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Reverend Laurie Sue Brockway For the Goddess in You
A Quarterly Column
Jan-Mar 2005
by Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway


A Goddess is a Girl's Best Friend by Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway
A Goddess
is a Girl's
Best Friend


Goddess Reflections

In the world of Goddesses, Yemaja is the Goddess of the Sea. The Yoruban and other cultures who worship Her call her Mama Watta. She is a mother Goddess, to whom people pray for healing and renewal. She is the creative power of all that is. On the New Year, in Brazil, women bring offerings to Her and send them out to sea in tiny boats, hoping to win Her favor.

In the past couple of weeks I have prayed to understand why the Mother Ocean would erupt onto the shores with such violence and take so many of her children back home. There were so many souls leaving this planet at one time; there were so many humans left standing on the shore bereft, having had their children, loved ones, friends, homes, ripped from them. It seems so unreal and surreal.

How could this happen? This is the question many of us ponder from a spiritual perspective.

Personally, I don't believe that we humans are punished by the Divine. But I do believe we are offered lessons. I can't begin to imagine what this lesson could be all about. My heart aches too much to be able to truly tap into a spiritual view. Certainly I have no answers.

In her article on beliefnet.com, The Planets and Stars of Y2K5, my friend Shelley Ackerman wrote: "Will the current climate of polarization dissolve and give way to cooperation, wholeness and harmony in the New Year? In light of the world wide relief effort now under way in Indonesia and the Pacific Rim, Mother Nature's wrath has made certain it does."

Made sense. As we watch the story unfold we are seeing mass cooperation of nations, religions, peoples. Insurgents in one region are working with authorities. Individual people are reaching out to others. People who have lost family members are forming new families with others who have lost their loved ones. A spotlight is being placed on issues that much of the world has been able to look away from in before, such as the kidnapping of children to be sold into slavery or sex work, and the sheer poverty of the people. A time like this forces people to work together in a way that they may not have been able to, or never wanted to, before. And if forces us to grapple with realities we don't often think much about in daily life. At the very least we are shown that we can come together to try to help heal the world.

This healing will take a lot of help and a lot of time. President Bill Clinton, speaking on Larry King Live the other night, had a great idea to have a panel with religious leaders of all faiths to come on and talk about how their faiths deal with tragic events. This is a concept my husband has been talking about for years. We'd probably all learn a lot, and maybe even be surprised at how similar each faith is when it comes to crisis.

We find ourselves at another time in history that will define all history to come. Just as life seemed split into the eras "before 9-11" and "after 9-11" we will find ourselves defining yet the newer era, "before the tsunami" and "after the tsunami."

Maybe this is a time to reflect on life as it was, before the tsunami, and make some choices about how we want to be in this next part of life. Perhaps we have to factor in the fact that we cannot always control a crisis, but we have a choice about how we react to it.

This year started off with a global challenge of such huge proportions that is forcing our world to work in cooperation for the good of all - regardless of religion, politics, belief system. Let us hope that from tragedy will come some good.

© Copyright 2005 Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway. All Rights Reserved. 

 Rev. Laurie Sue

Wedding Goddess

Rev. Laurie Sue

Read Reverend Laurie Sue's "Soulful Love" Columns:

October-December 2004 - "My Enduring Relationship with the Man of Steel"

August-September 2004 - "Move Forward … Make Change …"

April-May 2004 - "Meet the Amazing Alexander Kent Garrett"

Jan - Feb 2004 - "13 Steps for Making Your Romantic Dreams Come True"

December 2003 - Bring Light and Healing to Your Family for the Holidays

November 2003 - "Even In Midlife, We Can All Use A Fairy Godmother"

October 2003 - "The Secret to Serenity"

May 2003 - "A Gathering of Goddesses: Our Girlfriends Keep Us Real"

April 2003 - "Love Has Its Own Schedule"

March 2003 - "A Spring Time Reawakening To Soulful Love and Self Love"

February 2003 - "Marry Yourself First..."

December 2002 - "Who is the Goddess?" & "The Goddess Rocks!"

October 2002 - "How to Clear Your Love Clutter"

August 2002 - "How to Mourn a Broken Heart and Lost Love"

July 2002 - "Relationships That Nurture and Inspire Growth of the Soul

June 2002 - "Finding Peace in a Turbulent World"

May 2002 - "Sacred Sexuality For Modern Men and Women"

April 2002 - "When Someone You Love Pushes Your Buttons"

March 2002 - "When Life Has You Down, Remember You Are Loved"

February 2002 - "Plan a Valentine's Day Team Date"

January 2002 - "Do I Hear Him Knocking … From the Other Side?"

December 2001 - "How Do We Make Our Love Dreams Come True?"

November 2001 - "What is the Future of Love?"

October 2001 - "Getting to Know 'Lakshmi' the Goddess of Good Fortune"

September 2001 - "Can't Hurry Love... It Will Happen in Its Right Moment"

August 2001 - "Family Rituals Help Us Grow Into Loving Beings"

July 2001 - "Dreams Warn It’s Time To Own Your Power"

June 2001 - "A Fun Visual of Your Favorite Romance"

May 2001 - "Someday Your Mystical Soul Mate Will Come"

April 2001 - "Enjoy the Merriment and Fun of An Ancient Love Holiday"

March 2001 - "Nourish Yourself On a Date for One"

February 2001 - "Get Ready for Soulful Love"

Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway is an interfaith minister who is often called upon to teach, speak and write about women’s spirituality and The Feminine Faces of God. She is author of, A GODDESS IS A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND: A DIVINE GUIDE TO FINDING LOVE, SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS, from Perigee Books, December 2002.

For more information:
Website: www.GoddessFriends.com or to join "The Goddess List" for inspirational and informational electronic message, Email: GoddessLaxmi@aol.com

 

Visit Reverend Laurie Sue at:
www.GoddessFriends.com


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