What's in a name?

Some people may wonder why I call my blog Spiral Grove.  I’m certainly not the most hardcore Pagan out there—in fact, I still consider myself a Christian and a faithful Mormon.  The Pagan side of me is intertwined with the whole of my life, and my practice does not interfere with the core doctrines of my church.  It does, however, most certainly interfere with the culture…

I chose the name Dryad, because if I could truly live inside a tree, or communicate with trees on a deeper level than is possible as a human, I would.  And so I wish to live in a grove.  There's something about trees that touches me deeply--the solidity, the majesty, the green life that's there even in the dead of winter.  And of course, the tree is an ancient symbol of Goddess.  From the Maxwell Institute:

 

Let us now focus more precisely on the nature of the veneration that was paid to the divine consort among the Israelites. What was the "asherah" that stood in the temple at Jerusalem and in Samaria? Asherah was associated with trees.⁴⁴ A 10th-century cultic stand from Ta‘anach, near Megiddo, features two representations of Asherah, first in human form and then as a sacred tree. She is the tree.⁴⁵ Perhaps we should think again, here, of the Israelite goddess figurines: It will be recalled that their upper bodies are unmistakably anthropomorphic and female, but their lower bodies, in contrast to those of their pagan Canaanite counterparts, are simple columns. William Dever suggests that these columnar lower bodies represent tree trunks.⁴⁶ And why not? Asherah "is a tree goddess, and as such is associated with the oak, the tamarisk, the date palm, the sycamore, and many other species. This association led to her identification with sacred trees or the tree of life."⁴⁷ The rabbinic authors of the Jewish Mishna (second-third century AD) explain the asherahas a tree that was worshipped.⁴⁸

I identify myself as a seeker right now.  I seek to find myself, my inner core, my soul and spirit, to truly know the eternal part of myself that has always existed, and not always been housed  in flesh.  From http://www.catanna.com:

 Spiral
The spiral is an ancient symbol reflecting the universal pattern of growth and evolution. The spiral pattern appears again and again in the natural world from the milky way galaxy to snail shells. The living spiral does not begin or end, it is an ongoing process of innocence, discovery, community, and the essence that connects all things.

My hope is that my spiral will never end, that I will never stop seeking and growing and evolving.  My hope is to become a true dryad to the great Mother Tree/Goddess/Heavenly Mother, while strengthening ties with my Father and Brother.  My hope is to connect with Gaia (as I am calling the spirit of the earth), and to feel that connection with all of nature and humanity so that I may further my quest to become a peacemaker, a force for change, and an empathetic and strong mother.