Hymn to the Lady of Willendorf by J. Lawrence

J. Lawrence was kind enough to write prayers for the Lady of Willendorf and Lady of Laussel cards (thank you, Jennifer!!). In addition to the prayers on the cards, she also sent me this prayer, which I find particularly lovely. She gave me permission to share it here. The image is by Erin Lale.

Hymn for the Lady of Willendorf
By J. Lawrence

We sing:
Your curves are the waves of the sea —
we dress You in red, the red of blood,
the blood that flows through the veins of all who live,
the blood that swims with the salt of the ocean,
the ocean where we were born.

We sing:
Your hips, your thighs, your breasts, your belly —
marked with the signs of the ocean,
the tiny spiraling shells, those smallest of living things
that make their home in the vast expanse of ancient blue water,
the ocean where we were born.

We sing:
frozen in stone, the stone of your form —
those tiny spiraling shells, caught forever in time,
hard and unyielding, as time is unyielding,
eternally going forward, never back, a wave as vast and mighty as
the ocean where we were born.

We sing:
we come from the waters of birth —
born of You, great Queen, wise Lady, giving Goddess,
the Lady of salt blood, salt water, and salted time,
each thing in its way finding its core, its home, its rest, in
the ocean where we were born.

We sing:
You are the all in all, bright Lady —
Lady who made us, Lady of stone, Lady of time,
the shells signifying our birth in time, our birth from blood,
our birth from the sea’s salty womb–
the ocean where we were born.