|
 |
A Publication of Temple of the Goddess |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Director's Message
In spite of the current heat wave, I find myself looking
to the fall and the changes it inevitably brings. I also
feel such a deep state of gratefulness for all the
blessings in my life. So, so many. A great son who's
applying to colleges in the coming year, a loving
community, a wealth of friends that are as close and
deep as family, and so many people in my life who
continue to inspire me.
Temple of the Goddess is experiencing so much
growth. I am continually amazed at how everything is
expanding, and all the people that are coming through
the temple doors. The temple was recently invited by
Charter Media to be a part of their new Faith on
Charter, an OnDemand television station dedicated to
airing uplifting spiritual content. I am exploring this
possibility along with our Media Director, Karen Tate.
(See Priestessing Goddess Onto the World
Stage article below.) This would be a huge step
for us, as Pagans, into the mainstream world of
media and requires deliberate and conscious
consideration. We are also planning to utilize the
videos made of our beautiful rituals for podcasting on
the TOG website.
Read more. . .
Fall is the time of Thanksgiving, a time of gifts and
blessings worldwide. Day and night are equal and the
balance of giving and taking, of light and dark,
summer and winter, life and death are the focus of
this Sabbat. From now on the nights are longer than
the day. It's a time to reap the harvest grown from the
sowing done at Spring Equinox. At Summer Solstice
we nurtured and watered our crops, weeded that
which would limit our harvests. Now, we grieve over
the dying of the Goddess, but know that She will
return. In the meantime, we take Her harvest into our
bodies, and the knowledge of the Cycle of Life into our
souls. Though the year is waning and winter
approaches, the emphasis is less on death than on
the message of rebirth in the harvest seeds and the
plenty of the season.
Our evening of myth and ritual theater begins by
making an offering for this year's bounty. Bring a fruit
or vegetable to add to the temple harvest altar. While
at the altar, you can take a small envelope, place
some sacred dream seeds within to keep for next
spring's planting. We will give thanks as the Harvest
Queen enters with her young daughter dancing with
joy for the bounty of the Earth Mother.
As our Equinox myth and enactment unfolds, the Child
of Duality journeys seeking both inner balance and an
understanding of opposites. In the magical time of
twilight, the Child of Duality meets many characters
composed of dueling dichotomies that seek to
convince him that he must choose between the
opposites, choose which is best. What he learns in
his journey is the power that comes from embracing
the opposites as polarities, different but equal.
Journey with us as we seek the inner balance and
power that comes from experiencing and learning
from the opposites which naturally make up the
Universe. Only through the unity of opposites can we
truly be successful Gardeners of our Lives. Join us on
September 15 as we harvest the bounty we deserve.
Harvest it for the Earth, ourselves, each other, and
community, through dance, song, and sacred
enactment. DON'T FORGET! Bring a fruit or vegetable
for the Harvest Altar. Click here for
flyer.
Goddess Choir Rehearsals
Pagan Pride 2007
SAVE THE DATE-- September 29, 2007 for the
CD Release Party of TOG Priestess, Lora Cain's
latest musical offering, Choose Love. This
event, sponsored by TOG's art affiliate, Nine Muses Arts & Culture, is a fundraiser
to launch Nine Muses. Please join us for an evening
of music, dancing, and great fun!! More details to
follow.
Other
Director, actor, and teacher Pat Lentz will be taking
over directing of the ritual myths. Big thank you
Pat!!!
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.
"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 2007 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!!
Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church
Artwork from Ritual Path DVD by artist John
Banks and music by Fritz Heede of Artek Images.
Available from Amazon.com.
Fall Treasure Box by: Amanda
Formaro
Kids love to collect, but where to keep all those odds
and ends that your little ones find? This project is easy
to make and creates a lasting holder for all those fun
treasures and trinkets that your kids hold dear.
Click here for Fall Treasure Box instructions.
~~ Childhood is a journey, not a race.
~~
We Can No Longer Afford to be
Invisible
As the Media Director of Temple of the Goddess, I
recently accompanied its Founder and Director, Judy
Tatum aka Xia, to a presentation hosted by Charter
Media, a cable television network in Southern
California. Charter put out a call to a diverse range of
religious organizations inviting them to participate in a
new cable program they were initiating called Faith
On Charter. As we sat there listening to the
intention of Charter to bring spiritually uplifting
messages to the airwaves from all religious corners
of southern California, we realized our dream and
vision, years in the making, might soon be a reality.
But are we, collectively and individually, really ready to
fully step into the public spotlight?
Some in the women's community snickered and
others were fearful for me when I first named my
ministerial path as Emissary Priestess of Isis. Yet I
sensed, even in those early days, that it was up to us
to priestess Goddess back onto the world stage. I
believed we could no longer afford to be invisible. We
had to share our spirituality with the rest of the world
and reclaim our rightful place alongside the
recognized traditional religions on the globe. Having
discovered the importance and empowerment for both
women and men obtained through knowledge of
Goddess-spiritually, politically and culturally-I wanted
to be one of the many needed ambassadors in Her
rebirthing into the mainstream world. I truly believed
the Sacred Feminine, long-missing in the spiritual
and political equation, caused our world to sink to the
low point we now experience everyday. Fortunately
there were others that supported my vision. In those
early days, Lady Olivia Robertson, one of the founders
of the international Fellowship of Isis, invited me to
Clonegal Castle in Ireland to be ordained. In the
ensuing years, myself and Judy Tatum, who most of
you know as Xia, continually visioned and dreamed of
temples of Goddess in our neighborhoods across the
country. We both felt called to do what we could in our
lifetime to make that a reality. We could no longer be
content to practice our spirituality underground. That
inner voice was loud and pushed us forward to dare to
be visible. Xia calls it, "following the divine
breadcrumbs." As the years passed, the urgency felt
all the more great.
Read more . . .
Dordona, the Hungarian Harvest
Goddess by
Mary B. Kelley
As the Wheel of Life spins, the seasons bear witness
to the covenant of the Goddess, Her promise of life
and the never-ending cycle of birth, death, and
renewal. To each of us in times of both joy and sorrow
She sweetly whispers, "Be not afraid of my cycles and
embrace the changing nature of all things, the
permanence within the impermanence. The seasons
bear witness to this promise I manifested for you. For
surely, the darkness and death of winter is followed by
the light and renewal of spring."
We Remember:
Shekhinah was a beloved sister and teacher to
countless many. She dedicated her life to sharing and
expressing the love of the Goddess in all ways. Her
love and spirit will continue on in the hearts of those
she touched. . .and beyond, for generations to come.
Shekhinah was diagnosed with cancer in December
2005. She fought like an Amazon, in an amazing
dance with her cancer. Always sharing her
experiences, she was a teacher throughout her death
transition, and continues to be even now.
Her passing was quiet, peaceful, and even beautiful;
with one last deep exhalation, her spirit crossed the
veil. Thursday, August 9th, her sacred last rites were
performed by Z Budapest. . .Shekhinah reminisced
about this important, loving experience before falling
into constant sleep. She was surrounded by sisters
and her family at the time of her passing. She was
honored with song, laughter, a few tears, the beautiful
sent of roses, and lush robes. . .exactly what she
always wished for the time of her crossing.
Dearest Shekhinah, may your spirit fly with the stars,
into the arms of the Mother. May your spirit be healed
and cleansed in Her cauldron; may you be comforted
and rebirthed in Her womb. Our love flies with you, as
our tears wet the sweet Earth. Forever shall you be
loved and honored.
~~Syren and the Moonspells Community (Reprinted)
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
Realm of Water
Realm of Earth
Realm of Spirit
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.
Artwork from Ritual Path DVD by artist John
Banks and music by Fritz Heede of Artek
Images. Available from Amazon.com.
by Wendy Andrew, Circa 21st September
Feel Me now as Mother Earth
Autumn Equinox Goddess Wheel by Wendy
Andrew
by Jeanne Leiter
The call went out. . .Women gathering to vision a
modern day temple complex.
On August 19th at 2:00, the priestesses and other
TOG Board of Directors gathered together for the
purpose of creating a vision of our future temple and
temple complex.
Inception: In May, TOG Board Member Ana
Diaz-Ruiz asked Xia, the temple director what she
was working on for the temple in addition to the
seasonal rituals. In brief, she filled Ana in on the two
new sections being created for the website and
simply as an aside, that she wanted to bring the TOG
women together to throw out ideas, big and small,
crazy or practical, of what our future temple might look
like and then get an artist to draw it and mount
it on a large poster board for the lobby at rituals so that
the vision could become part of a collective imaging
for the whole community as well as the impetus for a
building fund. Ana enthusiastically volunteered to take
charge of this temple task and opened her lovely
Venice home for this gathering. Additionally, not to do
anything halfway, Ana plans to have an architect put
our ideas into a drawing and eventual plans.
Outcome: Thirteen women (twelve present
and one by proxy) came together in Venice, California
this August. We came with like minds, hearts, and
spirits. After catching up on all of our varied lives and
the customary noshing, we relaxed.
Continued . . .
Cove Image by John Banks, Artek Images
Temple of the Goddess has two easy ways to help
support our evolving vision. Both are simple, totally
painless, and involve shopping-something we have
to do whether we like it or not.
Through our association with AMAZON, you can
simply go to our Temple Store and click through to
Amazon and a percentage of your purchase price is
credited to Temple of the Goddess' account. Without
reaching deeper into your pocket, and with a minimum
of effort, you will offer a much needed love donation to
the temple.
You can also support our many worthwhile projects
and activities by signing up for eScrip so that when
you are shopping a percentage of your purchases will
be donated directly to Temple of the Goddess! eScrip
is a method through which various merchants have
agreed to donate a percentage of each sale to charity.
It's easy to do, and it doesn't take a penny from your
pocket.
Please take a few moments right now, go to eScrip, sign up and
safely register one or more credit cards. Stipulate that
all donations be given to Temple of the Goddess.
Then when you shop at participating stores and use
the registered card, it happens. From 2% to 8%,
depending on the merchant and the amount
purchased, goes into Temple of the Goddess'
account. All without taking money from your pocket, or
even thinking of the purchase as a donation. How
easy is that? Read more about eScrip here.
Maiden, Mother, Crone: Santa Cruz singer and
spiritualist Shekinah Mountainwater leans on friends
and family to see her through a dark night of the
soul.
by Wallace Baine
Shekhinah Mountainwater speaks in myths. So, when
she's talking about her year-long battle with uterine
cancer, it feels entirely natural to her to summon up an
ancient Sumerian myth about a goddess named
Inanna who finds herself navigating the
Underworld.
"As she's traveling, she comes across these gates in
which she must pass through," said the 67-year-old
folksinger and spiritualist, "At one gate, she is asked
to give up her jewelry, the next gate her robe and the
next gate her crown, till she's finally naked."
Continued . . .
Autumn's Web of Life includes Grandmother
Spider, nuts and berries (Courtesy of Russian
Sunbirds)
In a Sacred Circle of Sisters,
The Shamanic Tantric Dance is a
meditation in motion, a sacred dance spontaneously
sourced from body impulse.
INTRODUCTORY CLASSES in
PASADENA
Tarot in Egypt
Take an incredible journey to Egypt where, guided by
the Tarot, you will experience mystery school
initiations in the temples and tombs. There has never
been a trip like this before, combining Mary Greer's
wisdom of Tarot with Nicki Scully's shamanic healing
rituals and Normandi Ellis' readings of the
hieroglyphs in the most sacred temples on the
planet.
Click for more information, or contact Mary Greer
at mkgreer@pacbell.net
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
Karen Tate: Author, Lecturer, Speaker - Upcoming
Appearances
For more information go to KarenTate.com or
contact the author at karentate108@ca.rr.com or
310/450-6661
ART OPENING & RECEPTION
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2007 6 - 10pm
"EARTH SOUNDS" AT HOMESTEAD HOUSE,
PASADENA
EXHIBITION RUNS UNTIL SEPTEMBER 15, 2007
The Magdalene Center Monthly Community
Calendar of Events, August:
September 7 (Friday) 7-10pm, A group artists
exhibit "Mother Earth"
Location: 4822 Vineland Ave @ Lankershim, North
Hollywood, CA 91601
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
