GODDESS

High Priestess Arum

The Charge of the Goddess

Whenever you need anything, once a month, best when the moon is full and eight times more in the year, you shall meet in some safe place to celebrate my spirit , who am the queen of all women. You shall meet in freedom, and as a sign of trust you shall be open in your rites. Sing, feast, dance, make music and love, all in my presence, for mine is the ecstasy of the spirit and joy on earth. My only law is love unto all. Mine is the secret that opens the door of birth and mine is the mystery of life, the cauldron of Hecate, the womb of immortality. I give knowledge of the all-creative spirit and, beyond death I give peace and reunion with those gone before. Nor do ask for any sacrifice, for I am the mother of all things, and my love is the breast milk that nourishes the earth.

I who an the beauty of the green earth and the white moon among the stars and the mysteries of the water, I call upon your soul to come forth and arise and come unto me. For I am the soul of nature that gives life to the universe. From me all things proceed and to me they must return. Let my worship be in the heart that rejoices, for behold-all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals. Let there be beauty and strength , power and compassion, honour and humility, mirth and reverence within you. And you who seek to know me, know that your seeking and yearning will avail you not, unless you know the mystery: For if that which you seek you do not find within yourself, you will never find it without. For behold, I have been with you from the beginning, and I am that which is attained at the end of desire.

- adapted from starhark "the spiral dance"

Goddess Energy

Goddess is the creative energy that all life comes from, the energy that bonds all living things together, and to whom all return to, in death. She is an internal and external force, we see Her is the cosmos, in the natural world, and in ourselves.

She is as olds as the dawn of spirituality. Early peoples linked her to the cycles of the moon, the mysteries of birth and the cycles of life and death. Until genesis the creation of the world was seen as a female act. Goddess myths of giving birth to the universe include Kwan Yin of China, Mawu of Africa, Isis of Egypt, Gaia of Greece and Spiderwoman of the Hopi.

She is known in every corner of the globe. She has thousands of names and faces. She is Artemis, of Greece, huntress. She is Brighid of Ireland, goddess of the harvest. She is Freya of the Norse, beautiful lover. She is Kali of India, who destroys ignorance.

Her guises include all ages, shapes, and colours. She is everywoman. Persephone young and curious. Great mother Gaia, Athena powerful and strong. Wise ancient Hecate.

The main 4 archetypes of the goddess can seen in the phases of the moon, the seasons, the suns daily path.

Maiden

Dawn

Spring

Waxing moon

Air

East

Mother

Noon

Summer

Full moon

Fire

South

Crone

Dusk

Autumn

Waning moon

Water

West

Darkness

Midnight

Winter

Dark moon

Earth

North

Goddess in my life

My devotion to goddess spirituality is a daily constant experience. From the time when my day begins til I sleep at night I carry her with me, she is even in my dreams. I have consent reminders of her presents, in the food I eat, the weather outside, the moon and seasons, in the smiling faces of the children at work, in the loving embrace of my partner.

I have found that goddess devotion is Holistic, and includes mind, body, spirit and soul, home , work, environment, creativity, friends and family.

Goddess embraces learning, questioning, and the more I read and learn, not just about her, but everything the more fulfilled I feel.

Your body is a temple to the goddess, and good foods and a healthy attitude is a way of praying to the goddess. I wear a pendant around my neck, a goddess with big hips, thighs, bum, tummy and breasts, she reminds me that I am beautiful in her eyes, for she comes in all shapes and sizes, and so do women.

Spirit can be defined in many ways, but to me it is the spark, energy, motivation, enthusiasm, that intangible force that drives us to enjoy delicious food, create divine art, and to make mad passionate love. "Sing, feast, dance, make music and love, all in my presence, for mine is the ecstasy of the spirit and joy on earth," the goddess sings to us.

The soul is the part of you that is eternal, at the end of this life your soul will return to the goddess, and so your soul seeks to know the divine in life.

My home is a space I fill with peace love and creativity, my retreat from the world, a place I share with the goddess. The line between mundane and the spiritual blur, giving a routine activity like preparing food greater meaning. Even when doing the dishes, Hestia of the home and hearth reminds me that it is an act of love.

Goddess is the physical earth, she is every living thing, and she is this planet. She feeds us with her soils, waterways and air. So, it is important to have respect for her, and the environment. Recycling, demonstrating against environmental and humanistic injustice, and replanting trees, are just a few of the ways to care for Gaia.

She is my muse, my artist streak, and as the mother of creation, to create is a way to worship her, through song, painting, poetry, stories, and dance.

When I make new friends, catch up with old friend, renew friendships; I am weaving a web of love in my life. When I hug my mum, or give my dad a hand around the house or go "do coffee" with my sisters, I see the goddess in their faces, and I'm grateful for the love the goddess had placed around me. The goddess sends us people who reflet who we are, what we want, and what we need.

Goddess Ritual

"Whenever you need anything, once a month, best when the moon is full and eight times more in the year…." the charge of the goddess begins. Ritual is the ceremonial act or a series of such acts. It can be a simple lighting a candle with reverence, or an elaborate as a casting the circle, calling the corners, invocating the goddess ect, or some happy medium.

Formal ritual starts with preparation of the tools, writings and equipment you will need. Purification of self: this could involve a bath with scented water, simple breathing meditation or even "washing" the smoke of incense over yourself. Purification of space is next this could be the sweeping of the floor (I have a special "witches" broom) or sprinkling salt, or playing some beautiful peaceful music. Creating sacred space could be as involved as casting a circle, and calling the corners or as simple as lighting candles. Ideas for invocation of goddess could be a mantra using goddess names or a goddess poem, or reaching towards the moon. Ritual observance, now is the time to celebrate the reason you are doing the ritual, (see below for idea's for each celebration) Energy raising for whatever you choose to do; healing, earth rites, prosperity, cleansing, guidance. Earthing the power is important to centre us and return yourself to physical reality. Eating and drinking is a good exercise, simple bread and water is fine, or laying on the earth and visualising the energy flowing back to earth. You could thank the goddess by saying " goddess thank you for coming to this ritual go in peace" or make you own thank-you up. To Break the scared space if you have caste a full circle you should thank the corner, and the close the circle, if you are being less formal you could just blow out the candles with reverence.

Moons- there are 12-13 a year full moons in a year or one every 28 ¼ days, ritual can be performed at just full moon, or at both full and dark moon. At full moon, to observe the moons power you could light a round white candle, or read a full moon poem or chant "lunar". At dark moon you could light a black candle, meditate and call on Hecate to give you guidance for the next month.

Suns- there are 8 sun feasts in a year:

Midsummer - around 22 December - Midsummer, Litha, summer solstice falls on the longest day of the year, and is filled with the abundance of summer. I have a Midsummer's night dreaming party, with fairy lights and music and laughter.

Lammas - 1 February - Lammas, Lughnasadh, feast of bread, harvest home, is the first festival of the harvest . I invite loved ones around to feast on food and I ask them to bring cans to donate to a charity.

Mabon - around the 22 March – Mabon, Autumn Equinox, and the second harvest celebration. I have a pot lucky dinner, where every one brings there a favourite dish and the recipes, and then I photocopy all them and send them out with the thank you notes. I good time to take stock of what you have, spiritually and physically. A time to be grateful.

Samhain 30 April –Samhain, Hallowe'en, feast of the dead, feast of apples, all souls night. Samhain means "summers end" It marks the final harvest, and is a day to honour and remember the dead. During ritual for this day, you could light a candle for each loved one that has past on during the year. May it's a good time to visit cemeteries, and go thought photo albums. Visit elderly relative, you could take out a relative that isn't as mobile a they use to be, I take my granny shopping in town, she doesn't like to take the trip in by her self. You could donate some time to a nursing home, reading to the residence.

Midwinter -around the 22 June - Yule, Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year, and we celebrate the returning sunlight. At this time of year I have a Yule feast with my friends and family, it's a good way to include non-pagans in your celebration, as Xmas at midyear is becoming popular. I put on a big feast, winter roast with all the trimmings, that big heavy meal that is too much during their summer Xmas, and I asked them to each bring a blanket that I donate to a charity for the homeless. A meditation retreat at time of year is very healing.

Imbolc - 1 august - Imbolc, Candlemas, feast of torches, Oimelc, Lupercalia, Feast of pan, snow drop festival, feast of the waxing light, Brigid's day, we celebrate the first stirrings of spring. I have a candle light dinner. I do a spring clean of the house, and get ready for the warmer weather.

Ostara - around 21 September - Ostara, Spring Equinox, Eostra's day. The day and the night are equal . You could invite the girls around for a "high tea" with plenty of delicious food, and gossip and giggles. The garden is an inviting place this time of year.

Beltaine - 31 October - Beltane, May Day, is a fun, vibrant holiday to celebrate the fertility of the coming harvests. I send this time with my partner, doing things together that strengthen our relationship.

Goddess in the world today

The relevance for goddess spiritually today is strong and varied. We need her at a time went women's body image is squeezing in to a Barbie mould, we need her to reinforce the fact that woman's body are beautiful in all shapes and sizes. We need her when the world is at the edge of war, to guide us to make wise decisions that are not swayed by racial intolerance and ignorance. We need her when the birth rate in western countries is the lowest it has been in centuries, not because women don't want children, but because we cant afford to stop working to have them. We need her love strength and wisdom

" Goddess who cradles the world in her arms, may peace prevail on earth"

Appendix

More details to any goddesses named above

Artemis	Greece	Artemis is the goddess of the wilderness, the hunt and wild animals, and fertility. She was often depicted with the crescent of the moon above her forehead
Athena	Greece	Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, war, the arts, industry, justice and skill. One of her symbols is the owl.
Brighid	Ireland	Brighid is a Celtic three-fold goddess. Known by many names, Brighid's three aspects are Fire of Inspiration as patroness of poetry, Fire of the Hearth, as patroness of healing and fertility, and Fire of the Forge, as patroness of smith craft and martial arts. She is mother to the craftsmen.
Freya	Norse	In Norse mythology, Freya is a goddess of love and fertility, and the most beautiful and propitious of the goddesses She is the patron goddess of crops and birth, the symbol of sensuality and was called upon in matters of love. She loves music, spring and flowers, and is particularly fond of the elves (fairies).
Gaia	Greece	Gaia, known as Earth or Mother Earth (the Greek common noun for "land" is ge or ga). She was an early earth goddess and it is written that Gaia was born from Chaos, the great void of emptiness within the universe. She gave birth to the Sea and the Sky. This was achieved parthenogenetically (without male intervention).
Hecate	Greece	Hecate is the Greek goddess of the crossroads. She is most often depicted as having three heads; one of a dog, one of a snake and one of a horse. She is usually seen with two ghost hounds that were said to serve her. She is said to appear when the ebony moon shines.
Hestia	Greece	Hestia is the Greek goddess of the hearth fire, hence presiding over domestic life. Every hearth on Earth was her altar
Isis	Egypt	She was worshipped as the divine mother-goddess Isis was depicted as a woman with the solar disk between the cow horns on her head
Kali	India	Kali "the black one" is the Hindu mother goddess, symbol of dissolution and destruction. She destroys ignorance, maintains the world order, and blesses and frees those who strive for the knowledge. Her appearance is fearsome: baleful eyes, a protruding tongue, and four arms. In her upper left hand she wields a bloody sword and in her lower left hand she holds the severed head of a demon.
Kwan Yin	China	The Chinese goddess of mercy. The myth of the life is that on earth she was known as Miao-shan, the youngest daughter of a king. Her father wanted her to marry, but she wanted to study, so she ran awy to a Buddhist convent. the king allowed this as long as she did all the work and cooking in the convent for the 500 other nuns. By magic the gods did this work for her, so that she could study. Her father, found this out, and, in anger, tried to burn down the convent. Miao-shan put out the flames. The king tried to cut off her head , but the sord broke. Finally he strangled her, and on her way to the other side she resisted the holy books, and the gods send her back, so that she could gain more wisdom, and they made her immortal. Her father became ill with an fatal disease that could only be cured with living human flesh, so Kwan-yin cut off her hands and then she was made whole again.
Mawu	Africa	Mawu is the supreme deity of the Fon (or Dahomey) people of modern Benin. (Africa). She is the sun.
Ostara	Anglo-Saxon	In ancient Anglo-Saxon myth, Ostara is the personification of the rising sun. In that capacity she is associated with the spring and is considered to be a fertility goddess. She is the friend of all children and to amuse then she changed her pet bird into a rabbit. This rabbit brought forth brightly coloured eggs, which the goddess gave to the children as gifts. From her name and rites the festival of Easter is derived.
Persephone	Greece	Persephone is the goddess of the underworld in Greek mythology. Persephone was such a beautiful and curious girl that and everyone loved especially her mother Demeter .When she was a little girl, she, when suddenly the earth opened and Hades rose up from the gap and abducted her. None but Zeus had noticed it. Broken-hearted, Demeter wandered the earth. Demeter was so angry that she withdrew herself in loneliness, and all fertility on earth stopped. Finally, Zeus convinced Hades to release Persephone. Hades grudgingly agreed, but before she went back he gave Persephone a pomegranate to eat, thus she would always be connected to his realm and had to stay there one-third of the year. The other months she remained with her mother. When Persephone was in Hades, Demeter refused to let anything grow and winter began. This myth is a symbol of the budding and dying of nature
Spiderwoman	Hopi	Spider Woman is an important mythic being among both the Eastern Pueblos and the Western Pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona. They taught the Navaho people how to weave, and established the four warnings of death.

Sources

http://paganwiccan.about.com/

http://www.pantheon.org/mythica.html

365 goddess - Patricia Telesco

The woman's spiritually book - Diane Stein

A compainion to world mythology - Richard Barber

The spiral dance - Starhark

Wheel of the year - Teresa Moorey and Jane Brideson

A Historical Detailed Approach

Compiled by The Wayfinder