#8 Goddess Connection ~ Oshun, Pele, Persephone, Red Tara, Shakti

Re-connect with the Goddess… The Spiritual Feminist

• Oshun

Her Story:

Oshun is an Yoruban goddess celebrated in West Africa as a patroness of women and witches. She can also be found in some traditions of Santeria. She rules all bodies of water and all acts of sensuality. Oshun is the hedonistic nature within all women, she rolls in unabashed lust and physical delight with nary a qualm of guilt. Make offerings to this goddess of jewelry, tantalizing perfumes, and sea shells.

Oshun is most often depicted as a female with large hips, and she is a triple goddess in the triad with Oba and Oya.

Who are all the lovers in your life? How has each one touched your life, whether good or bad or indifferent, whether climactic or anti-climactic? What did you learn from them?

Everyone comes into our life, whether permanently or just for a season, for a reason. Not all relationships are meant to last forever. And when a couple decides to end a relationship, it does not mean “failure”. It does not necessarily mean that someone did something wrong; it does not necessarily mean there is a “good guy” and a “bad guy” in this situation. It simply means that the relationship has run its course, and it’s time for both parties to move on with their lives.

I’ve run into people within our society who were brought up under strict Christian (and Catholic) homes and divorce was frowned upon, or even forbidden. I had a heated head to head argument with one lady (Southern Baptist) about this very topic. She believed that once you were married, you were married forever– No Matter What.

No matter what? What if you were abused? What if you were incompatible? What if you were unhappy? People change over time; needs change; personalities change; goals change; spirituality changes; physical needs and desires change; hopes and fears change. Life is not static.

I believe that most human beings, living an average human life span, will have not one, but many lovers during their life time. As they should.

Let go of the guilt.

It’s all good.

Embracing the Goddess:

Women coming from patriarchal based spiritual backgrounds often have a difficult time letting go of unnecessary guilt, guilt for a variety of reasons, but most often encompassing their sexuality and sensuality. If this is your issue, call upon the goddess Oshun to open you up to your true nature. Invoke this goddess to celebrate your sexuality, to wallow in unadulterated physical pleasure. Invoke this goddess and let her re-introduce you to healthy womanhood.

Oshun’s Correspondences:

• Herbs: belladonna, cardamom, raspberry, foxglove, hibiscus, strawberry

• Color: blue

• Planet: Moon

• Day: Monday

• Element: Water

• Feminine Face: Mother

• Symbols: sea shells, undines

• Pele

Her Story:

Pele is the infamous volcano goddess of Hawaii. She is depicted as a beautiful sensuous woman; and she is noted for being an alluring seductress, seducing males ruthlessly and relentlessly. Pele is also known for her volatile temper, a bitch among the goddesses, and it’s been said that many an unsuspecting tourist has brought down her wrath by removing a volcanic stone from her mountainside.

It’s okay to be a bitch. Our society, mainstream mostly Christian society, has beaten it into little girls’ heads that we must always be “nice”, always, with no exceptions. Pele teaches us otherwise, telling us it’s okay to get up on our back legs and howl and screech when we feel the need; it’s okay to use our feminine wiles of seduction; it’s okay to pull no stops, to use our femininity to our advantage. Society– watch out, Pele has turned us loose.

Embracing the Goddess:

Invoke Pele with the element of Fire to turn your inner Wild Woman loose. When it’s time to abandon “nice”, invoke Pele for the passion and fury needed to stand your ground, make your point, fight your battle, confront your adversary, or seduce your target.

Pele’s Correspondences:

• Herbs: angelica, mandrake, tobacco, wormwood, rowan, bloodroot

• Color: red, orange

• Planet: Mars

• Day: Tuesday

• Element: Fire

• Feminine Face: Mother

• Symbols: fire, lava rock

• Persephone

Her Story:

Persephone is the Greek goddess of spring. She rules agriculture, growth, and new opportunities; she epitomizes the natural magic of spring and the sprouting of new vegetation after the dark of winter. Known as “Queen of the Underworld”, this goddess is the “Keeper of Souls”. She also ruthlessly carries through the curses of men upon the souls of the dead. Persephone influences the wisdom of life and death, magick and divination.

Persephone is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, a harvest goddess, and is most known for her abduction by Hades into the underworld. It’s when her mother Demeter comes to find and rescue her, returning Persephone to the world, that spring returns.

For the goddess skilled in divination, through the tarot, what wisdom has she for us?

3/swords (R)…The Fool…Ace/wands (R)

2/pentacles…3/pentacles

7/swords (R)

Through a series of heartaches and disappointments, we find ourselves on a new path, one of several in our life-time perhaps. New beginnings are right around the corner; but each beginning, we must realize, stems from an ending. Remember not to drag debris from life’s earlier disappointments throughout your entire journey.

In all things there will be balance; the universe and the higher powers will see to that. Work will be our salvation; it will be our strength, and it will be the solution to many of the issues from this life and past lives. We’ll find strength, power, self-confidence, happiness, and a sense of fulfillment in the work we do, the contribution we make.

Along this journey, you may run into people who feel they can take advantage of you, of your success, of your energy. Do not worry here, for what they think they are stealing is nothing of importance. These are people who do not see the whole picture, people who may have abandoned or turned on you at some point in your life for all the wrong reasons.

Know that you are above the pettiness of the world, you are in fact ready to soar with the Goddess.

Embracing the Goddess:

Invoke Persephone to strengthen your second sight and to fine tune your divination skills. Call upon this goddess to bless your garden at the beginning of spring, insuring lush growth and freedom from disease and blight. Use the energy of Persephone to enhance growth, growth regarding material issues, or a flowering of personal endeavors.

Persephone’s Correspondences:

• Herbs: daisy, ivy, lavender, mint, patchouli

• Animal: bat, parrot, ram

• Color: green, brown

• Planet: Earth (Gaia)

• Day: all seven

• Element: Earth

• Feminine Face: Maiden

• Symbol: sheaf of grain, wreath of flowers

• Red Tara

Her Story:

Red Tara is a Tibetan goddess of transformation. She’s worshiped throughout Eurasia in both the Hindu and Buddhist traditions. She manifests transformations at all levels: physical, mental, and spiritual. This goddess highlights positive intentions and actions. She also has the ability to calm wild emotions and turn them into quiet common sense and reasoning. Red Tara is a powerful goddess in that she affects the energies of magick and alchemical processes.

• Red Tara, she who rules over physical transformation, manifest for me a healthy body, beautiful in its own unique way.

• Red Tara, she who rules over mental transformation, manifest for me a healthy ego, self-confidence, intelligence, and above all, balance.

• Red Tara, she who rules over spiritual transformation, manifest for me tranquility and peace, a strong bond with my spiritual path and its practices; and above all, a connection with the Divine that will enlighten me in this lifetime and beyond.

Embracing the Goddess:

When you are bat-shit over the hill crazy with anger, collect your wits and invoke Red Tara. She’ll calm you down so you can think rationally and react intelligently. “Get a grip!”, Red Tara will order you. All magickal practitioners can call upon Red Tara for her energy and transitional qualities when performing magick…yes, casting spells. Her rational calm influence will insure the same in your magick. She’ll grab any helter-skelter energy and throttle it, so your magickal endeavors will work correctly.

Red Tara’s Correspondences:

• Herbs: holly, shallot, basil, cumin, marigold, penny royal, fennel

• Color: red, orange

• Planet: Mars

• Day: Tuesday

• Element: Fire

• Feminine Face: Crone

• Shakti

Her Story:

Shakti is the supreme goddess of India. She’s the primal force (female energy) within all other Hindu goddesses, the ancient driving force, the “Breath of Life”. Shakti leads women to spiritual enlightenment. She is found in the energy of yoga and many tantric practices.

The Liberated Woman

Who is she?

Is she you?

• List three mundane and routine daily chores or activities that you do day, after day, after day, for yourself, for your family, or for your employer.

• List three daily practices or activities that you incorporate into your life for your own mental, spiritual, or physical benefit and well-being.

• List three people you have positive connections with.

• What is your dream?

• What are your goals for the next five years?

• Who inspires you?

Embracing the Goddess:

Connect with Shakti to open or celebrate the crown chakra, to directly connect to the Feminine Divine, to do energy work on a spiritual level. This goddess is an open line to divinity. Invoke her to help you find your way, to answer your questions, to alleviate your doubt. Invoke this goddess to discover who you are, where you came from, and where you’re headed.

Shakti’s Correspondences:

• Herbs: earth energy/patchouli, mugwort, oleander; air energy/dandelion, sage, slippery elm; fire energy/allspice, golden seal, dragon’s blood; water energy/belladonna, eucalyptus, ragwort

• Color: green, brown

• Planet: Earth (Gaia)

• Day: all seven

• Element: Earth

• Feminine Face: Mother

• Symbols: kundalini snake, lotus blossom