Summer and the Mother Goddess

The Spring (Vernal) Equinox has passed and as the sacred Wheel turns, Summer is around the corner, with it the festival of Bealtaine.  It is time for the young Mother Goddess to step forward and to take the reigns.  The following is an excerpt from The Gaia Tradition: Celebrating the Earth in Her Seasons by Kisma Stephanich(Llewellyn Publications, 1991) that is most appropriate to share at this time of the year.

Summer is a combustion of activity.  The warmth of the Sun dances across the deserts, caresses the trees of the forests and sparkles off the movement of the waters in the oceans as it rises and splashes against the shoreline or softly gurgles and rushes on downstream.  All life is in full celebration of active energy.

Nearing the end of the Year

With it also being November already, it is hard to believe that the end of the year is only about 10 weeks away.  I am wondering just where the time has gone and what have I done with nearly a whole year's worth.  In reality however, a lot has been happening, especially behind the scenes, even if the result of which is not easily noticed at this stage.

February saw the resumption of devotional services to the Goddess at The Goddess House, something that I am rather passionate about as I personally do not believe that there is enough "giving back" or even a simple "thank you" shown in a lot of spiritual practices.

Goddess Prayer Beads

Strings of beads are used in various religions and spiritual traditions as a way of counting when reciting a mantra, a prayer, or even blessings, with two examples being rosary beads (used within the Catholic faith) and mala beads (within Buddhism). The beads can also be used when giving thanks as well as assisting when aligning one's self with the Divine.

Goddess beads can be used in a similar way, with the colour of the beads being up to the individual.  However, recently beads in honour of the Moon Goddess were made where the beads used reflected her triple nature of Maiden (white), Mother (red) and Crone (black), with 13 of each colour being used - representing the 13 months contained within a lunar year.

Celtic Warrior Goddesses

Cartimandua

With the theme for this month's devotional service at The Goddess House being "Warrior Goddess", the following is an extract from Merlin Stone's Ancient Mirrors of Womanhood about the Celtic Warrior Goddess.

 

In ancient Europe the major Deity was the Great Earth Mother.  The first works of art were of female figures and images of a fertility nature represented by female genitals or breasts.  The Earth Mother represented sensuality, the erotic, regeneration and fertility.  She was the relatedness of all life forms and in later agricultural societies a pregnant woman symbolised this.