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When I was in my early 20s, my mother gave me a meditation
book called “365 days of the Goddess” and my sister gave me a Goddess Oracle
deck. Since then I’ve had an
on-again-off-again fascination of the Goddess Path.
Women came in and out of my life who would wear the Goddess
symbol, make beeswax candles, or do fabulous paintings depicting the Goddess.
They would be healers or artists or writers. They seemed deeply satisfied and
connected to who they were, and I wanted that kind of magic.
I’ve explored various paths to the Goddess – the Avalonian
Path, Wiccan Path, the Christian Mystical Path, the Buddhist Path, and the
Reiki path. All of them had various
elements in them that I have learned a great deal from. Some have more
complicated rituals, others feel more like a knowing and a connection, and
still others are about manifestation and seeing the deeper archetypes within
oneself.
Whenever I would stray away from the Goddess path and choose
something more modern in my spirituality like Law of Attraction, Basic Meditation,
or yoga, there would still be something missing in it for me – like I needed
that connection to a divine being within me and around me, and one that was
deeply compassionate about the woman’s journey, need for prayer and connection
to the moon cycles. The spiritual path
felt empty without the presence of Her within and around me, and it was up to
me how I wanted to relate with Her, in a way that matches who I am and my
values.
As I’ve been exploring this path of the Goddess and the Child-free
Woman, I’ve learned quite a few things.
The first is that many Priestesses who are now known as Goddesses were
Child-free by Choice. Women who didn’t want to take the traditional path of
motherhood would plead to the Gods and Goddess and the Priestesshood that they
could serve the divine and the community henceforth. She became a divine channel and vessel to
serve the community in whatever way needed.
We see how this also manifested later on with patriarchal religions that
made women take a vow of celibacy to the serve the Lord as nuns.
The second thing I have learned is that many Priestesses were
seers and healers, and they would be consulted as the wise women of the
community because they could see the big picture. It was understood that they had the wisdom and
detachment to be able to provide clear guidance without having a vested interest
in child-rearing. There was a lot of
respect for who she was, which is quite different than how it is now in our world. Parents respected her voice and guidance for
their kids.
Another element of the Goddess Path and its reclamation is
that it is connected to a woman’s liberation path. It is meant to help a woman
in the attainment of her wholeness, well-being, potential and capacity to make
a social impact in the world. Being child-free is an act of empowerment in and
of itself. Choosing not to be a mother
is one step towards women choosing what they do and don’t want in their
lives. (This isn’t to say that being a
mother is not liberated, just that the act of not choosing is a step towards
personal freedom).
I have also come to understand that Child-free Women are not
on the path of mothering, they are on the path of friendship. It’s a simple but nuanced difference. Mothering
implies nursing, raising, feeding and dealing with the day-to-day tasks of
child-rearing or even having a dominant say in how things go in the lives of
others. Whereas, friendship is about a
mutually beneficial exchange of care, respect and boundaries with others. The
obligations and expectations are not the same and it is about seeing each other
through the eyes of our true natures rather than the prescribed roles of
parenting. So the approach to the
Goddess is one of forming an inner friendship with oneself and all beings,
including the Goddess Herself. When we find friendship within and around us, we
make choices that then serve the Goddess that is meant for Child-free Women.
For example, if I need to heal a critical voice within me that says I’m not
good enough and it’s leading me into self-sabotage, then I will see how others
are operating with that inner voice and be way more compassionate with them and
find a way to help them.
I would love to hear your take on the Goddess path for
Chlid-free Women. I believe it’s a relatively new exploration in this way of acknowledging
a woman positive spirituality. If you
would like to explore further, please join me for monthly Goddess Meditations
& Friendship Circles for Child-free Women by Choice in Toronto. You can email me for more info: heather@blossomingheart.ca
Blessed be to the Goddess within you,
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