March Meditation

This month I would like to focus on a Goddess.  The Goddess to me encompasses all feminine aspects unless you are calling on a certain name which has its own set of attributes.  An example may be Venus.  She is traditionally a love Goddess and is used as such whereas Kali is traditionally a death Goddess I believe and would be associated with those attributes. 

The Goddess I want to focus on for this meditation is Astarte.  Her attributes are exactly what has been going on for me these days.  I actually woke up the other  day with her name in my head and on further investigation I found this info:

*ASTARTE -- Babylonia, Assyira, Phoenicia. Lady of the Mountain; Queen

victory, war, crescent Moon, astrology, sexual activities.

"ISHTAR / INANNA / ASHTART / ASHTAROTH / ASTARTE / ANAITIS / ANAT /

ATAR / ATHTAR / MYLITTA / ESTHER -- Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Assyria, Sumeria,

Arabia, Phoenicia, Canaan. Lady of sorrows and battles; Queen or Lady of

Heaven; Goddess of the Moon and evening; Great Mother; Shining One, Mother of

Deities; Producer of Life; Creator of People; Guardian of Law and Order; Ruler

of the HEavens; Sourse of the Oracles of Prophecy; Lady of Battles and

Victory; Lady of Vision; Possessor of the Tablets of Life's Records. As a

warrior goddess, she carried a bow and rode in a chariot drawn by seven lions.

Other images show her seated on her lion throne, with horns, a bow and arrows,

a tiara crown, a double serpent scepter, holding a sword, ro with dragons by

her sides. She was sister of Ereshkigal. Her symbols were the eight-point

star, the pentagram, dove, serpents, and the double axe, her palnet Venus.

She wore a rainbow necklace much like that of the Norse goddess Freyja; the

Persians converted this necklace (the rainbow) into a razor-sharp bridge that

led to the Mount of Paradise. In ancient Sumeria, she had 180 shrines where

women gathered daily for prayer, meditation, and socializing. The night of

the Full Moon, known as Shapatu, saw glorious celebrations in her temples. At

these rites, now called the sacred Qadishtu, women who lived as priestesses in

her shrines took lovers to express the sacredness of sexualityas a gift from

Ishtar. Men communed with the goddess in these rites through sex. Every

woman once in her life had to sit in the temple grounds of Ishtar's temples

and wait for a man to drop a coin in her lap. Then she had to lie with him.

Until this was done, the woman could not marry. Goddess of the positive and

negative sides of all she ruled. Radiant, sweet, and delightful, but also

could be stern, cruel, and bad tempered. Patroness of priestesses. Love,

fertility, revenge, war, resurrection, marriage, lions, lapis lazuli,

irritability, violence, amorous desire, the dying and begetting power of the

world, purification, initiation, overcoming obstacles."

*"Magick of the Gods and Goddesses" by DJ Conway

Astarte Meditation

I always recommend that you tape yourself speaking the mediation with some background music so you can fully relax.  So this month lets start by using some calming wintery music of your choice as the background of your tape.  You will notice I have put<> around any comments that you do not want on the tape.

Relax each part of your body starting with your toes and going all the way up to your head (it is helpful if you talk your way thru this for your tape, ie: "Relax your toes, feel them relax, now you feel the same feelings in the rest of both your feet, feel the warmth as it makes its way up to your ankles..." etc)

See in your minds eye a a beautiful night time sky, stars are blazing and there is a full moon, white,   round, silent, you breathe deeply, the smell of grass, you are lying on the cool carpet of a meadow on full moon night.  The breeze brushes wisps of your hair onto your face, the night sounds are musical, crickets, frogs, a dog howling in the distance but focus on the silence too.  The silence of the cosmos and her eternal dance.   Envision Astarte in her full glory, an icy crown that resembles a sun circles her head, she is clothed in silverdress, a rainbow shines from her necklace,  Feel the many colors being absorbed by your body, feel your body sending the colors to the appropriate chakras in your body.  Red for yourbase, Orange for your spleen, Yellow for the navel, Green for your heart, Blue for the mouth, Violet for your third eye, Indigo/white for the Crown all are absorbed by you, feel the warmth of the  light rushing  from the Root Chakra all the way up and out of the crown in a fountain of white light, stardust and sparkles.  Feel yourself for a moment. Let the moment feel you,  cease the flow as soon as you feel cleansed and exhilarated.

<here is where you would just be for a few minutes and enjoy the glow>

Your time here is done, as Astarte rises up towards the moon in a blaze of stars and their dust, Thank her for her gift. 

<Ground and center and count yourself back>

Created by Laura Hammond