Following the Call(s) of Aphrodite

She who loves, She who is Love.

She offers love as the balm, the bright, and the beauty.

She is many faces, many facets, the mirror ball that reflects and shimmers into the world.

The one who called me and knew my name before I did. The one who laughed when I turned away because She knew I’d return.

Aphrodite. Aphrodite. Aphrodite.

I did.

Answering the Waves and Following Her to Shore

I will not remember the exact moment I said yes, but I can see the footsteps in the sand. And I can see the place where She emerged, where I ran up to meet Her and recognized myself. I can trace the lines between my hands and the way they fit across my heart as though holding and protecting.

Until She asked me to drop them to my sides, to reveal myself.

There is beauty in the breaking; I heard Her whisper.

There is an ecstasy that lives for the spaces you create when you surrender. When you trust. When you allow the shattering to sing, to echo, to fill the hunger, the longing.

Let yourself long and laugh. Let yourself go. Let it go. The ways you have hidden. The ways you have wondered. The ways you have pretended. The ways you have tried so hard to fit where you did not belong. Where you were not welcome.

Let go with your breath.

Let your screams turn into sighs.

Let your hesitation draw you to the shores of all that might knock you over.

I will hold you.

She reached for me, or I reached for Her. Or we leaned into each other. I dissolved and deepened and trusted. I made altars. Many altars. I left offerings of chocolate and roses and broken seashells.

I left notes and prayers. I left pearls and drips of wax. I left what I could.

For Aphrodite. For myself. For Her. For me. For Love. For me.

I followed the waves. The crash and the crush. The rising and the falling. The now smooth sand.

The footprints disappeared under waves because I floated.

Befriending Aphrodite and Love

All relationships begin where they begin. In a look, in a laugh. And She and I learned all that we could about each other. (To be fair, She knew more about me.)

I followed the rose petals. I followed the soft sheets and the hot water and the wind across the mountains. I followed the songs and the drum beats I could never repeat. I followed the words and sacred names.

I followed Aphrodite to the places She wandered. I followed Her to the places She asked me to be. I followed Her into the ivy and beyond the threshold.  I followed Her into the dusk and the dawn.

I followed Her.

I followed.

I follow.