by S.D. West

Created on: November 24, 2008

Connecting With Your God

What if God were also feminine? Certainly that idea was not a part of the concepts that were taught to me as a child. God was definitely a father, not a mother. God was also someone "up there" in "heaven", unattainable except through prayer. I didn't have much trouble with these ideas when I was a child but as I grew older I began to question the meaning of God and my place in the world.

During the late 60's and early 70's I explored several different religions and read as many books on the subject of God that I could get my hands on. It was difficult to focus too much on these projects because as a young wife and mother, my time was consumed with caring for my family. I joined a religious commune in the mid 70's when I thought I had discovered true Christianity. Again, I was consumed with taking care of my family and fulfilling my duties as a member of the community and didn't have much time to reflect on my own. Within the group we had prayer meetings and meditation, but I was not fulfilled and felt like I was being told what to believe instead of discovering my own beliefs. It wasn't until my children left the nest and I left the group that I was able to go within and quiet my mind and I recognize that the Goddess was very real and that She was part of me.

I believe very strongly in the power of thought and the power of words and it is my constant endeavor (and I am far from perfect) to honor beauty and truth by what I read and write. To share what I have learned from reading the words of others and to express from my own experience has become a fulfilling endeavor and a strong purpose, enabling me to know myself and hence to understand others. When I am clear headed and living in the present I also recognize the relationship between my spiritual journey and the journey I take with words. These two things are closely intertwined
One of my favorite authors is Jean Shinoda Bolen, MD. She has written some excellent books. Here is something from "Crossing to Avalon, A Woman's Midlife Quest for the Sacred Feminine"

"Then what was felt deeply and never articulated, shared, or put in a context fades from conscious awareness.
Without words or names for an experience, memory is hampered. It's bit like not knowing how to access information that is stored in a computer.
Only when we have words that fit what we know deeply is it possible to contemplate the meaning of an experience."
P.52.Crossing to Avalon Jean Shinoda Bolen

These words, dear friends, express the essence of my desire to write. This book helped me tremendously through my spiritual transition of leaving dogmatic structure of the Israel Family after thirty four years into a completely different lifestyle. It strengthened my newly awakened consciousness of the Sacred Feminine, and nurtured the yearning to examine, to understand, and to share my journey. As I focus on the essence of what it means to be a part of the Sacred Feminine I discover the profound happiness that comes with self realization.

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