Everyone has a mother…or had a mother. We are all born into this world from a mother, but some of us may be orphans, adults whose mother’s have died, or estranged from our mother. Even those of us in these situations can celebrate Mother’s Day. We need only think outside the box a bit.
One way for us to celebrate Mother’s Day involves honoring our deceased mothers or those who gave birth to us whether we know them or not. We all came from a mother, and we can in some way dedicate the day to them. We can set up a small altar and place mementos on it. We can write journal entries or poems in honor of our parents. We can thank them or at least acknowledge what they have given us – life, certain predilections, certain abilities, gifts and talents, hair color, likes and dislikes.
If we are estranged from our mothers, we can still work on honoring the person who gave us life and possibly work on healing that relationship. A great way to accomplish this involves doing a gratitude exercise and trying to find as many things as possible for which to feel grateful in relationship to that person…no matter how hard that feels. Actually get out a piece of paper and write down 10-20 things you feel grateful to your mother for. You can at least be grateful she brought you into the world, gave you genetics that offered good health, strong bones, blue eyes, quick wit, etc. This goes a long way toward healing a relationship and changing your energy around your mother – or anyone – from whom you feel estranged.
If you don’t want to do these things, or you don’t know who your mother is, you can always honor Mother Earth or the Divine Mother. Or pick another mother…a biblical mother, like Mary or Sarah, for instance. Spend the day honoring them. Do something like set up an altar for them on this day. Put out flowers for them, acknowledge with a list their positive qualities, thank them for being your ancestors. If you go back far enough, one of these biblical ancestors at least is your great, great, great, great….and onward great grandmother.
think you definitely can honor Mother Earth on Mother’s Day as well. She gives us life every day in so, so many ways. Why wouldn’t we want to honor her? She is our home…She gives us a home, just like many of us feel we can go home to our mothers.
On Mother’s Day we can choose to honor any type of mother we want. Take your pick…just don’t forget about your biological mother. She might get angry! That reminds me of an old commercial for Chiffon Margarine that featured Mother Nature…another mother. It said, “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.” So don’t fool your mother…don’t not show up in some way to honor her on Mother’s Day.
This is a day to remember the power of women – the power of feminine energy – of women’s ability to give birth and to give life in all forms. If nothing else, make it about that. Honor women. Honor the feminine. Honor women’s ability to create and give birth to new life.
Happy Mother’s Day!
And if you don’t remember that commercial I mentioned, here it is. Enjoy!
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