The Djanggawul Sisters

A Haiku by Luthiena o Lorien

Endlessly pregnant,

Produced the world's first sacred,

Holy artifacts

According to the Aboriginal people of north eastern Amhem Land, the human race evolved from three great ancestorial beings, known as Djanggawul and his two sisters: Bildiwuwiju (or Bildjiwuraru), the elder sister who had many children; and Muralaidj (or Miralaidj), who had just reached puberty.  Together, they lived on an island known as Baralku, the island of the dead.

One day they decided to load up their canoe with sacred objects and emblems (which they kept in a conical mat basket) and travel to Australia.  They landed on the Arnhem Land coast at a place called Yelanghara beach near Port Bradshaw.   When Djanggawul plunged his mawalan (walking stick) into the sand, a freshwater spring formed.  The stick then grew into a she-oak tree.

The Goddess of Avalon

Rhiannon

The Goddesses of Avalon are the heart and soul of the Sacred Landscape, each weaving a transformational energy into the matrix of the archetypal realm. Once we have successfully made contact with the landscape areas and established a good working relationship which each of these places of power, we can use them to connect with the Ladies of Avalon. These five Divine Ancestresses will further our quest for positive change, personal Sovereignty and the wisdom that comes from drinking deep from the cauldron of our souls.

Bloudeuwedd

The Avalonian Tradition draws its inspiration from British, rather than English, culture. Wales was able to maintain and preserve the culture, language and traditions of Celtic Britain far longer than the rest of England, so we look to Welsh language, literature and folklore to understand the beliefs of the Britons.



The Nine Morgens of Avalon

Lady of Avalon by Caroline Gully Lir

 Avalon is ruled by the Lady of Avalon, a Goddess of love, beauty, power and wisdom, a Lady of Light and Darkness who appears in several forms and under several names.  Among the most ancient are those of the Ninefold Sisterhood of the Morgens, whose names were recorded by the Welsh poet Taliesin in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 12th Century Vita Merlini. The names of these Morgens were Moronoe, Mazoe, Glitonea, Gliten, Cliton, Tyronoe, Thitis, Thetis and Morgen la Fey, all of which appear tio be largely unknown, except to the latter, who was much maligned in Arthurian legend and only recently somewhat redeemed in Marian Zimmer Bradley's inspired retelling of the tale in The Mists of Avalon.

These Nine Morgen sisters encompass all the qualities of the Goddess on the continua between light and darkness, sweetness and sour, positive and negative, creative and destructive.  The Morgens are famous for their learning and knowledge of the seven liberal arts, particularly of astronomy, astrology, mathematics and physic.  They are renowned for their healing arts and skill in herbal lore, for their beautiful music and sensuality, for prophecy and the ability to shapeshift, to appear in different places in a moment in time.

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.

Vandals destroy Sacred Thorn Tree at Glastonbury

Although the following article by Emma Hallett which appeared in the British online newspaper, The Independent, tends to focus on the Holy Thorn tree at Glastonbury being a symbol of Christianity, it has also been a representation of the Great Goddess.

Emma Hallett's article, the appeared in The Independent on 8 December 2010, follows: