What Do I Mean By Goddess Community? 13 Suggestions.

*Picture is of three amazing Goddess women: Gina Martin, Marie Nazon and Adhi TwoOwls at last year’s Forest and Village. It is not too late to attend this year’s Forest and Village in New Hampshire in July where you most definitely will find the Goddess.

I’ve been doing a lot of talking lately about ‘Goddess Community’ so I thought I should to expand on this.

Take back the word ‘Goddess’ as sensual not [just] sexual. Over the past decade plus, I have met many powerful, incredible, amazing women doing this work who shy away from the word ‘Goddess’ and ‘Goddess Community’. I believe that it is time we took it back. Just like the word ‘Witch’ which has undergone a transition in popular culture (but still has work to do!), the word ‘Goddess’ in popular culture is overly commercialized and sexualized. Let’s reclaim the word ‘Goddess’ to mean the primal, generative, cyclical force of nature that Goddess has always encompassed. And then let’s add the word ‘Community’ realizing that despite our individual differences, we are all on ‘Her’ side.
Recognizing ‘divinity’ within yourself (or in others, seeing the ‘divine feminine’). As an archetype, a myth, a deity … again, let’s not get stuck or divided by the individual words as the force of the Goddess is not confined by a religion. It is a way of seeing, of moving through this world and of understanding. Seeing intuition as divinity.
Learning the ancient Stories. We are forged by the stories we tell ourselves.
Dancing, singing, drumming … without regard for your skill level.
Acknowledging seasons and cycles.
‘Stewarding’ land, not conquering but working in cooperation with the Earth and all its inhabitants.
Getting into nature as sacred.
‘Shifting consciousness’ removing yourself from everyday life in a healthy way. After 35 years of daily meditation, I understand fully the power of the pause and of mindfulness. When I open my eyes, the world has shifted.
Being in regular community with others both in the sacred and the ordinary. Not only Sacred Circles, but the ordinary, everyday routines of life. When was the last time someone other than the inhabitants was in your home? When was the last time you cooked with someone? We are not speaking of dinner parties, we are speaking of everyday, ordinary life. Connecting in person with acceptance.
Incorporating ‘touch’ into your relationships. Again, popular culture has relegated ‘touch’ mainly to the sexual, the commercialized or the perverted. When is the last time you got a shoulder rub from a friend? Step into our Circle, put your feet up and let me massage them.
Allowing others but with firm boundaries. We don’t have to think alike. What a boring world that would be. As long as they are not harming others, we must allow others their beliefs and lifestyles. We must re-learn how to disagree while we keep coming back to the table.
Letting emotions – anger, fear, joy – run through you in allowance and as experience. Popular culture’s answer has been therapy or a pill, but emotions are storms running through your body. You cannot stop the rain. Let’s relearn how to sing in it instead.
Accepting and honoring Birth/Death. Popular culture has sanitized each, but these are powerful, liminal, empowering sources and realms of the divine feminine. Age is wisdom and should be honored. Youth is not the Ideal only a brief stint on the Path of our lives. Let’s honor each footstep and learn again to properly say ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’.