Although Goddess people don't have Bible verses to comfort and teach them, we have something even better: nature.
The following snippets come from one of the funniest, most lovable, and most powerful Goddess teachers of all time, Ms Z Budapest. Z maintains that her Hungarian family has worshipped the Goddess back through time, in an unbroken line:
"What I found most exciting all my life is getting to know the trees. Sacred trees, every one of them. Some of them are more famous than others, but I think all trees are the very lungs of the beloved blue planet. Lungs and breath, spirit.
"To make acquaintance with a local tree is to spend time with her: Hang out around her; Make some contact; Touch her; Kiss her bark. Tree-huggers dream assignments! The tree is not fast in responding, but when we take them seriously, the trees are direct phone lines to LIFE. A couple of heartfelt visits, maybe asking for a wand. These visits can become prayers.
"I am very close to two trees in the cemetery park where I walk my dogs in Oakland. Here the trees are allowed to grow big and stay alive.
"My beloved FRIEND, a yellow poplar, greets me as I start my walk. She sees me from afar, waits until I too can see her. Then, like a person, she begins to dance with her leaves. First just a few on the outside. Closer I come, more and more. This is independent from the wind conditions. When the wind is blowing of course she is more active. She can express excitement, she can express love, she can say yes and no depending on how she moves. I have learned her leafy language, I know what she is saying most of the time.
"I tell her about my life. I ask her to send me more friends. (I have actually met two women later in the park after I asked her to help my social life). I asked her to send me more students. Most of the time I bless her and she in turn blesses me.
"I urge my students to find this kind of deep personal relationship with a good tree. Many have managed to find their Tree Sisters, but some are more in tune with flowers. Some love stones better, have personal relationships with rose quartzes, opals, amethysts, moonstones, and even diamonds. These human-to-planet experiences are prayers. We realign our souls with the natural world. No longer orphans, us women. We belong here. This is our time and our space. This is our planet."
From Teaching the Goddess Online, by Z. Budapest
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Thnx to Wazari for the 2nd foto; the first is Z Budapest and came from Z's website.
8 comments:
I've always been a tree person; I just feel happier being surrounded by them. Very much a forest creature. That's one of the things that drew me to paganism, the value it places on trees! I'm looking forward to the day when "tree-hugger" is a compliment. Maybe I should make a t-shirt that says "Have you hugged a tree today?"
So how much of the tree thing is metaphor and how much is meant literally?
Trees are knowing subjects? They can interact with the world on an intellectual and emotional basis?
Welcome home to the good old US, andygrrl. I'm with you -- I gravitate toward trees myself. I definitely think your t-shirt idea is a good one. Let us know when you finish it.
Mike, it's all up to you. They can be whatever you want them to be. Why not explore the idea and see what happens?
Is it up to me whether or not A = non-A?
Do I decide everything? Can I decide to step into the path of a truck on the highway and walk away without a scratch?
Mike - some belief systems would say that you could do just that. I wouldn't try it, if I were you.
It is not up to you whether a tree can emote or communicate, but rather your choice as to whether you want to listen. The world is conscious and interactive. All you have to do is be still and listen.
Athana, Morgaine, are trees conscious or not? Morgaine's comments seem to presuppose that trees are, indeed, conscious. Athana's comments are a touch more vague.
I believe that everything has a sort of consciousness. Keep in mind that English is ill-equipped to describe varying levels and states of consciousness. We have only a few words that address the matter, where others, like Sanskrit, might have 40 or more.
I believe that a tree knows that it is a tree, what it means to be a tree in the larger body of life, what a tree has been and may be. Make a table out of the tree, and the table knows it is a table. If someone who owns the table has some sort of physical or emotional connection to it, others will be able to sense that person's energy by touching the table.
That is called psychometry on the part of the one who perceives that energy. Some of us do it naturally. Anyone can learn, but first you have to give yourself permission. People in this culture are trained to ignore these feelings to avoid censure and ridicule.
In my case, I was never trained out of it, because I was raised in a family that accepted their psychic abilities. When I noticed these things, I wasn't told that they were crazy or impossible, and no one laughed at me. They told me not to talk to other people about it, but there was never a suggestion that my impressions were anything but real. That same ability enabled Athana to commune with a sacred tree. Everyone has this sixth sense and it exists in animals as well.
Physics tells us that everything that exists is vibrating particles in a field of energy. Every particle in the field can be connected to any other particle, no matter where they exist in what we perceive as physical space. The energy that unites it all is, for lack of a better word, consciousness. It is aware and interactive.
Mike - have you ever seen a movie called MindWalk? It gives a good explanation of physics that you might find useful. It won't explain the psychic abilities, but it will give you the scientific foundation of the things we're talking about.
Back to the tree. In most indigenous cultures, before a tree is cut, or any natural resource used, prayers and offerings are made, and the consent of the tree, animal, or whatever gives consent to be used in the support of life. The great tragedy of patriarchy is that we have suppressed our connection to the Spirit of Nature and fallen out of harmony with Her.
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