The only wrong thing, perhaps, is permanently hesitating on the verge of courage.

When had my fear of broken plates gotten so grandiose? My desire for extravagant moments so small?

I'll write this all down for you," I said. "I'll put it in a story." I don't know if that's what he wanted to ask me, but it's something everybody wants--for someone to see the hurt done to them and set it down like it matters.

Standing there, I loved myself and I hated myself. That's what the black Mary did to me, made me feel my glory and my shame at the same time.

You put his brain in a bird, the bird would fly backwards" -Secret Life of the Bees

The symbol of Goddess gives us permission. She teaches us to embrace the holiness of every natural, ordinary, sensual dying moment. Patriarchy may try to negate body & flee earth with its constant heartbeat of death, but Goddess forces us back to embrace them, to take our human life in our arms & clasp it for the divine life it is - the nice, sanitary, harmonious moment as well as the painful, dark, splintered ones.

My ultimate authority is the divine voice in my own soul. Period.