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Director's Message
February has been a whirlwind of planning for the temple. Please make note, and your reservations, for the temple's upcoming Benefit Concert and fundraiser. For those of you who heard the amazing sounds of Anaam at our Autumn Equinox, you won't want to miss this special event which combines the experience of Anaam with the power of walking the sacred labyrinth. Please join us for this evening of Illuminating the Inner Self.
The theme for 2008's ritual Sabbats is Remembering the Ancient Names of the Divine. This theme was inspired by the poem, Names by Clay Gilbert which you can read, in full, in this edition of Between the Columns. "There is still power in the ancient names; (Isis, Astarte, Diana) the monuments of modernity fall away around us as we sound them forth (Hecate, Demeter, Kali)." Our myths and music will focus on remembering and retelling the ancient myths and sounding the ancient names for the divine. Save the date for Spring Equinox as we launch the ritual year.
As the temple continues to grow, I find myself in awe and gratefulness for the community that is evolving. Any group that exists as a volunteer organization faces all kinds of challenges that threaten its existence but I find in our temple community a group of spiritual artists who support one another and give generously of themselves in service to the Earth and the community. I thank you all. Thank you Pythia and Mori who administratively help me keep this vessel afloat. (And are making that 20-foot labyrinth.) You are both amazing. Thank you Dawn for the unerring guidance and support you give. You are my rudder. Thank you RA for being a visionary mirror for me. And to the countless others who make up the temple community, YOU ROCK! The chalice of my heart overflows. Xia
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Illuminating the Inner Path
with the devotional music of
Anaam
Benefit Concert & Fundraising Event for Temple of the Goddess
DATE: Saturday, March 1, 2008
TIME:
7:30 P.M.
COST: $10.00
BRING:
Candle and holder.
RSVP:
818-771-5778 Space is limited. Please make reservations early.
LOCATION: The Onion, Sepulveda Unitarian-Universalist Church
9550 Haskell Avenue, North Hills, CA 91343
Join us for this special event which combines Kirtan music, a sacred form of Indian devotional singing, with the power of the ancient labyrinth, a spiritual journey to illuminate the inner path of the seeker.
Accompanied by the sacred sounds of Anaam, you will have the opportunity to quiet your mind, open your heart, and walk with intention, into the inner realm of the self. This powerful experience while done individually is connected to the community experience.
More
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Temple of the Goddess Announcements
Choir Rehearsals have resumed and will be held on the first and third Sundays at 4-6.
February 17th, 4-6
March 2nd, 4-6
March 16th, 4-6
NEEDED
Please contact us at
info@templeofthegoddess.org
to donate items for the raffle at our March 1st Anaam fundraising event. Donations can include art, services, gift certificates, or items from your local businesses. Help keep the temple doors open with donation items for our raffle.
Automatic Donations Really Big Deal!
Auto Donations from eScrip, Amazon, Zazzle for the entire year of 2007
$378.42
A few dedicated Temple members have been shopping using their eScrip membership and others have been buying through Temple of the Goddess store. We honor and thank those who spent the extra few minutes in order for the Temple to benefit. If you wish to be among those in the future, please purchase your books, CDs, videos, t-shirts, etc through the Temple store. The donations come from the seller, you spend nothing extra, and the Temple is the recipient of free money.
Essays, articles, interviews, and poetry for temple newsletter can be submitted to newletter@TempleoftheGoddess.org.
2008 tithing letters went out in January to all those people who have so generously kept the temple doors open and the work thriving. This letter will serve as a receipt for your tax-deductible donations.
Click here to find out about
Community Events
. If you would like to post an event with
Temple
of the Goddess, please let us know by submitting the date and pertinent information to: Events@TempleoftheGoddess.org.
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Soothsayings: The Season of Pisces (February 18 - March 19)
The Sun enters Pisces on
February 18, 2008 at 10:50 pm PST, inaugurating a cycle when we may encounter the water divinities, many of them goddesses honored and feared from the commencement of time.
In the beginning there is Tiamat, the Babylonian sea goddess and primordial being who lives in the waters of the abyss before time became manifest. Through her we are connected to the ancient sea on which our hopes and aspirations sail - the collective unconscious. And so we may use this time to tap into our spiritual reservoir and draw on the strengths we often forget.
More . . .
(*) All phenomena are cited for the Tropical (Western) Zodiac
© Copyright 2008 by
Rosemary Clark
Rosemary Clark is author of
The Sacred Tradition in Ancient Egypt: The Esoteric Wisdom Revealed and
The Sacred Magic of Ancient Egypt: The Spiritual Practice Restored. She has also written
The Everything Meditation Book and her work is included in
Menopause: A One-Stop Resource for Feeling Good and
The Complete Dream Dictionary. When not writing and organizing spiritual expeditions to Egypt, she is saying sooth to an international cadre of students and associates.
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SAVE THE DATE
"
The seasons and all their changes are in me
." -Henry David Thoreau
We hope you will join the temple, in community, to honor the seasons, the Earth, and our own personal growth for our 2008 Ritual Sabbats. This year's theme is "Reclaiming the Earth."
Our multi-cultural Earth celebrations are held at the Neighborhood Unitarian Church in Pasadena and are open to families and community. Our Sabbats are multi-media ritual theater combining mythology, music, visual art, dance, liturgy, spoken word, and participatory theater which fuses drum and dance with personal enactment to re-connect us to the seasons and the Earth.
SAVE THE DATE!!
- March 22, 2008 Spring Equinox
- June 28, 2008 Summer Solstice
- September 20, 2008 Autumn Equinox
- November 1, 2008 All Hallow's Eve
Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church
301 N. Orange Grove Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91103
818-771-5778
Website:
www.TempleoftheGoddess.org/Events
Artwork from Ritual Path
DVD by artist John Banks of
Artek Images
and music by
Fritz Heede
. Available from Temple of the Goddess
Music & Media Store
.
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Names
by Clay Gilbert
There is still power in the ancient names,
though we gather on the rooftop
of a high-rise apartment building,
and not the summit of a great pyramid,
or in a circle of stones in the English countryside.
There is still power in the ancient names;
(Isis, Astarte, Diana)
the monuments of modernityfall away around us
as we sound them forth
(Hecate, Demeter, Kali);
These heights are a Witch's dream -
no flying ointment,
no faery wings
bear us skyward atop this concrete dolmen,
this urban surrogate for the
Stonehenge
monoliths.
No grove beneath our feet,
only the rough skin of gravel and concrete,
yet from beneath and from above
Earth and Moon shock us
into a revelation now complete -
Yeats was right, and H.D. and Pound:
There is still power in the ancient names,
(Hermes, Cernunnos, Osiris)
They still survive, whispered by the wind
That blows through gaps in weathered stones
(Odin, Anubis, Apollo)
that sings in lines conjured by the poet's wand,
that pierces airplane-scream and traffic-howl,
crowd-clamor and the choking cloud of smog.
This whisper-wind is our conspirator,
for she too has an old name,
Inspiration,
breath of divinity;
Forgotten, she does not die,
but sleeps, whispering in her dreams
(Dreams that are the lives of men)
until these words, remembered, wake her:
From stone circles to steel towers
in a disenchanted
empire, this remains -
There is still power in the ancient names.
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One Of Our Own
Sacred Places of Goddess: 108 Destinations by Karen Tate garnered notable prestige as it was picked up by the J. Paul Getty Villa Museum Bookstore, Chicago Field Museum Bookstore, and the Joseph Campbell Foundation Bookstore.
Stephen Gerringer of the JCF, upon notification to the author wrote, "I congratulate you on the concept, Karen, and on its execution. Pilgrimage is a neglected aspect of most contemporary Western religions; not only are you restoring that concept, but you've taken the Goddess out of the hallowed halls of academia, out of the abstract realms of the psyche, to locate Her in the physical world. Your book is well written, well-researched, and is a resource I'll be consulting on a regular basis. What's more, your work is a marvelous manifestation of what Joseph Campbell intends when he advises us to `Follow your bliss.' Thank you for catching that spark and spreading the vision."
Forthcoming from Karen Tate: Walking An Ancient Path
Click here
to purchase Sacred Places of the Goddess: 108 Destinations
through the Temple Store.
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Community Service Award
Temple
of the Goddess is proud to announce that Chokaé, one of our
Temple
brothers, was chosen as the 2007 recipient of its Community Service Award. This yearly award is given to acknowledge outstanding individuals who have made a difference
in Temple
of the Goddess and in the
Los Angeles
community through their exceptional service.
We honor him for his creativity, energy, and the selfless giving of his spirit as a healer, artist, teacher, and priest to family, friends, the
Temple
, the
Los Angeles
community, and the world.
In January of 2007 he traveled to remote villages in
Madagascar
and, with other volunteers, helped build wells, provided clean water, monitored endemic and endangered lemur species, established community market gardens, taught English, and promoted HIV/AIDS awareness.
Whenever in the states, Chokaé always tries to participate in
Temple
of the Goddess rituals where he conducts a beautiful Native American invocation, an invitation, for all well-intentioned spirits to join us.
His drumming and chanting sanctifies the ritual space and opens our hearts to receive the bounty and love so willingly given by those who have crossed over to the next existence. All present are transported from the harsh world of reality to a peaceful place where all thoughts and hopes exist.
We honor his loving, gentle spirit, and his guidance of the young people in our
Temple
family.
He's always ready with words of support and wisdom for young and old alike.
Our prayer is that we may be favored with his presence for many, many years to come. In addition to a gold embossed Community Service Certificate,
Chokaé
also received an Honorarium which we pray will ease and support his continued journey. This small acknowledgment is for the large and beautiful work he has created in our society. Chokaé,
Temple
of the Goddess, and indeed, the whole world is a better place because you are in it.
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Kid's Realm ~~Childhood is a journey, not a race.~~
by: Amanda Formaro
Difficulty: Easy
This cute little rodent, wheather it be a mouse or a rat, is absolutely adorable! A cute craft for Chinese New Year, or a rainy afternoon.
Click for more . . .
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DONOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Temple of the Goddess wishes to acknowledge, honor, and welcome those who have joined, tithed, or donated to the temple this month. You keep the temple doors open for all of us.
Realm of Air
Kamala
Realm of Water
Carol Holst
Realm of Earth
J. Tatum
J. Clark
Realm of Spirit
Dawn Bodnar Sutton
Meloney Hudson
Click here
for information on becoming a member of TOG. Temple of the Goddess has a variety of ways that you can participate fiscally in our vision. To learn more about making a tax-deductible donation to the temple, go to Gifting Opportunities
.
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Religious Discrimination In Prisons
Cherry Hill Seminary Director of Chaplaincy and Lady Liberty League National Coordinator of Prison Ministries Testifies Friday In Washington On Religious Discrimination In Prisons
The Rev. M. Patrick McCollum will be part of a six-member panel of experts presenting to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on
Friday, February 8, 2008
, on Religious Discrimination and Prisoners' Rights. The panel is being convened to shed light on the nature and extent of the problems which have arisen in this context and to discuss what can be done to resolve inmate grievances in
United States
prisons. After a period of public comment, a report by the Commission will be made available to Congress.
Rev. McCollum has a long and successful history of ministering to those unable to practice their faith in institutional settings. He is the Director and Chair of the National Correctional Chaplaincy Directors Association, and is the statewide Wiccan chaplain for the California Department of Corrections, has served as a Wiccan chaplain in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, has helped mentor chaplains from many faith traditions across the country, and has advised state and federal correctional institution officials on religion issues across the nation. McCollum has taught Pagan Chaplaincy Training at the Leadership Institute, part of Circle Sanctuary's annual Pagan Spirit Gathering, for the past seven years. His involvement with Circle Sanctuary's outreach goes back nearly thirty years.
Continued . . .
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Gong Xi Fa Cai!
Chinese New Year
The Year of the Rat
According to traditional Chinese Zodiac, the Year of 2008 is a
Year of the Rat (Earth),
which began on
February 7, 2008
and ends on
January 25, 2009
. First in the cycle of the 12 Animal signs, Rat Year begins the sequence and recurs every twelfth year.
Though the Western rat is reviled as little more than a bottom-dwelling disease carrier, this animal is viewed much differently in the East. The Eastern rat is revered for its quick wits and its ability to accrue and hold on to items of value; rats are considered a symbol of good luck and wealth in both
China
and
Japan
. Clever and quick-witted, the Rat of the Chinese Zodiac is utterly disarming to boot. Possessed of excellent taste, this Sign flaunts its style at every turn. Its natural charm and sharp, funny demeanor make it an appealing friend for almost anyone. The Rat likes to know who is on its side and will treat its most loyal friends with an extra measure of protection and generosity.
More . . .
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Sacred Sundays. . .Our Quest for Love
by Rev. Karen Tate
With Sacred Sundays we hope to create an environment where each of us are able, for a time,
to slip out of our commercialized, corporate culture and
slip into a new culture, formed from diverse ethnic backgrounds and a rich variety of poetic, mythological, ritual, folk and mystery traditions.
During Sacred Sundays we strive for balance, peace, harmony and love, so we honor the Sacred Feminine as primary, complemented by the Divine Masculine.
Each month weintroduce a new deity and concept. February our focus is on
Our Quest for Love.
So to set the tone for this month's service, let us go back to the beginning, when the first relationships between the Divine, women, men and all that lives together on the Earth were formed.
A Creation Myth of Love
In this new beginning, Goddess and God sit upon their throne together in wholeness, balance, and harmony.
In their love for each other they vision humanity and from their thoughts they simultaneously create Lilith and Adam, the future Mother and Father of us all from the clay of Mother Earth.
They are created equally and Goddess and God imbue the First Couple with ideals of love, compassion and respect for each other and all the Creatures that live in harmony on Earth.
Lilith and Adam are encouraged to know the Divine and see the Divine within themselves.
Goddess and God instruct Lilith and Adam to pick the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge and impart their wisdom to their children, whose faces are white, black, brown, yellow and red.
The First Couple teach their children that they are stewards of Earth and it is their responsibility to care not just for each other, but all the creatures that inhabit their
Sacred
Garden
.
Suffering, inequality, sin and shame are not part of this beginning.
This reality begins with the ideals of Love.
Continued . . .
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Honoring Mardi Gras
New Orleans
: A Sacred Place of Goddess Survives Our Arrogance
by Rev. Karen Tate
In the last few months the world was reminded once again how the arrogance of humankind is destroying families, communities and Mother Earth. We now know Hurricane Katrina was not the reason for the demise of New Orleans. It was the failure of humans to preserve or restore the wetlands that act as a natural buffer for the cities that lie beyond. It was the greed of over-development in areas never intended to sustain housing. It was the incompetence of the Corps of Engineers who built substandard levees to protect people and the city. And it was and is the short-sightedness and ineptitude of callous and corrupt government and elected officials who have forgotten they serve the people. Post Katrina, it is business as usual on these same fronts, only the light has been shed on where to place some of the blame. And two years later, the carpet baggers are once again set loose upon the city whose spirit could once be summed up in the phrase, joie de vivre, or the joy of life.
This comedy of errors, arrogance and neglect only punctuates the effects of a government and society absent a set of ideals Goddess Advocates would call principles of the Sacred Feminine:
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Reverence and respect for Mother Nature
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Recognizing the Divine in all things
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Compassion for human suffering
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Responsibility, wisdom and accountability
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Creation of partnerships and a more level playing field so no one is lost at the bottom of any heap.
Continued. . .
Isis Dubloon Photo courtesy of Roy Tate.
Karentate.com
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Myths of Love
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ADVENTURES IN EURYTHMY
: A Series of Exploration into the Art of Eurythmy
Wednesday, February 27, 2008 7:00 PM
Westside Waldorf School--McComb Campus
17310 Sunset Blvd
Pacific Palisaes
310-454-7093
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In a Sacred Circle of Sisters,
Come Home to Your Authentic Self
The
Shamanic Tantric Dance
is a meditation in motion, a sacred dance spontaneously sourced from body impulse.
Introductory Class
Saturday March 1, 2008 from 1 to 4 pm
SERIES OF FIVE CLASSES
Monday, March 3rd thru March 31st, 2008 from 7 to 10 pm $150
No Dance Experience Necessary. For more info
click here
.
Contact Kamala: (310) 455-3876 or
kamala@terrakino.net
.
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Travel to Sacred Places of the Divine Feminine begins again . . . Guided by Karen Tate.
On your sacred tour, history, spirituality and culture come alive, creating a continuum between past and present. Time and distance dims. The line between traditional and non-traditional faith fades. You become one with the Mother.
Paris and Chartres - May 2008/Turkey - October 2008
SACRED SUNDAYS Sunday, March 9th,
11AM - 1PM
For more information go to
KarenTate.com
or contact the author at karentate108@ca.rr.com or 310/450-6661
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Come join us in 2008! Conversation and sacred travel allow us to open our minds, hearts and spirits to new learning...a chance to exchange ideas and expand our world.
Goddess Conversations invites you to engage and converse in the study of the Divine Feminine through spiritual journey and pilgrimage to some of the most spectacular art, architecture and sacred lands on Mother Earth.
Palm Springs, California: Mar 20th-23rd
Amazons in Turkey: July 1st - July 10th
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Gaia Festival & Retreat
Featured Presenter for 2008: Margaret Starbird
This year's theme for Gaia Fest is Mother Mysteries and will focus on connecting with our inner mother through meditation, journaling, drumming and ritual.
What mysteries does She have to share with you?
Temescal Gateway Park, Pacific Palisades, CA
The Great Mother and the Dragon by: Jessie Oster
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