Director's Message
In this year of New Directions, the temple began its seasonal celebrations with a resurrection myth, Isis, Osiris & Horus: Resurrection and Rebirth. (see below for highlights). Under the direction of Kamala, our new Director of Religious Services, the evening's ritual came to life with the life lesson of following your intuition. That still, small voice of our own intuition is often lost in the noise and clutter of everyday life. Thank you Kamala, and the Mythic Players, for a beautiful evening of ritual theatre.
Many of you have been asking when we will start offering our full moon services and classes once again and the time is drawing close. In our new home at the Center for Awakening Consciousness in Pasadena, we are in preparation to begin this summer with our Full Moon Circles. More to come on this.
There's lots of work going on behind the scenes at Temple of the Goddess as well . . . more to come next month.
Wednesday, May 1st is the cross-quarter day of Beltane. I wish you all a beautiful Beltane and a celebration of your inner fertility and creativity.
Many Blessings, Rev. Xia
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Temple of the Goddess Announcements
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD! - Goddess Choir: If you'd like to be a part of the ever-growing Temple of the Goddess Choir, please contact us at choir@templeofthegoddess.org
COMMUNITY EVENTS: Additional information about Community Events is available at the Temple of the Goddess website. 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.
JOIN OUR ONLINE COMMUNITY! Keep up to date with what's happening at the Temple. Get to know us better while you enjoy daily words of inspiration, interesting and helpful articles as well as the latest Pagan news. All you have to do is "Like" us on Facebook and/or follow us on Twitter under @TO_Goddess. See you there!
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Happy Beltane
Beltane, also called May Day, is celebrated on May 1st. Beltane is the celebration and honoring of the Earth at Her most fertile time as She receives the seeds that will grow into the fall harvest. It signifies mystical union and harmony with the environment. The traditional Beltane fire symbolized the central hearth of the community and represented the mystic divine fire at the center of all things, whose spark of life is carried by each of us.
Beltane is also a celebration of the feminine and masculine joined together in holy union. The fertility of the land is thought to be in alignment with the rite of fertility enacted since ancient times.
Beltane, a Celtic word meaning 'fires of Bel' (Bel was a Celtic deity), is an annual fire festival that celebrates both the coming of summer and the fertility of the coming year. Like most of the annual agricultural celebrations, the festivals are often connected to the needs of the community. Spring Equinox was the beginning of the yearly farming cycle, preparing the soil and planting the first seeds while Beltane celebrates the union of seed and soil which brings forth food for families and communities.
Beltane rites usually included great fires and the celebration of fertility in hopes of a fruitful harvest. Courting and coupling were considered sacred to the goddess and god in honor of the gifts of fertility.
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On Blessing Endangered Land
Unchi, Ina
Grandmother Universe, Granmother Ocean,
draw my hand through the veil-there!
I feel with eyes of my soul, from my fingers
flow blessings to heal wounds, to send hope
for this sweet place of living Earth.
Love, enter here and go all places
Turning
from giant industrial-strength lies,
I touch Truth
and know in the blistering heat of rain
forests burning,
jaguars thirst with no relief in sight;
there is only
sound, smell, taste of bitter greed.
Bow down
pray, touch sacred ground, pass
your intent
through soil and stone, feel healing light run
like messengers down your arms, radiating
in all directions; feel how it is saved, Saved!!
Some green, some amber, brown and red,
some flesh and bone of precious wild remains.
Saya Wolf 2009, Reprinted from We'Moon 2012. Image: Artist Unknown
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Who Speaks For Nature?
 In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the god Pan, was the personification of the male aspect embodying nature. He was protector of nature, both plant and animal, and worshiped as the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music, and companion of the nymphs.
Pan . . . the ultimate Bad Boy . . .
Pan could not be tamed or brought under control so the growing church re-made him in their own image and he became the mythic Christian Devil or Satan.
Join us for Summer Solstice as we reclaim this powerful male archetype that our world so desperately needs at this time. We will honor Pan in his wild form. By reclaiming the masculine wild in service to nature and community, we give a voice back to both men and women. 
Please mark your calender for June 29th Summer Solstice and join Temple of the Goddess, and The Mythic Players, for an evening of art and ritual theatre for our summer celebration and re-claiming the wild, protective male aspect of nature personified by Pan.
Together let's find our voices as we mythically re-claim Pan and we all speak for the Earth and Nature. At this pivotal time in our ecological destruction, our voices are needed.
Images
Top Left: Pan by Marisa Lopez
Bottom Right: Pan by Gustave Moreau, 1894
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"Pagans play large role in Pasadena interfaith event."
Pagan Newswire Collective
Posted by Joanne Elliott
On Sunday, March 3 the Pasadena Interfaith Walk for Peace and Shoe Drive Closing Ceremony took place in Old Pasadena at Memorial Park. Nineteen religious organizations joined together to walk for peace and collect shoes for those in need. Temple of the Goddess, a Pagan 501(c)3 was one of them. Rev. Xia, founder of Temple of the Goddess says this is the first time they have reached out to the interfaith community and sees this as a new direction for the temple. Rev. Xia was also on the planning committee and played a large role in planning the event's Closing Ceremony. The event was founded by Rev. Donna Byrns of Church of Truth Center for Awakening Consciousness.
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Prophet, the Temple's
Youngest Pagan Peace Ambassador
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There were about two hundred participants from nineteen churches, temples and other religious organizations. As they marched into Memorial Park there was drumming and a beautiful chant to greet them. The chant was sung by Cheryl Cleary, Temple of the Goddess Choir Director. Children from Temple of the Goddess passed out peace bells to everyone to be used later in the program.
As everyone settled in the Temple of the Goddess Choir along with musician Tom Armbruster, singer Gary Mortimer, and choir singer Remi Dayle, all from Church of Truth for Awakening Consciousness, performed "Walk a Mile in My Shoes" by Joe South.
The mayor of Pasadena was there to greet them as well. Mayor Bill Bogaard said, "This is a wonderful group, a dedicated group. You make me proud, Pasadena proud." He also spoke out about the discrimination against LBGT couples. This was a surprise and a delight to one of Temple of the Goddess's members, who is a lesbian and plans to marry her partner. She was surprised because some members of this interfaith effort may not have been in favor of gay marriage. About this issue Mayor Bogaard said, "Discrimination is not peace." He mentioned it was better to demonstrate love rather than protest. There was no protest to his words from the crowd that I could tell. Continued . . . Photos by Charles "Beautyseer" Elliott
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Mythic Highlights from Spring Equinox Ritual Celebration
Our spring myth recounted the Russian story of Vasilisa as a young girl who receives a doll from her mother just before she dies. This doll represents Vasilisa's intuition which can warn her of danger, and suggest proper choices in the face of incomplete or no information. In our myth, Vasilisa talks with a Shaman who tells her the story of Isis and Osiris-an ancient Egyptian story of birth, death, resurrection, and rebirth. The story is told by the Shaman with tableaus of Nephthys and her husband Set who is so jealous of his brother that he kills Osiris. 
Isis is so bereft at the death of her husband Osiris that she uses her magick to bring fertility back to him, thereby conceiving their son Horus. It was a very moving myth, especially the scene between Isis and her dead husband/lover Osiris. The beauty of the emotional dance scene echoed in the sanctuary long after the actors left the stage. After the myth, everyone had the chance to enter Isis' tent and receive their own intuition doll from Isis herself. (Isis played by CandyJo Dahlstrom and Osiris played by Bandon Roberts. Click here to view a video of the evening's myth: Isis, Osiris & Horus: Resurrection & Rebirth.
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SAVE THE DATE: 2013 Temple of the Goddess Ritual Sabbats
"The seasons and all their changes are in me." -Henry David Thoreau
Our multi-cultural Earth celebrations 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.
Summer Solstice, June 29
Autumn Equinox, September 21
Hallows Eve, November 2
A Center for Awakening Consciousness, Church of Truth
690 E. Orange Grove Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91104
We hope you will join the temple, in community, to honor the seasons, the Earth, and our own personal growth for our 2013 Ritual Sabbats. |
Pooka Pages Magazine for Pagan Kids by Lora Craig-Gaddis Click here to download the Beltane Issue of Pooka Pages. |
DONOR ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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
Briana Murray & Nona Sivley
Melanie Goodyear Realm of FireRuth Ann Anderson Realm of Water
Kamala
Roger & Kathy Nolan
Gloria Avrech
Realm of Spirit
Nancy Ann & Fenton Jones
Trevor & Tanya Baumgardner
Jeanne Clark
J Tatum
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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You are sitting around a fire after a hard day of work. The air cools and the sun sets, the frogs and crickets begin singing as the sky darkens. Suddenly the person you have been eagerly awaiting leaps to the center of the circle. You have heard the story a hundred times, but the antics of the animals and the wisdom in the story never fail to give you pleasure. As she weaves her tale, the knowledge that every thing is alive, carrying its own power and wisdom, soothes your soul.
Let us join together, in this virtual circle, and share these Animal Tales. Let us once again feel how the stories connect us to the natural world and remind us that we are all part of a vast Circle of Life. Listen now as the Shaman whispers tales of animal power and wisdom in your ear.
Tonight it is a tale from the Navaho people of Southwestern United States.. In this time of change and new directions a story of Coyote is always a great teacher. While Coyote has lots of crazy ideas and never quite gets it right, he remind us to keep laughing and know that whatever happens, it is another opportunity to grow.
Coyote and the Stars
Retold by Kathy A. Miles and Charles F. Peters II
A very long time ago, before the two leggeds walked the Earth, the world was very different from the way it is now. Back then, in the beginning time, there were no stars in the night sky, and there was no moon. The nights were very dark, and the animals could not see to walk around and so were always bumping into each other. Finally they talked and decided to go ask the Great Spirit for help.
The animals gathered and talked to Great Spirit. They told Great Spirit that they were grateful for all they had, yet they wanted something else. They would like to be able to see at night.
Great Spirit nodded and smiled and told the animals "Watch me, little ones."
He then picked up a bright shiny stone from a stream and placed it in the sky, where it became a star. Continued . . . |
Gay Marriage Around the World
Updated April 23, 2013
A growing number of governments around the world are considering whether to grant legal recognition to same-sex marriages. More than a dozen countries currently have national laws allowing gays and lesbians to marry, mostly in Europe and the Americas. In three other countries, including the United States, some jurisdictions allow same-sex couples to wed, while others do not.
Click here to see the list of nations that allow same-sex marriage, either nationwide or in certain jurisdictions.
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