Of Goddess’ Nature: Balance by Iriome R. Martín Alonso

Of Ocean and Stars, Wildness and Sun
by Iriome R. Martín Alonso

The Dark Goddess in particular, through Her many faces across mythologies, legends and cultures is that so needed catalytic figure that unleashed the ropes that have been tying us for so long. Unfortunately, She has been reduced to the role of villain in all the stories we have heard, and so our natural response to Her presence is that of fear, as it is natural to fear the unknown. The Dark Goddess path is one of surrender, of giving away control and all the mental constructs that have helped us to survive but most of the times kept us from fully living. Re-imagining Her and being aware of Her true nature without being blind to Her shades, is a way of knowing ourselves for real.

In a time in which the so-called progress has not only disconnected us from ourselves—but also from our very own home on this planet—Goddess is also a way of returning to an ecological
consciousness so imperative now: To know how to deal with the way we have exploited Her resources and the other creatures and plants with whom we share this wonderful land. Loving Goddess not only as a Great Mother but also as a closer Lover, a dear Sister or a fragile Child we have to protect is a way of making sure we will not allow Her to suffer harm from us any longer. She is used to transmuting and has nurtured species far greater than we are; She has endured the severest conditions. She will surely adapt and evolve, but, will we follow Her? The most intelligent thing is to protect the way She takes care of us now.

Goddess is also crucial in a time in which feminism is spreading as a way of confronting inequality. She does not know of ethnic groups, gender or sexual orientations, but She perceives us all as equal. In a society that holds women, people with other genders and orientations and with different cultures and skin colours in such an inferior position that toxic dynamics of power, before led by religious beliefs, are now intrinsically embroidered into culture—Goddess is not only a source of healing but also an inspiration of empowerment. She has given me courage in my most desperate moments, and She gives purpose and a sense of hope to a modern existence that seems to be numb, in an eternal anesthesia that hollows us like empty Shells whose lack of inner content eventually makes us so weak that we crack.

Goddess celebrates vulnerability, She celebrates the falls and the rises, She adores difference, the endurance in moments of struggle and the compassion of a person that helps others due to empathy. She holds and loves everything that is repudiated by the outside world—because everything comes from Her. Considering something out of the norm or unnatural would be like believing that nature is imperfect just because some things are less common than others. There is as much beauty in the rarest and loneliest of flowers as there is in a field full of the same plant.

What is Goddess? How is Goddess? Who is Goddess? Why is She important? Is She Dark, Light or Balanced? No scholar or paper, no priestess or wise person will ever answer it properly enough for you, such is the blessing and the burden of a path that cheers self-discovery like this does. But I promise that even though it might seem slow, frustrating and unpractical, nothing compares with the joy of experiencing Her not only around all of you, but also growing inside your very soul.

An excerpt from ¨Of Goddess’ Nature: Balance¨ by Iriome R. Martín Alonso in Inanna's Ascent.

Iriome R. Martín Alonso is an anthropology and performing arts student, born in the Canary Islands, Spain (1996). Coming from a strictly Catholic family in which it was usual for women to become nuns, she changed Her faith at the age of thirteen- After seven years moving with the cycles of the Wheel of the Year consciously, she’s currently taking face-to-face training to become a Priestess of the Goddess at the Goddess Temple of Madrid.