Modern Goddesses

Diana, or Artemis, and Athena still live today
In women who speak out and take action against humanity’s injustice.
There is plenty of injustice to hunt down,
Poverty, war, violence, battered people, discrimination, housing shortages, bad water,
Polluted air, loss of rainforests, loss of protected lands, unemployment, poor wages.
I could go on, I’m sure.

Diana was the first Goddess I loved.
I liked it that a woman could hunt, and by the moon she was energized.
She used a bow to hunt, sending her arrows with great accuracy.
Her dogs were faithful companions.

Athena came later, since she was a Goddess of war,
Still I came to love her as I learned she was just and wise.
War seems to be a trait of our humanity,
I appeal to a Goddess of war for peace.

I ask them for clarity, wisdom, strength, courage, patience.
Our wars today are so impatient, and we fight them with such destructive weapons.
Bombs hidden, to blow up upon whomever rolls over them,
Arms that rage in our streets, killing ceaselessly.
So many innocent lives are taken in violence in this world, in this country.
It is sickening to me that our military takes funds away from education,
Our media panders to sex, offering up women as objects only for that purpose.
Or to be controlled by men.

Modern media now offers up men as sexual objects,
Which just makes it worse.
I like sex, but it does not run my life,
or make my decisions.
It is a personal pleasure, not a contest.
Much as Athena observed it.

Still I appeal to Diana and Athena for an end to the rampant violence of our time.
I have protested violence, and seen the results of violence.
Tragedy, love broken, starvation, mistrust, homelessness.
We need to tend to our children, our earth, each other.
We need to honor other cultures and learn about them.
At least this is true in the USA.
I can’t really speak to other countries, because I don’t live there.
But I hear on the news, and I suspect it is true in other countries too.

Such turbulent times, humanity is in need of change.
For that I go to Coyote, a trickster in certain Native cultures.
We need a trick to convince us that what we are doing now is horrible.
We need some laughter, joy, playfulness, hope, love

We do not need more terror.
There’s too much.
Insidious stuff, terror.
Crawling into your brain, keeping you silent, bolstering up the wars.

So my heart goes out to the women who fight, and voice.
They are good warriors, fighting a good war,
Using knowledge, education, spirituality, commitment, love
As their weapons.
They are the Dianas and Athenas of our time.