Honoring Your Story

“Telling our stories is one way we become more aware of just what ‘the river’ of our lives is. Listening to ourselves speak, without interruption, correction, or even flattering comments, we may truly hear, perhaps for the first time, some new meaning in a once painful, confusing situation. We may, quite suddenly, see how this even or relationship we are in relates to many others in our past. We may receive a flash of insight, a lesson long unlearned, a glimpse of understanding. And, as the quiet, focused compassion for us pervades the room, perhaps our own hearts open, even slightly, towards ourselves.”

–Robin Deen Carnes & Sally Craig in Sacred Circles

When I created a little shop video about Brigid’s Grove this year, I tried and discarded several possible taglines before settling on: honoring your May 2016 015story. This is the heart of our business. When I stopped working as a childbirth educator and breastfeeding counselor I worried how I would continue to make a real difference in people’s lives. I was blessed and astounded to discover how our work with our goddess sculptures and with Womanrunes reached out to touch people and I was honored and touched in return by how many of our customers share their stories with us: tender stories, triumphant stories, painful stories. We read every note on an order and every piece of feedback and we are humbled by your stories and how we are invited to become a tiny piece of them.

In the spring, our virtual + real-life shipping assistant + priestess robe creator extraordinaire, Shellei, suggested that we could possibly include a removable chain with customizable charm on one of our sculptures, I took the idea and immediately ran away with it. I was instantly struck with inspiration, possessed with a passion for the idea that took hold of me like no other. It was as if these Story Goddesses were suddenly clamoring at my door asking to be let in and I could not turn them away. I set aside everything else I needed to be working on and that needed my attention and I sat in our bed next to our napping toddler with my clay in my hands (not ideal conditions for sculpture work!) and the first Story Goddess emerged. It took me several attempts to get her legs right and I found myself smoothing the hips of a figure that brought to mind the lines of the classic Neolithic Egyptian Nile Goddess, dancing her way through my memory as if she was encoded in my cells. I’ve referenced before that I feel a visceral sense of connection to the ancient goddess sculptors and priestesses of old when I work, like we stretch in an unbroken chain from my beloved Goddess of Willendorf to me today, sitting next to my baby in our home in the woods, feverishly shaping the clay so these waiting goddesses can emerge into the world.

I am a strong woman
I am a story woman…

All of our handmade Story Goddesses are blessed in our land in Missouri and carry the energy of love, creativity, inspiration, sacred wisdom, and divine connection. Their belts and colors are carefully chosen for association with and embodiment of many specific goddesses, or you can customize your own based on your own story. They are cast in resin from my original clay sculpture and colored with a dazzling array of colorful mica pigments.

We are all Story Women…

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