• Some of the links in this post might be triggering.

My memoir, Angels in the OR: What Dying Taught Me About Healing, Survival, and Transformation, is available for pre-order.  It is a #1 new release in several categories.  I would love your support of a pre-order.  My aim is to help make near-death experiences more mainstream.

We should live in a world where women are valued at the most basic level by all men.  I hate reminders that we don’t live in that world.  I create safe spaces.  I teach empathy. This is what I do, and then I see overflowing hatred in our world and I’m shocked for a few moments.

Instead of focusing on those who are on the wrong side of history and fighting inevitable change and progress, I’ve spent some time revising more goddess poems in order to praise all that is lovely about women.  I want the divine feminine to be remembered by everyone.

Kelly Oxford:  I also want to send healing, and I want to honor the many women who bonded together on Twitter when Kelly Oxford posted a tweet about her first assault.  Millions of women contributed to the hashtag #notokay posting their own moments of assault.  They often had a difficult time picking one of many.  Here is a great example of a woman who spoke for the first time about the many times she has been assaulted.  I’m encouraged to read the many new authors tackling this subject.  However, it is overwhelming to see how many women have experienced this type of trauma.

Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine:  For now, I need to focus on all that is beautiful in humanity.  The divine feminine and divine masculine can be a part of our lives and encourage us to make wiser choices.  We can all access both divine masculine and divine feminine aspects of ourselves whether we are male or female.  There are men who are divinely guided, protective of others, and kind.  There are women who are in their power, responsive, and loving.  To honor and access the divine feminine, we only need to appreciate our senses, to feel our feelings, and listen to our intuition, and we need a safe world to express the gifts of the divine feminine fully. My hope is that the world will grow more beautiful and safer because of the ugliness that has been exposed lately.

We need more awakened men who support the divine feminine and are able to be of service to awakened women.   An awakened man never uses strength and force to dominate and knows to listen for a clear yes or no when it comes to sex.  An awakened man knows these boundaries and other  boundaries.  He knows that hurting others has nothing to do with masculinity.  Supporting, encouraging, and protecting the birthing process of ideas, inventions, companies, and people are a few key qualities of the divine masculine.

These poems are more than an escape for me.  They are a way to praise and remember the beauty of the divine feminine.

Venus, Rhiannon, and Danu: These three goddess poems celebrate goddesses, female choices in love, a connection to nature, and the wisdom of the divine feminine.  The first one was written a long while ago to show how these ancient goddesses show up at unexpected, beautiful moments in our lives today.

Venus at Thunder Bay   

Moonlight scattered across the dark blue waves,

swelling, turning turquoise, breaking,

becoming foam the color of a seagull’s underbelly.

 

A woman, wearing a silver, flowing shift

sat meditating on a small cliff above us.

When she opened her eyes, she saw my lover

bend and spring across a ledge, agile as a deer.

Her smile widened with appreciation,

and she winked at me as she shook out

her long, Venusian curls.

 

I looked at my lover through her perspective,

noticing his balance and grace, the shiny lines

of energy flying out of the ends of his hair

and fingertips. I watched him and watched

the waves, knowing I would need to remember

this striking moment in a year of great love

as a safeguard against time, loss, and tragedy.

© 1995 by Tricia Barker

 

Here is a poem for all the women who loved horses long before they loved a man….

Rhiannon Rides

Last week, I traded my Quarter horse

for a snow white Arabian mare.

She understands my dreams and desire for peaceful speed.

Each morning, I bury my head in her thick mane

and breathe in the beautiful scent around her velvet soft nostrils.

Then, we are off.

 

Nothing holds me back anymore.

The wind and my voice are the same.

My desires and the sunlight blend together

making my day wavy and psychedelic

without any undesirable side effects.

 

I don’t need another human being.

I don’t need anything other than sustenance

and to flow through illumined green pastures.

I would’ve been content without him.

 

There was always a him somewhere behind me

who I paid little attention.  I could’ve spent

my life alone, perfectly content with my horse,

my journeys, my books, and my Netflix queue.

 

Some people brag like this, but I mean this:

I wanted and needed no one, and that trait

has always made me irresistible.

 

I’ve watched girls fight over princes

and players and laughed at such foolishness.

What a waste of time to want someone who will

never want you back fully, someone who will be there part time

and let you down part time. I often wished I could grant women

a moment of how good it feels to treasure themselves

more than anything or anyone else.

 

The only real test for love is endurance, honesty, and stability.

When he chased me that was only part of the equation,

and when he asked me to open my heart to him,

I considered his words and actions.  He told me why he was worthy

in facts, unequivocal truths, and a steady gaze,

not a predatory gaze, just a gaze from a man

who was no longer a boy, no longer a young hopeful

wishing on stars and throwing coins in fountains,

no longer a silly romantic writing love letters

because he has nothing else to give.

 

He wasn’t a “I’ll give this a try kind of guy.”

His gaze said, “I’m a man who can deliver

a lifelong kind of love and want this with you.”

He didn’t say this with rhymes or with a bundle of imagery.

He said it directly and truthfully,

and for that, I stopped.

© 2010 by Tricia Barker

 

The Golden Eagle’s Tribute to Flowing Danu

From the eye of an eagle, a river

is healing force through the land,

a beautiful divider,

a reminder of the passage of time

and the constant change of life.

 

Beneath his sky filled journey,

the blue reflects the sun and all of life rests

in a bubble of beauty  called his eye.

 

The eagle knows the goddess as God.

He accepts her wisdom and all the wealth

she gives to those who seek her.

His heart doesn’t yearn for more.

 

With each beat, the young eagle is certain

of his connection to the light of the land

and the divine light beyond the land.

 

He knows there are no riddles to unravel,

no spells to learn,

no necessary witchcraft.

There is only oneness with the air, the sun, the earth,

and the river which fills his wingspan

with gratitude and love.

© 2014 by Tricia Barker