I am of my mother –
from the swirling stars of the cosmos
through the long passage,
contacting and expanding –
birthed of her body,
nourished by her love.
I am mother.
You came to me
through blood and bones
to be suckled by me
and then slowly set free.
I am Mama Bear,
ready to attack when you are threatened,
your pain harder to bear than my own.
I explode into a thousand stars when your star rises.
Your life always more precious than my own.
I am she who honors the Goddess Way.
Mother Goddess your names are many –
Isis, Rhea, Cybele, Danu, Mary.
Your love flowers in our hearts.
Your strength gives us the courage
to birth, to grow, to die.
The cycles of life affect all – from the smallest creatures to the largest – to rivers, mountains and continents – to world views and systems – and even to planets and stars. Both astrological transits and world events illustrate well that we are in a moment of great cyclic change, a time of death and rebirth. As the old way dies – kicking and screaming all the way – we are also experiencing the birth pangs of the new way. Oh yes we are living in interesting and difficult times.
The old patriarchal system of hierarchy and dominance has become a cancer, eating itself alive. Only through a denigration of the feminine principle has this system been able to maintain its power – asserting superiority over females, males without privilege, and Earth – honoring death over life.
The Way of the Goddess and the Sacred Feminine are on the rise. Women and men around the world are waking up to the need for a world which honors life and a balanced approach to the duality in which our physical life is embedded. We are heeding the call to listen with empathy to all life, to understand more fully the needs of the totality and to take action to protect all life.
May we find the strength provided by Mother Goddess to birth and then grow a new world in which we all walk in harmony with one another, with all creatures great and small, and with Mother Earth.
Judith’s deck of Celtic Goddess Oracle Cards is available now. 
You can order your deck on Judith’s website – click here. Experience the wisdom of the Celtic Goddesses!
Judith Shaw, a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, has been interested in myth, culture and mystical studies all her life. Not long after graduating from SFAI, while living in Greece, Judith began exploring the Goddess in her art. She continues to be inspired by the Goddess in all of her manifestations, which are found everywhere in the natural world. She is now working on her next deck of oracle cards – Animal Spirit Guides, and on a modern folktale of the Reindeer Goddess. Originally from New Orleans, Judith makes her home in New Mexico where she paints as much as time allows and sells real estate part-time. Give yourself the gift of one of Judith’s prints or paintings, priced from $25 – $3000.
Discover more from Feminism and Religion
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Feminism and Religion 
Beautiful writing Judith – have shared and linked!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for sharing Caryn
LikeLike
Love your words and your artwork – and together they are spectacular. Thanks.
LikeLiked by 2 people
We are indeed living in interesting and difficult times! Still, I’m inspired when I think of all the mothers who came before me who also lived in interesting and difficult times and that it is only because of their hope for the future and their willingness to birth a new generation that I can do my part to, I hope, birth the new world you so eloquently talk about.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Carolyn, That is so true what you say about all the generations of mothers past who have held the light of love for us all. So much darkness and yet we forge on with the hope you mention.
LikeLiked by 1 person
So beautiful! Poem, paintings, mother wit and wisdom. Thank you! Thank Goddess!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Excellent! Beautiful! And oh, so very true! Yes, I agree that the old patriarchal system is a cancer eating itself and the Mother Goddess–all Mother Goddesses in all the yearning lands populated by peoples of all colors–will give birth to a new world in which we all honor Her and honor each other. Considering what we’ve endured for especially the past four years, it’s time for that birth. I keep hoping I see hints of that birth. I pray it brings kindness and justice.
Many thanks for posting this today. People should read it every day. Brightest blessings to us all.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Barbara,
I too see hints of the birth of a better way. I only hope we get to see it in our lives…..
LikeLike
Thanks, Judith, for this beautiful post. It’s the biggest transition I’ve ever experienced in my 73 years, as you so eloquently describe. Yes, the patriarchy is kicking and screaming, not wanting to die. But the Earth is crying out for this change, not just among humans, but also between humans and the non-human world. The young people give me hope with their Youth Climate Strike. The trees give me hope with their mycorrhizal fungi that connect them each other and allow them to help each other when one or more of them has problems. Native American women give me hope with their holistic teachings of the kinship of all Mother Earth’s children, respect for elder species, and seven generation understanding. The MeToo movement gives me hope, because women are literally no longer lying down anymore, accepting sexual harassment and sexual abuse. The Green New Deal gives me hope, because it connects the dots of so many oppressions with the abuse of the Earth, which has to stop. And, of course, feminist paganism gives me hope, for e.g. Starhawk’s work which also connects the dots. I may not live to see the new world that is being born, but I believe that it’s happening.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Nancy,
Yes, yes, yes to all you said – these all give me hope for a better world for all creatures, great and small, human and non-human all the way to that which science does not consider to be alive ( but I do) – like the rocks and crystals. I might not be alive either to see it all come to fruition but I do believe it will.
LikeLike
Her way is our hope
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Here I am, I’m the master of your destiny
I am the one, the only one, I am the God of kingdom come”
Performing artist: Queen
Coincidence or a joke of God?
LikeLike