Red Deer:

FOLKS, MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE?

Kindredflame:

Sure thing!

melilot:

no you may not you yelled at me

ANNWYN:

Uh hmmmm

deathdesire:

LOL

Red Deer:

I need to review class etiquette before Annwyn begins:

1) Please keep all BBs, MMs, MPs, and side-conversations in IM for the duration of class.

2) Please hold questions and comments until our facilitator opens the floor.

3) Should an exclusion be called, PLEASE cease talking to or about the excludee immediately (except in IM).

deathdesire:

i promise not to hit anyone

Red Deer:

4) Would one or two who expect to attend the entire class please log for back-up?

Kindredflame:

<---logging

Red Deer:

did not!

melilot:

did too

Red Deer:

thanks Kindred...

Kindredflame:

no problem... honored as always.

ANNWYN:

You want I should start?

Red Deer:

5) With that, I pass the besom to Annie, who will momentarily lead is in discussion of the &quot;Season of the Mother&quot;

ANNWYN:

hehe..thought you said bosom which I also need

deathdesire:

LOL

Red Deer:

roflmao

deathdesire:

<--passes some to Ann

Kindredflame:

haha

LadyGrnEyess:

I'll donate Annie

Kindredflame:

LOL

ANNWYN:

Gee...what a generous outpouring

Red Deer:

sorry, but I don't have any to spare

ANNWYN:

OK, I don't do Macros... so please don't ask a question unless you just can't control yourself..

deathdesire:

EG

ANNWYN:

also fighting against waking baby clock..so....

melilot:

control.....................

ANNWYN:

Control..DD

deathdesire:

:)

ANNWYN:

gees....wrong word for this group... I am starting NOW

Red Deer asked that I give this class a title and already we begin to catalog and limit our understanding. Everytime we use words to express our religion we become static... Sometimes I say the sky is high, sometimes I say blue. I can say the sky is high AND blue I can't think of a time when I'd say it is high OR blue. Now, sometimes the sky actually is blue and if I say blue you would think of sky or ocean or a lover's eyes perhaps, but often my sky is grey OR white with the heat of day. And sometimes I know I have reached my fingers out and touched the sky. And sometimes I have seen the great white cloud ships sail across the blue ocean of sky on calm dusky evening. I did swim in my lover's eyes. And if I am contrary and demand the sky be blue... Then I might miss the great twinkling stars that shine in the black. So, the sky is this AND it is THAT, NOT only THIS OR that. It is one and it is many Like the Goddess... Ever chaniging... Ever the same...

The year wheel is one annual cycle of the goddess body. The Goddess in summer is as Woman in HER FULLNESS. She is pregnant, full, ripe. She is the seeded earth. She is not tamed, but whole and sexual. She is the circle. One of the oldest symbols of fullness is the world tree reaching both up into the sky towards the sun/light AND sinking down into the earth/dark underworld, pulling both of those areas into the middle... into the world and our lives. Uniting them... Making them more accessible. This season celebrates the complete union of the Mother/Father, dark/light. This sexuality is a deep profound knowledge of self and other... of healing...

drags:

accessible to what? please explain

ANNWYN:

and bonding... We see through the bounteous nature of the MOther to our understanding.

drags - to our awareness

We see through the bounteous nature of the Mother... the fruit of this union is &quot;WHOLENESS&quot; forever joined... forever *a*part... Light AND Dark... WHOLE.

The MOther is the &quot;bridge between opposites&quot;. The world tree exemplifies the need for both dark and light. If one exposes the roots of the tree to light and air the tree dies. The branches and leaes could not be sustained but through the water and nourishment it receives from the deep, dark earth... AND thrives on the light. The tree lives by the gifts of ALL. For us to find our WHOLENESS, we must experience our LIGHT as greedily and hungrily as we are want to lament our dark. The season of summer is the time to express our light. It is the time to let our spirit grow and bloom BUT we cannot do this by ignoring or denying our &quot;dark&quot;, but by loving and embracing that side of us else there is a part of SELF that we hate, a part of SELF that we cast away from SELF and we are NOT whole.

Most of you know I have a new baby. She poo's in her pants... rubs food in her hair... cries when I want to sleep... etc. These are pretty &quot;bad&quot; behaviours, BUT for a baby they are normal. They are HER nature... she is being the BEST baby she can be and THIS is part of it. So though her behaviour is &quot;bad&quot; she is NOT bad. As she grows these behaviours will change to more &quot;acceptable&quot; behaviours that make her suitable for &quot;community&quot;. Some of her behaviour is driven by need: hunger... need for love... fear.

In the Wide Wide World, we babies of the MAMA have our bad behaviours. Often we call them anger, hate, hurting others, and we spend so much time judging ourselves... judging others... that we are living only in the dark. We have not the time to live the light side of our SELF. This great Mother Coat where all things are connected is SO vast... from this point back... from this point forward... WITHIN this MOMENT... and each part BELONGING to and BEING her... the Mother... that those judgements that are mostly based on human emotion and pronouncement STEAL our LIFE from us... If we are living only in the dark then we are not expressing our light. If we only &quot;permit&quot; light by these judgements we force the dark to find its own way to act until it is seen. The most profound words I ever heard were, &quot;THERE ARE NO MISTAKES IN THIS WORLD.&quot;

NOW, I do not mean to define these dualities... good/light... bad/dark... but I am limited to words. SO let me interject that not all DARK is bad... not all LIGHT is good... This season also teaches us that the sun, if left to shine at its brightest forever, would scorch and burn... and often it is in the cool dark that babies opt to be born... where dreams dare venture. Duality keeps us comparing and &quot;separating&quot; parts of ourSELVES ourselves from (M)other/other. If all is OK then why should we choose to be &quot;good&quot;... because She says, &quot;FOR MINE IS THE ECSTASY OF THE SPIRIT AND MINE ALSO IS JOY ON EARTH FOR MY LAW IS LOVE UNTO ALL THINGS.&quot; AND, being part of the great Mama Coat we are BOUND to support and NOURISH one another for we are our own children... and we are (M)other.

This is the season of the mother... capacity to BOND... to be faithful... endure and nourish. On the Shaman's Wheel one such association is that of &quot;coming into Being&quot;. A coming into &quot;self&quot;... BECOMING... Living your power, your fire energy... the abun&quot;dance&quot; in you. Your own inner fire IS the spirit of the Goddess. Your own inner dark is the womb of the MOther...

While winter is the time of indwelling... and is a solitary pursuit, Summer is a time of expansion and community. If we seek and expose that inner fire, we will see that it is the flame of love and compassion... for others and for SELF... &quot;The Mother celebrates all of one's Self... not excluding one thing... not anger, not lust, not hate, not pain... but strives to have everything functioning in right relationship... determined by the core (Kore) of one's SELF... not by rules, custom or fixing boundaries.&quot;

This inner fire is the basis for truth by which we &quot;choose&quot;... our &quot;free will&quot;. This dark is the place of all beginnings. There is no need to banish light or dark, they comforably coexist naturally as night and day. There are extremes but there are no &quot;struggling opposites&quot;, yet many different complementary moments... all potentially wonderful. Summer is a time to capture your&quot;light&quot;... your power... the belief in your power... the strength behind your &quot;efforts&quot;. Summer is the South. It is the flaming desert, the burning noonday sun... home of energy, spirit, heat, flame, blood, sap, bourgening life, WILL, healing, destroying, purification, ACTIVE CHANGE. In the south we learn to direct our power, todirect our will, ACT on our desires, and live our dreams. It is a time of CELEBRATION. Let the sun soak into your pores empowering you with new enthusiam. Eat of the wonderous bounty. Dance, lifting yourself high like flame against the night sky. It is a time to PLAY. Let your internal fire BURN. Release the child within. &quot;Igne Natura renoatur integra.&quot; (&quot;All nature is renewed by fire.&quot;) Energy is RAW.

&quot;Place your inner Goddess into a new category of Alchemical Goddess... magical prowess containing the power of transformation. Draw from the Cauldron of Ceridwen, the Cauldron of Regeneration and healing... acknowledge pain and transmute.&quot; Nothing is ever lost in the universe... the energy is simply changed. Be a &quot;fire keeper, a guardian of sacred traditions&quot;. Show how to inhabit your spiritual tradition... and breath it. Be a &quot;healer who opens a pathway to the liberation of love.&quot; Know when to move, when to change; be honest in your giving; allow a safe place for pain to be experienced... Mother, Woman in her Fullness, is... Lover/Mother, Fullmoon, Paradise, the cup, the grail, the motherland, Earth, the pool of still water, the ploughed land, the cornucopia, the rose, the lotus, the lion, the magic CIRCLE, the cauldron. In this power we can be the birth givers... the protectors.

Live the sacred flame... Burn... Become... Return...

So mote it be!

Red Deer:

So mote it be!

Nestor11:

SO MOTE IT BE!

Stoormii:

so mote it be

zip ice3:

SO MOTE IT BE

Cloudburst:

So mote it be

ANNWYN:

BRB

Red Deer:

Annie, I'm stunned! That was beautiful

Cloudburst:

Fantastic

Stoormii:

awesome

deathdesire:

thanks Ann

Nestor11:

Poetic

Cloudburst:

Hope she gets to see all the compliments

Red Deer:

rofl... later if not right now

ANNWYN:

Sorry too much coffee..had to pee again

deathdesire:

LOL

Red Deer:

Let's open the floor to questions and comments...

ANNWYN:

shoot

Cloudburst:

Might could be coffee brings out the Goddess in you, Annie

ANNWYN:

hehe... brings it out anyway

Stoormii:

here annwyn throw some kahlua into that coffee

ANNWYN:

THANX

Kindredflame:

oh, can I quit logging now?

ANNWYN:

any questions or comments?

melilot:

not yet kindred

Kindredflame:

Kindredflame:

okay.

drags:

your thoughts are close to everyones

Cloudburst:

Annie, you evoked so many of my feelings about festival season

Stoormii:

give us a chance to absorb hun

Red Deer:

every season is festival season!

Cloudburst:

Yeah, I know, but it takes summer to get into circle with a couple hundred people

ANNWYN:

Red Deer:

never been there cloud

Stoormii:

every moment an opportunity to celebrate the Goddess

Red Deer:

circle of hundreds, not summer

ANNWYN:

yes everyone... and no one the same

LOL

Kindredflame:

I dunno about that Stormii, I don't really feel like celebrating when I'm sleeping, I usually like to pass out then.

ANNWYN:

Death... cut out the cigs

deathdesire:

Never! EG

Kindredflame:

:)

Cloudburst:

Celebrated today mainly by weeding, which brought me to thinking about the near-equal profligacy of death in this season of abundant life

drags:

thats true but so very closely tied

Stoormii:

aaahhh but whilst sleeping you inner spirit journeys

ANNWYN:

existing side by side Cloud

Stoormii:

not only side by side but intertwined

Red Deer:

more life EQUALS more death, doesn't it?

ANNWYN:

and then what we find hidden... like a couple of Nicotianas that reseeded amongst the sage.

drags:

what you have professed is a redundant and constantly repeated oritory

ANNWYN:

pulled like a weed and then redeemed

Kindredflame:

actually, the population right now is higher than it ever has been. when the past is added collectively, so I dunno about that theory.

Cloudburst:

It's real true in the garden, Flame

Red Deer:

I don't think I was clear... the more there is alive, the more dies

ANNWYN:

but even in our own bodies... living and dying occurs simultaneously

Kindredflame:

haha.. no kidding!

melilot:

well kindred when the boomers start going we be haveing a mass of death like the mass of births that caused them

Kindredflame:

true. Just stating a fact I picked up randomly.

ANNWYN:

LOL... speak for yourself Meli

ArgentFoxII:

Annwyn about light and dark, do you see the metaphor of balance in astrology with half the signs being of daylight forces the others of night forces implying balance? Masculine and Feminine?

Red Deer:

aye annie... the dance

ANNWYN:

I don't go with the balance theory

sobrNsuicidl:

can i ask a question?

ANNWYN:

I don't think anything is out of balance

ArgentFoxII:

Ok {S}

ANNWYN:

I don't judge what SHE is

drags:

melilot you are very angry about something arent you?

ArgentFoxII:

Ahhh good point

Red Deer:

I must disagree Annie

Cloudburst:

In terms of perception, Fox, I don't really *see* balance until Lugnassad - this high summer business is decidedly female, IMO

ANNWYN:

no prob

ArgentFoxII:

I guess I meant that if we do all travel on the wheel, there are periods of darkness and light with lessons to be learned in both, and a mixture {S}

Red Deer:

I think that the lives led by many today are out of balance

ANNWYN:

but you know..I go with the Casa Blanca theory... &quot;...Don't amount to a hill of beans...&quot;

Kindredflame:

I think that at times, it depends on one's definition of &quot;balance&quot;

ANNWYN:

when we look at the totality of HER

Red Deer:

whom western civilization is hell bent on destroying?

ANNWYN:

I don't think WE can perceive that substanially and I think what we CALL opposites is still part of the one

Kindredflame:

um.. yeah, that too. {S}

ANNWYN:

We profess to all being connected

Cloudburst:

Dang tootin', Annie

WomanInBlack:

ANNWYN:

but then we judge by standards opposed to this

Kindredflame:

hehe, my typing's not altogether that good tonight.

ArgentFoxII:

you can not light a candle without casting shadows. Carl Jung the Swiss Psychologist said embrace the shadow self to understand self and achieve balance

ANNWYN:

I am great fan of Jung...

Red Deer:

ah, but the very need to achieve balance implies IMbalance

ANNWYN:

and much of my spiritual life is/has been defined by HIM

ANNWYN:

BUT His anima/animus... pits male against female... although he speaks of rejoining... he in essence is suggesting that something is broken. She IS and SHE is NOT broken

Kindredflame:

I think that we have balance in the big picture, and that it stays balanced, but as far as in our own minds, it's a different kind of balance.

Red Deer:

I believe Jung was referring to within the western psyche Annie, not to the Mother herself

Kindredflame:

And that theory goes along with Annie's theory about traveling the wheel

ArgentFoxII:

So then when you made the alchemical reference, like the lovers it is the admixture of the two, Lovers in Tarot that is, like the sign Gemini to a degree is that what you are saying, not male vs female?

Nestor11:

Annwym --should we perhaps see it as a dynamic interplay and balance... acheived by symbotic interplay?

ANNWYN:

but then we cannot USE that then as explanation of divine reality if it is ONLY western psyche

Red Deer:

I believe that using the word &quot;versus&quot; is the problem... why not &quot;male and female&quot; as polarity instead of &quot;male vs female&quot;?

ANNWYN:

I'm being a brat... I understand the points being made...

ArgentFoxII:

I agree with Red Deer {S}

ANNWYN:

I'm asking that we take the 13th step. go beyond the wheel...

Red Deer:

we don't say north vs south of a magnets poles...

ANNWYN:

move beyond

Kindredflame:

ANNWYN:

LOL

Stoormii:

yep it sure does, figured as much

Red Deer:

well folks, I hope this discussion continues but our official time is up...

ANNWYN:

Shapeshifting or leaving?

ArgentFoxII:

Ok then there is a dynamic cyclical element to the Mother, obviously seasonal, containing so much yet not limiting {S}

Red Deer:

Thanks, Annie for a GREAT presentation... I know how hard it is with little witches and all

Red Deer:

<--- logging off