Birth Goddess

I have discovered a birth goddess that I was previously unaware of... I came across her while reading "Birth: An Anthology of Ancient Texts, Songs, Prayers, and Stories" edited by David Meltzer

Eileithyia comes from the Greek Pantheon and she is the goddess of childbirth and labor pain. She was called upon to help the laboring woman endure the pain, and to help move the labor along... but she could also slow things down causing a protracted labor.

Here she is depicted attending Zeus as he gives birth to Athena (emerging from his head fully grown and in full armor). Eileithyia is the one on the left.

When I was dancing with The Goddess Dancing, I created a dance called MotherBirth in which I danced the part of Artemis in her midwife role. Karen danced the part of a veiled wise woman whose job it was to protect the birthing - and I now realize that she was Eileithyia! According to David Meltzer, Eileithyia was usually depicted as being veiled from head to foot.

Squannacook River Goddess

On the gorgeous day that was yesterday, I had the opportunity to go canoeing with Dean and Pumpernickel on my lovely Squannacook River. She is a winding and slow moving river in North Central, MA whom I have claimed as my personal goddess...

She has so much to teach me...

• Go with the flow.
• Take your time, and carve your own path through this earthly plane.
• Pick up new things on your journey, and leave behind what is no longer needed.
• Give freely of your abundance and support a diversity of life.
• When faced with an obstacle, you have many options: you can go around it, or you can go under it, or you can go over it. With enough determination and force, you can move it. And with patience, you can slowly wear it away.
• There are times and places to run shallow, and times and places to run very deep.
• There are times to move slowly and calmly, there are times to move with exuberance - skipping and hopping and making a little song as you go, and there are times to be very still and silent.

I would love to live like a river flows, carried along by the surprise of its own unfolding...

~ John O'Donohue 1956 - 2008

But I also know that in places, the river still runs deep, and though I've floated in these places, it hasn't revealed itself in such obvious ways. I know that it might be months - years, even - before I understand what it has to teach me. I still need to give myself over to the flow and pattern and rhythm of it to learn its lessons and hear its messages. The river is inside me now, I know, and I need only wait and see where the current takes me, and what lies beneath it

~ Jeff Wallach, What the River Says

My Squannacook River is a very wise goddess indeed!

The quickening

Imbolc has been one of my favorite sabbats for a long time now. It holds so much promise for the return of spring and warmth and the re-greening of the earth.

Persephone is making ready for her return from the underworld, and her mother Demeter is stirring from her long winter's sleep.

It reminds me of the quickening - the time in a pregnancy when a woman feels the fluttery movements of her baby for the first time - usually between 16 - 18 weeks gestation. Long ago, this was thought to be the time when the baby came to life. We now know, via ultrasound, that the baby has been moving for many weeks before that movement is percieved by the mother.

Even though the earth is still covered with thick layers of snow (and more coming today) here in the northeast USA, things are beginning to stir and awaken deep in the earth. If you look closely, you might find some of the trees are already forming their buds...