and of spiritual warfare between a weird spiritual leader and an ancient ancestor guide.  There were explanations of what kind of spirit guides existed and what they existed for, what the lower world and upper worlds were.  So much information, our minds were trying to make sense of it all.  One thing we knew for sure, this felt like a safe space and we couldn’t get enough.

However, it was time to leave, the night was getting late.  We stopped for tacos and to discuss some of our thoughts on the night.  It was almost too much to even wrap our heads around.

Some parts of the night took me back to this oracle reading I had received earlier in the day and I shared the reading with my friend.  The oracle had been broken into three parts: the essence, the invitation and the medicine.  The essence section describes the lower world, where we “discover the gifts and lessons from the past…the realm of the collective unconscious.  Here we can meet our demons and transform them into pure energy, our source of personal power”. This speaks to me about this psychic wound, and my own spiritual awakening that I tapped into to help strengthen me for a promotion at work, but through the process, discovering that where I really wanted to put my energy was in my words. A source of personal power. Maybe this is the golden pendant that appeared in my dream that morning.

The invitation said, “It is time to unearth your hidden treasures”. This line reminded me of a conversation I had with my husband recently.  I was telling him that I felt that for so long I had been hiding my treasures by sharing them only with myself, writing only for myself in an audience of one, and that now I felt this pull to share with the world as a whole. There was also a line about “It is time to honor your past and recast your life as a heroic quest”.  This is another synchronicity, as I had been talking to my gym friend about finding the book I started to write years ago, along with notes on how to craft it as a hero’s quest.  She was counseling me that this time I should rewrite the story with myself as the hero. I can’t ignore the synchronicities that keep flowing in my life right now.

For the medicine section, the part that called to me the most was the past that said “The only way to become unstuck is to honor everything that has transpired in your life, reflect on the lessons learned and move on.  If you bear witness to your past and learn its lessons, it will stop haunting you”.  The haunting is the part that I am ready to let go of.  My friend pointed out tonight several times that for so many years, she has heard me talk about this particular issue, the wound that I needed to heal at this time. 

The last line of the reading said “As you embrace its gifts, you will recover a missing part of your soul.”  My friend asked me after reading this part, “Do you feel like you are missing a part of your soul?”  I don’t think I feel that way but I am not sure.  It reminds me a bit of something that happened a lifetime ago.  I had gone to get my tea leaves read, and the reader said to me, “You have lost something very important to you”.  I wasn’t even sure what it was, but in that moment when she said that to me, I felt that loss keenly and began to weep. Maybe I have been living without it so long I am not sure what that missing piece feels like.

That night, as I was pulling into my neighborhood, I had to stop to allow an animal to cross the road in front of me.  I recognized it as a possum, and I found this odd because I have never seen a possum in my neighborhood before.  I looked this up to see what this could mean.  Seeing a possum cross your path could be a warning to protect yourself from negative people. I am not sure right now who those people would be.  It’s not these women that I had spent the past two hours with, I knew that much.  And it is not my little tribe of women that I spent most of my free time with either.  It might be more work stuff, as I try to transition to become a more assertive leader.  I need to bring on that Mars energy for that battle.

This evening, I had shared some pieces I wrote with these ladies.  It seemed a little odd, in that no one else was doing that.  I wanted to share with them.  I was building connection through my words, a gift that I had reflected on earlier this week swimming in the deep end. As we left, I continued to try building connections by calling the women by their names and asking about the other communities they belonged to, with a desire to link their community up with mine. 

I am at the point where I keep seeing these spiritual leaders pop up on my “People You May Know” tool on Facebook.  One of them friended me earlier this week, and I am tempted to add the others, connecting all the leaders by six degrees. 

Seven women, six degrees of separation, six planets in alignment, five women in a bonded pentagram, the earth, the moon, the stars, the creator and me.

And don’t forget the possum.