Earth Mother by Apache artist Allan Houser (photo by L. Craig Schoonmaker)
One of the exercises we did with Vanissar involved imagining something that you care about, that you’re working for, that you want, and finding an image or a few words to represent whatever that is, and then putting that representation into ourselves, just behind our belly buttons, at our centers.
This image is similar to the one I put in my belly — although not quite. The woman I imagined had an empty lap, broad and full and open and waiting. I want to find that figure, the one in my head, in my body, for my altar.
Now I am cradling that image, that desire, that old need. What else can I say about that right now?
(Feel welcome to use the image as a prompt: What responses or voices or stories come up for you when you see it? Follow your writing for 10 minutes — or more!)
