Courage Is the Rainbow
No doubt if The Wizard of Oz represented real life, Dorothy would be grown up by now, living in a small city, happily married, and content baking chocolate-chip cookies for her children and husband. Her memory of being awestruck by the splendor of the rainbow in the Land of Oz would be long forgotten. She would be transformed into the lifestyle meant for a woman of her time.

I am blessed to live in an area that frequently displays double rainbows. Recently, I saw a magnificent one. People were standing outside gazing in astonishment at the vibrant hues that arched the sky. Fall was in the air and the last of the late blooming flowers were overflowing the flowerbeds. Many thoughts filled my mind as I gazed at nature’s magnificent creation.

The day I saw this rainbow, I was finishing the long journey of writing my first book. It had taken many years—much longer than I anticipated. Exposing my heart on the journey created a cathartic healing. I connected my quest with the sacred feminine within me—within all women. The transformative power of my feminine energy reawakened my mother-goddess, the divine mother that beckons every woman to save the world from destruction.

I had lost my inner grounding many times during my life. As I reflected on the majestic rainbow, I thought of the beautiful mythic figure Iris. This beautiful woman, a messenger of the gods, traveled the rainbow linking the earth with other worlds. Diana Wells writes about the Iris with its trinity of petals dedicated to the Virgin Mary in 100 Flowers and How They Got Their Names, “She (Iris) escorted souls along her iridescent bridge to another life, and she often joined the thoughts of gods and men. She was the longed-for connection to those whom we love intensely, but who are suffering without our awareness.”

Forget-Courage-Not
Women are like flowers that echo the spectrum of colors in the rainbow—the many different varieties, each impressive and unique in her own way. When I pondered about my love for flowers and rainbows, I remembered one of my favorite blooms—forget-me-nots. Associated with bravery, they come from the borage family in the Middle East. The ancient Celtic warriors drank borage-flavored wine to give them courage. In medieval paintings, the Virgin Mary’s robe is almost always the celestial blue of the forget-me-not. Blue forget-me-nots are often used to decorate Valentine cards as an expression of love and caring.

These small, but significant flowers symbolize the main message of this book: every woman needs to forget-courage-not as she travels her yellow brick road. On her journey to reclaim heart and spirit, every woman’s courage can lie coiled in bud and then miraculously uncoil as courage expands within her, bringing her into gorgeous blossom.

Collectively, women are the fierce force that can awaken world consciousness. Our salvation lies in living the truth of our hearts and spirits by harnessing our courage.

In this new millennium, women are birthing a divine feminine energy to reclaim the forgotten heart and spirit of every woman.