Mother Goddess of the World

Nepal changed my life.  I was there for one brief, magical, month two and a half years ago, and since then not a day has gone by when I haven't felt some reverberations from the time I spent there. Recently I've thought of little else since the first cataclysmic earthquake happened.  The many tears I've shed and the few dollars I've donated seem futile in the face of the massive suffering and pain caused by Mother Earth's righteous anger. 

So I write these few words to acknowledge the greatness of Nepal and its people.  And the land herself, where Chomolungma (Mount Everest) reigns supreme. The mighty Chomolungma still stands, solid and strong, after two devastating earthquakes and multiple aftershocks. Chomolungma, in the native language of the Sherpas, means Mother Goddess of the World.  She is most aptly named.
When I wrote the previous story about Mother's Day, Chomolungma and her people were very much on my mind.  She symbolises the greatness of Nepal, and the divinity of all Creation. She cannot be conquered. She cannot be destroyed. Her people may have been deeply, devastatingly shaken, but their spirit, like Chomolungma herself, will never be broken. 
Long live Nepal.
- G. P.

Love is Blue II

Magic is alive and my Goddess-Mother is afoot, or at least on-the-wing.  Mother's Day must be one of the most magical days of the year, because it honours the deepest and most abiding love I know - a mother's love.   My brilliant, beautiful cousin Laura, daughter of my late, great goddess-mother Gita Tante, sent the extended family another extraordinary picture of the bluebird of happiness.

I've written previously about this visitor to Laura's garden (Love is Blue, July 9/14), and about my certainty that it was a manifestation of Gita Tante.  I'm well aware that my magical thinking on this little web of mine must seem pretty far-fetched and flaky at times, even for me.  And I admit that sometimes a bit of doubt creeps into my world view, spoiling the mystery I long for.  But Laura's email this morning has finally eradicated the last vestiges of uncertainty for me. Just check out the picture of the stunning Indigo bunting that appeared at Laura's bird-feeder today of all days.  It also happens to be the first time since my earlier post that Laura has seen that bird.
If you haven't read it, or don't recall the story I told about Gita Tante and the bluebird of happiness, then this little blurb will mean nothing to you.  So by all means, catch yourself up and read the first chapter of this tale.  (See aforementioned date and title.)  And even if you don't, enjoy the gorgeous photograph Laura managed to not-so-accidentally capture.
Laura's email arrived while I was thinking about my own mother (Gita Tante's older sister), and when I had just finished sending Mother's Day wishes to my sister. Today is also my parents' 64th wedding anniversary, neither of whom are in this world anymore.  So yeah - mothers, daughters, sisters, and family were on my mind just as Laura's email came flying into my inbox.

For several days now I've been asking Ma to send me a sign that "everything will turn out alright" - I do that a lot - and boy oh boy I got it. Big time.  If my goddess-mother as the bluebird of happiness making an appearance on Mother's Day isn't the sign I asked for, then I don't know what is. (Ma and Gita Tante are obviously still organising family celebrations together.)  Thanks to a web of family ties that cross all worlds here and beyond, I've received a huge dose of happy magic just exactly when I needed and wanted it the most. Word sure gets around.  And the word is Love.
Blessed be to all mothers, and all children of mothers.
- G.P.