I am part woman, I am part fairy. I am part dragonfly, I am part lioness. My walk is that of a spiritual being in a physical body — fierce, yet gentle...    joyful, yet reverent...       feral, yet profound... I believe... that we should live in harmony with Nature, that all life is sacred, that there are lessons for us to learn from every plant, rock, & animal, that honor and personal accountability are important, that Woman's powers — although different than Man's — are important and due equal respect, that everything and everyone is interconnected, as part of the Great Web of Life... Only when we live all these principles do we truly Walk in Beauty. My spiritual path/growth is the single most important thing in my life. I do not think that any one religion has all the answers. I believe there is some merit in all spiritual paths, so long as those paths do not seek to extinguish another. Subsequently, I have switched religions/paths many times in my life, searching for the one with which I feel the most harmony. Although mostly of a Buddhist mind, my present path contains elements of Taoism and other schools of thought. My concept of deity (god, goddess, whatever) is that it is an energy that permeates the entire universe and resides in each of us as well as in all things (both organic and inorganic). To me, deity is not some "Being" to whom I pray, kneel before, or worship. Although I use the term "Goddess" when referring to this energy, I am referring to an aspect of myself, or perhaps an aspect of the "universal consciousness" that exists in everything on a quantum level. In the words of Don Miguel Ruiz, "We are god, dreaming we are not god." Although I do perceive Goddess as an "energy" rather than a "being," I am very devoted to the concept of the Divine Feminine. To me, She is the Womb from which all Creation sprang, and I am honored to have been created in Her image. In tribute, skirts are my clothing-of-choice most of the time. I am not militant in my feminism, though, and enjoy the company of men and their energies. I am currently blessed to be in a long-term relationship with a wonderful man at present, who is Shiva to my Shakti. I also believe in utilizing the energies that the Divine has placed around us, both in the visible world as well as unseen dimensions. We shape our own destinies, we craft our own realities, each of us possesses soverign power unless we chose to give it away. I have djembe drums that were made in Africa and sometimes attend Drum Circles in the area where I live. I enjoy drumming for fun as well as spiritual purposes, and use my djembes to pay tribute to the Heartbeat of Life that reverberates throughout the whole of Creation.