Unlock Yourself

I wonder where you are right now as you read this.
Is it warm (do you have sunburn peeling?), or is it chilly
(enough for another cup of tea, a throw blanket?)  Are you reading these words on a big screen or a tiny pixellated square?
What has your day been like so far?  Buoyant with blessings, heavy with sorrows? When you awoke this morning did inspiration kiss your cheek?

If you are reading this, where ever you might be in the world – I know that there is at least one thing we share – stretched between us – as I write you from the edge of the Pacific Ocean.  We share a red thread.

According to legend - from before birth
a red thread of fate
connects those destined to meet… 


Is our destiny to meet just for these words?  If so, what could I write to you, right here, and right now – that would be a blessing worthy of a one time connection?  Or is our destiny more – are you one of the circle of legend listeners, carriers of women’s wisdom, red thread gathers, one of those self-declared cosmic cowgirls who feel the wing of the crow as song and the weight of poetry as smooth black stones?  Are you one of us?

We who know ourselves to be Cosmic Cowgirls have a handful of similarities and many, many differences.  That’s what happens when you build a collective caravan out of creative wildish, far-flung women who choose to think for themselves.  There are just no religions, beliefs, customs, no orientations wide enough to unanimously orient towards!

We are founded on poetry (from the fluid pen of  Shiloh Sophia)
that goes like this:

Take up the Red Thread by Jenafer Joy 2011

We are a tribe of truth tellers
Revolution makers
Movers and shakers
of things that need moving
and shaking
Like hips
And old ideas that need
shaking off.

and like this

A Cosmic Cowgirl is
a woman with her head
in the stars,
her cowgirl boots planted
firmly on the ground,
and a dream in her heart.

We use words like revolution, stars and cowgirls boots as metaphors and invitations. We ask questions as alchemy – “For what do you stand? What wide and wild dreams live in your heart?” We are a culture of witness – a collective agreement that we are for you and with you.  Whatever you that you are- today.

So tell me. In the words of Alice’s Caterpiller – Who Are You?

My answer today is this: I am an artist, a poet, a wife & mother.  I love the bustle of chicken feathers in a mad dash and the rustle of cookies “stolen” from the cookie jar.  I am a holder of the red thread of community, a tender of story.  I am a woman crow-called, in love with the muse and well versed in the beauty of the ugly underbelly.

And who are YOU?
Do you have words that sing the song of you?
Words that your bones sigh for? 
The raven’s harsh caw repeats outside my window as I write to you – so I know this is important.
What symbol, what word, what poetry, could you
share
in this moment
to
unlock yourself?

Unlock Yourself by Jenafer Joy 2012

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Known in the straight-faced world as Jenafer Owen, Jenafer Joy began her art career with dualing backgrounds in Alchemical Acupuncture & Chaos Transformation (otherwise known as Accounting).  She is now convinced that Artista is the “A” career she was looking for. Jena believes passionately in individual genius, in the innate wisdom of the body, and in the transformative power of mythic context. She is still pinching herself at the luck of being a part of the Cosmic Cowgirl Community and is honored to be at the helm as Director of Education for Cosmic Cowgirl University. You can find more of her paintings at www.jenaferjoy.com

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