I found this exercise perusing blogs a few weeks ago and never got to it. What a perfect way to get me going again. It was interesting to do. But the words seemed to come to slow and somewhat clumsy…..
perhaps practice is in order.
Meditation on the Dark
A glove of smooth silk, fingers of darkness wrap themselves softly and with a lingering embrace draws me into nights coolness. Pinpoints of stars twinkle in the inky blackness. Stained asphalt worn with comings and goings of hurried life. Shadows fall in odd shapes bisected by streetlamps, window lights. Sweet are the dark scents of musk, sandlewood, tuberose, and sweat. Darkness slows the soul, rests the weary. Darkness is cover and hidden are the glaring imperfections. Rustling breezes calms minds.
Contrasts are the rule of darkness. Darkness lingers longer before the days rises with hope eternal in another burst of light. Dark is the everlasting reminder of that which I want and can not attain. Darkness is a murmur on my soul.
Sands of Time 
The Descent of the Goddess is a mythic cycle that’s ritualized. The Descent rituals are done at the beginning of November or in early December…just after the Celtic new year…which is called Samhain (sow-in). Samhain is also known as Halloween or All Hallows Eve. Many shamanic cultures believe a year or a day begins in the dark times…in mimicry of the life cycle of humans and seeds.
The Descent myth rituals usually set off a deep entrance into the dark aspects of one’s psyche. It often makes for some incredibly challenging months until the ritual cycle ends with the Equinox. It is not a ritual cycle for the faint of heart.
But you will grow tremendously from its experience….for you cannot master yourself fully unless you have fully faced the dark aspects of your own nature and gained power over them…turning them toward your Will and using them for Accomplishment.
Here’s a very good book:
And here is one of the many myths of the Descent…there is a similar myth in nearly every Goddess tradition in the world:
http://www.jelder.com/mythology/inanna.html
I am rather sure that you won’t like the ritual cycle experience…but just as with this writing, you can see its bounty and its richness…
Take a look back on Floating Freely for the Blessing Way story I shared there. I have a search set up on the blog. Its a Descent story. It illustrates just a little bit of what it can be like to experience a Descent.
((hugs)) If you decide to try this, I recommend that you not do it without an experienced priestess around to guide you through the process, else you find someone who can supervise your ritual plans and mentor you through it from a distance and that you set up a blog to record your journey. For a first timer, its far easier to do with some support around. Its lovely to do it with a large group of women at once…
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Ever studied the Descent of the Goddess cycle….? Very rich…Beautiful post. *smiles*
Never heard of it. Tell me more, please *grins*
Thank you. It’s not what I expected and I’m not sure I like it even. *pouts* That’s what I get for expecting…..
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