Death is an Old Woman

An excerpt from the upcoming Girl God anthology - Wounded Feminine Grieving with Goddess

Death is an Old Woman

Excerpt from the upcoming Girl God anthology - Wounded Feminine Grieving with Goddess (pre-order info at the bottom of the page)

Death is an old woman sitting quietly at the edge of the bed of your beloved.

Some recognise her presence in the weeks before death, taking her place among the gathered ancestors.

She lovingly tends to the dying fox, badger, hawk, and deer, as their ancestors circle around them, ready for their journey home.

There is a deep comfort to picture a loving grandmother there to receive our beloveds, and when our time comes, to be wrapped up in soft wings, and carried home.

-

In her liminal place, between the worlds, behind her stood all the keening women who had ever lamented, each ancestor who mourned, back, thousands of generations. With the power of accumulated anger and despair, the keening woman cries, roars, and grieves. She keens for all the mothers, and fathers and for all injustices and every wrongdoing against women and children, four-leggeds and wingeds, grasslands, seas, forests, and mountains.      

-

Within the keen, there is a word of magic to keep the soul safe, as it moves from this world to the next. Let us utter the word and keep women safe, deer and otter, salmon, seal, and orca safe. Keep mountain, loch, and ancient forest safe, keep standing stone and corrie safe. Let us embody the word so that our dancing and lamenting weaves protection.

Gather the keeners, for we need new rituals. We need each other, we need the tears, laughter, and love, we need the magic and lamenting as the world unravels.

This is an excerpt from a longer piece that is included in the upcoming GirlGod anthology. Pre-order at https://thegirlgod.com/wounded_feminine.php