How many of us gre up with an attitude of scarcity..the idea that there is Not really enough to go around, whether the commodity in question is love or money or intelligence or even popcorn? How many of us still today, act in fear that we'll find ourselves lacking..that we'll be short of money, desperate for love, dejected and rejected and adject, seated in a darkened theatre without something to munch on?

For those on the goddess path, it is important to function instead from a sense of abundance, from a belief that the universe can provide for us and for all her other children. Failure to believe in an abundant universe is a recipe for becoming stingy and self.centered. For how can we be generous to others when we fear that we, ourselves, won't have enough?

But how can we believe in an abundant universe when so much that we hear seems to point the other way? How can the universe be abundant, you may ask when there is starvation in many parts of the world? How can it be so, when there are homeless families begging at the entry to Disneyland? Where is Gaia's abundance, that this can happen?

But such poverty is rarely the earth's fault. For more then two decades, wealth in the United States has increasingly found its way to the hands of a small privaleged class, while so many others have been forced into poverty or near.poverty. And just as a disproportionate amount of the nations's wealth is consolidated in the hands of a few, so a widely disproportionate percentage of the world's resources goes to maintaining an extraodinary standard of living in a few developed countries..of which the United States leads the pack.

Gaia is not in charge of the distribution of her resources. She creates wealth whether it be emotional or financial. She gives to all who ask. So there is enough. It's most often human greed that makes it seem that there isn't. If you have grown up poor or working class in the United States, it is easy to mistake social arrangements for emtional realities, and to imagine that the world is a hard and withholding place from which we have to scratch our meager living. (The Eden story supports this interpretation of life's challenges.) For those who grow up ina family where love is not readily shared, it is similarly easy to believe that love is a rare commodity and that we must compete for what little exists. Again, Gaia..who gave birth to and nursed innumerable offspring..is not the cause. There is love in the wolrd, ample love for all the creatures who live here. Without the confidence to ask for love, however, it gorws less likely that love will be offered to you.

Thus, invoking Gaia regularly should be part of an overal effort to begin to believe in the universe as a place of abundance..and to manifest that abundance in your own life. Abundance, in this sense, does not mean excess. You are not asking for more than you need. You don't have to have ten homes; you only need one. You don't have to be adored by the entire world; you only need good friends and a loving companion. You don't have to have a hundred pairs of shoes..just enough to live your life in comfort and success.

Thus the counterweight to Gaia's abundance is simplicity, for it is much easier to believe in an abundant universe when we ask only for what we really need. For women today, one of the most painful areas in this struggle centers on food. Food..simple nourishment of our bodies..in our culture food has taken on a great deal of extra meaning, because women are constantly barraged with the demand that they be slender. There are important sociological features to this cultural message, for weight is universely associated with wealth and status to us today. Rich equals thin, we are constantly told. And thin equals loved.

In other cultures and at other times, an ample body was associated with personal wealth, because only those with amplye means would have enough food and leisure to be large. But eating little and excercising a great deal..the typical life of, say, an Irish peasant in the nineteenth century..is now the lifestyle of the rich and famous. As a result, women..especially young woman..worry compulsively about how much they eat and how much they weigh, to the exclusion of many other concerns. This social concern with womens weight serves several purposes that should be noted. Firstly, it encourages women to become consumers; the diet industry accounts for billions and billions of dollars of income, so there is a strong incentive for those connected with it to encourage women to pursue ever more elusive ideals of body size, even to the point of the ever.more.common surgery. And, perhaps more importantly, excessive concern with appearance keeps women busy worrying about their weight rather than demanding daycare and other benefits for themselves and their children. More women run for weight control than run for office. An incredible amount of woman.energy, incredible hours of women.time, are spent focusing on physical appearance. This may be a realistic reaction to the world's messages, but does it really serve women's spiritual interests?

How does one invoke the goddess of abundance under these conditions?
The most appropriate way is through a ritual involving food. Because it is a highly.charged experience for most women today, consciously and thanfully eating the food that Mother Gaia provides can be an astonishing experience. Such sacred eating is the basis of communion services in all cultures. Eating the food of the mother goddess means, symbolically, allowing ourselves to be nurtured by her. It also means thanking her for providing that nurturing. It is this gratitude that is, ultimately, the most transformative.

Thus the best way to invoke Gaia is through feast. Ask each participant to bring an especially meaningful dish..perhaps one prepared by a mother or grandmother for a special holiday, or one that has other emotional resonances. Assemble this feast on a table and, gathering around it, use the invocations above to call down the goddess. Then, in turn, ask in your own words for an increased sense of abundance in your life.
Then eat. Eat freely and thankfully. Neither stint yourself if you want more, nor gorge on the plentiful food. Both are reactions that deny abundance. Rather eat, concentrating on the joy of feeling fed and cared for. As you share this feast, each participant can explain the emotional significance of the dish she has prepared. You may also discuss areas of your life where you feel especially full and ample. Make sure to keep the dinner conversation pleasant. Do not allow negative comments, including such common ones as "I shouldn't"...and "I just can't resist"...Praise the food in honest erms, and enjoy it openly and zestfully.

After you have finished, invoke the goddess again, and this time ask her to make all her creatures aware of her bounty. Make a pledge to help in some way, however small, to share your own bounty with others. Finally, thank the goddess for all she has given her children and will give us in the future.