Lammas/Mabon 2018
What's Fresh?
GODDESS FESTIVAL 2018
Join your Sisters in the sacred redwood forest, September 6-9.https://www.facebook.com/events/110337416372729/
Updated List of Presenters: https://goddess-festival.com/presenters/
GATHERING THE SACRED AMAZONS!
Have
you reserved your spot for the Goddess Festival September 6-9? Join us in the
enchanted redwoods of Northern California for a blissful, 4-day retreat filled
with magic, sisterhood, and deep connection to the rhythms of Mother Earth.
New
this year, we’ve added an extra day on Thursday. A “Goddess Gala” opening
ceremony with spectacular performances by special guest artists will also be
held on our outdoor stage.
Don’t
miss out on this rare chance to circle with Z and our amazing assembly of
world-renowned Priestesses. Now is the time—you are worth it!
For more information, visit us at: www.Goddess-Festival.com
Have
you reserved your spot for the Goddess Festival September 6-9? Join us in the
enchanted redwoods of Northern California for a blissful, 4-day retreat filled
with magic, sisterhood, and deep connection to the rhythms of Mother Earth.
New
this year, we’ve added an extra day on Thursday. A “Goddess Gala” opening
ceremony with spectacular performances by special guest artists will also be
held on our outdoor stage.
Don’t
miss out on this rare chance to circle with Z and our amazing assembly of
world-renowned Priestesses. Now is the time—you are worth it!
Be sure to R.S.V.P on Facebook for the latest news and updates!
Message from Z:
Lammas is the time of satisfaction. We share our riches; share our love with each other. We visit and bring gifts; we thank the great Mother for the order of things.
I want to embrace all the saddened, the lost. All wrongs, my hands shall doom to death. I am the defender of every woman as I am the defender of my holy Self.
Earth Mother I am, the Only One, everything springs from me.
I carry the seed of all creation. I alone am the Bestower of life, Oh, Oh, I am awake! I am answering the Call...
Grandmother is gathering in the wealth. Yellow corn and deep green veggies, we recall how we depend on the ground we are walking on for our sustenance. That dear dark earth. Lean down sometimes and kiss the naked earth. Hold you face close to it and listen with your face, and eyes.The earth is alive and we are celebrating it. Each and every one of us took a journey around the sun, and things got done, people and animals fed. Gratitude.
Now stand up and kiss somebody. A sentient being. Kiss and feel their life force. Kiss life force to life force. Then stand up again and stretch out as far as you can. Feel the space. Then feel how small we are personally in the universe. But we are the prettiest. It counts. beauty is within and without.
Love love love
Grandmother is gathering in the wealth. Yellow corn and deep green veggies, we recall how we depend on the ground we are walking on for our sustenance. That dear dark earth. Lean down sometimes and kiss the naked earth. Hold you face close to it and listen with your face, and eyes.The earth is alive and we are celebrating it. Each and every one of us took a journey around the sun, and things got done, people and animals fed. Gratitude.
Now stand up and kiss somebody. A sentient being. Kiss and feel their life force. Kiss life force to life force. Then stand up again and stretch out as far as you can. Feel the space. Then feel how small we are personally in the universe. But we are the prettiest. It counts. beauty is within and without.
Love love love
History
of the Corn Dolly
Before Christianity took
hold in Ireland (and even afterwards) within the traditional pagan agricultural
culture it was believed that the spirit of the corn lived amongst the crop, and
that when the crop was harvested it was made effectively homeless.
The people believed a
spirit lived in the field and as they cut the harvest the spirit retreated
before them. The last bunch of corn was kept and given to the oldest man to
plait and keep it on the wall until the following year's crop was sewn when the
spirit would be returned to the field by being shaken from last year’s corn
bunch.
In Ireland, the final
sheaf was gathered with great ceremony, celebrating the living things that
might be living within it. If you think about it, that makes sense, a cornfield
is a perfect nesting place for small animals, such as rabbits, mice, birds, or
frogs. As the reaper’s harvested the crop, the animals within fled, until there
was only one sheaf left. Since the animal was more often than not a small, very
frightened hare, the phrase "putting the hare out of the corn" came
to mean the end of the reaping.
James Frazer devotes
chapters in The Golden Bough to "Corn-Mother and Corn-Maiden in Northern
Europe" (chs. 45-48). Among the customs attached to the last sheaf of the
harvest were hollow shapes fashioned from the last sheaf of wheat or other
cereal crops. The corn spirit would then spend the winter in this home until
the "corn dolly" was ploughed into the first furrow of the new
season. "Dolly" may be a corruption of "idol" or may have
come directly from the Greek word eidolon, which means ghost/spirit or image.
An odd tradition in some
areas was the use of the final sheaf to find the corpse of a drowning victim.
The sheaf was placed in the water with a lit candle upon it, near where the
person was believed to have fallen in. The sheaf drifted, and it was believed
that it would come to rest where the body was submerged. It was thought that
only the final sheaf had the magical ability to find these lost souls.
Corn Dolly making is an
ancient craft going back thousands of years, when as previously stated, it was
thought that a spirit lived in the cornfields. To preserve this spirit at
harvest time, and ensure the success of next year's harvest, a corn dolly was
made for it to rest in. Ivy was a symbol of rebirth, and so it wasn't uncommon
to dress the corn doll with a headdress of ivy.
The Corn Dolly was
originally made to appease the corn spirit with the hope of a good harvest the
following year. Traces of corn dolly shapes have been found dating back to 2000
B.C. and it has always been the tradition to plough the previous year’s dolly
back into the field the following year.
A little known fact is
that amongst the other skills that the Dagda has been associated with is
carpentry. Very little lore remains about this skill from the old days. However,
among the things that do survive is the custom of the carpenter placing corn
dollies in the eves of a new building. Nowadays, the Corn Dolly is a decorative
symbol of peace and prosperity and can be found in rural homes throughout the
year.
(August 1)
(two voices, alternating)
Fill the earth's belly full.
Fill the earth's belly full.
Bring the food, bring the grain.
There are cold months ahead
Give them peace in the ground.
Bring the food, bring the grain.
Fill the earth's belly full.
bring the food, bring the grain.
There are cold months ahead.
Give them peace in the ground.
There are cold months ahead.
Give them peace in the ground.
Fill the earth's belly full;
bring the food, bring the grain.
There are cold months ahead.
Give them peace in the ground.
From Calendars by Annie Finch (Tupelo Press, 2003)
Mabon 2018 will begin on Friday, September 21 and ends on Saturday, September 29. Lammas is the First Harvest, Mabon is the second. The Third is Samhain, celebrated October 31. Mabon marks the beginning of Autumn with the equinox on the first day.
This is the liminal time between the Goddess as Mother and the Goddess as Wisewoman or Crone. The veil is already thinning.
From the Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries:
Autumn Equinox (September 21)
Theme: Witches' Thanksgiving.
The altar is decorated with pine cones, oak sprigs, acorns, ears of corn, dried leaves and hazel branches. Candles are brown and green. The circle is created as usual; all procedures are as usual, including the Fivefold Kiss. After the energy is raised, the High Priestess turns to the west in the Goddess position.
High Priestess: Farewell, Goddess Lucina, ever-returning light! You ripened the grapes and fruits and nuts of the earth. We thank You; great is the Mother Who made our lives ripen with experience and wisdom. This is the season in which the wise hazelnut teaches us contained knowledge. In the seed is hidden the new life, which Demeter will free once it returns to the sacred earth. She plants the seed into the earth.
All: Blessed be! May new life be sent from the land of youth!
High Priestess (offering the chalice to the Goddess): Eternal Mother, without beginning and without end, accept our libation to You for Your love and teachings. Indeed, You are the soul of nature, and all that is belongs to You. Accept our souls. We dedicate ourselves to You!
The chalice makes the round for the toasting to the Goddess. All bless the food and drink and feast in Her honor. Dancing follows; close the circle.
The Elizabeth Cady Stanton Coven #1 met for the second Annual Midsummer Berry Festival at Midsummer at Z.’s house and for Lammas on Friday, August 10.
We will gather to celebrate the turning of the Seasons on Saturday, Sept. 22 @ 5pm
This is a teaching coven. We are educating our sisters about our sisters from the past. We are starting our education with Elizabeth Cady Stanton's The Woman's Bible. Every newsletter will include a lesson, a reading from the book and discussion questions for you to answer. When we meet, we will go over the answers. These questions are posed to inspire you to really think about what you have been taught about religion and how that way of thinking has influenced you and those around you.
We will gather to celebrate the turning of the Seasons on Saturday, Sept. 22 @ 5pm
The theme of the Goddess Festival this year is Gathering the Amazons. At our Lammas meeting the Elisabeth Cady
Stanton Coven number 1 conceived of a great Amazonian remembering the NAMES of
the Amazons. T shirt with the names of Amazons on it. So many names. We had
over hundreds. Wearing their names, who once lived and ruled their own
country will be a source of strength. It will make their magic descend into us.
There are hundreds of Amazons that have been named in
various source materials, including ancient Greek historical texts, pottery,
and mythology (from around the world, of course continuing into the present).
One of our coven sisters is creating a concert style t-shirt for the festival
that will feature them on the back. They deserve to be celebrated like the rock
stars they are--and speaking their names not only honors them, but the Amazon
spirit that is alive and well within us today!
I would also recommend Adrienne Mayor’s book, TheAmazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World as
suggested reading prior to the festival:
(I would actually recommend this book, period. I have
personally read it three times now and each time, I find something new. LMC)
We also discussed the importance of listening to the
woman inside of us, the spirit that transcends our physical experiences. What
is she saying to you? Many of the answers to the questions we ask in the lessons on the Women's Bible will come to you from this source, the spiritual unfolding will release the knowledge to you when you open yourself to Her, the Divine Feminine within each woman.
This is a teaching coven. We are educating our sisters about our sisters from the past. We are starting our education with Elizabeth Cady Stanton's The Woman's Bible. Every newsletter will include a lesson, a reading from the book and discussion questions for you to answer. When we meet, we will go over the answers. These questions are posed to inspire you to really think about what you have been taught about religion and how that way of thinking has influenced you and those around you.
Our hope is that you start a group wherever you are and discuss the meaning of the Woman's Bible and the other works we will study with each other and wake up a few more ladies from their patriarchal propaganda trance. We are focusing on political spellcasting and educating our sisters about our sisters from the past. Patriarchal culture has deprived women from knowing about the Elders who went before us; we reclaim them in order to invite to us a better future. These are important tasks for the times in which we live. Please join us in this work.
To join, please send a request with the following information: 1) Why you are interested in joining the coven and 2) What skills/abilities you have to contribute to our sisterhood. Annual membership dues are $50 via PayPal (must be current to remain active and access the group). Use the purple "Donate" button below and follow the directions to PayPal. When joining, please Add a Note in the PayPal process that says "ECS Coven #1 Membership" and uncheck the box for "Paying for goods or service".
Because,
The Elizabeth Cady Stanton Coven #1
First Course: The Woman’s Bible
Lesson
3: Genesis iii: 1-24.: The “Fall of Man”
The Greeks have a similar story to this. In it,
Pandora, whose name, Πανδώρα,
derived from πᾶν "all" and δῶρον "gift" (originally her pithos was a blessing full of divine gifts
for humankind), is the Hellenic Eve. Jane Ellen Harrison discusses the
myth of Pandora in context to her depiction on a vase in the British
Museum. On that vase, Pandora is seen as rising from the earth,
being born, as it were, from the Mother, not created by male gods (Crow).
Harrison comments on the alteration of her myth to
patriarchal terms: "Pandora is in
ritual and matriarchal theology the earth as Koré, but in the patriarchal
mythology of Hesiod her great figure is strangely changed and minished. She is
no longer Earth-born, but the creature, the handiwork of Olympian Zeus"
(Harrison 284). Pandora was originally
depicted as rising from the earth with her pithos or jar. Pandora, "she
who gives all gifts" is also known as Anesidora, which means "she who
sends up gifts." Her denigration to the woman who loosed all the woes of
mankind upon the earth is parallel to the Abrahamic tradition of Eve bringing
the curse of original sin upon humans and is another example of patriarchy
altering existing mythology to disempower women (281-285).
Adam
Clarke, whom Elizabeth Cady Stanton references in her commentary, was a 19th
century British Methodist theologian and biblical scholar. The work to which
ECS refers was a biblical commentary written by Clarke over 40 years. It was
six volumes and was the chief Biblical reference used by the Methodist Church
for two hundred years. (If you are interested in reading or referencing it, it
is available online at : http://sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/clarke/index.htm).
Bibliography
Crow, Melissa M. “In Search of the
Ancient Mother Exploring the Fate of Neolithic Goddess Worship in the Context
of the Rise of Patriarchal Religions.” Academia.edu - Share Research, 2012,
www.academia.edu/27504778/In_Search_of_the_Ancient_Mother_Exploring_the_fate_of_neolithic_Goddess_worship_in_the_context_of_the_rise_of_patriarchal_religions.
Daly, Mary. “A Call for the Castration
of sexist Religion.” Sexist Religion and Women in the Church; No More Silence!, edited by Alice Hageman,
NY: Association Press, 1974, p. 130.
Harrison, Jane Ellen. Prolegomena to the Study
of Greek religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1922.
Please read The Woman’s Bible Genesis 3: 1-24. Read,
think, absorb, and ponder the following:
1. ECS writes,
“Adam Clarke, in his commentaries, asks the question, "is this an
allegory?" He finds it beset with so many difficulties as an historical
fact, that he inclines at first to regard it as a fable, a mere symbol, of some
hidden truth.” What do you think, is it
a myth, an allegory, or something else? Why?
2. What did
Eve think about before deciding to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree? What
choice would you have made? Why?
3. Why do you
think that the fruit of the tree of knowledge was forbidden to Adam and Eve?
Why do think Eve chose to eat the fruit? Have you ever been tempted to choose
ignorance over knowledge? Why?
4. God said of
the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, "for in the day thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die." The Serpent told Eve she would not die,
but would gain knowledge. LBD says the
serpent told Eve, “Dying ye shalt not die.” What do you think it meant by that?
Why?
5. After they
ate the Forbidden Fruit, Eve and Adam were cursed by Jaweh. What were those curses?
According to the commentary by Lillie Devereux Blake
(LBD), the curse was rather a prediction. What do you think? Why?
6. Traditionally, Abrahamic traditions have laid sin
and all the ills of life at the feet of Eve for her part in the “Fall.” Look
again at the roles played in this story by Eve and by Adam; what was Adam’s
part in the “Fall” of man? What was Eve’s role?
According to LBD, "’And Adam called his wife's
name Life for she was the mother of all living’" (V. 20, literal
translation). Just think for a moment on that, and then answer the following
questions:
7. What do you
think is the significance of having Adam name “the Woman?” Mary Daly writes
that Adam denied Eve the power to name herself; do you agree? Why or why not?
If so, what do you think is the impact that has had on women through the ages?
8. What is the
significance of the direct translation of “Eve” to “life”? In your opinion,
what does that mean in relation to the “curse” of motherhood?
9. The “curse”
placed on maternity seems to contradict the importance placed on the role of
motherhood in Abrahamic Traditions and in our current culture. Is this
misogyny; i.e. a desire to see women suffer in childbirth? Or something else?
If something else, what?
10. Think for
a moment on the passage in which Eve believed that God had said they would die
if they ate of the Tree of Knowledge. Is this significant to her name meaning
“Life?” If so, how?
11. What did
you learn that was new from this reading? Can you apply it to your day to day
life? If so, how? If not, why?
This is wonderful sister Lisa! Let it fly!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Z.! It is flown.
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