Lately I have been contemplating my ‘source of being’. I had always assumed it was my connection to the earth. It is this of course, but my revelation came when I realised it was the connection to my mother, and my connection to her mother – me as mother, and not just my birth mother, but all mothers. The earth as mother, the universal mother, cosmic mother. All of them, my source of being.
My memories of growing up start from a very young age. In fact, so young, I have vivid memories of being born. I remember being breastfed and the smell of my Mum’s skin which was such a source of comfort. Thinking about my source and having these early memories re-surface has come at quite a pertinent time of the year, considering that it is Beltane in the Southern Hemisphere, and Samhain in the North. At Beltane we celebrate the coming summer with fire and blessings of fertility, life and abundance. While at Samhain we are remembering our ancestors, those who have passed and loved ones who are still with us. Yesterday, the 31st, I flew from Australia to the USA and I have been able to experience both transitions. This following poem and accompanying artwork represents these polar opposites; birth and death. More importantly, it is an ode to Mum.
In her bosom I am nestled,
Soft kisses on my cheek she gently places.
With whispers of love and tender caresses,
I am comforted;
Safe, warm, nurtured.
A sweet lullaby she sings,
a tune I remember from long ago.
My head against her rising chest,
Heart beat, steady and familiar.
My eyes fall heavy and I slumber.
Ahhh….my sweet mother,
Birth mother,
Earth mother,
Universal mother,
Cosmic mother,
Great mother,
Mater, Mana, Mamma, Mami, Ma
Source of love
Source of life
Source of being
From the primordial waters of her womb I was born,
And too her, I shall return.
Acrylic on canvas
Hangs in the maternity unit at Bundaberg Base Hospital
Pencil Sketch
Pastel on Paper
Jassy Watson, who lives on the sub-tropical coast of Queensland Australia, is a mother of four, a passionate organic gardener, an artist, and a student of ancient history and religion at Macquarie University, Sydney. She runs a small business Goddesses Garden and Studio to keep women’s sacred circles, art, music and gardening practices alive. Jassy also teaches regular painting workshops based around themes exploring the feminine.
Visit http://www.goddessesgardenandstudio.com
feminismandreligion.com 
Thanks for this precious Ode to Mum, Jassy. I am moved that you can remember being born, and breast feeding, and I can fully understand how that memory would enable you more powerfully to explore the mother in yourself — and also the mother goddess in union with your own divine nature. Like you, my whole life has been an exploration of a liberation event, imprinted on my tiny mind as a toddler, so that I finally found my way into Zen Buddhism in order to make sense out of it somehow.
The question I would like to ask is this: were these experiences in early childhood predestined, as a sort of root, or seed idea, for us to explore throughout our lives? In Buddhism it is taught that such events are the result of what is called good karma, generated by good deeds in past lives. I can’t quite take that on as an answer. Rather it seems like all of nature operates by chance, as regards evolution. And yet those very young experiences can be incredibly profound, seemingly arranged to give us a momentous start for a lifetime to explore them?
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Beautiful Jass xxx
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Exquisite Jassy Ruth. Ode is exquisite. YOU are exquisite. I am crying. xxx
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Hello
I’m not sure how to change my address with you – the site didn’t give me any obvious way to do that – please can you advise…..
I was at mem136@givemail.co.uk and
I am now at margaret.metcalfe136@gmail.com
Many thanks
Margaret
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Reblogged this on The Darkness in the Light.
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Jassy —
Thanks for the powerful blog post. I, like Sarah, am amazed that you remember your birth. And it makes sense to me as well that such an early experience of sacred comfort and peace would move you in the direction of understanding the cosmic mother of us all. In a similar vein, the only time I did yoga was when I was pregnant with my daughter, and when she studied to become a yoga instructor, she felt like it was second nature to her. I think those two facts are intimately connected.
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