A Goddess For The New Year

Several years ago, when we were in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, my brilliant DiL bought me a set of Goddess cards by Susan Boulet. (Have I mentioned that Son had the immense good sense and gentle wisdom to marry the kindest, smartest, most elegant, most grounded woman of his generation? If you only have one child, it's great good luck when they marry someone outstanding.) The cards that DiL gave to me have formed a v. intimate part of my spiritual practice. Tonight, at my altar, my hand strayed to the deck and I pulled a Goddess for 2008. I pulled Tlazolteotl.

Here's what Boulet says about her:

Tlazolteotl is a Toltec earth mother, the goddess of carnal love and desire. Like Kali in India, she is portrayed as a horrible, devouring figure yet is also honored as a moving, creative principle. She is sometimes pictured as four sisters (the four ages of woman [an increasingly modern concept as "maiden, mother, crone" becomes too limiting]) who are present at the crossroads of one's life. Tlazolteotl is best known as the Eater of Impurities. Once in a lifetime, a person confessed her worst deeds and sins to Tlazolteotl, holding back nothing. In return the confessor received absolution: no impurity or defilement was too great to be forgiven. Tlazolteotl is that deep part of ourselves that we fear because it is so powerful and unfamiliar. Yet when we touch her through her fearsome countenance, we find absolute mercy. She is proof that anything [that] can overwhelm and destroy us also has the power to heal [us] and [to] grant forgiveness.

Oh, this is going to be an interesting year. "For behold, I have been with you from the beginning; and I am that which is attained at the end of desire."