Today I am back to using the Goddess Oracle; I’m thinking that I’ll switch off Goddess
and angel messages a few times a week to bring a little balance to these things since I know some people are completely turned off by the idea of the angel messages, which is unfortunate, but hopefully working with the Goddesses a few times a week will help that. I’ll be working with different decks here and there but this one particular one, The Goddess Oracle, is one that I really love. Hrana Janto’s artwork is really stunning and she does an amazing job blending her well known Goddess art with Amy Sophia Marashinsky’s interpretations of the Goddesses included. I can’t recommend this deck highly enough to those that might be interested in a Goddess centered oracle deck. The little ritual suggestions for honoring and working with each Goddess is a nice touch and many of the rituals presented are not only simple but offer some practical ways to work with these energies. So check it out if you haven’t already.
Maeve
Responsibility
(from the book)
I am a Warrioress
a Warrioress of the Heart
I am Queen
of the domain of myself
I am able to respond
in all situations
from the knowledge of who I am
My actions are who I am
My beliefs are who I am
All I do is who I am
That which is outside of me
stays outside of me
That which I choose to let in
I own and acknowledge
How can you be responsible
if you do not own all aspects of yourself?
How can you be accountable
without being Queen over your own domain?
How can you serve your consort, your children, your community
if you are unwilling to acknowledge and answer for yourself?
Today’s Goddess is one that I have covered before when I was working with Doreen Virtue’s (slightly odd) Goddess Guidance deck. Please take a look at this post for some of the historical and mythological information on Maeve. I don’t want to rehash that here and instead focus on her specific meanings and messages for today. But, in brief, Maeve, who’s name is something spelled Medb or Mebhdh (pronounced May-ve), is a Celtic warrior Goddess who’s tales is depicted in the myth called Tain Bo Cuillaigne, or The Tain. The myth is quite long, but you can find it here if you’d like to take the time to read through it. The story is one of struggle for power between Maeve and her husband with two bulls taking center stage. After a long battle, much heartache and bloodshed, and the eventual destruction of these two important animals, Maeve is left to deal with the issue of her roles and responsibility in the matter. It’s quite a tricky thing because of all that happens and the amount of destruction that occurs, but she knows that she is the one that needs to take ownership of a large part of what has happened.
As shown in the piece from the book, the issue of taking responsibility for yourself, your words, your actions and so on, is key to being able to take responsibility in other areas of your life as well as being able to best serve those around you. This doesn’t just pertain to physical actions but thoughts and emotions as well. There are some people in our world, as we all know, who are expected to be highly responsible but who aren’t willing to own up to and take responsibility for their personal thoughts, feelings and actions. For example a politician may be willing to take responsibility for a nation but not own up to the responsibility of their personal actions that are in the public eye (such as personal indiscretions, comments made, etc). How can we expect them to be fully responsible for a nation if they can’t hold themselves responsible for what they do on a personal level? The same can be said for friends and family as well. One of my favorite examples here is that of the cheating partner or spouse. If you got together with someone though the act of an affair (you were the “other” in the relationship) and they leave their existing relationship to be with you, should you really be so surprised when they cheat again, this time cheating on you, down the road? Should you really be so surprised that they leave you for someone they had an affair with and you can you completely place the blame on them for how you feel now? No. By accepting and owning up to your own actions, specifically knowing you were getting involved with someone who was known to be a cheater in the first place, you can’t say that it was a shock when things fell apart and that you had nothing to do with your current state of sadness.
We need to take responsibility for what happens in our lives and sometimes that means facing parts of ourselves that we don’t really want to face. We may have to admit to things that we try and bury because their considered ugly, bad thoughts or feelings by societies standards. An example here is the mother with a special needs child who feels anger or frustration towards their own child, seeing the child as a burden on their life, even though they live their child completely. The mother buries these feelings, telling herself it’s ego talking or something else and that she doesn’t really feel this way. How could she feel this way when it’s her child who she knows she loves? Feeling anger and frustration at her situation is just and fine as feeling the deep love for her child, but she needs to acknowledge those feelings and work through them, owning them and taking responsibility for feeling this way, rather than trying to tell herself it isn’t true and denying part of herself.
Today take a moment to take responsibility for your feelings and thoughts as well as your actions. If you find yourself shooting daggers at someone in a line at the store because they are holding things up and getting you angry, stop and think about what it is that you react this way. What about this person really makes you so upset that you need to react in that manner? Is there something reflected in this person’s actions or words that mirrors a part of you and this is what angers you? Make a list of your responsibilities and journal how you feel about them. This can be your home, your partner or spouse, your children or pets, your job, and so on. Then take a small slips of paper and boil these all down to single issues. For example on one you could have Job: frustration because you feel that you are held back from moving forward at work and it makes you feel frustrated. Do this with each of your areas of responsibility. Then get yourself a fireproof dish with something to catch the heat underneath, a little sand or dirt in the dish to absorb heat and ash, and a lighter or match. One by one pick up each of these pieces of paper and then say:
“I accept responsibility for feeling frustrated about my job and I release this to the Universe.”
Then light the paper on fire and toss it in the dish to burn down. This doesn’t remove the feeling or your responsibility, but it releases any blockages or holds that it may have over you. By acknowledging that you are the one responsible for this feeling you are also responsible for its impact on your life and now that you have accepted that you can move forward with ease and grace. Do this for all your slips of paper and then toss the ashes in a moving body of water or to the winds. With tonight being a full moon it’s a great time to work on this.
Today’s Affirmation
“I accept responsibility for my feelings as well as actions.”
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