Introduction

Be wild; that is how to clear the river.

–Clarissa Pinkola Estés

We all come from a mother. We are born out of a woman, out of the womb—the small, dark, wet space that has no other purpose biologically but to carry life. Each one of us inhabits space: between our organs and within our lungs; in our nostrils to breathe and smell; in our ears so that we can hear the sounds of the world. Yet it is woman who holds the space to create life, to nurture it naturally for nine months, and to push it out into the world where that new life has the opportunity to grow and learn, dance and love, feel heartache and sorrow, channel spirit into form. This is an immense reality that can inspire us each and every day if we choose to pay closer attention to it. It is wondrous that every woman walks around with the great mystery of life dwelling within her.

For decades, women have been inspired to seek out new ways to relate to sacredness and honor the divine feminine. This is crucial to creating a more balanced view of the sacred, since most organized religions were originally written down by men and primarily constructed for male practice. This doesn’t mean there is no wisdom in world religions, but the path of the woman, the spiritual capacity of a human that carries the creative force within, calls for a different way of approaching the sacred. Unlike traditional religious paths, contemporary women’s connection to the spiritual comes in the form of ordinary reality. The number of women I know who are able to raise children in an expansive, holistic way as well as take care of the house and have a career (such as my own mother) is astonishing. We women should be applauding ourselves for our capacity to give birth, make a perfect cup of tea, and drum to the stars. We are limitless and we need to remind ourselves of that limitlessness on a daily basis.

Instead of transcending, the sacred feminine reminds us to simply be with what is, and celebrate it; to be with the messiness of birth; to celebrate each time our menses comes along; to sit quietly and respectfully with death; to honor our pregnancies, our years of breastfeeding, our times of going within and finding new aspects of the soul. The sacred feminine reminds us that even if we do not have children, we are still deeply connected to our mother and her processes; that we are a reflection of her power, her love, her wisdom. We are all a reflection of the beauty that is our earth and all her processes. Earth is our mother as much as our human mother and all things come from her and return to her, just as our bodies will one day decay in her soils.

Over and over and over again, I have read the story of the goddess: how she figured predominantly in the artwork of our ancestors for over 30,000 years. How she is the mother, weaver, dancer, lover, divine matrix, web builder, daughter, queen of heaven, queen of earth … until her descent into the underworld some four to five thousand years b.c.e. The story of her loss seems to begin with Inanna/Astarte/Isis, and descend downward into the abyss beneath a patriarchal, kingdom worship of masculine divinity. Except for the phenomenon of Tantra that later arose in South India in 500 c.e., the predominant worship of the sacred feminine and the goddess was slowly crushed out of much of the world’s religion, ideology, and philosophy and she was almost destroyed by the culture of the west.

We are now witnessing where the system of the past several thousand years has led us: rape and violence throughout the world, severe poverty, hunger and social unrest, unprecedented climate change and ecological destruction; meanwhile, we spend billions of dollars on space programs and seek to explain the mystery of the universe, often forgetting to solve our very real issues here on earth. But all of that is changing. Peoples’ grassroots efforts are slowly gaining ground even if the the old system would have you think otherwise; there is no question now that the goddess—and all her guises of interconnectedness, immanence, and sacred feminine—is returning in full force. Even with all of the darkness of our history, we see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. There is no stopping her. When the tide reaches critical mass, humanity will shift once again into a way of being that will be more connected with the earth. As I write this, Americans are hotly debating the need for universal health care. On the surface this may seem to be a political issue, but dig a bit deeper and you’ll find that the crux of the issue is the our current capitalistic, dominant way of handling our health versus a system that supports people’s well being. The anger and rage that is surfacing is a symptom of that shift. Even if the plan of universal health care fails this time, it will return, because as each of us wakes up to the immanence of the sacred feminine, we in turn affect and light the power of those around us.

This book provides women from all walks of life with a guided path to reclaim the divine, inner self by using sacred resources of indigenous knowledge. In simple, yet profound, work with archetypes, myth, and ceremony, women are encouraged to step out of the roles that no longer serve them and into a place that is embodied with power, love, and wisdom. The following pages give us the tools to claim our sacredness and transform our fears into power for healing—methods to connect with our deep wells of inner love and access our sacred and profound feminine wisdom.

My Own Path to the Sacred Feminine

When I first discovered the sacred feminine, I literally felt something inside my body change. My first breath of the sacred feminine came in the form of a high priestess of Wicca: honored as the dark starry night, the waxing and waning moon, the seas and elements. When I first experienced a full moon Wicca ceremony, I imagined myself drawing down the moon as the goddess or sacred feminine into my womb, the space inside that would always be just a space until my first pregnancy. I spent over a year intensely studying and practicing Wicca before moving abroad.

For nearly a decade, I lived in India, mostly in a village by the sea in the South, but also traveling and spending many months in the high Himalayas. In India the goddess is a living, breathing, sensual element of everyday life. The goddess is not a separate being, but is really just differernt aspects of womanhood; each different deity symbolizes the different ways we relate to the world as women. My time in India taught me that the goddess is us eyeing ourselves in this world; that we, as women, are in the sacred form of the goddess, just as men are in sacred form of the god.

I was continuously inspired by goddesses such as the powerful warrioress Durga, the goddesss of motherhood; the poet Saraswati, who symbolizes art, music, and literature; and the wondrous goddess of the river, Ganga Ma. I reveled in the Indian women who lit a small flame every evening for the goddess and wore jasmine in their hair as an offering to the sacred feminine. I created ceremonies that were an eclectic mix of Wicca and Indian tantra, filled with power and magic. I began to claim myself and my being as a woman using the images of the sacred feminine as my guide. Along the way I had two miscarriages and two babies, one of whom died a few days after birth. I began to connect more deeply with women who had also lost babies to miscarriage, death, or abortion and felt a further kinship with the power of creating life within as well as the endings and honoring the cycles of life.

Over the course of many years, my studies grew to include the practices of tarot, Reiki, Zazen (basic silent sitting and walking meditation), yoga, and Tibetan Buddhism, mainly Mahayana and Vajrayana teachings. I practiced the art of Reiki for over a decade and by doing the same simple practice repeatedly, I gained immense wisdom. I practiced many hours of Zazen over the course of an eight year period, which formed an important ground for my later teachings in visualization and deity practices of Tibetan Buddhism. All of these practices have informed my path differently and I continue to incorporate them into my healing work. Diversity and cultivating different aspects of ourselves is an essential aspect of the sacred feminine, the part that enables us to create powerful ceremony, understand all the loving forms of our lives, and find wisdom in each multidimensional day.

Triple Goddess

The goddess is portrayed throughout various cultures and histories as a three-fold or triple-faced goddess. Contemporary Wicca practitioners, who practice crafting using the seasons, elements, and natural rhythms as guides, follow the cycles of the maiden or virgin, mother, and crone to guide their sacred ceremonies. This triple-fold view is connected to the three major times in a woman’s life: before menses, the years of menses, and the time of and after menopause. This is reflected in the phases of the moon: new or waxing as the white goddess of birth and growth; full as the red goddess of love and battle; and old or waning moon as the black goddess of death and divination.1

After spending time working with these aspects of the goddess, I began to search further afield for varied expressions of the sacred feminine. These expressions are aspects of a wild, sacred feminine and resonate a very deep truth within our beings. This is not the feminine of gender, nor is it the feminine of biology, but the sacred feminine that connects us as human beings to life on this earth. I moved beyond the triple goddess into a nine-fold path that inspires us to access our own sacred feminine within.

The Nine-Fold Journey

When we focus our gifts and talents that are inherent to us as women, we are able to live from a place of authenticity, courage, and clarity. Using nine sacred archetypes, we unlock the rich natural resources within and develop our spiritual journey. The nine manifestations of the sacred feminine are Fire Bearer, Initiate, Warrioress, Consort, Healer, Bodhisattva, Priestess, Weaver, and Crone. Of course, there are many more aspects of the sacred feminine found both in cultures across time and space as well as within, but these are the nine I felt would be most accessible for women today. These nine archetypes are each associated with a specific goddess and one of her myths that will help to illuminate her role as the archetype. We can think of each of goddesses as an inspiration to activate our power, love, and wisdom as we develop on the path of the sacred feminine.

Besides the Crone, I have deliberately chosen nine archetypes that are functions in life, rather than biological roles. Although many women are mothers and wives, all are daughters and often sisters. I feel there are specific capabilities that are inherent to women, and are part of our being that enable us to move along the path of life in a way that is unique and empowering. For example, I use the archetype of the Healer,which is often found in women. Although we may only activate the Healer for ourselves and aren’t necessarily becoming a literal healer, we are biologically wired to cultivate a natural inclination to think about the wellbeing of others. In the myths surrounding the patriarchy, the stories often revolve around the woman as a mother to a son, a wife to a husband, a daughter to a father. I specifically chose goddesses that can act as contemporary heroines and also honor woman in the roles of wild wanderer, creator, destroyer, guide, healer, and space-holder—roles that are inherent to women regardless of the men in their lives.

Power, Love, and Wisdom

The nine feminine archetypes naturally fall into three distinct categories: power, love, and wisdom. These themes are the three keys used in this book to provide a more balanced, empowered, clear, and motivated life; they are interdependent of each other and true activation relies on the three working together.

First, we work with power to bring in the energy that grounds us. Power provides us with the tools needed on our path and helps us to face and transform fears. When we become filled with power, we are better able to discern what is healthy for us, to know our own truths, and manifest our desires. The three archetypes that enable us to access our power are the Fire Bearer, Initiate, and Warrioress. The Fire Bearer gives us the fiery seed of new growth to open up to our inner sacredness. The Initate enables us to reclaim our past and transform darkness and pain into power and courage. The Warrioress empowers us further by giving us the tools to set clear boundaries and connect with our spirit animal guides.

Following power is love, where we activate nourishment for ourselves and others to find the well of deep healing and peace inside. Love is an action, a way of responding to the world with a measure of calm, peacefulness, and dignity. We access and activate our love through the three archetypes of Healer, Consort, and Bodhisattva. The Healer nourishes our soul, waters our freshly planted seeds of power, and shines her light onto our sprouting sacred selves. The Consort guides us towards activating our sexual life force energy as well as creating loving relations with others. The Bodhisattva, a being from the Mahayana Buddhist tradition who forsakes his or her own enlightenment until all beings become enlightened, is an embodiment of selfless service. The Bodhisattva inspires us to use love and compassion actively in our daily lives.

Anchoring power and love into wisdom is the final stage of the path. When we open ourselves to our inherent wisdom as women, we move into a place of sacred reverence that honors ourselves and our community. Wisdom gives us the opportunity to actively motivate others as we have been inspired along the path. The three archetypes that guide us into a place of wisdom are the Weaver, Priestess, and the Crone. The Weaver shows us how to find our inner wisdom by bringing together all the different aspects of ourselves and sharing them with the community. The Priestess guides us to stand in a place of wise leadership, to use our gifts that we have discovered along the way and inspire other women to find their inner sacredness. Finally, the Crone, the ancient wise woman, shows us the importance of passing on wisdom, honoring the ancestors, and accepting endings and dissolution.

How to Use This Book

This book is designed for women who want to connect with sacredness but are not sure how, and for expanding the work of more advanced practitioners. First and foremost, before you begin to work with the contents of this book, I encourage you to cultivate some level of body awareness. Many of us are extremely busy, rush about all day long, and come home to numb ourselves with wine, television, or the Internet. Before we know it, months and even years have passed us by without an awareness of our deeper needs. By simply tuning into our bodies and to what is available to us in the here and now we can become more centered and balanced. I recommend simply focusing on your breath every day for at least five minutes (see Chapter Six, Exercise 6.1 for a more detailed explanation of how to focus on your breath). If you cannot find five minutes a day to simply breathe and sit with yourself, then I guarantee that there is a strong possibility that something in your life is out of balance. It is no secret that meditation, yoga, and breath work is extremely beneficial to your health and peace of mind.

I also encourage you to connect to the rhythms of your womb, as this is an immediate way to access the sacred feminine. By paying attention to your monthy cycle, you will gain a stronger connection to your own spirituality. Pay attention to the current moon cycle each time you have your period. Is it new or full, waxing or waning? All creatures on earth, as well as the tides of the ocean, are affected by the changing moon cycles. It is not a coincidence that humans have honored the moon and her rhythms for thousands of years. Both the moon cycle and your menstrual cycle have a direct effect on your emotions as well as on the intuitive gifts that are naturally enhanced during this time. Even if you have passed through menarche, you still have a strong connection to the moons and rhythms of the seasons. We have been trained to turn off the awareness of our breath, our bodies, and our periods for far too long, and I strongly encourage you to bring back that awareness.

As we cultivate body awareness, we can begin to work with the tools of the sacred feminine. Each of the following nine chapters contains an archetype, a goddess associated with that archetype, a myth about the goddess, exercises to work with her, and a ceremony to connect to the archetype. Even if you have never created a ceremony, an altar, or even felt drawn to work with goddesses, I encourage you to be open to the ideas presented here. These methods have been used for millennia by indigenous peoples to find harmony with themselves and with the earth. They are very simple yet powerful ways to connect to who we are as women, to feel a connection to our earth, and to share our gifts and talents with our communities. Although I have included advanced terminology in some of the ceremonies (and an appendix to explain these), I recommend that you try working with these tools as a way to enhance the sacredness of your life.

Tools of the Sacred Feminine

The first tool of the sacred feminine is the archetype which is associated with a particular goddess. Archetypes are collective forms or universal imprints that reside in each of us such as the mother figure, lover, healer, and priestess. I have chosen specific goddesses to represent nine feminine archetypes, although there are many more. For example, Isis, an ancient goddess of Egypt, symbolizes the priestess archetype. We can think of the goddesses as divine aspects of the feminine universe which inevitably reside within us. When we choose to work with sacred forms such as goddesses, we are choosing to reprogram our mind to align with greater forces that have a positive impact on our well being. For example, we may find that we obsess over something or are filled with anxiety and doubts. By focusing on the image of Quan Yin, the goddess of peace, tranquility, and compassion, we are choosing to embody aspects that are more nourishing to our well being. This does not require that we worship them, or even give up our own beliefs to use these goddesses. They are simply forms that help us to cultivate a more positive and healing mind. When our mind relaxes, many of our worries drift away and it becomes much easier to create peace in our daily life as well as feeling more healthy and fulfilled.

We can imagine each of the nine goddesses or archetypes as seeds that, over time, will grow different qualities that will help us to create more sacredness in our daily lives. Although the nine aspects of the sacred feminine follow a natural progression from one development to another, you can use them in any order you wish. You may want to work with each archetype for a set amount of time, such as a week or month. This will give you a chance to really explore the deeper meanings of each goddess, allow them to come and speak to you in your dreams and subconscious, and give you time to practice the ceremony at the end of each chapter.

Each chapter begins with a short visualization to get you in touch with the archetype. I recommend that you take a moment before starting each chapter to light a candle and focus on your breath before reading the powerful visualization. This will help you to construct a mental and emotional connection between yourself and the archetype you will be exploring. This also enables you to help access your subconscious more fully.

The next sacred feminine tool is myth. In the following chapters, you will find that I have chosen a myth or story that clearly illustrates each of the archetypes. Myths are epic stories that hold keys in the form of archetypes to aid us in understanding the bigger, more powerful events of our own lives. Although we may not realize it, each of us harbors a collection of inner stories and it is these stories that often dictate who we are and why we make certain choices. For example, if we identify as a daughter, we may act out in certain ways we believe daughters are supposed to behave. When we examine our inner stories, we can begin to make choices about which myths we choose to embody. Many of us are filled with stories that the media has pumped into us without our awareness. If we are to examine the stories we are being told by the mainstream media, we find that many of them still portray women as passive wives, hardworking mothers, or obedient daughters. By reexamining our roles, we can start asking ourselves how we may limit our lives and how we can transform beliefs that no longer serve us into a more powerful, loving and wise self.

This book provides several different kinds of stories that seek to empower our inner sacred feminine. Myths help guide us in major life changes, trials, and various obstacles. In the Initiate chapter, there is the story of Inanna, a goddess of ancient Sumeria, who journeys into the darkness, surrenders her body, dies, and is then reborn as whole once again. This story not only inspires our conscious mind, it seeds our subconscious with a transformative key that helps us face our own darkness—such as loss, divorce, or illness. Reading and contemplating the myths in this book and using them as inspiration will help you to create powerful new stories that honor the power, love, and wisdom that we hold as women.

The myths have been shortened to make them more accessible, but if you feel called to explore them further, the resource list in the back of the book can help direct you to the longer versions of these stories. When you read the myths, I encourage you to take your time and visualize the imagery. You can choose to record the myth and play it back or have someone read it aloud as a way to further engage with the images and story that is being told. This way, you will plant worthy seeds into your subconscious, seeds that speak of power, love, and wisdom that comes in the shape of the goddesses featured in each story.

Once we have begun cultivating body awareness, studied archetypes, and contemplated inspiring myths, we can then work with the next tool, ceremony or ritual, to further embody the sacred feminine. Creating ceremony is the process of setting an intention and then using a form to encapsulate that intention, thus making it more powerful. Ceremony works as a symbolic language to feed our soul; it is the sacred technology that makes contact with our subconscious self, enables healing and transformation, and activates the deep forces of power, love, and wisdom within. For example, we may want to manifest certain things in our life. By manifesting an intention, then planting a seed as a symbolic gesture of change, we are effectively communicating to our subconscious that we are taking actions to welcome that intention into our lives. This is far more powerful than haphazardly wishing for things to happen to us. Another way ceremony can assist us is the honoring of passages in our life at times of change and transformation. Included in this book are ceremonies to help you honor your own major life changes including reclaiming your first menses and a croning ceremony for experiencing menopause.

By creating ceremony we relinquish our smaller self and merge with the dynamic, larger spirit; we are dissolving our ego and habitual tendencies into the connectedness of the universe. Each time we create ceremony, we become more fluid and less attached to stagnant emotions and mental constructs. We are revitalized by the wonder of our universe. This is why tribal cultures create spontaneous ceremony; this is why people love to dance, make music, and create art: to repeatedly dissolve the smaller self is to provide continuous, spiritual nourishment. I have found that when I create ceremony every month, it is as if my life becomes dotted with the seeds of light. Instead of a monthly stream of mundane activities, there are dots of brilliant light woven into my everyday world. With time, this light spills out into all of my days and infuses the mundane tasks of cooking, cleaning, and caring for my child in a sacred way.

Some of the ceremonies and exercises will be appropriate for you and some will not. They are there to try and see what sticks. Simply change or throw out what doesn’t work; these are only guidelines to create a more sacred and fulfilling existence. There are ceremonies for single women and groups, and your own spontaneity and creativity are encouraged. There are several exercises which include various ways to connect with your own sacred feminine—including how to reclaim your menstruation, cultivate intuition, and honor your life as a woman—which can be also woven into ceremony if you wish. Remember that ritual and ceremony are sacred technology that heals, enables us to understand our life purpose, and reconnects us with our inner sacred feminine.

Working with the Elements

Part of the sacred feminine path is working closely with the elements. Traditionally, cultures have used the four primary elements of earth, fire, water, and air to create sacred space, make ceremony, enhance visualizations, and perform magic. Some traditions also include the elements of above (sky), below (mother earth), and center or space. As we work through the book, the elements will be discussed and used in the exercises and ceremonies.

Traditionally each element has certain qualities, colors, and associations. In some of the ceremonies in this book, I have suggested certain elements and offerings in connection with the directions. However, this book is not about working with a specific tradition and I encourage you to develop your own relationship with each element. You can discover your personal connection to earth, fire, water, and air by simply writing down your associations and then drawing them on paper. Sit with four blank pieces of papers, write “Earth” on the top of the first one, and write a list of what you associate with earth. Just let it flow without trying to analyze or judge. Then using crayons, pastels, paints, or other art supplies, draw images of what you relate to each of the elements. Do this for each element. This way, you will begin to dialogue with the elements. Also notice the elements and how they work in the natural world around you: how the fiery sun rises in the morning, the earthiness of the soil and rocks, the water of rain or snow, and the air in the wind and breezes. These elements are reflected in your body as well: the fire of digestion, the earthy quality of bone and muscle, the water in your mouth and tears, and the air of your breath moving in and out of your lungs. We can find these elements, along with the space of our body cavities, our nose and mouth, and our wombs, woven into each aspect of living.

Setting Solid Ground

Before continuing with the rest of the book, learning the myths, and using the exercises, it is important to set a solid ground for your practice. These three crucial steps are essential to creating ceremony effectively. These steps are the beginning of bringing sacred awareness into our everyday life. Each of the steps below can be extremely simple or more complex. For example, when you create an altar, you can make a small shelf in your home, or you may have an entire room devoted to sacred space and precious objects. This is up to you and what you can easily manage. The idea is to simply begin seeding your life with a level of sacredness. A good rule of thumb is to keep it simple. If your own altar is overwhelming you, then that could be a sign that you are trying too hard.

Creating an Altar or Shrine

This is the first step to effectively working with the sacred feminine. This involves creating a sacred space somewhere in your home or garden. Traditionally, cultures use altars as a place to give offerings to the spirits; later it became a more formal place in religious activity. However, we do not need to follow such a formal method. You can start by simply clearing off a shelf, covering it with a colored cloth, and placing a few items that you love such as a picture of your grandmother, a rock or nest or shell that you found, or an image of a deity or symbol that you feel drawn to. Think of this like a mini art project where you are allowing your subconscious to communicate through your altar. By creating a space of sacred objects that speaks to your soul you open up a dialogue between your conscious and unconscious mind. I encourage you to use aspects of the elements (a candle for fire, incense for air, a stone for earth, a bowl of water, for example), images, cards, natural objects, flowers, feathers, precious objects, and anything else that you may feel connected to. Change the items on your altar as often as you wish. You may wish to use your altar as a reflection of the seasons, yearly changes, and moon cycles. For example, put colored leaves on your altar to symbolize autumn and a time of letting go or going within.

Making Offerings

Every day we consume and use resources from the earth—from our food to our clothing, home, car, laptop, etc. We can forget that we are consistently using the earth and a good way to remind ourselves of this fact is to give something back to the earth. Indigenous cultures think of the earth not as a mass of resources but as a living entity or mother who provides nourishment to her children; our planet is an example of a powerful form of generosity. When we cultivate a practice of giving offerings, we are connecting ourselves to the earth and the living things around us, feeling a sense of gratitude or thankfulness for our sustenance. This helps us to open our hearts and to cultivate a more peaceful way of relating to each other. When we give offerings on our altar or sacred space, we can offer to the earth in general, or sometimes we can be more specific and show gratitude toward certain people in our lives, the food we eat, or the abundance that exists in our world. This also helps us to recognize that our lives often have many wonderful components in them and help loosen any anxiety we may feel over not having enough. Our offering can be as simple as a flower, a bowl of water, or a grain of rice. The point is to simply perform the action as a symbolic message to our subconscious to open our heart in thankfulness. Traditionally, specific offerings are given for each of the directions and the elements associated with those directions. I have listed those below. This work can easily be cultivated into a weekly or daily practice such as refilling a water bowl each morning as an offering to the earth or spirits or your family. All over the world people still practice this art and I encourage you to reconnect with this simple work; you will experience immediate benefits.

Calling in the Circle

After you prepare an altar and have worked with offerings, you will be ready to call a circle, which is the first step in creating ceremony. When you call a circle, you are creating a container for your ceremonial work; this intensifies both the experience and the magic at work. To call a circle, stand in each direction and call that direction. Then visualize a brilliant ring of light encircling you and whoever is participating the ceremony with you. The intention is to create a safe and sacred space which allows your connection to your spirit and subconscious to be intensified.

Throughout this book, I have included the calling of seven directions: the four cardinal directions, above, below and center. You may simplify this and only use the four cardinal directions or you may use all seven. Use your element association list and images to build your personal connection to the elements each time you create a ceremony. Usually, directions are called clockwise, starting perhaps with east or south (although you can choose to start with any direction you wish). If you start in the east, then follow with south, west, north, below, above, and center. I loosely associate the directions with the following elements: east with air; south with fire; west with water; north with ancestors/stones and bones; below with mother earth; and above with father sky. When you call a direction, you will want to call both the direction and the element, as well as give an offering. You may say something like, “I call the east, the element of air. Remind us that every breath is sacred …” and then offer incense or a feather; repeat this with each element: offer a candle or embers for south, water for west, and a crystal for the north. Mother earth is the below who nourishes us through all her gifts and father sky is above us who provides us wisdom and the long past and future. The center is ourselves, actively holding the central focus between the four directions, channeling the earth and sky. Feeling the space, the center of creation within your body, is a nice way to connect your body directly to the circle. The center, like our womb, goes with us everywhere. You may find your own way of honoring these directions and/or simply calling a circle.

Once you have called the directions, visualize a brilliant circle of light surrounding you, the other participants, and the space where you will do your ceremony work. Make sure to imagine the circle large enough to hold everyone in it as well as your working space. The purpose of the circle is to provide a container, which is then infused with potent energy. This sends a message to your subconscious, activating a more focused energy into your ceremonial work.

After you complete each ceremony, make sure to also close the circle. This is very important and I cannot stress this enough! I have attended too many ceremonies where circles are cast, energy is raised, and then all our good work is dissipated by not properly closing the circle. This is also important to not only follow through on our practice, but to really feel a solid sense of gratitude for all that we have. When we close the circle, it can be a very simpleaction, but focused by simply thanking and releasing each of the directions and/or elements. You can do this by saying something like, “East, we thank you for your presence. We honor the air and sacredness of breath.” You can release each element in the same order or backwards, starting with the last direction called in. This often has a more releasing feel to it.

A Note on Ceremony Work

Each chapter contains a ceremony that reflects the archetype and goddess discussed in that chapter. The ceremonies are somewhat elaborate and include detailed instructions on how to work with various energies and cycles of our lives. If you are a beginner to this kind of work, feel free to either omit aspects of the ceremony that you do not understand or resonate with and/or research what is unfamiliar. For example, I may mention to use an oracle such as the tarot or runes at a certain part of the ceremony. If this is entirely unfamiliar for you, then simply omit that part for the time being and then, perhaps, research oracles and see if there is one that resonates with you to use in the future. I have included an appendix in the back of the book which explains various terms and tools that are referred to in the ceremonies. None of these ceremonies are set in stone and the essential qualities for each are your intention and creation of a form to more fully connect your conscious mind to your subconscious spiritual self. You may also wish to change, rearrange, or substitute aspects of the ceremonies to more fully suit your needs. The idea behind creating ceremony is to bring sacred art into your daily awareness so that you can more fully celebrate your life and open up to the power, love, and wisdom that inherently belong to you.

1. Monica SjÖÖ and Barbara Mor, The Great Cosmic Mother, p. 97.