THE WISEWOMAN'S STORY: DIANA AND HER OWLS
Now, this is my story, and this is the way I tell it. There was once
a poor young girl who was left quite alone in the world. Her parents
had died when she was but a baby, and since then her grandmother had
taken care of her.
But now the old lady was gone, and poor little Bridget had to
struggle on alone, taking care of her little cottage, feeding the
animals, and tending her grandmother's patch of land all by herself.
Bridget would often feel quite desolate because she had no one to
talk to or to give her advice. One moonlit night she had a dream that
her grandmother was calling to her out in the deep woods. She woke up
and ran outside into the silvery night, half believing her dream was
real.
She had not walked far into the woods when the full moon broke clear
through the clouds and shone in glory upon a little clearing in the
trees. There stood the Moon Woman, Diana the Goddess, and around her a
hundred owls silently glided, hooting from time to time. In this
magical halo of moonlight and owls, the moon goddess walked up to
Bridget and greeted her with a smile.
"I want to share one of my secrets with you," she told Bridget. "You
must never despair or wonder what to do again. Whenever you need a
wise answer to a question which is troubling you, just call out to
me, and my owls will answer you. If they hoot once while you count
nine off on your fingers, the answer is yes, but if they call twice
while you are counting, the answer is no. If they call three times as
you count, the question is not ready for an answer, and you must come
and ask me another time. And if my owls don't call out to you at all,
why then the problem is something that you can work out wisely
yourself."
Then the Moon Woman kissed little Bridget, and a beam of silver fell
from her mouth and slipped onto Bridget's finger in the shape of a
shining ring.
"Don't forget, my dear," said the beautiful goddess, "you have only
to look for my sign upon the face of my owls, because each one is
heart-shaped, and I am mistress of the heart and keeper of its
knowledge. The owls will always be your friends, and I will speak to
you through them."
Then suddenly the moon sped behind a cloud, and the Moon Woman was
gone. But her owls made phantom shapes in the darkness, soundlessly
swooping and looking at little Bridget with their strange rushlight
eyes gleaming in the darkness. But Bridget wasn't afraid because she
knew they were her friends, and that she would never be alone again.
The Moon Woman's magic is for all to share. Why not put a question or
two to the owls, just for fun, and hear what they have to say about
it?
~MOONCRAFTS NEWSLETTER |
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