Letter from Cressida Pryor
September 2022

It seems I have started many of the recent letters with words such as: ‘these special’ ‘extraordinary’ or ‘unusual times’ and now is no exception...

Writing from the UK, we are in a period of ‘national mourning’ following the death a week ago of our long lived monarch Queen Elizabeth which will end this Monday with her state funeral...

I wouldn’t describe myself as a strong royalist but I, like many others with similar views, have been surprised by the depth of emotions with her passing...I’ve watched her four children follow her coffin and been moved by this simple, yet profound act, not unusual in the Irish way of death, of course. I have also made arrangements to watch her funeral with my family as it feels to be a ‘moment of history’ to share together.

I have wondered how and why there is such a wave of connection with what’s happening now in London...

Perhaps for many, in the inner world of the mind, the Queen was experienced as a form holding archetypal structure, a strong feminine presence with a symbolic function…loss of this, with her death, renders the structures unsteady – leaving the inner world at risk of wobble, disintegration or collapse. This disequilibrium means we lose this organizing function that tells us how the social world is organized and our place within it. This feels disturbing and provokes anxiety…

I wonder if those who have a sense of a ‘bigger picture’ where there is meaning and possibly structure within our Goddess faith feel some sort of buffer and an ‘extra layer’ that helps mitigate some of the anxieties resulting from these recent fundamental changes and challenges…so now as we face climate melt down, financial collapse and the resultant hardship, can we call on these resources, reach out where needed to our communities and be part of what’s needed to ride this particular storm?

Although this is a time of emotional pain and shock, the communication of collective grief and support, and the provision of symbolic structures to express and contain this, provides us with a potential for healing our troubled times, communities and nations.

This is a time to find that inner place of calm, that still place within where we can be reminded of the ultimate peace and goodness that get’s so easily obscured by the fog of temporal earthly demands…

So, I suggest, our regular spiritual practices are important now more than ever…

Beloved Isis, please hold our hands through this time of profound change and upheaval,
May we trust in your love of us, as we love and serve you in our communities and homes.
In your name, may our saddened hearts find comfort and our tears heal,
May our hands join with others to do the work
and make the changes needed now to heal our fractured world..
So may it be, Amen.

With Equinoxial Blessings,
Cressida, FOI Steward