I met a new goddess recently! While I was at the Goddess Conference on the Gold Coast last month I had an interesting experience, quite apart from the wondrous events of the weekend.  I found myself standing apart and observing what was happening for much of the weekend, rather than participating.  I was observing myself observing and wondered why it was happening.  In my head, I kept hearing over and over “I am She Who Watches”. After I got back home, I couldn't get this powerful phrase out of my head so I decided to do some in depth research – I typed it into google!
What came up was a revelation - a North American goddess or spirit called Tsagalala. She is known as “She Who Watches” and is depicted on a large, beautiful glyph on a cliff face on the border between Washington and Oregon. Her myth says that coyote, the trickster, came to her village and asked the people what their chief was like. The people told him that she was good and pointed to her standing up on the cliff watching over them. Coyote went to her and asked if she was a good chief or a bad chief? Did she mine her people for what she could get or did she work in their best interests? She told him that her people prospered and lived well – they were well fed and lived in good houses. Coyote told her that things were changing and soon the time would come when women would no longer be chiefs. Did she want to continue watching over her people? When she said yes, he changed her into the glyph so that she could watch over the valley for all time.

Her story really touched me and it has served as a prompt to examine why I was connecting with her at this time.  The message that resonated with me is that I am living in a time where masculine and feminine energies will, again, come back into balance.  Choices made in the past, however permanent they seem to be, can now be reexamined.  When Tsagalala made her decision, she believed that her people still needed her and she has played a key role in holding the space for them to grow and prosper.  Over time, the landscape has changed and the people have moved on.  A dam was built in the river and the site where her village was located is now under water.  There is, of course, much symbolism around water and flow - and the way we allow resources to flow through our lives.  Tsagalala still looks out at a beautiful view but it is very different and much more stagnant than in times past.  Perhaps it is time for me to look at areas in my life where I have great power and good intentions but my ideas and actions have become intrenched?  Maybe this message resonates with you, too?  Where would reexamination, change and new choices allow you to utilise your heart felt strengths so your life might flow more freely?  I am going to keep Tsagalala firmly in my mind and my heart as I exercise my free will in creating goals and plans for 2010.   May she also touch and inspire you!

Cooks and chefs all over the world perform acts of alchemy every day.  They take raw ingredients then peel, chop, pound, cook and combine them with an element of their own nature - their skill, their enthusiasm, their heart - in order to create something that has never been made quite exactly the same ever before, nor will it be in the future.  It's uniqueness is something we have to appreciate only in the now.  And how do we appreciate their efforts?  Why, through our senses, of course.  Our senses are amazing.  They are, indeed, our passport to experience the world.  

Today I sat in my favourite little Asian restaurant.  They know me well and laugh because I always come in with a book or a notepad and pen or both.  They set my choice of the day before me – Tom Yum soup.  I took in the contrast of colours – the carrot, the onion, the prawn and the fresh herbs sprinkled on top.  I leaned forward and took a deep breath in through my nose.  The smell instantly transported me to Thailand and the memory of sitting by the beach enjoying a similarly stimulating meal with great friends at twilight.  I lifted the spoon, dunked it into the bowl and took a sip.  The flavours rolled around in my mouth and, as I swallowed, the energy of the soup seemed to spread out through the whole of my body.  My lips and the tip of my tongue tingled with the hint of chilli.  Another example of the whole being much more than just the sum of the parts!  I wondered how anyone could taste a wondrous broth such as this and fail to believe that true magic exists?  And we get to experience it every day - if we just pay attention!

I got really lucky today, not only did I get to enjoy a blissful few minutes enjoying my soup but I also got to spend a couple of minutes in my mind appreciating my Thailand experience and how it had deepened my connection to this current moment. 

What is it for you that has the magical ability to evoke your senses in an equally stimulating way?  We spend so much time focused on what isn't quite right, what we still need to improve.  Why not take a minute and appreciate one perfect (or perfectly imperfect) moment?