Goddess of the Week: Corn Woman

Image by aka_lusi via FlickrClaire is wondering if there is a goddess for stress, and while I am sure many goddesses can give you stress, let's have one that can actually alleviate it. I give you the Corn Woman of the Creek Indians.

Once there was an old woman who lived with a family. No one quite knew where the old woman came from, but times were hard, and who were they to throw an old woman out on the streets? Besides the old woman was handy. She gave them corn everyday. The family was grateful for the corn, but no one knew where the corn came from. I mean it wasn't like she had a farm under her skirts.

One day, the son decided to discover the old woman's secret, so he hid and watched her. To his everlasting disgust, she started scrubbing off all her old scabbies and, instantly, they turned into corn. Well, you can imagine. The boy told his mom, the mom told the dad, blah, blah, blah, and nobody was hungry anymore.

So the old woman said, "Ok. Kill me, and drag my body seven times around the yard and you can get corn that way." Well, that was kind of disgusting too, but I guess less disgusting than the scabbies because the son cut off her head and dragged it seven times around the yard, and--lo!--corn started growing right on the spot.

Now, let us, for a moment, forget the obvious problem that the Corn Woman had to die, and thus sacrifice herself, for the family to get food it deemed worthy. Let us forget that the family allowed her to give up her life, but would not permit her to give up her pain.

Let us, instead, focus on how the old woman is all about nourishment and the need to fill ourselves up in hungry times. When we are stressed, we forget about nourishment. We forget about giving ourselves the gifts of rest and peace that we need. Ironically, we become like the Corn Woman. We sacrifice our very selves because--let's face it--everybody has made it very clear that they'd rather have us do that than try and transform our suffering into something good and sustainable.

Well, screw that. Eat the corn! Feed yourself. Feed your soul. Scrub off your scabies and turn them into promise.

Channel this goddess: When you are so stressed out that you've forgotten that you are a gift. Don't squander yourself.

Need a goddess: I got goddesses! Post a comment explaining your need, and I'll see what I can do.