Dress Up

This evening MJ

My granddaughter

And I will get together to play

Dress up.

We each need four ritual outfits.

The women are gathering.

A red ritual outfit.

For the first day, for fire.

I have a red dress.

It was a gift from Grandmother Two Worlds.

So I take her along with me.

Too bad it's so heavy.

A blue ritual outfit.

For the second day, for water.

Blue silk skirts

And a flowing blue and purple top

Will do.

Silk skirts are ultra light.

Easy to pack.

(My colorful silk skirt drawer was featured in yesterday's mitochondria quilt.)

A yellow ritual outfit.

For the third day, for earth.

I once owned a yellow dress.

I was seventeen and living in a sorority at UCLA.

Total disaster.

It was linen.

Instantly wrinkled.

And I look ghastly in yellow.

So no yellow in my closet.

Yvette offered me a skirt with yellow flowers.

Close, but not quite.

I have gold leggings.

That's a start.

A white ritual outfit.

For the last day, for air.

I own no white clothing.

Absurd on a farm to wear white.

White is the color of death.

Gives me the willys.

But Justine offers a white shift dress.

MJ says she has white skirt choices even.

Since I'm an air grandmother

I will put aside my willys

And envision myself standing forth in white

Calling up the element air.

The final day.

Our last coordinated prayers.

The women are gathering.

Tonight we will try it all on:

Skirts, blouses, dresses, scarves.

MJ and I will dress up.

I do love to dress up.

Don't you?

(Farm life favors sturdy, tough clothes that handle hay and dirt well.

Not silk skirts, flowing tops, and pretty scarves.)

Tomorrow I will choose coordinating headbands.

And maybe some socks.

Then pack it into my roller case.

Along with red clover and hypericum t-shirts

For the grandmothers.

The women are gathering.

I am getting messages and calls,

From women already on their way to the gathering,

And from women who want to be there in spirit.

I hear you.

I see you.

I carry you in my heart.

The women are gathering.

One of my correspondence students —

Who has been studying with me for nearly twenty years —

Called to tell me she grew up right there.

In Tepoztlan.

Encouraged me to climb the pyramid and

Offered to translate afterwards.

The women are gathering.

I can feel us stirring.

The women are gathering.

I can feel us dreaming.

The women are gathering.

We are the prophesy.

Nothing is stronger than a group of focused women.

Join us in prayer.

Dress up.

Gather your outfits.

Pray with us.

The women are gathering.

In beauty.

As a giveaway.

Rooted in the earth.

Flowing like water.

Carried by breath.

Burning with passion.

Centered.

Carried by the Ancient Ones.

Guided by the Ancestors.

A sacred sisterhood is gathering.

Hearts beating as one

With the earth's heart.

Surrounded by green blessings

Deeply grateful

Open to joy

The women are gathering.