On this day in Provence, in the South of France,
this reliquary, said to house part of the tibia
and a lock of hair of Mary Magdalene,
is brought out and sent through the town in procession.
And around the world, she is honored
as representing the Divine Feminine and its resurgence.
While there are probably countless definitions of this concept,
for me it is about bringing back balance,
with both masculine and feminine energies,
to the patriarchal world and time we find ourselves in.
It's about living within our power,
about empathy and understanding, forgiveness of others,
about healing and the sacred of your own feminine energy.
It's about High Priestess energy.
(Visitor's notes to Mary Magdalene in her cave at La Baume)
And this weekend, on the eve of the Magdalene's Feast Day,
we also celebrated and honored another red-headed Marianne.
My friend of thirty years passed last week
and many of her friends gathered in her backyard garden,
filled with the flowers, images, fairy lights and people that she loved,
to honor her, to feel her, speak of her,
to hold on and to let her go with love.
She was/is a High Priestess of Beauty,
creating it everywhere she turned,
from morning to night.
And many of the things I mentioned about the Divine Feminine
are the things people spoke about my friend and honored her for.
In one area of her decorated yard sat a table
with a bouquet of beautiful pieces of paper
and a canister of colored pencils.
And from her pear tree, budding with fruit, hung colored ribbons.
The tree, surrounded with bouquets of flowers,
became a Blessing Tree where many of us wrote wishes or blessings to her
and hung it from the tree's ribbons.
Go in peace, Beauty!
Your heart has filled us with such richness.
May you soar high and free
and tease us often with glimpses.
I will miss you forever!
Marianne 'Octavia Hunter' Galloway
* 1/7/67- 7/15/18 *
(Photos copyright: Kirsten Steen)