The Order of the White Moon Goddess Gallery Presents
Goddess Maaema
A Level 2 Final Project for the Sisters of the Rising Moon School
By
Muriel
Adept and Member of the Order of the White Moon
(© 2020 All original material in this site is under copyright protection and is the intellectual property of the author.)
Photo by Muriel
Opening Prayer
To the LORD and LADY:
LORD, Let not mine enemies triumph over me (Psalm 25:2b);
LADY, Let integrity and uprightness preserve me (Psalm 25:21a)1.
The Art Work
The artwork presented here is from my personal collection. A collection that tells my own story while supporting the story being told here.
Photo by Muriel
Crane Wisdom
The Direction you take is the Destination you make (Proverbs 27:12)2. In many ways, this project is a story of Visual Listening.
Direction Guidance
My knitting practice led me to the artistic practice of Visual Listening. This practice brought forward a memory of The Moon card in the Green Witch Tarot by Ann Moura (2019)3.
The Moon card image itself shows a woman standing before a perfectly round lake. The lake is named Kaali and is found in Estonia. From this Beginning moment, my own life journey story began to unfold and with it the emergence of a Goddess. Embedded in the Kaali story was the Maaema story. A story of an Earth Egg who became Mother Earth.
A Hatching Egg Story
A Hatching Egg Story is a beginning and progress toward change story. It is a story found in ancient traditions as the telling of the birthing of a universe4. A painting by the Huron artist James Mishibinjjma, purchased when working on Manitoulin Island, suggests what must come first is the Goddess.
Image courtesy of James Mishibinijima
This fits with an astrological version told by River and Gillespie5.
In the beginning there was only one Being. Without name ... She dreamed ... She cried out ... She gave birth. (p.1)
It fits with the Estonian folklore. In the Estonian folklore6, the Story has more details:
... a bird lays three eggs and starts to lay out nestlings - one becomes the Sun, one becomes the Moon and one becomes the Earth.
The astrology story tells of the planets being born two by two. The Estonian Story tells a Sacred Three story. Both tell a Goddess story.
And with these few words, a debate on the way the story unfolds rests. It is not the more popular story of the Land, the Sea, and the Sky. It is, instead, a story of the Power of Life (sun) and Love (moon) and Being (earth). It is a Goddess story. A story within which Maaema is found.
The Goddess Maaema
Little is said of Maaema directly. Her story is twofold as I interpret it. First, it is an Inner Egg story. A story told through the voices of women and their hand crafts. It is a story of Oak and Linden Trees. A story of powerful natural and human events shifting the telling of Her story and Their story. A story of a village first settled in 9,000 BC that is still lived in today.
Second, it is an Egg Shell story. A protective story, if you will. A story of what protects and anchors Her story - being held in place firm by the North Star Way.
Even more, Maaema's story is that of a full sacred circle. A full circle story of Being Becoming Being. A story of the Cosmos coming to Earth. A story of a protagonist - Kaali. A story that situates Maaema within a gathering of gods and goddesses. A story of an ancient way of understanding existence.
The question left to be pondered is this: What urged Ancient Peoples to create Beginning stories?
In native Estonian culture the Indigenous religion Maavalla Koda speaks to Maaema as “Faith of Earth.” It is a circle way practice as well as a practice of healing places and cave places. The circle year flows as follows:
· End of Souls Time - December 21-24
· Beginning of Year Time - December 25
· The arrival of springtime - This varies according to North or South locations.
· Summer Solstice - June 23
· The beginning of Winter Half Year joined by The Beginning of Souls Time - both on September 29.
I have presented this circle time as it is presented on the Maavalla Koda website. I am not a practitioner. The calendar has been documented on rune sticks. It is interesting to note this circle speak of two Beginnings - Year and Soul Times and only one Ending - Soul Time.7
Ode to Nori
In closing, I offer a special Ode to my beloved Nori, a Javanese dove, who each quarter of the year made the Egg Story real for me. Her heart stopped beating its love out into the universe July 7th, 2020. In my eyes she was a Child of the Loving Heart. She used the millet I gave her to make a nest each brooding time.
Photo
by Muriel
An Ode To Nori
Nori, your beauty grew more each day.
Your love of cuddling is greatly missed.
We sang love songs together in harmony
Now I live in the silence of your going.
Your heart's love song still lingers here
It is this that stops me from weeping.
Love always finds a way.
References
1. The Holy Bible (2001). Crossway, Wheaton Ill.
2. Ibid.
3. Ann Moura (2019). The Green Witch Tarot, 5th Ed.; Llewellyn, Woodbury MN. P. 88.
4. Furuya, Kensho (1996). Kodo: Ancient Ways. Black Belt Books.
5. River, L. and Gillespie, S. (1987). The Knot of Time: Astrology and the female experience. Harper & Row, New York.
6. https://en.m.wikipaedia. Estonian mythology, mythical motifs, mythological beings, deities and legendary heroes.
7. www.maavald.ee Maavalla Koda. Circle of Year/religion