~September, 2007 Supplemental Page~

Director’s Message

Continued . . . This year the temple ordained its first priestesses, seven amazing women who recently met, along with key members from the TOG Board of Directors, to vision a brick and mortar temple. Under the guidance of Ana Diaz-Ruiz, this vision will be put to paper by an architect before Spring Equinox 2008 so that we, as a community, can collectively begin creating our temple home. (See Visioning article below.)

This year's rituals have been amazing. I always hoped that we could find a form of ritual theater that would combine spirit, art, and healing but what we've created is far more than I could ever have imagined. Ritual Cirque as one person described this year's Spring Equinox. There is so much theatrical magic infused into each ritual which creates an experience of the sacred for both facilitators and participants. And those amazing temple young people. Breathtaking!! All their talents offered in service to the Earth. I am amazed that with so many people-facilitators, musicians, altars artists/set designers, actors, lighting and sound technicians, dancers AND a Temple of the Goddess choir-we have a group of people who are open, gracious, respectful, giving, conscious, and loving.

Our Summer Solstice ritual marked an especially important moment for me personally. I was delighted that there were so many families and children in attendance. While there were many wonderful moments, what I will never forget is the look on the children's faces, first with the processional of the Sun Goddess, the fire bowl, Christine Papalexis' seven-foot Sun Goddess Puppet, and the veiled Sunrise dancers. Then later during the Shamanic Solstice Myth (click to read), the kids were rapt in awe, even the youngest children were engaged with the story and all the wonderfully masked and costumed animals who explained what true strength is-not being big with large muscles–but strength as tenacity, love, and trusting yourself. The looks on the children's faces during the drum and dance enactment when they approached the animals for herbs of strength for their Golden Pouch of Power is one that I will take with me to the end of my days. In that single moment, all the work done over the years to create the temple was oh so worth it. The chalice of my heart is overflowing with gratefulness for the bounty of the temple.
 

Fall Treasure Box
Continued . . .

What you'll need:

• Shoe box with lid
• Liquitex Basics Gesso
• Red and yellow acrylic paint
• Large paintbrush
• Construction paper (we used red, yellow, green, brown and orange)
• White craft glue
• Water
• Foam alphabet paint stamps
• Acrylic sealer spray, matte

How to make it:

• Remove any labels that may be on the shoe box.
• Paint outside of box and lid with Liquitex Basics Gesso. Allow to dry completely.
• Once dry, paint box and lid with red acrylic paint. Let dry completely.
• In a small bowl, mix together equal parts of water and white glue to create a paintable, yet milky, homemade decoupage mixture.
• Tear construction paper into 1-2” pieces.
• Working about 3-5” at a time, paint the decoupage mixture onto the top surface of the box.
• Place construction paper pieces on top of the decoupage, then put a layer of decoupage mixture over the top of the construction paper pieces. Construction paper pieces should overlap each other a little and will create a mosaic affect. Use alternating colors so that you don’t have too much brown or too much green in one spot, etc.
• Continue with this process all over the outside of the box, leaving only the rim of the lid red.
• Using the alphabet stamps and yellow acrylic paint, stamp the words “My Treasure” onto the front of the box lid rim.
• When the entire project is dry, spray with a coat or two of acrylic matte sealer.

Tips:

• To make your treasure box even fancier, line the inside of the box with yellow felt by gluing it to the inside bottom and up the inner sides.
• Decoupage medium can be purchased at any craft or discount department store, but you can easily make it yourself from white craft glue and water to achieve the same affect.
• This project can be a bit time consuming, so plan a snack break about halfway through so that your kids can get recharged.

www.kidsdomain.com

Priestessing Goddess Onto the World Stage: We Can No Longer Afford to be Invisible

Continued . . . Mostly our paths overlapped. When I founded The Isis Ancient Cultures Society, a non-profit educational organization built on partnership ideals espoused by Riane Eisler, Xia was a facilitator and on the Advisory Board. I went on to write Sacred Places of Goddess: 108 Destinations, a book that has provided me with a vehicle to teach and lecture about Goddess in the mainstream world, opening doors to radio, television, and in print media that otherwise may have remained closed tight. My second book, Walking An Ancient Path, a guide for the mainstream novice to incorporate Goddess Spirituality into their spiritual paradigm, will be in bookstores the summer of 2008. During this time, I co-founded Sacred Sundays, inter-faith services rooted in the Sacred Feminine and complemented by the Divine Masculine.

In the last several years, under Xia’s careful vision and tutelage, Temple of the Goddess, one of the few legally recognized Goddess churches in existence today, has grown and thrived. Today, I serve Goddess and community there as a facilitator and as the Media Director of Temple of Goddess. With TOG as a vehicle, Xia and I both have come to understand we have the opportunity to do what we have believed for years must be done.

Not only would TOG provide a bridge where our beloved sisters and brothers with their covens and pointed hats can find common ground with new Goddess Advocates, but it is also providing a safe haven where, through sacred liturgy and ritual theater, those of more traditional faiths might come to understand and embrace the importance and relevance of earth-based spirituality.

Taking things a step farther, Temple of the Goddess now has the opportunity to have a public platform - with a microphone to the world The Temple has been invited to bring our spirituality to television where we might once and for all dispel the propaganda and myths instilled within mainstream psyches about the Sacred Feminine. We have the chance to define ourselves and our beliefs, rather than let those who would demean and dismiss the Divine Feminine set the agenda and the tone as they continue to mass produce fear and misinformation, whether through intent or ignorance.

Yes, Charter Media, with its newly forming Faith program has invited Temple of the Goddess to participate, along with other traditional and non-traditional faiths, to have their voices heard across the airwaves. Xia and I believe it is time for us to step up, be heard, and cast aside fear. We must step up and shout to the world that our principles are as valid and credible as any commandments. Our liturgy and myths are as uplifting, substantial, and as much a roadmap for living as any other religion. Perhaps even more, because we seek the balance of the feminine in a world too long bereft of Her presence. We no longer want to be children of divorce where the Mother has been cast out of the garden, pulled away from her divine family by man-made dogma. We must certainly use this opportunity to re-educate those who have been spoon-fed lies. We can no longer let patriarchal religions that worked so feverishly for thousands of years to remove Goddess from the world stage continue to publicly define who we are.

As I am out giving lectures about the Sacred Feminine, I continually come up against this toxic propaganda and have to encourage a rethinking of the Divine; the Sacred Feminine alongside the Divine Masculine. Men come to understand embracing Goddess does not mean women want to take over the world. Both genders realize feminism is not a dirty word, but a vehicle for equality and it will not unravel societies if both wings of the bird are equal in strength. I have to constantly remind people that Satan and the Devil are not creations of Paganism. Imagine a world where these are no longer even talking points or wedge issues. Mother and Father together again feels pretty natural and right to most people when they take a moment to think and challenge the programming.

What I do see out there in the mainstream world are people who, when hearing what a world embracing the Feminine would look like, they say, “Yes, I could do that I want that Tell me more What books do I read? Similarly, when Xia penned an article, "Out of the Closet and Into the Fire", it was met with overwhelmingly positive response as people came up to her saying, “I had no idea I was a Pagan.” Yes, people are starved to restore the sacred within their lives - and that sacred must be about balance, harmony, compassion, and wisdom. Sacred Sunday services grew from a handful of people to standing room only in a few short months. Likewise for Temple of the Goddess rituals held four times a year. Mainstream people are responding to the message of the Mother. The days for domination, power over, and control are coming to an end.

Yes, in the long ago past, we could be killed for our beliefs. I know women who still hoard books for fear one day there will again be book burnings. Yes, many of us have had to hide who we were for the sake of keeping custody of our kids or keeping a job to pay the bills. But if not us, then who, and if not now, then when? Time is running short. More than ever, the religion of environmentalism needs to be a top priority. Liberty, equality, integrity, and love must be what our leaders walk and talk. That along with tolerance, diversity, wisdom, compassion, and strength, just some of the fundamentals and ideals of the Sacred Feminine, must be learned and taught to our sons and daughters. Over the next few decades we must educate and inspire a shift from a dominator culture to one where we all strive for partnership and we measure ourselves not by our bank balance but by how we serve humanity.

It bears repeating, people today are literally starving for the sacred. Traditional religion alone no longer works for the masses. Humanity needs to once again be held in the embrace of the Mother and know Her love, strength, and acceptance. Let those of us who know Her best stand shoulder to shoulder and together rebirth her onto the world stage. It is time for us to set the agenda. It is time for our voices to be heard. It is time for us to make a difference in the world, not just for ourselves and for our children, but for our beloved Mother who has been patiently waiting for us to return to our sanity.

To conclude, we are in the process of dialoging with Charter Media about Temple of the Goddess’ participation in their Faith On Charter program. We hope you are as excited about this potential opportunity as we are.

 

Visioning the Temple

Continued . . . Our purpose was to envision the future of Temple of the Goddess. The Temple needs permanent grounds with physical buildings in which to carry out the numerous tasks written in its bylaws–for instance: holding rituals, conducting classes, and administering to congregants’ spiritual and physical health. But, what is the first step? What must be done at Square One in order to end up with a Temple to call one’s own?

We came with joy, anticipation, and not a little trepidation. Just how would we form the stone and wood Temple from our minds, our imaginations?

Xia eased us into a relaxed trance state, had us collect our consciousness and move it into our womb-space. This is the space that brings forth children–the human-kind and the creative-kind. As we moved into this womb-space, this void of creativity, Xia led us on a guided journey.

In our minds’ eyes we walked the paths meandering around the Temple grounds, we placed our individual images of buildings, the Sanctuary, and various items throughout. All of us wrote down what to us would be an ideal space.

The women being guided had differing ideas of shapes of buildings, although many envisioned round buildings. All saw buildings made of natural materials, to be eco-friendly and of course all power would be solar or some other Earth generated source. Nothing would contribute to the growing global warming problem.

A common ‘stream’ running throughout everyone’s notes was, water. All of us saw ponds, streams, waterfalls alongside or flowing beneath walkways. Some of us saw a building surrounded by a moat of water, thereby causing people to step across or walk across a bridge.

Besides the buildings that Xia had us envision (Sanctuary, Healing Center, Arts Complex, Educational Center), many women saw other buildings, such as a Library, a Visitors’ Center, perhaps housing for priestesses or priests, caretakers, or for visiting scholars.

The grounds were imagined to be green with all sorts of plants and trees and herb and vegetable gardens. Fountains, gazebos, labyrinths would be strewn across the land to be discovered by the wanderer wending her way through the trees and shrubs in order to meditate or heal in the arms of Nature. All pathways would be gently lighted by solar lights and one would always hear the sounds of birds and windchimes. And Xia’s favorite image from the brilliant visionary artist, RA, a black wall fountain with the Temple of the Goddess’ principles carved into them.

We cannot possibly place all the elements envisioned on that Sunday onto Temple land. We cannot possibly satisfy everyone’s desires as to buildings, fountains, streams, ponds . . . But what we can do is build on this first step. We can put all the ideas into the hopper, look at the common threads, look at the possibility of building those common threads.

Step two, which should be combined with step one and all future steps, is prayer. If Temple of the Goddess community starts to pray for the physical land and Temple, then begins to tithe or set aside an amount every month for this physical Temple, then step three of having an architect create a drawing of a proposed site and then step four of having benefactors give land, money, and time, isn’t such a huge undertaking.

Each heroic journey begins and progresses one step at a time. It’s time for step two.
 

Shekinah Remembered!

Continued . . . For a woman who, for almost 40 years, has been seeking her truth in matriarchal myths as old as human civilization, this is a way to come to grips with an illness that has transformed her life. Long a believer in the power of Eastern modes of healing, she has had to accept Western medical technologies that she has longed feared: surgery, chemotherapy and, perhaps in the near future, radiation.

Convinced by a friend that embracing both East and West is the way to survival, Mountainwater turned to traditional Western medicine. "I've always been this alternative type person — do the herbs, do the
magic, get in a circle and ask everybody to visualize me better — and I didn't want to get surgery or chemo. I was horrified, I was going to have to get my body cut open. But I had to surrender at each gate."

On Dec. 1 and 2, a community of performers and artists are coming together in a show called "Viva Shekhinah," a variety show aimed at celebrating the guest of honor. Among the performers will be Miranda Janeschild and her dance company Mir & A Company, singer/songwriter Molly Hartwell, fellow healer and singer Copperwoman, and acclaimed dancer and choreographer Frey Faust, who happens to be Shekhinah Mountainwater's son.

Mountainwater is a key figure in the history of Santa Cruz's alternative spiritual culture. She's a musician and songwriter who emerged early on as a leading proponent of Goddess worship, a parallel discipline of paganism centered on an archetypal feminine world view. She's the author of Ariadne's Thread: A Workbook of Goddess Magic, and she's led classes and workshops and conducted rituals and tarot-card readings.

Though she's had many adherents to her teachings, she's also run into occasional conflict at the hands of everyone from Christians to other pagans.

"There's always been this impression that I'm anti-male," she said one afternoon in the living room of her Seabright-area home. "I mean, c'mon. How could I be?" With that, she gestures to her son sitting across the table. The 46-year-old Faust has been living abroad for 20 years, but he's moved back to Santa Cruz to be with his mother during her convalescence. Faust's impressive resume includes studies from a wide variety of teachers from Marcel Marceau to Merce Cunningham, and has developed his own technique of movement known as the Axis Syllabus.

Shekhinah Mountainwater' s story in Santa Cruz begins back in 1970 when she first moved to the area from Los Angeles with her two children, Frey and Angel. The daughter of a Marxist scholar in New York, she grew up amidst the folk-revival era of the early 1960s centered in Greenwich Village. Among her acquaintances were folks such as Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul & Mary.

She eventually moved to Los Angeles where she tried to establish herself as a folksinger. "I used to sit on the sidewalk all day just so I could get a 15-minute slot on Monday night at the Troubadour."

When she moved to Santa Cruz, she, her son and her daughter were a performing trio called the Sybil. She played songs, many of her own composition, while the kids engaged in ecstatic dance. The group got steady work playing at renaissance fairs and other festival events, including the streets of the old Pacific Garden Mall in downtown Santa Cruz.

At the same time, Mountainwater was being drawn deeply into studies of Goddess literature, most notably The White Goddess, a text that led her to a spiritual a-ha moment.

"When I read that book," she said, "I realized this is what I was here to do, why I had come into this life, to serve the Goddess. It all crystallized around that book."

Soon, she began teaching and leading rituals. A passerby at the Pacific Cultural Center one October several years ago could have seen Mountainwater lead a group of women in a chant, "nine million witches were burned — never again!," after which the women would break a symbolic paper chain and burn it in a cauldron.

She kept busy teaching and leading rituals in "Goddess Magic." But as the years wore on, enthusiasm for her work waned in Santa Cruz. "The politics changed, Santa Cruz got more expensive,” she said. “The goddess movement grew. But a lot of women are doing their own stuff now. They don't feel they need a teacher, necessarily. "

Since her cancer diagnosis, however, she's re-connected with the movement and discovered a rich community on the Internet.

"It's been hard, but it's also been wonderful. It's the most amazing experience, to have a life-threatening disease. The support, the community around cancer is phenomenal. There's so much love and compassion to people with cancer."

One of those people crucial to her healing has been her friend, the performer and spiritualist named Copperwoman, who in 2003 was also diagnosed with cancer and has come through the experience alive and cancer-free.

"I worked on my cancer for a year before trying Western medicine, but my tumors weren't going away," said Copperwoman, a long-time Santa Cruzan who moved to Garberville in 2000, "Then, I asked myself 'OK, You want to live?' So I took the magic into the Western medicine. You're going to radiate me? Fine, then I'm radiant.”

"I'm so excited to be able to be part of this," she added. "Being recovered and being strong again, I think it's important for people to see a vision of what can happen with healing."

"It's been very intense and revelatory," said Mountainwater of her year living with cancer. "Sometimes it's been very scary, but it's been very healing too."