So much to write and remember. During this morning’s accidental coffee-induced (I’m not moving, I’m sitting still so that I don’t spill the hot beverage and relaxed…is there a better time?!) meditation, I visited a goddess I’ve adored for a long time but never had much contact with until Heru landed in my life…Bastet.
As I slid into the meditative state, I found myself at Bastet’s jungle pool that I’ve visited before. I knew exactly where I was because I heard her, just out of sight, singing Ariel’s “aria” from the Little Mermaid. It always makes me grin as it just seems so incongruous. (It was just pointed out to me that the music in Aristocats left a bit to be desired.)
Anyway I’m standing at the edge of the pool staring at her in amazement because I think the term “sex kitten” was coined in her honor. (She reminds me of an elven comic book that was popular when I was much younger. I’ll have to look it up for the name…found it. She reminds me of Leetah from Elfquest.) Today she is petite with abundant curves and long magnificent dark auburn to burgundy hair, coming up to my shoulder in height. She sways over to where I’m at and in the process of rubbing against my side/back like a cat does when marking, she nudges hard enough to make me fall into the pool.
I come up sputtering in surprise. Wiping the water out of my eyes. I look at her for an explanation. She wrinkles up her nose in a delicate and adorable fashion and says “you stink”. I sink down into the water in utter embarrassment.
She continues, “Let me explain to you about miasma. It isn’t a stink of the skin that you have it is a purity issue. It is the concept of miasma that is so hard to comprehend. It is the worries and cares that you collect because you care too much about too much and too many. It bogs you down. It builds a wall or a scaley skin on your inner being. It isn’t as difficult as some make it to cleanse, so don’t start your panic.” I sink a little lower into the water, trying to cover up my blush.
I suddenly get an image of a large, very, large cat starting to groom me with a very rough tongue. I’m not exactly sure what to do but that looked painful so I start rubbing at my skin.
“No, no, no. Not that way. Float in my pool. Now dissolve every single worry and fear in the water. Peel it off. Scrape them off. Let them go.” Worries and fears start sliding off of me into the water. One particular one, catches on the soles of my feet. “Especially that one. He’s your past. They are your past. Get. It. OFF!” I feel a painful sensation of claws scratching at the bottom of my feet. Thankfully they healed quickly in the water.
When I was clean enough, the lady joined me in the water. As she entered the water, her hair grew back upon itself, almost like it was trying to avoid the water. Yeah, she is just as sexy with short hair as long. Hair does not make the wo…err…goddess. “I expect you to join me here every full moon for cleansing.” I nod my head. She offers her back for gentle scrubbing. As I rub away, she slowly transforms into a small black cat. As I cuddle her against my chest, I hear her say in my head “You used to come to me often with your worries and cares.” She sounds sad and upset.
“I didn’t think it mattered…I mattered to you. I felt like just another mortal trying to get to you and being lost in the masses.” A gentle swat on my nose, brought my emotions to my eyes. Slowly she dissolved into my heart chakra, replacing the child image that Isis had put there. “No offense against the Great Mother, my sister, but this is not the image you need. Mothering a child is not something that calls to you. However a cat does. Tending to your inner child, your inner self is like tending to a cat. Sometimes it is fine being left alone. Other times it wants grooming and attention.” I found our positions reversed now. She pulled me as a cat out of her heart, cuddling, scritching and petting. She set me down in the water, onced again in human form.
I am quiet, trying to absorb everything, remember everything. I’m much like a child in my meditations in that my curiosity comes marching out of my mouth before I’m aware of it. “Are you Artemis too?” I ask as I remember an old meditation with that Greek Goddess where I also felt such a caring, sisterly affection. Yes and no, was the feeling in the air.
Where Bastet is heat and humidity and warmth and joy and sex and laughter, Artemis is coolness and air and movement and exertion and comradery. The image I was given that were like different toes on the same foot.
Star of Earth 