An Unearthing of Goddesses

An Unearthing of Goddesses Part 6

Gaia stood hunch backed over her spice box, nodding as she closed the lid. She moved to her bench where she resumed her work on a healing tonic, using a mortar and pestle to crush cardamom and turmeric together that she would add to a pitcher of goat's milk with honey. A customer walked through the door jangling the bells.

"Mata Gaia, how is the morning finding you today – have you my elixir finished yet?"

Gaia smiled at the elderly man. "Not quite Rajish. Sit your old bones down while I finish, and tell me about your family."

***

Nandi sat surrounded by small children, squatting in the dirt and staring up at her with wide eyes. They each held a cardboard box and waited expectantly for her to begin the lesson. She sat cross legged in the center of the circle, holding her djembe, a goblet drum with a goatskin top and a covering of coiled rope.

A small boy in a bright yellow t-shirt burst out – "You are a woman. Only men play the djembe. My father has spoken this." Nandi glanced at him cooly.

"That may be so Ayo. But I think we will let the djembe decide if I am worthy."

And as she started drumming, the low, rich tone of her bass notes mixed with her melodic high-pitched slaps to create an unearthly melody, and the children stared in astonishment – first from the music but then as Nandi started to rise from the ground with the strength of the beat. And as the children joined in, finding the rhythm on their boxes with their trembling hands, they rose alongside her and as one, the drum circle was elevated above the dusty earth, pulsating with energy.

***

In the fields of liminality, where the elemental goddesses had met so recently to feast and celebrate their sisterhood, the redheaded Celtic dryad goddess strode through the neighboring forest, her bow held high with a silvered arrow in position as she scanned the woods for her prize. A branch snapped behind her and she spun around sharply.

Her dark haired dryad sister stood behind her. "Maeve. You can hunt in any of your native woods or even in the wilds of Olympus. Why are you out in our unbounded lands?" she asked.

The red-haired girl lowered her bow. "Kitsune. You know as well as I do the spoils of our own fields. Where here, we have fruits and animals of a boundless array. I hunt the golden stag as I always have. A rumor is whispered that he grazes here of late."

Kitsune, a Japanese goddess dryad who favored bamboo forests, stood with crossed arms. She was dressed for a wedding, in a red robe with plum blossoms in her hair. "Rumors are like passing clouds. Gaze only upon the sun. I wish you luck though sister, in your quest."

Maeve nodded back. "What brings you through the fields? A wedding, I believe? In Olympus?"

Kitsune bowed gently. "I am attending a fox wedding, yes. And I am going to be late if I don't pass through quickly." The liminal fields, a place bordering worlds, was where the elementals entered Olympus. And occasionally an Olympian visitor, god or animal, entered the fields to find Earth, or another realm. Kitsune walked through an opening in the trees bordered by two giant urns, and as she passed through the birch grove her red robe fused into red fur, and she transformed into a red fox nimbly trotting into the woods.

***

Two camels rode side-by-side through the desert, leaving two sets of tracks through the dunes that trailed behind like lines of tears down a dusty cheek. One rider passed a canteen to the next one. Aurae, a Persian goddess sylph anointed with a strong sandalwood scent to mask the odor the camel had been wafting out for two days, lifted her veil from her face and drank deeply.