Once upon a time, in a land far, far away (don't you just love stories that start that way?) in a time before the Hebrew patriarchs, many civilizations viewed God as feminine, and treated the sacred act of procreation with great reverence. They honored all the varying aspects of women by creating myths and legends, helping them make sense out of who they were.

Tales of Baubo, the Belly Goddess helped them loosen up what they carried too tightly. Baubo made them laugh at themselves.

In other myths, this characteristic is seen in the court jester, or the clown. Native Americans saw it in the coyote-the sacred fool. The Japanese name for her is Uzume. These goddesses danced wildly, making fun of sacred ritual, not taking themselves too seriously, nurturing wholeness and balance. They danced wildly, throwing their breasts over their shoulders, kicking their legs in the air exposing their genitals, dances so ridiculous people HAD to laugh deep, tear-jerking laughter that made them hold their sides in pain.

Baubo stories are the ones that cause us to laugh at exploits of women, both real and imagined, women who use sexuality and sensuality in order to make a point, to relieve sadness, to cause laughter, and to help lighten what otherwise is a heavy load.

One aspect of the feminine we overlook today, as a result of our puritan background is the sacredness of the sexual part of ourselves as women. There is something about sacred sexual laughter that is different from a laugh about more tame things. A sexual laugh seems to reach far and deep into our psyches, shaking all manner of things loose, playing upon our bones and making a delightful feeling course through our bodies. The sacred and the sensual live in our psyche quite close to one another.

Always having to "be a lady" throttles a woman rather than helping her to breathe. To really laugh, we must be able to breathe. We know that to take a breath, we feel our emotions, and if we don't want to feel, we hold our breath.

Baubo is that part of women that lets us behave as we see fit. It is a state of sensory awareness that includes sexuality, but is not limited to it. Baubo laughter is sacred because it is healing. It is sensual because it awakens our body and our emotions. When the laughter helps, rather than harms, when it lightens, realigns, reorders, reasserts power and strength, the laughter is sacred medicine.

Think about how women or girls behave when they get together. No one has more fun and no one laughs any more than this group of Baubos.

Take a look at your life. I rather suspect Baubo waits for you in that group of old women standing along the side of the road wishing you would show up, trying out stories on each other, and laughing their heads off like dogs.