"Never underestimate the power of a woman." Especially when she joins with other women to ask the Goddess to protect women!

Sunday, July 18 SisterSpirit held a women's spirituality celebration in the meadow where we meet in Forest Park. The theme of the celebration was "The Sacred Cats of Summer." We were honoring Bast and Sekhmet, the Egyptian cat and lioness Goddesses. During the Sekhmet segment, we invoked this ancient Goddess: "from the time when the Goddess had no face; from a time when the face of the Goddess was a lioness." If you saw the Egyptian exhibit at the Art Museum, you will have met the powerful Sekhmet at the entrance. Her deep dignity, her strong body, the respect she must have commanded were all apparent in the ancient figure of stone.

Sehkmet is not only a Lioness, but the Goddess of the Summer sun. In Egypt in ancient times, the sun brought life, but she could also bring death with her desert heat. To appease her, the ancient Egyptians set out beer colored red, like blood. The Lioness would drink, fall asleep and forget her anger.

That evening in Forest Park, we called upon Sekhmet as protector of women. We asked one request of her: that she catch the Forest Park killer and bring him to justice. We raised the energy, calling on Sekhmet, moving our own fear into power, transforming it into the Goddess' own rage at the killing of our sisters.

We felt her energy among us. Ravenously hungry, we ate together afterward. We felt strong and powerful, and forgot fear for a time.

The next day we heard the news: the suspect was apprehended! We called each other in amazement. Sekhmet is one powerful Goddess! Look how fast she worked! Our amazement was compounded several days later when the Yosemite killer was caught. Evidently Sekhmet was still hunting park killers!

Did WE accomplish this? Well, no, not by ourselves. Did a lion-faced Goddess pounce on these men and bring them to the police? Yes, in a way. The fact is that many women and men have been praying for the solution of these crimes for some time. The fact is that the Goddess, the Spirit, the force in the universe that works for good, is always working for justice. Did our energy and Sekhmet's image help? I am convinced that it did. Whenever women find our power that comes from within, and use that power for the highest good, change happens.

This time, the Goddess wore a lioness' face, and the change came in the swift justice of a leonine pounce. May the power of our spirituality ever be so strong! May all women, everywhere, feel this strength, and be protected.