A PUBLICATION OF TEMPLE OF THE GODDESS

1000symbols

ISSUE 14-01

April 2014

BETWEEN THE COLUMNS WRITING AND EDITORIAL STAFF

Briana Murray

Nona Johnson

Adele Shakal

Jeanne Leiter

Charles Elliott

Joanne Elliott

Kamala

IN THIS ISSUE

Director's Message

Winter's End

Calendar of Classes & Moon Circles

Women of Power

Tenth Annual Pagan Conference

Animals Have Conscious Awareness

Papess Maifreda Visconti

Religion and Public Life

Save the Date: 2014 Ritual Sabbats

Donor Acknowledgements

Animal Tales

Imagining the Invisible

Classes & Event Notices

Director's Message

As the Wheel of the Year continues its blessed turn around the Sun and we prepare to go into another Season of renewal and planting, please join Temple of the Goddess for Summer Solstice on June 28th. Check out our schedule of current classes and moon circles held weekly in Pasadena. Information listed below in this newsletter.

Also, please join me and a remarkable group of women working in the field of the Divine Feminine for a very special teleconference offered FREE on Monday, April 28, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. I will be speaking about Ritual Arts and Rites of Passage. My focus will be on ritual as a tool for creating conscious change in your life . . . and how to live a ritualistic life.

Registration and all info here: http://www.thesacredportal.com/rdf.php

WINTER'S END

by Juno Cristi

Winter-Spring Tree found at audiorelic.com

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

NEWSLETTER CONTRIBUTIONS: Please send any related essays, articles, interviews, and poetry for temple newsletter to newsletter@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!

TOG DATES FOR MOON CIRCLES AND CLASSES

Center for Awakening Consciousness

See classes & Moon Circle descriptions below.

R.S.V.P: Info@TempleoftheGoddess.org OR leave a message at 626.765.7959

Held At: 690 East Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91104

For More Info or Contact Info: Info@TempleoftheGoddess.org OR leave a message at 626.765.7959

New Moon Celebration for Women, 7-10 pm

Suggested Donation: $5 - $10 (no one turned away for lack of funds)

Full Moon Celebration - Men & Women, 7-10 pm

Suggested Donation: $5 - $10 (no one turned away for lack of funds)

Shamanic Tantric Dance Class - Monthly for Women, 7-10 pm

Per Class: $25

Shamanic Journeying, 7-10 pm

Suggested Donation: $5 - $10

May        01 New Moon Circle *
May        08 Shamanic Journey Class
May       15 Full Moon Circle
May       22 Shamanic Tantric Dance Class *
May       29 New Moon Circle *

June      05 Shamanic Journey Class
June      12 Full Moon Circle
June      19 Shamanic Tantric Dance Class *
June       26 New Moon Circle *

July       03 CLOSED --- NO Shamanic Journey Class --- CLOSED
July       10 Full Moon Circle
July       17 Shamanic Tantric Dance Class *
July       24 New Moon Circle *
July       31 Shamanic Tantric Dance Class *

August   07 Full Moon Circle
August   14 Shamanic Journey Class
August   21 New Moon Circle *
August   28 Shamanic Tantric Dance Class *

* New Moon Circles and Shamanic Dance Classes are for women only.

Save the Date--Summer Solstice June 28, 2014

With Crow as a mythic guide, our ritual theatre celebrations in 2014 are mythic lessons about our own inherent magic when we connect to the cyclical growth of the seasons and the spiritual tools of intention, passion, gratitude, and gestation.

As a Shamanic totem, Crow dwells outside the realm of time and space with the power of shape-shifting and transformation. Crow, guardian of ceremonial magic and healing, knows the unknowable mysteries of creation and is the guide to change in consciousness that will bring about a new reality. Crow offers the courage to enter the darkness of the void, to create form and matter from the magic of our conscious intentions.

Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, is the time for nurturing the seeds we planted in the spring, the time for weeding and pruning that which would limit our harvests. The sun is hot in the bright, azure sky, ready to pour its energy into our projects, but we must have open arms and an open heart, ready to accept its abundance.

Our evening of myth and ritual theater begins with a processional honoring the power of the Sun, the power of growth, power of life, and the power of magic.

We welcome the Sun Goddess and joyously dance and honor the lessons she offers during this cycle of the season. The Summer myth and enactment unfolds with a modern retelling of the myth of Amaterasu, the Japanese Sun Goddess, and her brother, Susono'o, the great storm God who learns a lesson in power, passion, and magic.

This year's Summer Solstice Celebration is on June 28, 2014. Join Temple of the Goddess' Mythic Players as we journey into the realm of magic . . . the magic of the Earth, the alchemy of seasons, and the magic of our own focused intentions as we grow the garden of our lives.

Images: Crow detail on Morrigan by Sharon Aur

Photos by Les Nakashima

KATARZYNA MAJAK: 'WOMEN OF POWER'

'Women of Power' is a series 29 portraits of Polish witches, healers, enchanters, visionaries

"Maria - a healer and a visionary".

and spiritual leaders. According to what Ewelina Jarosz wrote about the project: "The title points to Katarzyna Majak's intention to develop and socially rehabilitate women identifying themselves with the widely understood spirituality of their ancestors, Mother Goddess, pagan beliefs, and old sources of wisdom, which may still empower and inspire contemporary secularized consciousness by its valuable content and alternative energy".

Poland is said to be more than 90% Catholic. Christianity was introduced centuries ago to have erased almost all the traces of paganism, witchcraft or shamanic traditions. Basically no line of heritage survived. Children at school learn Greek, Roman, German or Nordic mythology.

Only a few traditional healers (so called 'whisperers' who mix religion and primeval superstitions to heal and remove spells using prayers) survived on the Belarusian border and cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Others will try to revive a dead tradition - they may have had grandmothers who could 'see' or were herb healers. Some others say the knowledge survived in the subconscious but there is a need to learn from outer traditions... Thus many, left with no other choice, travel abroad - to North America, Peru, or New Zealand - to learn, come back and mix the knowledge with some local traditions - old Slavs ceremonials or demonology. Most believe pagan spirit and witchcraft somehow managed to survive in the subconscious. Read more...

The Conference on Current Pagan Studies Celebrates 10 Years

by Joanne Elliott

The tenth annual Conference on Pagan Studies in Claremont brought to bear the research of two dozen scholars and alternative religious activists to consider issues including Pagan identity, racism and homophobia within the community and the environmental impact of what has often been referred to as an "earth-based religion."

The Feb. 8-9 conference at Claremont Graduate University, an official event of the Women's Studies in Religion program at Claremont, focused upon the theme "Relationships with the World." It fittingly began with a video from Patrick McCollum, a Wiccan Priest who has been invited to represent American paganism at the UN and to large religious gatherings around the world. The video was a hello to us from India as he made his way to the Mahayaga in Kerala. Patrick was invited to co-facilitate this multi-million person spiritually-based event. He stated in his video that, "We need a new narrative that includes everyone." He believes that within Paganism we have an inclusive story.

There were twenty-three conference presenters including the two keynote speakers, Lon Milo DuQuette

and Crystal Blanton. Everyone had something interesting to say, but I will only give an overview of important highlights for the Pagan community. You can see the full list of presenters here along with the titles of their papers. If you want a detailed account of all the speakers you can check out Tony Mierzwicki's blog, The Emerald Tablet. (To be up within the next couple of days.)

Friday night celebration with cake

Photo by Charles Elliott

Joseph Futerman in his paper "The Burning Times Bugaboo-Using Fear to Create Insiders in Contemporary Paganism" asked us: "Why do we keep this myth of destruction, sadness and loss alive?" It hasn't stopped genocides. He later went on to say that he was using the word "myth" to mean story or narrative and not an untruth, but a greater truth. What is that greater truth we think we are telling ourselves and what does the myth of the Burning Times give us? He suggested that it gives us our identity, the Insider versus the Outsider. He then asked a few more questions:

What is the effect of interacting from fear, suspicion and anger?
What is the effect of claiming that we are the disempowered few?
Is this what we seek to teach? Continued...

Prominent scientists sign declaration that

animals have conscious awareness, just like us

by George Dvorsky

An international group of prominent scientists has signed Octopus

The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness in which they are proclaiming their support for the idea that animals are conscious and aware to the degree that humans are - a list of animals that includes all mammals, birds, and even the octopus. But will this make us stop treating these animals in totally inhumane ways?

While it might not sound like much for scientists to declare that many nonhuman animals possess conscious states, it's the open acknowledgement that's the big news here. The body of scientific evidence is increasingly showing that most animals are conscious in the same way that we are, and it's no longer something we can ignore. Continue Reading...

Papess Maifreda Visconti of the Guglielmites-new evidence

by Mary K. Greer

Gertrude Moakley (The Tarot Cards Painted by Bonifacio Bembo, 1966) introduced the Tarot world to a possible original source of the Papess card: Maifreda (or Manfreda) Visconti da Pirovano was to be declared Pope in Milan on Easter 1300 in a new age of the Holy Spirit. Instead, Maifreda and others in the sect were, that year, burned at the stake, along with the disinterred body of Guglielma, who had inspired this new movement. Could Maifreda be depicted on the Tarot Popess card?

Maifreda was an Abbess in the Umiliati Order and first cousin to Matteo Visconti, the Ghibelline (anti-pope) ruler of Milan. Maifreda believed the Holy Spirit had manifested on earth in the form of Guglielma (d. 1281), a middle-aged woman with a grown son who claimed to be a daughter ofPremysl Otakar,King of Bohemia, and, who on arriving in Milan in 1260, donned a "simple brown habit" and lived the life of a saint. To the Guglielmites, her arrival fulfilled a prophecy of St. Joachim de Fiore that a new age of the Holy Spirit would begin in 1260, "heralding the inauguration of an ecclesia spiritualis in which grace, spiritual knowledge and contemplative gifts would be diffused to all." Although she vehemently denied it, "rumors of divinity already swirled around Guglielma during her lifetime." And, "Her words about 'the body of the Holy Spirit,' together with her mysterious royal origins, Pentecostal birth, imputed healings and stigmata, coalesced to create a more-than-human mystique in the minds of her friends." Immediately after her death dozens of portraits were painted and chapels were dedicated to Santa Guglielma. (Visconti-Sforza card on the right - her cross at top left is hard to see.) Continue...

Bill Nye vs. Ken Ham: Are evolution and religion at odds?

by Michael Lipka

February 3, 2014

Religion and evolution will take center stage Tuesday evening in Petersburg, Ky., home of the Creation Museum and the site of a debate between Ken Ham, the museum's founder, and Bill Nye. The topic: "Is creation a viable model of origins in today's modern scientific era?"

Nye is the former host of the children's TV show "Bill Nye the Science Guy" and a science education advocate; he has spoken out against teaching creationism to children. Ham, meanwhile, is CEO of Answers in Genesis and a believer that Earth is several thousand years old (a movement known as young-Earth creationism).

Nye-Ham

A recent Pew Research survey finds that most Americans (60%) say that "humans and other living things have evolved over time." But a third of U.S. adults (33%) reject that point of view, instead saying that humans have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.

Nye (the 2010 Humanist of the Year

and a self-labeled agnostic) and Ham may represent extreme ends of the spectrum with their beliefs, but in between are some other perspectives, which can be somewhat difficult to capture in public opinion surveys. For example, roughly a quarter of Americans (24%) believe in evolution with God in the equation, saying that "a supreme being" guided the process (sometimes called "theistic evolution"). Read more...

SAVE THE DATE: 2014 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.

Animal Tales Logo

Summer Solstice, June 28, 2014
Autumn Equinox, September 20, 2014

Hallows Eve, November 1, 2014

All Rituals are scheduled at the Church of Truth in Pasadena.
Click here for more information and to download an event flyer.
Website: www.TempleoftheGoddess.org

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 2014 Ritual Sabbats.

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.

DONOR ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Temple of the Goddess wishes to acknowledge, honor, and welcome those who have joined, tithed, or donated to the temple recently. You keep the temple doors open for all of us.

Realm of Air

Rosen-Bertucci

Realm of Fire

R.A. Anderson

Realm of Earth

Kamala
Anne Gauldin

Realm of Spirit
Charles & Joanne Elliott
C Potter
G Avrech
J Clark
J Tatum
A Shakal

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 of Artek Images and music by Fritz Heede. Available from Temple of the Goddess Music & Media Store.

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.

THE WISDOM OF THE CROWS

From The Wisdom of the Crows and other Buddhist Tales

Retold by Sherad Ch�dzin & Alexandra Kohn

There comes a time in the life of every kind of creature when they have to go out on their own and join the company of their elders. Crows are no exception. It happened one day that the elder crows were testing three young ones to see if they had reached the age where they had the wit and maturity to fly with their elders.

To the first of the young ones, the leader of the crows put the following question: "In this whole world, what do you think crows should fear the most?" The young crow thought a moment and then answered, "The most fearsome thing is an arrow, for it can kill a crow with one strike."

When the elder crows heard this, they thought it was a very clever answer. They flapped their wings and cawed with approval. "You speak the truth," said the leader. "We welcome you into the flock."

Then she asked the second young crow, "What do you think we should most fear?" "I think a skilled archer is more to be feared than an arrow," the young one said, "for only the archer can aim and shoot the arrow. Without the archer, the arrow is no more than a stick, like the twig I am perching on."

The crows thought this was one of the most intelligent comments they had ever heard. The parents of the second young crow croaked with pride and beamed at their brilliant child. The leader said, "You speak with great intelligence. We are pleased to have you as a member of the flock."

Then she asked the third young crow "And what do you think is the thing most to be feared in the world?"

Here was a strange answer! The bewildered crows stood about silent and embarrassed. Many thought the third young crow was simply not bright enough to understand the question.

"Why do you say a thing like that?" the leader of the flock finally asked. Continue reading...

Imagining the Invisible

On a recent visit to Pioneer Works in the Brooklyn Red Hook neighborhood, I heard a lecture by Matthew Putman on "Imaging the Invisible". The venue is a newly renovated factory and warehouse dating back to 1866, when it was known as Pioneer Iron Works. Today, Pioneer Works is an incubation space for contemporary culture through exhibitions, studio residencies, an arts and culture magazine, and a lecture and workshop series. At the center of all this activity is Matthew Putman, Ph.D., the founder of Nanotronics, a microscopy company.

Putman began his lecture in the post-and-beam grand hall at Pioneer Works by referencing Richard Feynman's 1959 lecture at the American Physical Society. "There is plenty of room at the bottom," Feynman pointed out as he predicted many of the nanoscale technologies that have become common today.

These size-scales are poorly understood by most people. The best optical microscopes have a resolution of about 3 microns (0.000,003 meters or 3x10-6). Bacteria are generally 0.5 to 5 microns in size (the eukaryotic cells of plants and animals are on average about ten times the size of bacteria). A nanometer is orders of magnitude smaller than a micron, the difference between 1 millionth of a meter - a micron- and 1 billionth of a meter - a nanometer (0.000,000,001 or 10-9). The radius of individual atoms are measured on a scale of picometers or 1 trillionth of a meter (0.000,000,000,001 or 10-12).

Matthew Putman's Nanotronics adds software to optical microscope allowing the computer to interpolate nanoscale resolutions from micronscale images. Read more...

Full Moon Circles

Full Moon (when the moon is in her bright phase)

7:00 pm (the door locks at 7:30) to 10:00

Women, men, and children accustomed to quiet ritual.

A small group gathering, casual with an opportunity to participate in a deeper ritual than is possible at our larger Sabbat rituals. After casting a circle, we briefly share where we are in our lives, and have a communion of fruit juice and bread. We often use divination tools to draw down that which we wish to bring into our lives or release or transmute those things in our lives that no longer serve us as they now are. Then we go on a guided journey. Afterward we discuss (if you wish) your journey and usually have a physical activity to link the journey to the real world (such as after a journey of the heart, we may cut out paper hearts and write the names and communications of the people we have met on the journey). After opening the circle we have some time to snack and talk with like-minded Pagans.

Items To Bring: A cushion or pillow for sitting, a notebook or journal to record your experience, small pot luck refreshment to share (No Alcohol Event).

Moon Lodge Circles

Moon Lodge (New Moon-the dark phase of the Moon) -- Once a month, 7:00 pm (the door locks at 7:30) to 10:00

As women, we gather to honor and celebrate the Moon Mother and her cycles which we embody with her sacred gift of rhythm and blood. Together we will celebrate stories of our own moon-time, from our experiences of menarche to menopause. We will share stories of Her ebb and flow, reconnecting ourselves with these divine and timeless cycles. Our repose in this dreamtime within the safety of a circle of sisters has the power to heal and reunite our deeper selves with the natural world.

Dress comfortable and bring a comfy pillow and blanket to snuggle in. Bring any sacred offerings you may wish to share with the Goddess on Her Altar. And a decadent snack to share with your sisters.

Shamanic Tantric Dance Classes

Shamanic Tantric Dance

Women Only-Series of five classes.

7:00 pm (the door locks at 7:30) to 10:00

A series of five classes, Shamanic Tantric Dance is a meditation in motion, a sacred dance spontaneously sourced from body impulse. As each woman dances, movement following the energy flow in her body, she is witnessed by the other women. No dance experience needed. Just a desire to move to your unique power coursing through your body.

In a Sacred Circle of Sisters, Come Home to Your Authentic Self.

Facilitated by Kamala, Temple of the Goddess priestess, and teacher/practitioner of Shamanic Tantric Dance; and Rev. Xia, Temple of the Goddess Founder and priestess, and teacher/practitioner of Shamanic Tantric Dance.

Shamanic Journey Classes

Shamanic Journey using Drumming CD

Women & Men - Once a month class, 7:00 pm (the door locks at 7:30) to 10:00

This is not a "learn how to drum" class, but deep meditation wakan tanka

instruction. In this class you will learn something about Shamanistic history and what a Shaman does when she or he moves into a trance and enters another reality. If you've wanted a different way of meditating to "sort things out" then this might work for you. You will learn how to journey to the Upper and Lower Worlds, and how to gain a Power Animal and Guide. In addition to the journey work, the class will study various topics including:

Shamanic Trance Drumming-what it is and where it has been in practice.

Spirit Guides-how to obtain one and what a Guide does for you.

Relevancy of Shamanic Trance Drumming in today's world.

Class led by Pythia, Temple of the Goddess priestess, graduate of Michael Harner's Core Shamanic Workshop, and practitioner of Shamanic Trance Drumming for over 20 years.

Quick Links

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