(Prose Part 1) Sacred Engagement by Yia Alias

Today, I am writing from an old open shed in the Australian bush, on the property that has claimed me as custodian, HearthGround. Surrounded by giant blue gums, rocky hills, the sound of lyrebirds and cicadas, I can just hear the movement of the creek through the trees. And now a gentle breeze.

I acknowledge the spirits of the first peoples of this Blessed area, the Darug and the Darkinjung, I offer my Deep Respect.

Nature as mirror/metaphor/personal reflection

To stop, be still, to allow the Present Moment to commune with me is HOW I experience the ever present divinity of Creation/Goddess.

A gentle breeze caresses in this moment, a few leaves gracefully fall the long distance to the ground. Insects are going about their work, an ant walks over my foot and the tin roof creaks as the sun expands its surface. Now, I hear the wind move the high branches and the breeze is stronger, awakening the wind chime with a gentle sound. I feel a call now, to stop writing, and go down to the creek. The movement of the air has called me to visit the water.

I return after a quick dip and drink from the bubbly little creek. Recently this creek was a powerful being, swollen with flood waters transforming the landscape, both in its wake, and along its journey.

I contemplated the power, the flood of emotions that happened in our lives at that time. The landscape of our lives was transformed by unexpected crises that have now settled. In flow again, but moving differently like the creek, I allow the sound of water gently moving to wash through me …

This is a fragment of HOW I relate/listen to Creation Creating itself.

The following is a brief description of HOW Goddess triggered a transpersonal awakening that altered my engagement with Life.

Goddess Persephone and the Hadian Journey

Reading Jean Shinoda Bolen’s Goddesses in Every Woman in the late 80s awoke such a recognition in my Psyche, that life was never the same again.

I awoke. I became conscious of the psychological/hereditary/mythological patterns that held me so strongly. I could see that I was caught within the power of an ancient myth. The myth of Persephone, the version that many of us are familiar with, the journey of loss, descent, dismemberment and alienation.

In my case, it was sexual violation, a literal abduction when I was only seven. The women that came before me also experienced the abduction of their innocence before it was ready to offer. Layered over this was a holocaust witnessed by my mother, that destroyed the foundation and fabric of a thriving village that lived for centuries in tune with a sacred engagement with the seasons.

I was living this story through my life and relationships. I inherited it through my bloodline. The oceans of migration could not wash away what was deeply embedded pre utero. To access my Original Soul became a task that I had to consciously dedicate my life to.

Altar Consciousness

I began to create sacred art installations – altars. Altars to the archetypes, the Goddesses of my Greek heritage. This is how I began the journey to my conscious evolution. This process enabled me to alter the patterns that held me captive.

One of the first altars was called Metamorphosis. This one was dedicated to Artemis, Goddess of Wild Nature and the Moon, Medicine Woman, Feminist, Defender and Protector of the Vulnerable.

This piece was created within a glass cabinet. In this cabinet was a Goddess figure arising out of shards of broken mirrors. Above the cabinet was a large mirror, with the word ‘Metamorphosis’ written around its perimeter. The idea was to shatter an old perception of self, to allow the birthing of something new. I needed a new operating system, to shift from the shadow lands of an abducted Persephone.

I wanted to craft myself an Artemisian consciousness, to find the path to my Original Soul. This figure had no head, I lived a life where I overthought everything. She had spears, a symbol of focused direction. She was naked, shedding of projections and inherited accoutrements.

On the back wall was a collage of many Goddesses, allies in waiting …

(To be continued.)

[Editor’s Note: This essay is included in She Rises: How Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality?]

Read Meet Mago Contributor Yia Alias.