Etiological Myth of
HER CYCLE OF TRANSFORMATIONS
In Her cosmic sleep an elemental female force dreamt She was
a lifebearing planet upon which a prolific species
(whom She experienced as Her youngest, brashest, but most promising and much
beloved son) became so individually greedy, so communally rapacious and
devouring that they gradually destroyed almost all Her older children, polluted
their biosphere, ravished Her, their Matrix, of resources and eventually, in a nuclearcaust of antagonistic panic, blew Her planetary self
-- and therefore of course themselves -- to smithereens. In the vast void of
Her dreaming mind the worldly fragments exploded, every fragment a particle of
Her memory and, like a seed, containing the potential of almost exactly
reduplicating its origin.
Gradually losing momentum after eons of dispersion, the disorganized
material began falling together, merging into swirling gaseous mists of warmth.
These further condensed into heat clusters eventually forming the myriad suns
of isolated galaxies. And round about those suns their satellites, origin
inherent, strove again to reproduce life and, where conditions favored, life
again arose. Upon one such earthy mote, within an individual dreaming mind the
Cosmic Dreamer's dream comingled. And taking the form
of a Weird Old Woman it seemed She said (for
understanding occurred though She doesn't exactly speak):
"During a hundred and sixty years or so, Moon starts Her revolution round Earth on every day of the year. If
every day were named by one of my many names, every luna revolution could be named for the day of its
beginning. Often have I been revered as Queen of Earth nor less often been
adored as Queen of Heaven with Moon my emblem, Moon my crown. Mistakes will be
made, never mind. Error is the wellspring of creation, without it life would
never have evolved. Do this for yourself, do this for your kind, do this for me. Perhaps then I may be remembered and cared
for by Humanity, my son. I fear for him if he cannot care for me, I fear for my
dear and precious one".
Then an awaking took place and work began.
It is the Great Goddess, therefore, after Whom every day is named in Her
Cycle of Transformations, the perennial calendar (as some peoples have
named Her from the dawn of written names), and the Great Goddess, therefore,
after Whom each lunation is named in the annual form of the calendar, after
Her, the Great Goddess, Who initiates the differentiation and proliferation of
life-forms. "What I need I breed", says She Who sustains all life
inducing relationships: solar-system to galaxy, planet to Sun, moon to earth,
organism to biosphere. It is Herself without Whom, all
being just so, none of us could ever have happened. It is Earth, our Grand
Mother of mothers; Anima Mundi, our Great Self; Old
Woman Evolution, our Teacher, our Awesome Idea, who is celebrated here in Her
Cycle of Transformations.
There is much confusion in the resource material She
cast this way. Information on how She was conceived, and what She meant to
peoples of the past is often meagre. Scholarly
rendition of Her qualities and attributes is
frequently conflicting. The names of ancient countries, their changing
boundaries, names of peoples, their beliefs, languages, language affiliations,
etc., comprise so voluminous a mass of muddled material as to make a Psychean labor of accurate sorting. Additionally there is
little estimated dating among mythologists so it is difficult to tell when one
conception of Her rose to pre-eminence absorbing the attributes and names, as
titles, of local, less comprehensive forms of Herself. Nor is it easy to follow
the reduction and dissipation of the Great Goddess into seductive-nymphs,
magic-wielding enchantresses, mythical mortal adjuncts to heroes, half
malevolent sprites and fairies, bloodsucking demonesses
and spirits of evil in which mutilated forms some knowledge of Her was retained under the onslaught of patriarchy. For all
these reasons poetic liberties have sometimes been taken.
At Her recommendation, under Her direction, and sustained as it seems by Her
matronage, three
hundred and sixty-six concepts of Herself were chosen and phonetically
arranged to honor the Mother of the circling year and the Instigator of all
alphabets. May this perennial, urban, international, nonseasonal,
non-agricultural calendar express some part of our planet's cultural history
and pay respect to Her Who has been too much, too long, scorned and insulted
when not simply unrecognized and unloved
Ah! life-evolving Goddess of consciousness, let it
be that this work helps re-empower you. May You be
refreshed and invigorated by the waterfall of Your names. Confusion
to your enemies.
mailto:felicity@holladaypaganism.com
San Francisco
FOOTNOTE: three hundred and sixty six so there is a Goddess to Whom the extra day for the every
fourth, or leap year, is dedicated.