Iris and the Insistence of Rainbows

(excerpted from my contribution to “Modern Witchcraft with the Greek Gods: History, Insights & Magickal Practice.”)

The afternoon I met Iris, I wasn’t looking for her.

I was only looking for an answer. I didn’t know of godds recognizing me. I thought I was a mere being that hadn’t proved enough to be deemed worthy. A story I’d held my whole life. But Iris found me. She reached out to me. She dropped from the sky and said, “Yes, take that step you’re afraid to take. Do the thing you’re meant to do.” Perhaps it was the beauty of the biggest rainbow I’d ever seen or believing for a moment that I was meant to see it. That it was for me. I listened.

I named her through a quick internet search, a sparse webpage that doesn’t exist anymore, not knowing Iris was signaling to me that I was about to begin a path of service, if only I trusted. For once in my life. And I did.

The Journey of Iris

Iris comes to me in the quiet times. She is the color in the background and the inspiration between my pauses. She arrives in guises I don’t interpret until later. Iris comes as a balm and an answer. Yes, do that. Yes, feel that. Yes, you.

The rainbow in the sky as I quit a job that was killing me. The sharpening of my vision as I lost a contact lens before walking into the night with a rainbow-painted mask over my face. The colors in the air as I was making magick in the UK. The wide arc that surfaced after a storm at a Witchcamp in Texas. The rainbow that dropped from the sky above the ocean the first birthday after my mom’s death. Do the thing. Keep doing it.

How to Work with Iris

If you are looking for Iris, you will find her. She will travel to you. Maybe not in a rainbow. Maybe not in a wild moment of unknown. You may find her in the eyes of a friend, a lover, a teacher, or an ocean. She will tell you of messages you need, of service you can offer, and of the journey of life and death.

That thing you need to say. That thing you’re scared to do. Write it down, place it on an altar for her. Drink a cup of water and make a sacred promise. Iris will carry it to the places it needs to go.

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And I’ve also written a book about Iris, in case you want to learn more: Pagan Portals – Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow and Messenger of the Godds.