Enlightenment! Transformative Travel Coaching

Photo Credit: All rights reserved (c) 2015 Linda M. Rhinehart Neas

When Deidra Razzaque told me about her idea for coaching people who traveled, I was greatly intrigued.  I had just return from my dream trip to Ireland and had some idea of how magical the trip was.  I knew I wanted to take my experiences and create book.  However, I was stuck as to how to begin.

Sitting down with Deidra was like sitting down to tea with a dear friend.  Before we even began to speak, she set the tone with a lovely reflection. Next, she simply asked me to tell her about my trip.

We spoke for about an hour.  Every so often, Deidra would ask a question that sparked a memory or ignited a new way to think of what I had experienced.  

At the end of our chat, she pointed out that I had mentioned the number four several times.  She suggested that I might meditate on this number, perhaps there was more to it than simply repetition.

After Deidra left, I felt so excited.  I actually could see my book sitting on the table. No longer something that might happen, but rather, something that will happen.

Several days after her visit, I woke in the early morning to the image of the four cornered Celtic knot and the word Queen running through my head.  As I do when I awake with this kind of "message" playing itself over in my head, I began to research.  

For Celts, the number four represents many things - four seasons, four elements, four fire rituals and then, I found Brigid, Queen of the four wisdoms - hand, hearth, head and heart.  I knew from my studies that Brigid is the "maiden" in the Maiden, Mother, Crone triad.  So where does Queen fit?  

More digging and I learned that for each of the seasons, there is a fire ritual; for each of the rituals, there is a goddess.  Brigid is the Maiden, goddess of the spring celebration of Imbolc. Danu or Aine is the Mother goddess, whose feast is midsummer.  Cailleach is the Crone goddess. She is remembered at the winter solstice as well as Yule.  This leaves autumn, right?

Because of the triad - Maiden, Mother, Crone - I thought that perhaps there wasn't an autumn goddess.  However, my search revealed that not only was there a goddess associate with autumn and the harvest, she was called The Great Queen! You might recognize her name, Morrigan or Morgan Le Fey. She was most probably associated with Samhain.

From what I read, Morrigan became associated with the dark arts through Arthurian legend.  However, she is most definitely part of the tetrad of Celtic goddesses - Maiden, Mother, Queen, Crone!

  

So why is this so important to me?  Some scholars have written that by removing the Queen, middle-aged women have lost something of their heritage.  Middle-aged women who no longer have children, yet, still lack the experience to have the wisdom of the Crone are left in the dark. Is it any wonder that so many of us in our menopausal years feel lost and alone?

Another fascinating fact is that some believe that the triad (or tetrad) of Celtic goddesses was 3/4 aspects of one goddess, most often referred to as Brigid but there are also references to Morrigan and others as a "triple goddess."  How interesting to find that before patriarchy, the matriarchal cultures actually had the same archetypes!  Different sides of the same coin, it would seem.

*****

Perhaps I would have discovered all this at some other point in time, or perhaps not.  I am grateful to Deidra Razzaque and her Transformative Travel Coaching session for bringing all this into the Light for me.  

I highly recommend contacting Deidra if you are planning to travel, have traveled or are thinking of traveling.  She is of great value to all travelers on this journey we call Life!

You may contact Deidra through her 
Website and blog: http://www.athomeintheworld.us 
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/deidrarazzaque/ 
Twitter: At Home in the World@DeidraRazzaque 
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/athomeintheworldcoaching 
Or, via email at: deidrarazzaque@gmail.com


For more information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigid
http://www.mythicalireland.com/mythology/tuathade/brighid.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/151235/Danu
http://www.mythicalireland.com/mythology/tuathade/danubile.html
http://www.mythicalireland.com/mythology/tuathade/morrigan.html
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/morrigan.html
http://www.danuforest.co.uk/the_cailleach_9.html 
 http://feminismandreligion.com/2013/02/24/the-full-spirited-four-fold-goddess-the-maiden-the-mother-the-queen-and-the-crone-by-mama-donna-henes/