A few years ago (and I seriously don't remember when this was...two, four, seven years?) I had a very clear vision of a young woman from pre-Christian Britain. She was in the southwest of the island, now Dorset, Somerset, Devon or Cornwall, and was looking out to sea from a high bluff overlooking a beach. I don't know a whole lot more than that, except that she had a great deal of feminine wisdom and in my mind, I started to call her "Beryl". If there was such a name two or more thousands of years ago, I have no idea, but it has stuck with me, along with all the usual questions: is this a past life figure? An actual ancestress? Or a complete figment of my imagination? Am I channelling her? Or am I just trying to find a slightly more unusual name for myself than "Liz"?
I am curious as to whether, in her time, she was respected for her wisdom. I am curious as to whether her voice was heard more than many women's voices today. I am curious as to what her day-to-day life might have been like, and how long she might have lived. I am curious as to whether her voice is speaking and singing to me today -- I suspect so, as part of the chorus of wise women throughout history, in every part of the world and in every heritage. When it becomes too overwhelming (or too audacious) to think that I might be channeling the Goddess, it's comforting to have Beryl as my intermediary, my foremother. But I see this larger choir of voices as singing the harmony of the future as well, the music of love, beauty, and respect for life on the earth and in every galaxy. I don't see these singers as stuck in a linear chronological timeline, in other words. (Perhaps not even in the linear musical staves we sing from today!)
So I wanted to bring Beryl to your attention, in case I refer to "her" in upcoming essays. Who is your spiritual foremother? Can you picture her? Where is she?
