Dragon Priestess

Back in May this year, a group of lovely female friends came over to my place to pamper me before a big ceremony I was having for myself the following weekend. Audrey, who was organizing the event, had a dream about putting me into one of the flower mandalas. The results were amazing! Since my event was related to Dragon, they made a Dragon next to me embracing me. You can see his head near mine, his wing, and his tail wrapping around my feet. I tried to be perfectly still while the ladies worked around me. It felt very peaceful, pampering. I went into a state of meditation. It smelled heavenly with all the flowers and green around me.

The ladies had also pampered me with an herbal foot bath before laying me out on the cloth to become a work of art! It reminded me of how important it is for women to show up for each other, and to honor each other during times of big transitions in our lives. I feel as though our society has lost touch with ceremony, initiation, and the important task of marking transitions with sacred and symbolic acts. This was such an honor to be held in this way. I felt deep gratitude for community, and for the strong and beautiful women in my life.

During the photo shoot I was asked to make different faces. I was thinking about the Tibetan Goddess deities, and how they have both a peaceful and a wrathful face, side to them. Goddesses of compassion and there to guide our spiritual growth always. However sometimes we need a stronger push towards our own enlightenment, or evolution. This is when even the most loving Mama, Goddess, female deity WILL meet us with her wrathful side. Above is my peaceful face, below my wrathful face….

I love how my hair streams out like rays of the sun. I had wished afterwards we had put another white cloth down behind my hair. Everyone got so creative for this project! One woman even took a cell phone and placed it on the ceiling fan above me, taking a video as it turned to get photos from all angles. When I saw the photos, I felt I looked like a Tarot card. I want to call her “Dragon Priestess.”

Here are a few photos of the herbal foot bath prepared so lovingly for me that day. It felt so amazing to be pampered and loved in this unique way. It definitely helped me prepare mentally for the coming ceremony. So much gratitude for this lovely experience and these amazing women. Humans are naturally social animals having thrived only in community, and with the aide of each other throughout history. Our focus on “individualism,” and our growing isolation is deeply affecting our psyches. Hiding behind screens of the internet, Television, and Social Media, we often forget to actually reach out to one another. To gather, to do creative and meaningful things together. I say we bring it back! This, in turn, will also help reconnect us to our place on this beautiful planet, and in the network of all living beings, who could really use our love and support right now.