Happy Mother's Day
To all of you who walk this path carrying children in your arms and hearts, I want to take a moment to offer you acknowledgement and blessing. We are doing the impossible, right? Pagans and Witches with children? Actively pursuing our spiritual development and our Life's Work/Soul's Purpose while raising children takes a certain kind of determination and an entirely different level of focus on the Self Point of the IP.
How does one enter the silence and stillness of meditation while practicing the just-as-real-magic of Attachment Parenting (that's a parenting "method" which involves ALWAYS maintaining physical contact between infant and parent)? How does one practice Sex Magick while maintaining a commitment to the just-as-powerful-magical-practice of the Family Bed (where the family shares the bed until the kids decide otherwise)? How does one make space for the pusuit of one's own happiness (Liberty) while committing to the perhaps-more-important spell we call homeschooling? How do we manage to remain true to our "alternative" lifestyles without making martyrs of our children? How do we put our Threefold Self first when the kids need . . . and need . . . and need? How do we deal with the reality that pagan "community" often adamantly excludes children or, at best has no idea what raising them really entails? It is easy to insist we must fill our own well before giving to others--but only a Mother knows how hard it is to do when our children are literally dependent upon us for their lives.
So, here's to all the Mom's who know that one cannot choose not to be a Witch (or to wait until the kids are grown! LOL!) anymore than one can choose not to be a Mother. Here's to the WitchMothers who are figuring it out, sharing how we do it, quietly working the magic at the stove, the kitchen sink, the laptop, the PTA meeting, the doctor's office, the playground, the library, the grocery store, the evening meal, the bathtime routine, the bedtime ritual and the math lesson as we change the sheets and fold the laundry, make the appointments, chaperone the playdates, tell the stories, scrub the bathtubs, wipe off the fingerprints, pick up the toys, put away the books AND chant the names, align the souls, run the pentacles, do the assignments, cast the circle, teach the classes, turn the year wheel, praise the gods, date the guardians, shape the future, o0rganize the ritual, make Kala the complexes, lend our bodies to the gods, heal the community, bless the land, honor the star beings, open the flower buds, dance in ecstasy beneath the moon, wash our faces in the dew at dawn, whisper prayers into the spaces between stars . . . . Indeed, a Mother's Work is never done.
Blessings and Honor upon the Mothers.
You who know from experience that our children demand as much of our Life Force as do our Gods
All honor and blessing be upon you.
You who know the depth of responsbility of having to weigh each decision against the needs of our children
All honor and blessing be upon you.
You who have learned to pray sincerely while the infant suckles the breast
All honor and blessing be upon you.
You who weave spells of safety and prosperity upon the family and the world while sweeping the floor
All honor and blessing be upon you
You who takes the last serving, turns off the last light and is the last to shut her eyes
All honor and blessing be upon you
You for whom silence and stillness are a distant reality
All honor and blessing be upon you
You who wipes the tear, kisses the scrape and cools the fever
All honor and blessing be upon you
You who sets the rule and then must enforce it
All honor and blessing be upon you
You who gave up her Name to be called Mommy
All honor and blessing be upon you
You who knows Maternal Nature overtakes Sexual Nature for a time
All honor and blessing be upon you
You who speaks the language of infants so you might teach them the language of adults
All honor and blessing be upon you
You who are called Mother yet hold both the Maiden and Crone Powers within you
All honor and blessing be upon you
You who know and honor your Will, your Desire and your Responsibility
All honor and blessing be upon you
You who have carried Life in the belly
All honor and blessing be upon you
You who have suckeled Life at your breast
All honor and blessing be upon you
You who feed Life at your table each mealtime
All honor and blessing be upon you
You who pours Life out to Life
All honor and blessing be upon you
You whose legacy is the lineage born of your womb
You whose traditions are passed with each kiss and embrace
You, MotherWitch who embodies the Mysteries in blood and milk and the cheerios fossilized in the back seats of minivans
All honor and blessing be upon you.
You who are a reflection of Herself, the First Mother
All honor and blessing be upon you.
Happy Mother's Day