Of The Stone of the Place: A Poem for the Brigid Poetry Slam

Of The Stone of the Place by Robert Frost
(with slight variations by Sia)
Posted in honor of the annual Brigid Cyberspace Poetry Slam

I farm a pasture where the boulders lie
As touching as a basketful of eggs,
And though they're nothing anybody begs,
I wonder if it wouldn't signify

For me to send you one out where you live
In wind-soil to a depth of thirty feet,
And every acre good enough to eat,
As fine as flour put through a baker's sieve.

I'd ship a smooth one you could slap and chafe,
And set up like a statue in your yard,
An eolith palladium to guard
The West and keep the old tradition safe.

Carve nothing on it. You can simply say
In self-defense to quizzical inquiry:
"The portrait of the soul of Grandmother Iris.
It came from where she came from anyway."

Wishing a Happy Lunar New Year (Year of the Metal Rabbit) and a Joyful Imbolc to all here.

Don't forget to feed the birds.

Sia

My thoughts today are with the people of Egypt and all those longing and working to have their voices heard.

Invitation to Brigid Cyberspace Poetry Slam

A reminder to our friends that tomorrow, February 2nd, is the annual Brigid Cyberspace Poetry Slam

Sia

Art: The Visitor by Arthur Hopkins

Queen of Cups (a found poem)

The Queen of Cups asks:

Do you believe in magic?

Do you know that you are magic?

Join the story

Go to the mountain

Return changed - with no apology

Anima, Wylde Woman, Sofia

Calls you back to yourself,

And invites you to dance

Howl your name

Sing your heart's song

Honor your instincts

You are sacred

Sia
These words come from Tammy Vitale's website. I've put them in the form of a found poem to go with her art piece which is pictured above.

Art piece: Queen of Cups by Tammy Vitale. To see more pieces like this go to her website: Sacred.

Related articles: Update 7/26

It is often odd (and delightful) to see how often Hecate and I are thinking along the same lines. Check out her recent post titled She Still Is A Woman.

Excerpt:

The WaPo has up some interesting thoughts about religion's role in oppressing women, inspired by President Carter's recent decision to leave the Southern Baptist Convention because of its views on women. Specifically, writers were asked to respond to this question: Former president Jimmy Carter and other world leaders issued this statement: "The justification of discrimination against women and girls on grounds of religion or tradition, as if it were prescribed by a Higher Authority, is unacceptable." What's your reaction to these statements? Are 'male interpretations of religious texts' to blame for the 'deprivation of women's equal rights?' Interestingly, the article is titled: "Elders or Patriarchs: Who Speaks for Women?" Of course, the correct answer is: "Women."

She: Goddess Imagery in the Bible & Elsewhere

Today I would like to share two articles by writer and book maker Cari Ferraro. The first is called The Goddess in the Bible. In this article, Ms Ferraro writes about a moving female image of Wisdom she finds in an illustrated Catholic Bible; a book she tells us frankly is not her sacred book but one which does contain within it's pages - especially the images produced for this particular edition - potent traces of the Goddess:

This image of Wisdom as seen in a mirror has an astonishing effect on me: when I look at it I see myself in these pages. As my Cherokee friend said when she saw it, "It's the Grandmother!" The revolutionary thing about this image of an old woman, framed by phases of the moon, is that it appears in a Bible. She is illustrating Wisdom as a manifestation of the Divine Feminine, as She appears in parts of the Old Testament. I capitalize all of these words as a mark of respect, and could wish that the words Wisdom and She were also capitalized in the book as I have written them here, but they are not, because this book is a Catholic Bible.

...Images open up the possibility of poetry in these texts and have drawn me into reading and discovering traces of the old Goddess worship woven throughout the pages.Wisdom is anciently referred to as feminine: in both Hebrew (Hokhmah) and Greek (Sophia) the gender of the noun is feminine. Historically Goddess is symbolized by the Tree of Life, which is beautifully shown in this book. And though the church fathers tried to reframe the Song of Solomon as a love story between God and his chosen people of Israel, I'm not fooled. This is a beautiful description of the Sacred Marriage, an ancient ritual going back to Egyptian and Babylonian times, when the king of the land and priestess of the Great Mother consecrated the fertility of the land with sacred sex. Yes, this really is erotic poetry!

Read the whole article - it's a beautiful piece.

I would also recommend another article by her titled Oh My Goddess which is about her encounter with goddess art at PantheaCon.

Enjoy,

Sia

Related Articles:

13 Moons: Why 13 Is My Lucky Number

Recovering From Our Culture: Why Words Matter

Recommended Reading:

The Hebrew Goddess By Raphael Patai

The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition To the Sacred Feminine by Sue Monk Kid

Art:

Wisdom from the St. Johns bible, Heritage Edition, found at Cari Ferraro: Views and Musings

Photo:

She (Egyptian figurine 1570 - 1293 BCE) by WitsEnd at flickr - used with permission

Update 4/30/09: Cari was kind enough to write this to me today:

The editor of the San Francisco calligraphy guild picked up on the post and asked to publish it in their quarterly journal, Alphabet, which is fairly well read in the calligraphy community. I expanded on the history paragraph and included some pictures from Erich Neumann's The Great Mother. So the article has taken on another life and will be in print soon...I learned later from my friend the illuminator (Suzanne Moore, who put the ancient goddesses in her picture) that she received an email from the St. John's people about my post the same day I published it, so word traveled very fast.

Great news, Cari! I very much look forward to seeing and reading more of your work in future.

Connection. Mystery. Joy

Recently, I read an essay titled Identity, A Rant by Yezida at Peacock Dreams. You might know her better as author T. Thorn Coyle (1) . I loved this piece. It speaks to much of what I have been feeling these last ten years or so about my practice and my place in the earthwise community.

Where she might say "religion" I would say "spirituality", where she speaks of worship, I choose to celebrate but these are trifling differences compared to the hard won wisdom contained within this essay. I will quote some of her words here but please read the whole thing. You'll be glad you did.

...When asked what her beliefs were, (Cora Anderson) said, "We believe in the grass and the trees and in being sensible." That's pretty good. My religion is my practice....it also includes everything else that has formed me. My practice is deep, and daily, and ecstatic, and filled with thought and silence and activity and stillness and sex and communion and time alone. My religion, like any religion, is how I connect. And my primary connection is to God Herself and the reflection of that in everything else. The names don't matter so much in general, though in specific, of course they do. Just as I know the names of my friends, so too, do I know the names of my Gods. But I also recognize that God Herself is known by many names...

I have altars to Ganesh and Freyr and Freyja. I have altars to Brigid and Quan Yin and the Peacock Angel. I have altars to the ancestors and the Shining Ones. What does this make me? Engaged. Active. Present. Alive. I practice at home, and on airplanes and my bicycle and in the gym, and on the dance floor and in meetings and classes and the grocery store. Everywhere and everyplace there is an opportunity to connect. That is my religion. Connection. Mystery. Joy.

...I do not care what you call yourself or by which label you identify. What I care about are these: Do you love? Do you practice? Do you spread joy and seek out Mastery? Are you attempting to know yourself? Are you strong? Are you kind? How do you deepen? What is your commitment?

As for the rest, I barely care anymore. I feel grateful for my training. I feel grateful for the beauty that traditions give rise to, just as I feel grateful for any great art or science. But I also feel grateful for poppies and lavender, and laughter, and well made hummus with raw vegetables, and chocolate pot du creme. I feel grateful for deep thinkers, and bright lovers, for stone circles on hilltops and drinking tea in bed during a rainstorm.

My religion is connection. What is yours? How do you identify?

For years now, I've had a particular quote written on a Post It Note on my computer so that I see it every day:

It is not about command and control.
It is about connection and communion.

Whatever your tradition, faith or practice, may it be so for you.

Peace, wonder and joy to you and yours in this season of life and renewal.

Sia

Endnotes:

(1) T. Thorn Coyle's book is titled Kissing the Limitless.

Art: Forest Bunny & Cougar Portrait by Marion Rose. You can see and buy her work here.

Related Articles:

Little Messages Everywhere

The Spirituality of THIS World

Training As A Green Witch