When things are too topsy-turvy, add another Goddess word to the new foundation we are building. Today's word? Round.
I often try to go back and imagine why a word came to be on the list I created two decades ago. Why "round"? Well, even acknowledging that I am far less connected to my physical body than a lot of people, it is impossible to be a woman on this planet and not notice that there is much that is round (or orb-like) about my body. My eyes, my cheeks (yes, both kinds!), my breasts, my earlobes, my lips, my chin, my stomach, my inner organs, my womb, my knees, my heels, my finger-and-toenails, my shoulders...I've lost weight in recent months, but when I was heavier I was even rounder; pregnancy is round. I remember when I was taking life drawing classes, sketching in the body's underlying circles was often the first step, whether the model was male or female. While I try really hard not anthropomorphize divine beings, even the Goddess, I cannot help but do that just a bit. It isn't even having seen prehistoric imagery of goddesses and fertility figures, it is a feeling of roundness that I attribute to Her. The roundness of arms embracing, of the arcs of the movements of our limbs. It is the essential difference between the shape of roundness and the shape of pointed straightness. Between bowls and swords, between balls and arrows, between cups and knives.
There are other definitions of "round", of course. When it is a noun, it seems to have a community feel to it -- making the rounds to visit family, a doctor making the rounds of patients, a person paying for a round of drinks at a bar or pub. There is the musical sense, also somewhat communal: a round or canon features the same tune being sung (or played) by different voices, only coming in at different times. A single person cannot sing a round (except, I'm amused to see, in this new internet era where musicians can video themselves multiple times, and overlay them).
Campfires are round, important discussions often happen around round tables, and as I have said before, future leadership groups will have a round (not hierarchical/top-down) feel to them. While the natural world has some straight lines in it, or seemingly straight lines like the horizon, for the most part, earth's natural shapes are round and orb-like. (I recently did a visualization, where I saw a waterfall within my body, falling downhill among "rocks" that were soft reddish-brown orbs, rather like beanbags. The inner "rocks" were my organs.) Our manmade world, by contrast, seems to be mainly straight, flat, and sharp-edged.
What can I do today to help support a rounder, more Goddess-friendly world? I can try to stay inwardly soft and round, and not set up a hard wall of fear around myself. I can embrace one person, or bring a few people together in a circle. I can bake (or distribute) cookies or a round birthday cake or bread or pies. I can draw a picture with a circular edge, or search a thrift shop for a round frame to place a picture in. I can walk around a favorite tree, or draw a picture of the sun or the moon, or buy a set of circular oracle cards. It is a good time to celebrate roundness.
PS: On the first full day ot spring, I saw my first robins, two of them!
