I have recently read the book: The Goddess Path by Patricia Monaghan. This is a book that was designed to help the reader to help nurture your own connection to the goddess and to share in her wisdom. Within each chapter that is dedicated to a specific goddess there is history about the goddess, myths involving the goddess, invocations for the goddess, ritual suggestions and questions to aid the reader with exploring their relationship with her.
There will be a few blog posts with my personal responses to some of the questions found in each chapter of this book. I urge you to follow along with me as we experience the Goddess within.
The eleventh chapter is about Inanna and you can find the questions I will be answering in this post on page 158 of the book.
There will be a few blog posts with my personal responses to some of the questions found in each chapter of this book. I urge you to follow along with me as we experience the Goddess within.
The eleventh chapter is about Inanna and you can find the questions I will be answering in this post on page 158 of the book.
What experiences have you had that resemble a descent to the underworld? What were you forced to give up?
I have been married twice before. My first marriage ended after only two years and I feel as if the time following the separation was a descent to the underworld. I was forced to give up my vision of what marriage was. I had become “the wife of” and not who I truly was meant to be. I relinquished who I had become and been purified and returned as who I truly was.
When you feel grief, what does it feel like? How do you recognize it?
Grief to me feels like sorrow. It feels like loss. Emptiness. That there was once something there and now is gone without hope of it being returned.
Make a list of what you have lost and can never recover. How do you feel about these experiences of loss? How did you cope?
I don’t know if I believe that once something is lost it can never be recovered. I believe that this is just a perception that we can shift and change if we so desire.
I suppose the most recent loss I’ve experienced is the death of my dear friend, Erin. Her physical absence in my life causes me great sadness. I cope by remembering the blessings she brought to me and the friendship we had.
Among your friends and loved ones, there are people who have undergone or are undergoing period of loss. How do you feel when you are with them? How do you support them? What fears to you have when you think of them?
There are people who have undergone a period of loss and I empathize with them. I understand how difficult it can be dealing with the great sense of sorrow. I support them by being a shoulder to rest on and an ear to listen. I am most concerned that they will not heal and move forward and become stuck in the pit of sadness.
Write down the following words: pain, loss, grief, sorrow, sadness. How would you express the differences among them?
Pain is a physical, emotional, or mental discomfort.
Loss is the lack of something that was once present.
Grief is the sadness associated with the death of a beloved.
Sorrow is a deeper sadness or the feeling accompanied by a loss of something
Sadness is the opposite of happiness.
If you were to make a gesture for each of the words above, what would that gesture look like? Where is sorrow, for instances, experienced in your body?
Pain would be doubling over the body; being slouched over with an expression of discomfort.
Loss would be holding arms and hands open with a shrug and looking from one hand to the other with an expression of confusion.
Grief would be having hands covering the face, shoulders slouched over and head bent down.
Sorrow would be having hands covering the face, shoulders slouched over, head bent down and kneeling on the floor.
Sadness would be frown on face and hand wiping away tears.
Unexpressed pain and grief sometimes cause physical symptoms and pain. Are there any such pains you believe might result from loss and grief?
I believe that headaches, digestive issues, and heart conditions would result from loss and unexpressed grief.
Anger is often a part of the grieving process. Are there people you find yourself angry at, who in some way represent a loss you have experienced?
I don’t really hold anger inside any longer. I have had issues in the past with anger and do my best to dissolve it or dissect it into what it really represents (sadness, frustration, disappointment, etc).
It is common to speak of descent experiences in terms of learning. In considering what you have lost, can you express what you have learned from the loss?
I believe that when I have experienced a loss it brought me to greater understanding of myself. Revealing my personal fears related to that which I had lost.
What strengths have you found in yourself that assists you in enduring life’s inevitable pains?
I believe that my personal perspective on life in general and my personal life’s purpose enables me to experience the ‘inevitable pains’ easier and with a smoother and quicker transition process.
I have been married twice before. My first marriage ended after only two years and I feel as if the time following the separation was a descent to the underworld. I was forced to give up my vision of what marriage was. I had become “the wife of” and not who I truly was meant to be. I relinquished who I had become and been purified and returned as who I truly was.
When you feel grief, what does it feel like? How do you recognize it?
Grief to me feels like sorrow. It feels like loss. Emptiness. That there was once something there and now is gone without hope of it being returned.
Make a list of what you have lost and can never recover. How do you feel about these experiences of loss? How did you cope?
I don’t know if I believe that once something is lost it can never be recovered. I believe that this is just a perception that we can shift and change if we so desire.
I suppose the most recent loss I’ve experienced is the death of my dear friend, Erin. Her physical absence in my life causes me great sadness. I cope by remembering the blessings she brought to me and the friendship we had.
Among your friends and loved ones, there are people who have undergone or are undergoing period of loss. How do you feel when you are with them? How do you support them? What fears to you have when you think of them?
There are people who have undergone a period of loss and I empathize with them. I understand how difficult it can be dealing with the great sense of sorrow. I support them by being a shoulder to rest on and an ear to listen. I am most concerned that they will not heal and move forward and become stuck in the pit of sadness.
Write down the following words: pain, loss, grief, sorrow, sadness. How would you express the differences among them?
Pain is a physical, emotional, or mental discomfort.
Loss is the lack of something that was once present.
Grief is the sadness associated with the death of a beloved.
Sorrow is a deeper sadness or the feeling accompanied by a loss of something
Sadness is the opposite of happiness.
If you were to make a gesture for each of the words above, what would that gesture look like? Where is sorrow, for instances, experienced in your body?
Pain would be doubling over the body; being slouched over with an expression of discomfort.
Loss would be holding arms and hands open with a shrug and looking from one hand to the other with an expression of confusion.
Grief would be having hands covering the face, shoulders slouched over and head bent down.
Sorrow would be having hands covering the face, shoulders slouched over, head bent down and kneeling on the floor.
Sadness would be frown on face and hand wiping away tears.
Unexpressed pain and grief sometimes cause physical symptoms and pain. Are there any such pains you believe might result from loss and grief?
I believe that headaches, digestive issues, and heart conditions would result from loss and unexpressed grief.
Anger is often a part of the grieving process. Are there people you find yourself angry at, who in some way represent a loss you have experienced?
I don’t really hold anger inside any longer. I have had issues in the past with anger and do my best to dissolve it or dissect it into what it really represents (sadness, frustration, disappointment, etc).
It is common to speak of descent experiences in terms of learning. In considering what you have lost, can you express what you have learned from the loss?
I believe that when I have experienced a loss it brought me to greater understanding of myself. Revealing my personal fears related to that which I had lost.
What strengths have you found in yourself that assists you in enduring life’s inevitable pains?
I believe that my personal perspective on life in general and my personal life’s purpose enables me to experience the ‘inevitable pains’ easier and with a smoother and quicker transition process.
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