Black History Month -- Harriet Tubman

[Michael Rosato, Take My Hand, 2019]

Harriet Tubman (c.1822-1913)

American escaped slave,

abolitionist and social activist,

conductor on the Underground Railroad.

Isn't this art wonderful?

I love how she is emerging from the mural,

stepping out of frame, extending her hand,

helping the viewer enter the scene.

As if she is saying,

"Fear not. Have courage.

Come with me. Your freedom awaits."

Imbolc Cyberspace Poetry Slam

["Imbolc" by S.R. Harrell, 2025]

Today is Imbolc, a pagan holiday which celebrates, not Spring per se, but rather, the promise of Spring. It is also the sacred day of Brigid the Bright, the Celtic Goddess of (among other things) poetry.

The Imbolc Cyberspace Poetry Slam has been celebrated for quite a few years now by various pagans around the blogosphere. On February 1st (Imbolc Eve) or February 2nd (Imbolc Day), people post a favourite poem written by themselves or by another poet so that, collectively, an internet web of poetry is woven to honour Brigid.

This year I am posting a poem by Danusha Laméris, an accomplished and award-winning American poet and essayist, whose website is here. In a time of great anger, uncertainty, and cruelty, we need to keep sight of the importance of kindness, consideration, and empathy. Her poem Small Kindnesses shows the true value of these little everyday interactions. I first found this poem a couple of years ago on blogging buddy Liz Hinds' Finding Life Hard? blog, so thank you for that, Liz!

Small Kindnesses

by Danusha Laméris

I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk

down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs

to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you”

when someone sneezes, a leftover

from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying.

And sometimes, when you spill lemons

from your grocery bag, someone else will help you

pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other.

We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,

and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile

at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress

to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder,

and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.

We have so little of each other, now. So far

from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.

What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these

fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here,

have my seat,” “Go ahead—you first,” “I like your hat.”

February Full Moon Altar: Galentine Goddesses

For women friends, February 14th is Galentines Day! And these goddesses are busy celebrating it for this month's full moon altar. At the centre is a terra cotta circle-of-friends-style statue of four Divine Feminine friends -- Greco-Roman goddess Artemis / Diana, Sumerian goddess Inanna, Hindu goddess Kali, and Egyptian goddess Isis. They have all previously been separately celebrated on my blog with full moon altars of their own (click the links if you want to see those posts), except for Isis. Her full moon altar is coming soon though, I promise! This terra cotta statue was purchased many years ago from Sacred Source.

On the left is a generic goddess figure in a neolithic style. Her big hips and vulva adornments emphasize her centrality to the creation of life. She was sculpted from clay and given to me a long time ago by my former Circle Sister who passed away last summer (and who I wrote about here).

On the right is another generic goddess figure in a modern style. Her arms evoke the full moon and the circle of life, her body is covered with vines and plant life evoking Mother Nature, and her womb is adorned with the Sacred Spiral of Life. I obtained this statue years ago in an Edmonton spirituality store.

I just recently bought the cute female-faced candle holders. Aren't they adorable?

Happy Valentines Day later this month to all you lovers out there! Happy Galentines Day to all my women readers! And Happy Palentines Day to all my men readers!

[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, 2026]