I didn't send my Mom a Mother's Day card this year; she
made her transition in January. I
did
send a trio of cards to a beloved 100-year-old friend who's been
a spiritual mother my entire life, from the days when I'd paste my artwork
on the kitchen window she'd pass on her way to work (and to which she'd respond
in poetry), to our adult friendship spanning four decades. Ellie and her
husband never had children, yet I don't think that's why so many "young
people" (as she characterized those in their 50s when she was 92!) have
adopted her as a surrogate Mom. It's because, by her very essence, she
engenders the deep love and appreciation we associate with mothering.
I've been blessed to enjoy this kind of relationship a few
times in my life. Another was with a woman whose husband I met in the park, not
long after I'd graduated from college. He brought me home to meet his wife as
though I were a flea market find, and the three of us became fast friends
during the year before I moved to California. I was just launching my life at
22, and Sten and Ethel provided the support and encouragement I needed to
thrive — right down to lending me their old car for the final weeks prior to my
relocation, so I could get around town once I'd sold mine. Ethel had multiple
sclerosis (MS), and her optimism and sunny disposition in the face of her
illness seem even more amazing to me now. For her birthday that year I sent a
singing balloon-a-gram; the center balloon was shaped like a heart. She told me
this balloon kept its helium for weeks and followed her around the house!
That's the power of Love.
Another spiritual mother for 26 years and counting is
Louise Hay. An old friend gifted me with
Louise's signature book,
You Can Heal Your Life in 1988, the same year I was blessed to meet Louise in person when she
held a "Hay Ride" event in San Francisco. Her breakthrough personal
growth work has sustained and healed me on many levels since then. Louise is
just nine months older than my biological mother, so in many ways she really
does feel like my Mom.
Who are the "other mothers" in your life?
Mother's Day is a beautiful moment to let them know how much you cherish their
love, their support, their wisdom. Whether they know you personally or are a
public figure who's helped you via their planetary service (Oprah springs to
mind), take a moment to acknowledge this gift. In the level playing field of
the digital age we can connect with almost anyone, yet your thank you needn't
be splashed across the social landscape unless you so choose. If you send your
message via the quantum field, it will be received — at an even more profound
level.
If you can and want to connect in 3D, that's always a
delight. I'll call my 100+ year-old friend in the morning, and thank her again
for shining her Light in my life.
Finally, there is our collective Mother, Gaia, in all her
(wo)manifestations. During my awakening journey I realized how profoundly I
yearned to nestle into the nurturing archetypal arms of the Great Mother. I
found her in trees, in our animal kin, in metaphysical bookstores and sacred
ceremony, and in the wisdom of those who had gone before me and could give a
name to this longing.
Reaching our Light means
daring a descent
into the dark, to the ancient womb of Mystery that lives within each one,
calling us to awaken and claim our power. Men and women alike are capable of
this kind of birth, which knows no gender — only the willingness to open to the
immanent truth of our being.
Everything arises from this awareness: how we move through the world,
how we effect change, how we define what "matters" (which comes from
the same root as "mother".) Uncloaked, we are cut from whole cloth —
"material" in its original sense. When we abide in the Mother, who we
are matters — and we are always Home.
Mother yourself, today and every day. That's the greatest grace note of
all.
~ Much Love to you ~
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