~June 17
O goddess, O beautiful, no one is ever lonely with you.
You have made my path happy before me.
O goddess, O beautiful, no one will ever be lonely with me.
You have come down to me in beauty.
O goddess, O beautiful, everyone with you is happy.
You have made my house happy around me.
O goddess, O beautiful, everyone with me is happy.
You have come down to me in happiness.
-Cherokee love charm
In traditional Cherokee society, loneliness was the worst imaginable experience. To be lonely meant to be alienated from people, perhaps even from the world around us. Prayers to the goddess among the Cherokee often reinforced the idea that one of her gifts to us is a sense of belonging, a sense of fitting together with others. Beauty and happiness were defined as part of the experience of being not-lonely, not-alienated, not-separate.
In acknowledging the power of belonging, the Cherokee recognized that human beings participate in the planetary cycles, just as do all other living and inanimate parts of our world. No person is an island, sufficient unto itself, as the great poet John Donne reminded us. Connection with others is vital to our survival.
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