On this day that many refer to as "Mother's Day" where people remember their moms, the woman who likely gave birth to them, or at the very least, raised them- buying them flowers, cards and chocolate, fixing them breakfast, lunch or dinner and doing all manner of "niceties" for them, for us...I choose to take a slightly different angle on the whole "holiday" and expand the meaning of this day.
Being said "mother" of two small boys, I have a personal opinion and experience of what I feel it means to be a mom.
When I look in the thesaurus, to broaden the scope of things, I am proud to see that synonyms for the word "mother" include: Origin, Creator and Source. It is to these titles that I ask us to stretch celebration to as we praise mothers this day, for it is in the physical representation of a woman who has given birth that we can see the massive and the unfathomable in miniature and realize that from which we came.
Mothers are the vessels by which our physical beings enter this plane of existence, but they are not the true origin, the true Source of our lives...they are but a portal. If we look to the place to which these mothers reach during childbearing, in order to bring us here, it remains a mystery...and yet - - it causes the mind and heart to know, on some deeper level - that a place beyond this one exists...for we, as earthy mothers, are not pulling the children we birth out of thin air - and though we have systematically grown their tiny bodies within our own for months and months, we know that their individuality, their spirit, their essence, comes from beyond us...and when we birth - we are reaching past death, through it - to find the souls who would travel with us here in the form of children, and bring them in.
On this Mother's Day, I wish to acknowledge the true Source of our lives, the Origin of our births and the Infinite Creator which has caused us to be...
In many ways, and for each of us, this Source lies within us - in the deepest places and depths of Self.
The greater portion is tucked away within the smaller, the macro within the micro. And it is through our human expression that we get to emulate the Divine in our lives...as mothers, or 'mothering influences' we get to act the part of the Great Universal Energy for one another...for I truly feel that the Source of us all is kind, loving, nurturing, caring, embracing, adoring, that it helps us to find ourselves and grow through the experiences we have, never judging, always holding our hand - when needed - and guiding us silently all the way.
Within each one of us lies the "inner mother" if you will, the Source of our lives.
In a way, we each gave birth to ourselves...
Yes, our earthly mothers assisted this process by being bodily vessels, emotional containers and spiritual way-showers...but are they not us in another form? I feel they are... it is easier to see this in my own "children"...that they are extensions of me - that they are me, in another form...that I am them...that we are One...coming from the same Source - - the same Origin...that we all have Mother, the great Mother within.
I have long loved the book Kundalini by Robert Svaboda, his teacher, Vimalananda, always refers to the Divine as "Mother", for he has learned that when we relate to the Source of our lives as our mother, that we can begin to understand the way this great Creative force works in our lives...that we are never forgotten, that we are treated with kindness and loved with a fierceness that only a mother can represent on this plane. It is in opening ourselves up to know the Divine as our "Mother" that we can gain the kind of relationship which is both humbling and empowering at the same time - - like the way you felt when your earthly mother was proud of you, allowing you to "be" who you truly are, supporting you in silence...reaching in to assist at just the right moment, always watching in love.
For those who have had less than an ideal relationship with an earthly mother, like many dear friends I know, I would encourage a remembrance of the Divine Mother, the Source of Life - Ma....or as we say in India.. "Jai Ma"...the Great Mother...Feel your life wrapped up in the arms of Mother, and know every person that life has set in your path has been a gift from the Mothering force of all. The Mothering Source of YOU.
I have always loved India...from the moment I set my foot down on the land there. They call India the "Motherland"..and I know why. She has always taken care of me there. Not always in a gentle way, but in the way a mother who truly loves you would...causing you to see your inner self, having you face your "demons" and asking you to step into authenticity. When I have left that land, each time, I have bawled my eyes out - like I would leaving my mother...not knowing when I'll see her again, knowing it could be long...thanking her...forever changed.
Today I celebrate the Source of my Life. The true Source of my children's lives and ask each one of you reading to celebrate with me. This is not a Hallmark holiday, well maybe it is, but I am changing it today...though I appreciate the sentiments and flowers, cards and kindness - of fathers wishing to shower praise on the women in their lives who have born children and raised them....I feel something deeper...I want to feel something deeper.
I know it's deeper than a greeting card. I know it's deeper than dinner cooked for me, for you.
Let us acknowledge the Source, the Origin, the Creator of all of our lives...yes - and we can celebrate the earthly manifestation of this - - in the embodiment of our mothers...but let us not forget the Mother of All...The Great and Divine Mother. -- in all of her embodiments, archetypes and earthly visions....
Kali
Durga
Saraswati
Lakshmi
Pele
Mary the Mother
Dana
Artemis
Athena
Guenivere
Mary Magdalene
Isis
Freyja
Kuan Yin
Tara
Aphrodite
Maeve
Pachamama
Gaia
Demeter
Hera
Ma'at
Sekhmet
Shakti
and many more...
Divine Mother, the Source of my Life, the Creative Power of all that is...I honor you today...in me, in all. I thank you for the breath I breathe and the movement I experience, the emotions, the wonder, the beauty....Thank you.
I know as I embody more fully the qualities of the Divine Mother, the Shakti - - and as we all do - male and female alike -- - we will experience a creative power in our lives which is supported by the great masculine consciousness...the Father of all...the Divine Male aspect...and in this wholeness will we experience Oneness - within and with all.
It is in knowing Oneness, a space beyond male and female labels, where we will drop the boundaries of separation and see one another as the manifestation of All....the One Life, One Source behind each others eyes...knowing we each have a role, a gift to express and perform which is perfect --- right here and now....which is perfection blossoming into perfect....and when we take the perfect from the perfect, we still have perfect, and when we add perfect to the perfect, we still have perfect.
It all comes down to acceptance....and in that we know Love. We know Truth. We know who we really are is what we are NOW.
Happy Mother's Day.
It feels a little different now, doesn't it?
I love you - - Divine reflection of me.
Stasia
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