MOTHER'S STORY: You are not alone! Listen and hear the footsteps in the rain

ACKNOWLEDGING THE MOTHER.  When I am feeling despair, I realize that I need to summon the MOTHER IN ME. Here I have borrowed an image on a pendant that my husband brought me back from New Mexico when we were considering moving there. I love how much my husband understands my relationship with the FEMININE and selected the pewter pendant made by artist Alice Warder Seely. (art by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah for the GREAT MOTHER. We are not alone pilgrims! 

The idea of MOTHER is with me at this moment for several reasons. Let me share with you why I have drawn this image today and am writing about the nurturing HER in our lives.

First of all, I am struggling with something I can only call "angst." And when I have these feelings of worry, I have a regimen of behaviors that I enact. One is reaching for "totems" that bring me peace and remind me of universal truths. So, this morning when I knew that I was in need of MOTHERING, I reached for the pendant of the MOTHER, that my sweet husband, Tony Martin, brought me from New Mexico. It is made by Alice Warder Seely, who has a mixed Indian, Spanish and Anglo heritage.
 

MOTHER'S STORY.  Alice Warder Seely writes: "You are not alone! Listen and hear the footsteps in the rain. It is your mother and sisters coming to share your songs, and tell your mother's story." I love it that Tony picked this out for me and find it very comforting to wear as I search for my songs to sing and my sisters to sing with.

Then as I make connections with InterPlay, I am meeting different InterPlay leaders. One InterPlay leader that I have recently friended on Facebook is Sheila Collins. Having done that, I became aware of her newly published book, Warrior Mother, which is a narrative about her journey assisting her two adult children as they died with AIDS and then breast cancer. Here is a video about Warrior Mother.

 
I do not have children. What do I know about MOTHERING? For those of you who know me, you are familiar with my drawings the MOTHER IN ME (here is one blog and drawing). However, I keep circling around this theme of the MOTHER and NURTURANCE developing this immense universal love. I can learn  even  more from Sheila Collins and her "fierce love" and use of ritual. Read her book to see how she cultivated the GREAT MOTHER in herself in community with friends and family.

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and share your MOTHERING stories. What do you do when you need to nurture yourself? Any other book ideas?

DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM ALICE WARDER SEELY.  While reflecting on Alice's work, I did not attempt to copy her image exactly but enjoyed drawing the two connected figures in the expanding universe. We need to connect with this universal love that is a part of our nature. Within ourselves is the universe of the MOTHER. (art by Hallelujah Truth)