Tag Archives: Kokopelli

Fertility Deities of Beltane

Fertility Deities of Beltane

By Patti Wigington

Beltane is a time of great fertility — for the earth itself, for animals, and of course for people as well. This season has been celebrated by cultures going back thousands of years, in a variety of ways, but nearly all shared the fertility aspect. Typically, this is a Sabbat to celebrate gods of the hunt or of the forest, and goddesses of passion and motherhood, as well as agricultural deities. Here are a list of gods and goddesses that can be honored as part of your tradition’s Beltane rituals.

  • Artemis (Greek): The moon goddess Artemis was associated with the hunt, and was seen as a goddess of forests and hillsides. This pastoral connection made her a part of spring celebrations in later periods.
  • Bes (Egyptian): Worshipped in later dynasties, Bes was a household protection god, and watched over mothers and young children. He and his wife, Beset, were paired up in rituals to cure problems with infertility.
  • Bacchus (Roman): Considered the equivalent of Greek god Dionysus, Bacchus was the party god — grapes, wine, and general debauchery were his domain. In March each year, Roman women could attend secret ceremonies called the bacchanalia, and he is associated with sexual free-for-alls and fertility.
  • Flora (Roman): This goddess of spring and flowers had her own festival, Floralia, which was celebrated every year between April 28 to May 3. Romans dressed in bright robes and floral wreaths, and attended theater performances and outdoor shows. Offerings of milk and honey were made to the goddess.
  • Hera (Greek): This goddess of marriage was the equivalent of the Roman Juno, and took it upon herself to bestow good tidings to new brides. A maiden about to marry could make offerings to Hera, in the hopes that she would bless the marriage with fertility. In her earliest forms, she appears to have been a nature goddess, who presides over wildlife and nurses the young animals which she holds in her arms.
  • Kokopelli (Hopi): This flute-playing, dancing spring god carries unborn children upon his own back, and then passes them out to fertile women. In the Hopi culture, he is part of rites that relate to marriage and childbearing, as well as the reproductive abilities of animals. Often portrayed with rams and stags, symbolic of his fertility, Kokopelli occasionally is seen with his consort, Kokopelmana.
  • Pan (Greek): This agricultural god watched over shepherds and their flocks. He was a rustic sort of god, spending lots of time roaming the woods and pastures, hunting and playing music on his flute. Pan is typically portrayed as having the hindquarters and horns of a goat, similar to a faun. Because of his connection to fields and the forest, he is often honored as a spring fertility god.
  • Priapus (Greek): This fairly minor rural god has one giant claim to fame — his permanently erect and enormous phallus. The son of Aphrodite by Dionysus (or possibly Zeus, depending on the source), Priapus was mostly worshipped in homes rather than in an organized cult. Despite his constant lust, most stories portray him as sexually frustrated, or even impotent. However, in agricultural areas he was still regarded as a god of fertility, and at one point he was considered a protective god, who threatened sexual violence against anyone — male or female — who transgressed the boundaries he guarded.
  • Shiela-na-Gig (Celtic): Although the Sheela-na-Gig is technically the name applied to the carvings of women with exaggerated vulvas that have been found in Ireland and England, there’s a theory that the carvings are representative of a lost pre-Christian goddess. Typically, the Sheela-na-Gig adorns buildings in areas of Ireland that were part of the Anglo-Norman conquests in the 12th century. She is shown as a homely woman with a giant yoni, which is spread wide to accept the seed of the male. Folkloric evidence indicates that the figures are theory that the figures were part of a fertility rite, similar to “birthing stones”, which were used to bring on conception.
  • Xochiquetzal (Aztec): This fertility goddess was associated with spring, and represented not only flowers but the fruits of life and abundance. She was also the patron goddess of prostitutes and craftsmen

The First Direction Of Divine Creation

The First Direction Of Divine Creation

Author: Erik Stearns

I have a question for you. How does each of us, when we experience our paths, our own experiences, our own belief systems, and our own spirituality, create our own mythos? What is mythos? Here’s one way to explain it. If one looks at the story telling traditions of many cultures, we see that this art is based on stories illustrating how the culture sees itself as part of and in relation to creation, connection to the divine, connection that spans its citizens, and ways of looking at things that represent the perceived unknown, and the exploration of the mysterious, and resultant rediscovery and insight into itself.

Buffalo Thunder, a fellow Shaman, friend, and somebody whom I consider as a spiritual brother and elder, shared a very interesting story in a conversation we had based on this very topic.

Long ago, there was a nation torn apart by warriors who were fighting with each other, and who had divided the clans against themselves; family member against relative, friend against friend, and individuals against themselves. In addition to threatening the end of their society and culture, it threatened the very survival and existence of the people.

So the Elders and the chief got together in an emergency meeting. The anxious consensus was that something had to be done and now! So the chief was consulted and he asked what the argument was about.

“It’s the warriors, Grandfather, ” said one of the elders. “They’re fighting over which creation story is best or even worse, whose is true.”

The chief, listening in his quiet strength, thought about it and nodded his head sagely. “Call a talking council. We will sit down and each person will tell their story and all will listen.”

Later, the council was convened amid grumblings, accusations, and a more than a few thinly veiled threats that traversed clan boundaries. Seeing his people in this state required that every part of his essence had to come from the quiet inner strength that walked with him on his quest to be as he was.

“I’ve called this council so that we might share what it is that some of you have found a difference worthy enough to divide you. It seems that you wish to war with each other and destroy what seven generations back and beyond have worked so hard to build. What is it that is so valuable to you that you must use it as an excuse to hurt each other and yourselves?”

One of the young warriors stepped forward in defiance of the fact that the elders had such interest in their affairs and worse yet, wanted to mettle in their battle. “It’s the creation story, Grandfather! The other clans have different stories that don’t tell the truth of what really happened! They are wrong! We tried to tell them so, but they accuse us of blaspheming the stories given to us through generations by saying that we’re wrong!”

The whole tribe erupted in passionate and defiant cheers, shouts, accusations, and threats directed to their unwanted spokesman and at each other; a scene that left the elders to shake their heads in dismay. How could they do such a thing? These people were family, friends, teachers, and students! Had they not learned anything? Or was there something even more sinister at work here? Had the teachings and wisdoms of so many generations been lost? Did they not pay attention to the stories of the different worlds and transitions from one to another? Did they not remember what the wisdoms taught to those who would listen of how to traverse the changes?

The piercing hunting cry of Eagle Spirit swooped in on the den of anger and immediately silenced the self-righteous insurrection. But it didn’t come from outside the lodge. All Eyes turned to the center where their leader gazed at each and every soul in that space at that moment with the glance that would have made any adept at the “I dare you” skunk medicine, proud. His eyes were clear and sharp like Eagle, inviting anyone to speak out of turn, much less in anger. He knew where the respect, at least for now still resided. If they wouldn’t listen to each other, then they would listen to him.

When he completed his tour of looking into each person’s heart, he produced the talking stick and held it for all to see. “Each person will say their piece. We will hear each of these stories. Respect and honor will be given and no one will speak unless he or she holds the stick. You will keep silent until the time comes that you do hold it.” The people knew It wasn’t presented as an option at all. The opportunity and the ground rules had been given, and the choice in their immediate destiny was theirs to make. He stepped forward and handed the stick over to the first presenter.

It was a tale of Ictoma, Spider who fed upon the Great Void or Great Mystery to spin her web, traveling through the cosmos, each step another thread spun and how she traversed existence, back and forth, in all directions, weaving and joining together everything that is, was and shall be. It told of her making places in father sky the paths and homes for the stars, and how she hung Grandmother Moon and Grandfather Sun in the heavens so they could watch upon Earth Mother’s and Father Sky’s children.

The end of the legend was greeted by a nod from the chief as he said, “And so it is.” Of course this didn’t sit well with the others as a tide of grumbling and harsh comments were hurled.

“How can you accept this story when you heard none of the others?” asked one of the disgruntled participants.

“Would you like to be escorted out by the guardians?” The chief asked in response. The dissenters backed down. No one would show anger to the children who stood as council guardians.

With peace somewhat established, the second warrior was offered the talking stick and the crowd was regaled with the story of how Turtle with her shell helped to shape the mountains, canyons, valleys, hills and oceans of Earth Mother and how Turtle’s shell carried Grandmother Moon and grandfather Sun and the Star Brothers and Sisters to their homes in Father Sky.

The chief nodded again and said, “And so it is.” The same cycle happened again and again with each succeeding story, but each time with less unrest until everyone had his or her say. At the end, he spoke. “Now you see that each one of us has our own perspective; our own story.”

“How can you say this?” raised the protests, “when you know what the story of creation is? It’s not the one you told a while back.” Shouts of agreement punctuated the statement.

“It’s okay that each one of us has our own creation story, ” said the chief. “You see, our elders teach us that creation is an infinite number of possibilities that arise from the Great Mystery. We know creation as a process that gives birth to each moment that we experience. Each created moment is different, but all the instances come together as one to relate to one another and therefore each of their influences is passed on. This makes the tapestry of the cosmos. So therefore, we are of one creation.”

More uneasy grumbling arose. “Should we call council and have this man removed? Has he lost his mind?” But that was replaced with a realization that he was right. It explained the path, to and of all our relations to a tee. So from then on, more stories were shared and passed on. Aho metaque yoyassin.

Each of us has our own story and we, being reflections of one another are each other’s storytellers. Whether it comes from the Native American traditions and the stories of Kokopelli, or the story of Shaha, the storyteller of the African nations, we are shown in legends that every time they are invited in on a council meeting to hear the decisions of a group or an individual, and are asked what they should do, the storytellers would always say, “It’s your story. I’m just your storyteller. I only speak the truth of what is. How do you want it to be created?”

From that point on, I began to realize that what we say, think and what we do manifests what we want. Even though we think that we don’t want it, we eventually realize at some level, that yes, we did need or want this. We took the journey to learn the lesson.

I was studying with a couple of Pagan, specifically Wicca High Priestesses, and I was told about the Law of Three or the Law of Ten. What we do is returned to us three or even ten-fold, depending on what you do or what you believe. But this came across as baffling to me. If classical physics says that you have an equal and opposite reaction to every action, the conservation of energy, etc., how can this be? How do we get three times as much energy as what we put in? There has to be an equal and opposite reaction, right?

This also came at a time when in meditation, I saw these two snakes forming this perfect circle by swallowing each other’s tail. Neither snake would swallow more than what had been swallowed of them, preserving the balance of the circle. So how does what I was being shown and what I was being told equate to one another? When I asked about this, they didn’t know. They had just accepted the laws as being “as is”. Personally, that strikes me as being dangerous, because in that sense, we give in to blind faith by surrendering our power.

I was at a paradox in my search until I realized that there was more to the symbol than I realized. A subsequent vision appeared to me where the circle became greater and then smaller and greater again, all the while, the serpents being in perfect balance with each other. The way that this balance is maintained is that the circle has infinite amount of room to grow and shrink, as it needs to. The balance is ensured by the great potential. Needless to say, I was amazed and awed at what I found. Now, what amplifies the returning energy? Thus what is also behind the attractor energy or the cause? There are a couple of things. First is the energetic impact, this can manifest in any variety of ways such as: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, etc. Then at the same time, the universe always seems to have this consistent way of measuring how much of what we need and can handle, and most fascinating: what we need in that moment! Energy through the auspices of the vast potential of “what is” is infinite, therefore automatically conserving energy. Nothing is lost. It allows for things like the Law of Three and the circle of serpents to coexist without conflict.

There was more to it though. When I was receiving my Reiki Master’s attunement, I was taken through a meditation to where I would journey through the great void to the Cosmic Inipi, the sweat lodge where the Star Elders and the others who exist beyond the worldly veils reside. It was the journey that showed me that this void is the playground of creation. Some would call it God/Goddess’s playground. This is our playground. We are all iterations of this creative consciousness. So are the rocks, blades of grass, clouds that float, and drift, the hairs on our heads are all born of sentient thought.

Consequently, we being self-aware, we too have a hand in creating Creation. This void is exactly what the Buddhists talk about. It’s the “no-thing-ness” that the Buddhists would refer to. What’s more, the most astonishing thing one might find in witnessing my journey, was that I went inside, not anywhere else.

Now the inside is referred to as the “seventh direction” of the medicine wheel. The other six being East, South, West, North, Earth, and Sky, with the seventh being the inside of one’s self – the direction of divine connection. So I got this wild hair up a certain area of my body and decided to do an experiment. Next time I do ceremony, why not honor the inside direction first? That would indeed prove to be a hard habit to break considering I’ve done it the other way so many times before.

But upon doing that, I realized that here’s where the power resides, because I’m honoring the fact that I’m a part of creation and that creation is a part of me. It is all one. Because I did this, I was able to draw the power that I needed. I plugged in the wiring first, rather than last. Because of this, I saw that we could be so powerful; because we realize who and what we are created as, and the vast potential that is there for us to be.

In my subsequent celebration, Spirit put a hand on my shoulder and asked, “What is your story?” Now I needed to think I’ve studied many things from different religions, philosophies, shamanism, science, quantum physics; I must have touched it all at one point or another. But I still needed to think about it. So I took the dive and went deep within to the time when there was no thing and no time.

There was only the vast potential. Nothing yet had existed thus far. The first thing that I saw was an empty cup. It was full of nothing. I could put anything in it such as water, wine, stones, pens… hell, Lagos for that matter. Whatever I wanted in there could be put in that cup. It was also something my Aikido and Kung Fu Sensei was showing me at one time while teaching me how to tap my center as a power source.

I had studied many traditions from Christianity, to Buddhism, many forms of Paganism, including Shamanism, to the sciences, including cosmology and quantum physics. Nothing that I had studied though prepared me for the pure astonishment of this confirmation I was about to experience.

So Spirit comes back to me and says, “Now you know what to do.” I stilled myself and thought and thought about it. It was then that I saw this little tiny essence in this great vastness. It then extended itself into a random direction and immediately found that it could extend in the opposite direction. Thus it became a line and the first dimension was born. The line realized that it could grow in another direction and yet another and became an infinite plane, then expanded in another, forming space which could give birth to geometries and shapes and such, then expanded again in another direction and another producing more dimensions. Consequently other essences did the same thing.

This produced infinite number of collisions between dimensions producing moments in creation, all instances. Thus abundance of possibilities and causalities were created. Every little decision and its possible results came into existence all at once. Albert Einstein said, “All times, all possibilities exist all at once.” He was right based on what I was experiencing.

So I began to move through all these instances of people’s lives and mine. I saw the effects of my actions on myself and that of other people’s lives, and their actions upon mine. I realized then that I can move anywhere in this cosmos of ours. I can experience anything I want to. I can move anywhere in this grand tapestry as long as I believe in it. Give it the voice and let the potential carry it. It’s there. That’s how we manifest it.

I literally fell out of the meditation with this feeling of “Holy Smokes!” It was an “Oh my god” moment! We have all the potentials and thus all these creation stories. This one was mine. Therefore as a result, that story became my mythos or my story. “My-thos”, just like everyone has his or her “thos” or their story.

So when we realize the vast potential of what we can be and what others can be, we realize that we are infinite in our power. Why? Because we are parts of the same creation and that creation is always a part of us. What is your story and how do you create it?

One way we can think about this is in the way we pray. Just as there are any number of ways for a story or what we consider reality is created, so too are the number of ways that prayer is offered. Essentially when we pray, we are focusing on a certain action to happen. We are focused on a specific manifestation with at least varying forms of results and successes. We attract that focused upon target to be present in our experience. So how do we do this? Pray that whatever you intend, is. Don’t pray “for” it. If you do that, you are focusing on the lack and therefore that vibration or energy is sent out and thus, that is what is echoed back. Pray that it is. For instance, instead of praying for rain, pray rain. Don’t pray for healing; pray healing. The same goes for peace or whatever you wish attracted to you in that moment.

One person I’d love to meet and just “talk shop” with is author and consciousness researcher Greg Braden. He relayed this story during a recent interview on “Coast to Coast AM”.

A group of researches was investigating prayer, so they went all over the world to talk with various religious people and spiritual practitioners about how they prayed and what the process behind it was, and generally, what the secret was to prayer and how it was made successful. One day these researchers visited this Pueblo village and during their stay, a shaman decided to invite the scientists to witness a rain ceremony. Now to give a little background to this story, there was no forecast for rain, just like so long before, and by meteorological observations, conditions weren’t going to change any time soon.

The researchers took the shaman up on his offer and they headed out to a nearby place in the dessert. The shaman quietly sat for a minute and meditated to get himself centered and connected with his surroundings. Then he called in the directions and stated his intention for rain. After performing what seemed to be preparation of the sacred space, the medicine man quietly sat with his eyes closed for a few minutes.

Suddenly he opens them and says to his audience, “I’m hungry. Let’s go get something to eat.”

The scientists looked at each other and then back at him and asked, “That’s it? You’re not going to do a dance of some kind or anything like that?”

“No, ” he replied. “I’ve already let Great Spirit know what it is that I wish to happen.”

After the food was eaten and appetites satisfied, the shaman took his charges back to the village where a nice big and dark rain cloud had formed overhead and had begun to pour. The researchers in stunned amazement asked their subject what he did.

“It was simple, ” he said with casual aplomb. “When you were observing me meditate, I created the experience in my mind, right down to the way the rain sounds when it hits the ground, how it looks when it falls from the sky and how it splatters on the ground and village walls. I could smell the earth after being watered for the first time in a while. I could see the flash of lightning; hear the roll of the thunder as it echoed the truth of what is. I felt the raindrops on my skin. I could even feel the energy of Father Sky as he gives his gift to Mother Earth. I could taste the renewed sweetness of the air, and so on.”

His audience listened as he continued. “I paid attention to all my senses and created the story around what my senses would tell me, living the experience, and in doing so, I created a vibration that would happen in return. I was very specific in what I was creating so there was no doubt or question of what I had in mind could exist. As you can see, this is the result. This is how it is brought into our present tense.”

So this begs the question: Why do we live in a world where we focus on the illusion of separation, when the answer is so simple?

So what I’ve given you today is a couple of great secrets in experiencing ones own personal magick. No, this is not ‘magic’ that is based primarily on illusion, but that of co-creation, because that’s really what it is. When we help the creator create something out of seeming nothingness, or even if it’s a linear or logical impossibility, if we believe it, we have faith in it, and we know that it is; there is nothing that we can’t manifest. There is nothing whether you consider positive or negative or right or left or whatever; there is nothing that you can’t manifest. If you believe it, and you want it, and you pray that it is, then it is. You are connecting to that divine source within, not within your body but within your soul or spirit – that little essence that is you.

When we incarnate into different densities; such this physical dimension, we come deep from within Source. We come deep from within Spirit’s heart because of the fact that our hearts are resonant or “in rhythm with Mother Drum”.

I find this to be true. Our hearts beat the same beat. Our hearts beat the same rhythm so why can’t we create? Well, we can. There is no such thing as “can’t” as far as the cosmos is concerned. If the universe doesn’t know the definition of the word “no”, then why should we when we, when we are the architects of our lives? And so therefore, why should we fear anything – especially that of lack or something that may seem different or strange to us?

We know who we are and so therefore, we can respect and love one other in one peaceful creation and this gives credence to the phrase that becomes the heart of my path: known as “Aho Metaque yoyassin!” Roughly translated, that means “To and of our relations.” This includes our relations to each other, our relations to Spirit, our relations to everything that is, and our relation to ourselves, because all time really exists at the same time.

So when you realize that, you begin to walk in your own power and nobody can take that away from you. You have discovered your own divine right. When you have discovered your own divine right, then you take your rightful place in creation and move on from there.

So what is your story that you create?

Adapted from the speech given at the First Spiritualist Church of Austin July 9, 2006