I’m in my second round of studying Skanda (also known by many names to his many mothers). His ‘birth’ story involves six sparks being emitted from the brow of his father, Shiva. But since there were five more seeds than usual to make a child, six ‘mothers’ were required to receive them. We won’t go through all the mothers here, but let’s just say that we’re using this term loosely. There was even an extra mother, Agni, who served as a sort of father-mother in the way that a boy needs a male outside of his father who can nurture him and teach him.
One of the mothers who held and nursed this energy that became this beautiful, successful boy is the seven stars of the Pleiades. (Which are actually a huge cluster of stars. There are seven sister stars, but two more are often named with them, who are their mythic parents. The 7+2 thing is cool symbolically, too, since we’re always looking for 7 primary flavors or tones of life, plus shanta and sringara, the peaceful and passionate.)
Anyway, they are called the Krittikas in Hindu lore, and they are the wives of the Saptarishis, the seven sages. Now, the point of being a sage is to help humanity thrive, and it’s the wives of the sages who are the power behind them. They are called jyestha, elder or wise women, often depicted with pendulous breasts. They are grandmas, past their own child-bearing years, yet they managed to nurse him and raise him. When he's their son, he's Kartikkeya.
Back last summer, my friend Lenore recommended Woman: An Intimate Geography, by Natalie Angier. Chapter 13 is “There’s No Place Like Notoriety: Mothers, Grandmothers, and Other Great Dames.” In it, the author explores theories behind menopause. Why do women stop being fertile, yet continue to live? An anthropological study of the hunter-gatherer Hadza elderly women suggests that they live not just to see their youngest offspring out the door, but also to make sure that their grandbabies have enough to eat. As their daughters have babies and attend to the demands of their new infants, grandma comes along and forages for the no-longer-nursing toddler. Without her help, the older siblings might very well go hungry. Grandma makes sure you’re well-nourished.
Thankfully, I can still attest to the benefits of having a grandmother, or ‘mamaw’ in Kentucky-speak. Without her, life would be much more bare-bones. With her, there can be a certain kind of generosity that your mother often can’t give you directly.
The way you’re nursed by an old lady is how you thrive. Mamaw can’t hold you in her womb, because that’s already done for her. She holds you in her heart. Saum is the seed mantra for the heart-womb. Any time you need a pendulous breast to rest in, listen for this sound. When you are mothered by a grandmother, you are Kartikkeya.
This is my fat baby with my Mamaw Clan in the summer of 2009. She had mothered seven of her own children, plus her own grandchildren and many others that she babysat over the decades. She had advanced dementia, but she told us that that baby wanted to come to her.
