Most Sincerely,

Building an Altar of Praise, Gratitude, & Acceptance:
A photograph essay by Maggie and Joshua Bishop

On December 29th, 2008 my husband, Joshua, and I were feeling a bit of cabin fever. We had been on holiday since Christmas Eve, the university for which we work closing down for the winter break. The sun was shining, and like any warm blooded animal we felt the stirring in our bones to be one with it-- soaking up its healing rays and basking in the rare slight chill of our usually bitter Missouri December.

We decided to head south, where it is a bit warmer, to a small area of conserved land called The Pinnacles. Josh and I have visited The Pinnacles before, but hiked a different area than where we visited on that beautiful, shimmering Monday.

The water was rushing quite jubilantly free and we felt drawn to get as close to its power as possible. We soon came to find a small sand bar that sat in the midst of the moving creek. There was a tricky way to get to it, by hopping along a series of slippery rocks. I felt my courage falter as I gazed between the rapid moving water and the slick stones. Yet, the sand bar gleaming bright and independent amidst Silver Creek wooed me and I made the leap!

In an instant I found myself almost magically transferred between the stones, and soon walking on the sand bar my heart had felt so drawn to. I felt the water's force move through me, surrounded on all sides by its graceful unabashed power. Its music filled the air, all I could hear was its melody. I felt its ancient voice wash me. As I watched the water rush through the hips of the cliffs I was carried away to a place of reverence, rapture, and peace. I knew that this water was speaking something divine to me, I could feel it in the deepest parts of me. My heart listened and learned that the space in which I was inhabiting in those moments was sacred. My feet, driven by the will of my heart, soon began to move through a ritual.

I began gathering elements of the earth that spoke to me. There was a large smooth round stone, and a few lesser rocks and pebbles. There was also a bivalve shell, still hinged together, and a smaller half shell.

I lovingly carried my collection to the breast of the island. A place where the water had created a glittering, flowing rise of sand. I began to build my altar. I placed the large, smooth, round stone as my foundation, built up a platform with the smaller pebbles and rocks, atop that platform I laid the bivalve with the single half shell nestled nicely between the two hinged halves.

After my altar was assembled I took out the small notebook that I carry with me and wrote a simple note to my Great Mother. When I finished the note I gingerly placed it beneath the altar.

My note read:

Thanks you for your unending love and support.

I welcome it.

The anatomy of the note that I wrote comes from the overwhelming gratitude that I feel towards my divine Mother, Her unending love and support have been so evident on this journey deep into myself that I have been walking. As I spiral deep into the labyrinth of myself there are times, in the thick of it, that my courage wavers and I can feel Her rise within me, reminding me of Her ultimate grace and goodness that is an intricately woven part of me.

The second part of the note comes from an intuitive notion I had that day watching the water gush in what spoke to me as a rush of birthing fluid, through the feminine curves of the cliffs. While I was too timid to delve into the literal meaning of this notion, I did accept that there was something coming in the fresh, virgin territory of the impending New Year. I chose simply to say that, "I welcome it." Whatever developed into being.

As I knelt in that sacred place, before an altar of praise, gratitude, and acceptance I now know that I was welcoming the sacred being that I have since found out is nestled deep within the pink of my most sacred, feminine self. Yes, a week and one day later Joshua and I found that our ultimate artistic expression of love created a new life, and that come early September we will welcome a babe into this world of ours. Our hearts already welcome this divine beam of light. There are times in my days now that I just lay and caress my belly, consumed by the same reverence, rapture, and peace that I felt that day with the water carrying me gently further into my true, knowing self. I welcome you, dearest heart. I welcome you.

P.s. So much love and thanks to my beautiful husband, who intuitively sensed the ritual I was taking part in and documented with love and quiet gentleness. I am so in awe of his creativity and knowing. I am so grateful that he was in those moments with me.