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Fellowship of Isis Goddess Gathering
London, July 5, 2008
by Laura Janesdaughter, Prs. H.
Iseum of Isis Pelagia
Star of Elen
Advisory Board
I first came
to the Fellowship of Isis through the FOI Conventions held in London in the 1990s, so it was with great pleasure that I learned
one morning this year that there was going to be another one! It was just the excuse I needed to return to London
and I wasn’t disappointed. From Stars to Trees, from Gaia to Glastonbury, from local Goddesses to Mary Magdalene,
and from Isis to Nephthys, the Twilight One, the Goddess Gathering organized by Caroline Wise was entrancing throughout.
We meet in Swedenborg
Hall, just off Bloomsbury Square … a place redolent with spiritual happenings already. The Goddess crowd
of about 70 people gathered at 10AM. I was very happy to see my friend Jo Boulden again and Johnny Merron –
I had met both of them over 10 years ago at FOI Conventions and the Atlantis Bookstore. After the preliminary
meeting of friends and settling in, the program began with an introduction by Caroline and Olivia Robertson, welcoming us
to this FOI Gathering in the city where Isis is the Goddess of the City! (And Diana and Brighid, as well.)
The program then commenced with “Gaia’s Revenge” performed by “The Mad Moll Mummers and Mayers.”
Lead by Cressida Pryor, her partner Bob, and “Gaia”, “Gaia’s Revenge” (which was dedicated
to Cressida’s cousin Emily who had recently died) presented a vision of modern-day consumerism, and how we can change.
First, Everywoman and
her friend Roberta introduced us to their chant:
“All the hard times of
our homeland,
In our homeland, very hard times.”
Everywoman (in a pink hat) shops a lot and Roberta calls
her on her mobile and confesses that she’s bought a mountain, as an ultimate shopping gesture.
Gaia
comes forth and says “What on Earth? Oh, that’s Me!”
Everywoman, pondering the situation, suggests that “It’s the Menopause”
and Gaia replies “Men…pause” and smiles, “Yes!”
Roberta is revealed as Hades and starts speaking of ‘holy texts’ whereupon Everywoman flips open her mobile
and quips, “I didn’t know God did texts.”
Gaia, glorious
in green, gains control of the mobile phone jokes and puns and makes Hades change his horns for digging spades. Everywoman
decides to abandon shopping in favour of weaving her village back into existence. “Gaia’s Revenge”
ends with Gaia regaling in the idea of “HRT” ~ Human Recycling Therapy.
Next on the program was Caitlin
(pronounced ‘Cathleen’) Matthews who spoke about “Looking for Your Local Goddess.” She suggested
these criteria for any place one might be for determining what the Spirit of the Place is:
What is the highest place and what can you see?
Where is the water?
Where
is the place of beauty?
Where do people congregate?
What is the most neglected
place?
What is the most continuously worshipped place?
Where are the dead
buried and memorialized?
Where is the nearest food growing place?
Where do
the non-domestic animals congregate?
Where is the nearest crossroads?
Where
is the oldest tree?
Then reminding us that “we forget how sacred London is”, she selected six
places in the immediate area where we were gathered (London WC1A):
The Crossroads
– Kingsway and High Holborn
The Oldest Place of Worship – St. George’s
The Highest Place – Senate House, University of London
The Water –
the now totally underground Fleet River
The Animals – the Foundling Hospital at Coram Fields
Place of Beauty or the Oldest Tree (?) – Bloomsbury Square Gardens
Six people were asked
to take on the Spirit of each of these Places. We sang a chant dedicated to Elen of the Crossroads while those selected
took on the attributes of these places. Then they each spoke of what the Spirit of the Place impressed them with.
This was one of the happenings at the Gathering that I was most impressed with as we can all apply this to our local places.
Continuing the theme of Local Goddesses, Caroline Wise
spoke about two local Goddesses of London, Brighid and Diana. She reminded us that legends and mythology are another
sphere, like the Gaia-sphere, and that we are very lucky to be in London where we can be in touch with the places which relate
back to the foundation myths of the City.
She
spoke of Brutus, friend of Julius Caesar, who finds a Temple of Diana on a Greek island and is told to sail to the Isles of
the Blessed. This is the British Isles and he builds a Temple to Diana there. After the Great Fire in 1666, the
remnants of a Temple of Diana are found under the old church which had been dedicated to St. Paul for hundreds of years.
Since Saint Paul stamped out Diana’s Priestesses at Ephesus in Turkey, it is not surprising that Her Temple site in
London was dedicated to Her oppressor. Caroline suggested that the first Queen Elizabeth took on aspects of Diana,
as the Virgin Queen, for the protection of the Land. She spoke of the late Princess of Wales, Diana, and
how her life has strong connections with the myth of Diana the Goddess, even if she might not have been aware of this.
Brighid, Who gives Britain its name, has a famous church in London - St. Brides, whose steeple was designed by Christopher
Wren after the Great Fire and which was the inspiration for bridal cakes. (I wonder which came first, the Bride or the
Bridal Cake?) The church was build around a holy well and after the bombings in London during World War II, these
older layers were revealed. The Brides Well is no longer accessible and has, indeed, been written out of the history
of the Church but there are those who have heard its waters speak and those who still go to visit the church for its Brighid
connections.
 Following Caroline’s talk, Olivia Robertson
presented one of her impromptu happenings. The Evil Ones, the Space Mothers, the Indignant Husbands, and the Indigo
Children were called forth from the audience. The Evil Ones complained about how things are. The Space Mothers
explained why they had consummated relationships with the Space Beings (who were not present), the Indignant Husbands responded
in kind, and then the Offspring, the Indigo Children, spoke. The challenge from Olivia was ‘what is the solution’
and it was concluded that Gardening (Gaia was present!) and Dancing were the solutions. And then there was a Dance!
Following a lunch break on a lovely (no rain) day so we could sit outdoors and eat cheese and pickle sandwiches, the
Gathering continued with Andrew Collins speaking about his latest book, The Cygnus Mystery. Andrew spoke of the constellation
Cygnus, the Swan, and how the pattern of this constellation is at the ‘split’ in the Milky Way and corresponds
to the vulva of Nuit. The pattern is that of a bird’s foot. There are connections between the constellation
and the Axis Mundi; patterns which connect the Swan (British), Magpie (China), Vulture (Near East/Egypt), Goose (Greece),
and Eagle (Native Americans.) As a devotee of the Cosmic Goddess, I was entranced and bought his book.
The next speaker was Lynn Picknett. Though looking serious, she is a lively speaker and modestly regaled us
with her “London-wood” adventures as the person who looked at Leonardo daVinci’s “The Last Supper’
and realized that Mary Magdalene was present - which resulted in a brief glimpse of herself and her writing partner, Clive
Prince, in the film of “The DaVinci Code.” (Look for the scene on a London bus – she’s
the one not with the bushy hair.) She said that she was a fanatical Anglican as a kid and loved the story of how
Mary Magdalene took ‘the better way’. This briefly allowed her not to have to help Mummy with the dishes.
She spoke to us of Mary Magdalene as “a woman who was not backward in coming forward” and who was the
only Anointer in the Bible, i.e. a Priestess. She left us with the thought that since there is a strong connection between
Black Madonnas and Mary Magdalene, that maybe Mary Magdalene was a black woman.
Reconnecting ourselves back to the local places,
the next presentation was by Sheila Broun who connected us to the Goddess of the Grove, Nemetona, from Bath Spa, to the west
of London. She connected us to the Trees of Bath – Apple, Willow, Ash, Birch, Yew, Alder, Elder, Beech, Blackthorn,
Holly, Rowan, Hazel, Ash, and Hawthorne ~ and reminded us that Nemetona was associated with the Three Fates. We
each aligned with one of the Trees and then shared our connections.
The Goddess Gathering ended
with the amazing Xanthe Gresham who performed one part of her performance piece “The Goddess Trilogy”, “Isis
Is You Sis” The energetic Xanthe bounced onto the stage with a suitcase out of which she produced her dolls
– a statue of Isis and a nude Ken doll, Osiris. She then proceeded to tell us how she was having dinner with a
friend and told some people she’d never met that her boyfriend was named Osiris. (From ‘Self Help Guide
from the Goddess’ – “How do you deal with difficult dinner guests? Invent an absent lover.”)
This lead to her needing to know about Isis and Osiris and she had one of those ‘She speaks to me through books’
moments and a copy of some Isis and Nephthys hymns came into her hands and a copy of Jonathon Cotts’ Isis and Osiris
is pulled out of the suitcase. Then her friend decides that she and Xanthe should go to the Glastonbury Goddess
Festival where they decide to pay money and see Lady Olivia speak. “I felt It,” Xanthe says and they
speed back to London where a stray cat appears and Xanthe adopts it. (From “Self Help Guide from the Goddess”,
“What do you do if you find a stray cat? Adopt it.”) The story of Isis, Osiris, Nephthys, and
Set comes together for Xanthe and she relates her version of the story for us. My favourite part of this was the identification
of Nephthys ~ once Her Name had been mentioned, She was thereafter referred to as ‘the Twilight One.’ When
the story is ended, Xanthe makes peace with finding a cat (From “Self Help Guide from the Goddess”, “How
do you keep a stray cat? Get it neutered.”) and cat litter is retrieved from the suitcase and scattered about.
The piece ends with the final repetition of the Mantra from “Self Help Guide to the Goddess:”
“Create
Life, Love Life, Desire Life.”
The lovely Goddess Day ended with some remarks by
Caroline (and the cleaning up of the cat litter!)
I can highly recommend any future London FOI Gatherings
to all FOI members. London is one of the places where the Isis current is very strong. The oldest
known object mentioning London as a city comes from Roman times and is a wine jug inscribed with the message “For the
Temple of Isis at London.” The Heart of London is the River of Isis, the Thames. The Fellowship of Isis
is very much part of the current Isis Heart beating in London.
About the Author: Laura
Janesdaughter is a long time member of the Fellowship of Isis. She was ordained as a Priestess in London following the FOI
Convention in 1994. Laura was ordained into the Temple of Isis by Rt. Rev. Loreon Vigne in 1995 at Isis Oasis. Laura founded
Temple of Isis Los Angeles and has been directly responsible for several public events that further Goddess Awareness each
year, including two solstice festivals and the honoring of the birthday of Isis at a public beach ritual. Laura is the publisher
and editor of Isis Papers. In 2001, after 9/11 she felt guided to faciliate "Say My Name That I may Live" during
which names of the victims were recited in a special prayer for 90 days. Those of us who participated
in this work with Laura and TOI/LA and attended the Convocation at Isis Oasis in 2001 will never forget the sight of those
candles glowing on the steps outside the Isis Chapel at Isis Oasis Sanctuary. The Naming of the Dead was a profound and important
work, which sprang into being through the conscience and loving heart of a devoted Priestess.She is a founding member
of the Circle of Pelagia Advisory Board and Star of Elen Advisory Board of the Fellowship of Isis. For more information about Isis Papers,
please visit the link below: http://www.isispapers.org/IP14.html For more information about the
Temple of Isis Los Angeles (TOI/LA) please visit: A Photo Album of Olivia's visits with TOI/LA TOI/LA website:
http://www.toila.org/TOILAintro.html
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