posted January 18, 2001 07:28 PM            

Copyright © 1996 Diane Mariechild, photography by Marcelina Martin

Erotic love between women can be a celebration of and an initiation
into the female creative spirit, the feminine mysteries. When we
open to the great feminine, the holy space that is the foundation of
the world, making love becomes sacred . Lesbians hold the form of
woman power at its most profound . Many lesbians seek to identify
ourselves from an inner source of womanwisdom. With each act of
loving we can embrace this deep inner space and explore the
possibility of returning to our original perfection. Woman loving
woman can be an alchemical process which reaches into our very
cells. Through the purity of this energy we may recognize the
essential wholeness of nature. We know ourselves as "virgin,"
meaning one-in-herself, belonging to no man. Lesbian sacred sexual
love has the potential to awaken and reunite us with the divine
source of our being. Whether or not we have sexual partners
depends on many factors, including our circumstances, our karma
and our life purpose. Sex is sex. It is not our partner's gender that
makes our sex sacred. It is the consciousness that we bring to our
sexual acts that makes them sacred, whether we are making love to
ourselves or with a partner. Lesbian love is sacred when it is
visionary, interconected and transformational. Through the power of
love we come to know ourselves as both mothers/ creators of our
lives and as daughters / caretakers of the earth. Our lives and our
work can become expressions of this wisdom and power.

- Diane Mariechild

Double Phoenix

She speaks burgundy birds
blue gold wings flowers indolent on her
breasts
she moves slowly her hair curled tightly
hands skimming my thighs she whispers into
my ear
I want you my vulva shivers clenches
her mouth takes me her
tongue tells long dancing stores of flight stars
darkness burst
fingers flicker in my bones
she enters me in the moment when my blood
begs her
hard deep light lifts from my lips
whirls moves tightly her mouth shivers
birds appear in my hands
my toes skim stars
I'm wings in the night sky crying out in her breasts
my hips wetflowers

- Chrystos

Initiation

From womb to womb, connection clear and strong. My body sits
upon the earth, my heart energy streams down into the core of the
earth. Her energy like the waters of a mighty river flows through me.
My body opens, my blood becomes like sparkling water fed from a
boundless source springing from the heart of the earth. My *light
body full and shimmering gently withdraws from my physical body
and melts through a crack, thus entering sacred ground.

My body pulses with the earth, hot and dry, yet fed by unseen
waters. Three eagles soar above, spirit friends bringing me to the
land of the endless sky. I walk through this land for a long time until
a holy space beckons me. I descend into that dark, round space. My
eyes can see nothing, then gradually changing forms dimly appear.
Who enters this space with me? Lovers of the past, friends from all
the cycles of my life, each of us on her private journey. Here
together in this sacred place.

Sounds of a drum rise through the darkness. I circle and leap to its
beat, leaving the heaviness behind. Only the sacred child dances
within the holy round. My body lighter and lighter, joy bubbling
forth and encircling this sacred space. Abruptly the drumming stops .
The echoes die . Silence settles on me like the fog that slides down
the mountain and fills the valley I call home. My body fills with
energy: full, deep and clear. No buzz of expectation. Strong, open
and spacious. As my eyes become accustomed to the dark I see the
circle: sisters of fire, women through the ages, young and old, of
every race and tradition.

One crone, strong and stately, approaches me. We stand face to
face. Her face is dark and lined with age. Her eyes hold mine in a
steady, welcoming gaze. As I drink in her beauty she begins to
transform before me, her lined skin becoming smooth and then again
wrinkling and softening. She is Mother of the Flame, a firekeeper
from the beginning. She raises her hand in greeting and a tiny fire
flickers, then blazes on her palm. She touches my belly, heart and
head, belly, heart and head. The third time she touches me, her hand
strokes my yoni and remains there for moments until she enters me.
A sound breaks the stillness, the sound of fire igniting. I feel its
warmth spread through my yoni, my pelvis. Belly bowl holds this
fire, contains its power, as the flames dance higher. My heart burns,
tiny fingers of flame pierce its walls and it becomes open space, the
endless sky. My eyes sparkle as the fire dances through my mind, its
flames licking away my fears. Burned away. Burned away. Burned
away.

I know without words: this is initiation. Lesbian lovemaking is a
celebration and initiation into the holy space that is the foundation of
the world. I step back and bow low. The drums start. A muffled
steady beat grows louder and stronger. We circle around, moving to
the rhythm. Vibrations bounce off the walls, rising and falling back
to the earth. Energy spirals upward, filling my legs as they stretch
down into the earth. My strong legs like columns, my pelvis the arch
cradling my sacred inner place. Earth energy flows upward to legs,
through pelvis and returns to earth. My bones become the soil; my
flesh becomes the earth. The drums call us from deep in the heart of
the earth. Womanspirits, ancestors, grandmothers of time, we dance.
The snakes that lie coiled in baskets around the room begin to stir. I
feel the energy rise along my spine. I am flying, down in that holy
round, lightly touching the ground. I am flying. And I am touching
holy ground.

The drums stop. The sisters of fire become shadows on the wall.
Then total darkness. My belly, my heart, my mind cast a soft glow.
The fire within;, now banked, will warm and nourish me. I climb up
the ladder, slowly, gratefully. I touch the earth. I bow to the endless
sky.

- from the text, by Diane
Mariechild