The Goddess Companion

Greetings to you, moon, our guiding jewel!
I kneel to you, I offer love.
I kneel to you, I raise my hand to you,
I lift my eyes to you,
O moon of the seasons!
Greetings to you, my darling one! Greetings to you,
O graceful one!
Steering tides as you journey, you light up the night,
O moon of the seasons!
Queen of guidance, queen of luck, queen of love,
O moon of the seasons!
~Traditional Scottish Invocation To The Moon

Before the calendar measured time, we marked the year by observing the planets in their stately parade across the night sky. We noted the tides and the moon's phases and the length of days. We attuned ourselves to the seasons. We did not grow angry when there was snow in winter or rain in summer. We recognized that nature is more powerful than we are, and we honored her strength.

Now we live indoors, our lights shine at night; we mark the days and weeks and seasons on our dayminders and calendars. We have lost the sense of connection to the currents of time as they flow through our world. In the process, we have lost our sense of connection to that world. Honoring the lunar goddess was a daily part of ancient tradition in Ireland and Scotland, where bowing to the full moon and praising her beauty was a monthly ritual. Even when we do not see her, the moon still pulls the tides; she pulls as well on our inner tides, drawing forth .womanly blood as she moves through her own phases. To honor the moon is to honor the primal connection between womanhood and nature's feminine force.

From "The Goddess Companion" by Patricia Monaghan

The Goddess Companion

Brigid, gold-red woman,
Brigid, flame and honeycomb,
Brigid, sun of womanhood,
Brigid, lead me home.

You are a branch in blossom.
You are a sheltering dome.
You are my bright precious freedom.
Brigid, lead me home.
~Irish Prayer To The Goddess

Celtic Ireland celebrated the power of fire in the depths of winter. This may seem a contradictory idea, but in fact we most crave what we miss most. We do not crave air unless we are drowning; we do not crave water when we are not thirsty. Our need for the warmth the fire goddess Bigid brings is strongest when the sun is wan and weak, when the nights seem long and the days all too short.

Within ourselves, too, we strive for balance. When we find ourselves isolated, we seek company; when we have been too much with others, we withdraw. Our inner compass is a sure one, one that can bring us to what we need. Learning to trust and to follow its movements is one of life's deepest lessons.

From "The Goddess Companion" by Patricia Monaghan

The Goddess Companion

How beautiful Sarah is! Her long soft hair
her bright eyes and her radiant face, her full breasts
and her delicate hands, her round hips and her thighs!
There is no woman more beautiful than Sarah,no woman who ever stood under the canopy
to be wed to a good man. Excellent is her beauty,
fair is she under the wide sky. Yet this is not
why she attracts our love: it is her wisdom,
her prudence, and the graceful way she moves her hands.
~Genesis Apocryphon and Jubilees

The Hebrew matriarch Sarah is one of the most renowned of the heroines of that nation. She was nearly a century old when she bore her child, who transformed the nation. But it was not her motherhood that made her great and beloved. It was her wisdom, based on inner strength and knowledge.

Wisdom is a quality that is not, today, often acknowledged. Yet in ancient times a woman's wisdom - gained through years of watchful awareness and inner searching - was important for the health and happiness of all her family and, beyond that, of her entire people. We must reclaim that wisdom, finding it within ourselves and sharing it fearlessly.

From "The Goddess Companion" by Patricia Monaghan

The Goddess Companion

When I look to the royal sky
I see her, a tranquil queen
behind a screen of clouds. The sun!
For thousands of ages may she shine.
For thousands of ages may we serve her.
May we serve her with reverence.
May we serve her with love.
~Nihongi, Japanese Scriptures

In Japan, this day is known as Sebutsen, the feast of "closing the door on winter." Each day the sun's light grows more visibly stronger. Each day we move toward the rebirth and blossoming that is springtime. Yet this is also the time of the deepest depression, the greatest sadness. We have used up the emotional and physical reserves that brought us through the early winter; now we have only the hope of spring to sustain us.

There are periods in life that are as dry and difficult as late winter. During these times, we must hold on to the knowledge of life's great cycles and know that change is the only thing guaranteed us in this life. Life has its own weather, its own seasons. We cannot predict just when a storm will come or when it will end. We only know that, as in nature, our own lives change ceaselessly: big changes and small, violent changes and gradual ones, but changes nonetheless

From "The Goddess Companion" by Patricia Monaghan