Naomi Helena QuiƱonez





Circles of Women Circles of women surround me. they brush sorrows off my shoulders like dust and sprinkle moon water on my face so that I may wake to dreams of my own designs. Our circle is a round mouth laced in red lipstick and laughter. Half moon smiles spill out candle light, sage smoke copal. We speak heart-beat to each others unique palpitations small vibrations gather as one. We remember the bruised broken faces that reside in our fears. We sort out futility from power and piece together new truths from the discarded fabric of old pain. We see the greatest lies intermingled with the highest truths We hold flesh to moonlight and hear the muffled sounds of wounds healing. We utter the sacred songs written into the hands of the four directions. A circle of small moons spinning into a smoking vortex we invoke La Diosa. A hallow throat opens and swallows us. We are the entrails of mother earth. Fires lap at our heels winds howl like restless coyotas. Rivers of sweat roll down our stomachs our feet root in a mulch of earth and bones. Dis-ease drains out of wounded hearts and weary bodies into the loving earth. We heal, we heal, we heal. We are planted in a mixture of earth and bone and memory. We tell our stories sing our songs bless and cleanse and invoke. Spirit of the East place of new beginnings your winds brush our faces. Carry our prayers to the universe bring us wisdom on your wings. Spirit of the South we invoke your vitality ignite our red-flame passion fuel our desire for justice and love. Spirit of the West slack our thirst for knowledge refresh our spirits with cleansing waters. Spirit of the North Nuestra Madre Tierra we honor you press our foreheads to the earth take in your energy and ground in compassion. Circles of women surround me they brush sorrows off my shoulders like dust and sprinkle moon water on my face so that I may wake to dreams of my own designs.