Home

Upcoming Events

Africa Photography

Mask Gallery

Painting Gallery

Rituals

Performance

Music

Greeting Cards & Photography

About the Artist

How to Order

Mailing List

2007 Ritual - The Creation of the Goddess
 
Every year Valerianna Claff and Katja Esser sit in prayer and ask the question, ‘What is needed in the world right now and for the people who come to this solstice ritual?’ There was some worry as to how we were going to top last year’s ritual. We give the process over to spirit and they begin working with us. It became clear with all the awareness about the state of the earth, for us to contribute to her healing we need to heal ourselves. We all deal with soul loss and a disconnection with the earth to a more or lesser degree. As children we begin sacrificing pieces of our true self for survival, love and rewards. When we give up pieces of our true self we become scarce inside and look for solutions outside of ourselves. We begin to attach to people, things, experiences and memories in the hope that they provide us with happiness. The attachments become a source of suffering. To heal ourselves we have to call the pieces of our soul back, recover what is our true self and connect with the earth.
        


With the help of Lisa Bouchie who dug
the clay at the roadside, the Goddess
began to take shape.

The intention of the ritual was to honor our true self and come with a flower that represents our true self. The participants were asked to share it with someone and then move through the gate were they were met by a grandmother who asked them to reflect in the water how they had honored this part in themselves. They were then sent to the center shrine to place the flower in her belly, with the intention to come home to her womb, to connect with her mystery and love. The connection with the earth sustains us to honor our true self. We felt that it was important this year to create an image of the earth mother. With an image it would be easier to connect with her love. The water in her womb became a symbol for the life giving waters, for healing the broken connections. Her empty womb became filled with the flowers expressing the diversity and celebration of our true self. A stone was taken from a second basin to remember what had passed here. 
                                   The words to one of the songs, created
by Katja Esser, were

   Mother I open to your mystery
   Knowing your love is holding me
   I feel it abundantly flow through me
   In your lap, I find myself again
                                                     
    
The ritual was profound.
A lot of people reported to us that this was exactly where they were at.

       



      

 

 

 

 

We returned to the Earth Mother at the autumnal equinox, and this is what remained ...