A Yuletide Blessing
I awoke at 2am this morning out of a sound sleep and for no reason I can think of, I had one distinct idea in my head: "I have to somehow build an altar to Isis here in the house." I remember thinking this quite clearly, trying to puzzle out how for a while since I had nothing with which to do so, then I went back to sleep and awoke at 7am. Since we observe Christmas in a secular fashion to enjoy it with our families, we opened our presents this morning planning to go to my mom's house later in the day for a big meal and more presents. One present for me was this huge box that I had no clue what was inside. When I opened it, I found a large statue of Isis with Her wings outspread. When I held it in my hands I started to cry and told my husband and son about my awakening earlier. The funny thing is, my son picked out that statue for me months ago, when I had no thought in my head about Isis other than just generally honoring Her with the other Goddesses. I also received some Egyptian artwork from my husband that will go nicely with the statue and make a great beginning to an altar. Now I was left thinking about maybe going to this little furniture consignment shop I knew to get something appropriate as an altar. When I got to my mom's house this afternoon, one of the gifts next to the tree out in the open with a huge bow on it was a jewelry armoire that stands about 3 1/2-4 ft tall. I thought my sister Katie had gotten it for my mom and wondered where she found one that looked so much like my maternal grandmother's jewelry armoire. As it turns out, it was my grandma's jewelry armoire and my mom was giving it to me as a gift. I have always loved that armoire since it was part of the many days of playing dressup in my granma's room with my cousins. I don't need a jewelry armoire for jewelry though, I don't own that many pieces, and what I do own fits just fine in the jewelry box on my dresser. I realized after we got it home (something of a trick, it filled most of the trunk of my husband's car) as I opened it and looked at it, going over the many velvet-lined drawers and shelves, is that it would be a perfect altar, and I can store my Goddess jewelry in it as well as my herbs for incense making, which means I can finally organize them. It's funny how the Goddess always provides when She has a job for you.
As a footnote, and one that is making me smile as I write this, the last gift I opened from my husband today was a small silver cuff bracelet. Engraved upon it is the quote: "Well behaved women rarely make history" When I told him during the drive to my mom's that it felt like an encouragement directed to me to keep up the work I have been doing for the Goddess, he told that that that was exactly how he intended it. Somedays I feel intensely lucky - this is one of them.