Willow's Rest

Welcome to Willow's Rest, my new home on the web! I'm Willowhawk (Willow for short), and I'm glad to meet you. Pardon my dust... and my inexperience, I've never attempted anything like this before. I'm mainly creating this space to please myself and prove that I can, but if you've found your way here (through means I can't begin to contemplate), please be welcome! Merrily met, glad to  have you. Pull up a chair-- there's a cozy fire in the corner-- and sit a spell. (Or cast one, if you're so inclined. I've got supplies in that cabinet over there...)

I expect this will be pretty eclectic... right now, the two predominant themes in my life are my studies of Druidcraft and my interest (obsession?) with birth, VBAC, and cesarean prevention. I also consider myself a writer, so be warned, random ramblings, poems, story excerpts, and other bits of prose may appear. Enjoy, and blessed be!

 http://www.janestarrweils.com/art-fantasy/romantic/index-romantic.htm

Probably very little, as it happens; I've only a few minutes to devote at the moment, but I thought a quick thumbnail sketch of myself might not go amiss...

Who is Willowhawk? A silly question, and hard to answer. "Who am I? 24601!!!"

All right, all right, that's not the answer. I suppose I can start with what I am: wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, Witch, Druid, Flamekeeper, nurse, priestess, niece, coworker, colleague... Does that help?

Not really.

I'm a 34-year-old mother of three, wife for 12+ years to my husband, passionate advocate of women's birthrights and devoted priestess of Brighid. I'm a graduate of Oshkosh West High School, the University of Wisconsin-- Oshkosh (B.A. Spanish and Anthropology), the University of Arkansas (M.A. bioarchaeology), and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (A.S. Nursing). I did my doctoral work at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and I did my nursing prerequisites at Los Angeles Pierce College. I'm well-rounded in every sense of the word!

I'm an RN on a busy ante-/postpartum floor at a mid-size urban medical center. I take care of new mamas, new babies, new families. Sometimes the work is deeply satisfying; sometimes it's absolutely soul-shredding. Either way, I keep coming back, so I guess I like it.  I feel as though I'm trying my best to do the work the Bright Lady has charged me with; I'm not sure where this path will lead. Birth advocacy, education, midwifery... ? Time will tell.

Who am I, after all? This is a burning question in my life just now. I never thought my thirties would be so volatile, emotionally speaking. I've more or less achieved everything I set out to do-- got a career, a husband, a family, a birth (after two cesareans). What else is there?

Fulfillment. That's what I'm lacking right now. I've lost that vital connection I had to the divine--it's almost as though my Bright Lady has turned her face away and left me on my own. My muse has departed; I can't find any inspiration. I feel... empty. Lost.

Perhaps the Willow has bent too far, and needs to rebound, regroup. Perhaps it's time for the Hawk to try her pinions.