Tag: Goddess

Who Loves Ya, Baby?

Posted C. LaVielle3 CommentsPosted in Gifts from the Multiverse, Wheel of the Year

Telly Savalas pretty much nailed it. This is, indeed, the big question. The one we wake up in the wee hours worrying and wondering about. Because, deep in our souls, we know that Dean Martin was right. You’re nobody till somebody loves you. Oh dear, I’m showing my age here aren’t I? Having a sweetie, a lover, close friends and family is wonderful. It’s what Valentine’s Day is all about. It makes our hearts sing and the world look rosy. It means we don’t wake up quite as often with the big question heavy on our hearts. But even if you have the happiest marriage and children and friends that adore you, sometimes you still wake up wondering. This is one of the reasons we have religions. If you pay attention, almost all of them are about answering this question. And their answer is pretty much unanimous: “The whole freakin’ Multiverse, Baby! We are all somebody.” But unfortunately, most of us don’t feel this Love.… Read More »

A Powerful Convergence

Posted C. LaVielle7 CommentsPosted in Getting Published, Gifts from the Multiverse, Goddess, Synchronicity

When we think of a convergence, we usually envision two or three shining planets coming together in the velvet black night sky and astrologers urgently discussing what such a striking event might mean. But that’s not the kind of convergence I’ll be musing about here. This post is about the convergence of choices/events; how one thing leads to another which leads to another which leads to a point in time where they all converge and, with lots of help from the gods, something amazing happens. These convergences occur all the time. They are the small and large miracles of our lives and most of them go unnoticed. But there was one recent convergence that the whole world noticed. On January 17th Kaleb Whitby had a miraculous escape from certain death. In the dark, cold predawn his pickup was completely squashed between two big rigs during a freeway pile up on I-84 near Baker City, Oregon. He crawled out of the wreckage with only a few… Read More »

Why Are All the Cartoon Mothers Dead?

Posted C. LaVielle9 CommentsPosted in Book Review, Goddess, Writing

In the July/August 2014 issue of The Atlantic Sarah Boxer wonders “Why Are All the Cartoon Mothers Dead?” And they are, you know. Bambi, Nemo, Snow White, Ariel, Belle, Pocahontas, Aladdin, and almost any other cartoon main character you can think of is a motherless child. In fact, Ms Boxer challenges her readers to “show me an animated kids’ movie that has a named mother in it who lives until the credits roll.” There aren’t that many. The Lion King, Coraline, The Incredibles and a few others come to mind. However, she doesn’t try very hard to answer her own evocative question. She gives a few lame answers like: The unfolding of plot and personality depends on the dead mother.* The dead mother is psychologically good for the child because it allows him/her to preserve an internal good mother (even if the natural mother hadn’t been all good) and allows him/her to direct all his anger at the step mother.** I can think of better… Read More »

The Moon, Part II: The Major Arcana and The Hero’s Journey

Posted C. LaVielleLeave a commentPosted in Goddess, Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey

Continued from a previous post… The focal point of this card is, of course, the moon. But this isn’t just any moon. It is a full moon, crescent moon, half moon, and invisible dark moon all rolled into one. A woman’s profile on the half moon is the visual equivalent of saying “the Moon is a Goddess”. This way of drawing the Moon isn’t just Pamela Coleman Smith’s idea. Many of the earlier decks picture her this way. The artist is doing everything she can to make the viewer understand that this is the quintessential, archetypal Moon. It carries not only the brilliant power of the full moon, but also the vital, initiating force of the crescent moon, the crescendo of the waxing moon, the ebb of the waning moon, and the quiet, regenerative power of the dark moon. It reminds us that lunar energy is ever-changing, rising and falling, ebbing and flooding in a rhythm as regular and nurturing as a mother’s heart beat.… Read More »

Delphi, Another Step in Our Greek Odyssey

Posted C. LaVielle6 CommentsPosted in Goddess, Greece

The town of Delphi nestles on the south slope of Mt Parnasus, and overlooks dramatic hillsides, acres of gray green olive groves and a small, sparkling-blue slice of Korinthiakos bay. It’s just plain, knock-your-socks-off beautiful. And this is only fitting, because back in the day, long before there were Greeks, Gaia, grandmother earth, had her sanctuary in this lovely spot and her child, the terrible Python, lurked underground. This was the time of the Titans. A time when the shadowy, frightful ghosts, gods, and spirits of the underworld reigned supreme.* Even then, legend has it that Gaia’s temple was a famous oracle.** And because it belonged to Her, it would have been the center of the earth, her belly-button or omphalos. And then, down from the big sky steppes of the north, came Zeus. He was a new and strange god. He had no form and no personality. He was huge and incomprehensible and He ruled the vast heavens. And He was definitely a he.… Read More »

Northwest Fall Equinox Festival 2012

Posted C. LaVielle2 CommentsPosted in Goddess, Wheel of the Year

We just returned from a healing weekend in the woods with about 100 of our friends. We returned recharged, rejuvenated, and refreshed. Part of the magic was the setting—an old growth forest and a trickling creek so full of clean, vibrant energy that it almost did the ritual for us. The place was so still that we could hear the creek softly burbling along about 50 feet from our cabin. And did I mention the stars? Ever so many and ever so bright in a clear black sky. Since I’m working on The Star tarot card for this blog, I was especially moved by their message of hope and inspiration. Another part of it was the people. We have attended NWFEF for the past twenty years and have made friends that we usually only get to see at the festival. There were also family members and other friends there. We moved from one hug to the next, caught up on everyone, and basked in the… Read More »