"One of the benefits of becoming a Crone Priestess and Goddess Temple Elder is being able look back over an extraordinary life to gain perspective, to understand how things happened through time. Now I can see the Motherline threads which have woven through my life, connecting me forward to my daughter and grandchildren, and back to the mothers and ancient grandmothers. I see how in the 1970s a wave of renewed Goddess spirituality and teachings began to unfurl across the world and how we in Glastonbury Avalon have been and are part of that amazing wave. I see how Goddess awareness began to expand and grow, connecting the hearts and minds of many people. This was especially so from Avalon where, inspired by the Lady of Avalon, Goddess in the Sacred Land here, we began to learn about Her, to love Her, to speak Her name again. All our work in Glastonbury Goddess Temple plays a major part of that magnificent flow.
"My personal spiritual quest began when I was a teenager, sixty years ago, in the life transforming 1960s. My heart was open. Something unknown, something divine, was calling to me from the Great Beyond. I wanted to be free from a restricted life. I wanted to explore. I wanted to know the meaning of life. Why are we here, what is life for? How can we make the world a better place for all? Conventional religions did not provide the answers. At that time there were very few books on alternative forms of spirituality and very few teachers – just the occasional swami coming from India to teach yoga and meditation. There was no internet, no social media. I explored many different patriarchal religious traditions from around the world, mostly through reading, but they spoke only briefly to my young woman’s heart. At that time Goddess was not mentioned. I was not taught about Her in childhood, at school, at university or in life. Her names and powers were forgotten. Living in the wild hills of South Wales I was tutored in the ways of Mother Earth, living in Her nature and following the cycles of Her seasons, but I did not know to name Her properly. My mind was stimulated by the teachings of Alice A Bailey and Jane Roberts and I learned about energy and its movement. I began to write.
"In the late 1970s I moved to Glastonbury and became part of a vibrant alternative community. A group of women came together and we talked about new and different feminist ways of thinking and feeling. I learned for the first time of the existence of Goddess. I read ancient Goddess myths, seeking Her in the patriarchal stories and reworking them to bring Her to the fore. Goddess began to speak to me directly as a living spiritual presence. Over thirteen years with others I wrote, directed and performed through Ariadne Productions, in many sacred dramas, which brought Goddesses from different cultures in the world alive on stage for both performers and audiences. I wanted to educate myself and others about Goddess.
"During this time spiritual education became important to me as it had been so hard for me to find out what I wanted to know about spiritual things. I learned from my experiences and began to offer evening and day workshops in Glastonbury on Soul Healing and on the Goddesses of the seasons. In 1990 a group of local people, including Geoffrey Ashe, David Taylor, Barry Taylor, Leona Graham and myself, set up the Library of Avalon, a Library of spiritual books. Then, to support the Library we set up the University of Avalon, which later became the Isle of Avalon Foundation. Our plan was to create a Teaching Centre, comprising seven Faculties of Spiritual Teaching, including Ceremonial Practices, Sacred Arts, Drama and Music, Sacred Architecture, Healing, Divination, Astrology and Tarot, etc., none of which were then widely available. After practising healing for several years I began teaching an Esoteric Soul Healing course for the Foundation based on my learning with Alice Bailey.
"In 1995 together with Tina Redpath, we created the Glastonbury Goddess Conference, bringing together Goddess-loving women and men from all over Britain as artists, writers, ceremonialists, speakers, singers, musicians and performers. Goddess-centred education in the widest sense of educating the mind, heart, body, emotions, soul and spirit about Goddess, had begun. Everyone
"In 1998 I initiated the first year-long Priestess of Avalon Training, based in my Goddess research, writing, celebrations and experiences. I understood that to be a Priestess means to love and serve Goddess and Her peoples and Her world to the best of our ability. The Training expanded over the next few years to become a transformative life-changing three year Priestess Training, one of the very first in the modern world. In 2002 Glastonbury Goddess Temple was founded and Goddess Temple Teachings was set up as its educational wing. The Priestess of Avalon and Soul Healing Trainings transferred from the Foundation to became core courses for Goddess Temple Teachings. I taught the Priestess of Avalon Training for five years and then Priestess Erin McCauliff took over teaching Spirals One and Two splendidly for many years. In the present Priestess of Avalon Luna Silver is the wonderful primary tutor for teaching the first 2 Spirals. I continue to teach the Third Spiral. I believe it’s the best Priestess Training in the world.
"Samhain 2023 will mark the 25th anniversary of the beginning of the first Priestess of Avalon Training, rooted in the land and culture of Glastonbury Avalon. From the beginning of my own Goddess-inspired journey my desire was to bring Goddess education to the forefront, and importantly to bring Priest/esses of Goddess and Avalon, back into the world. Over the years our teachings have allowed women and men to learn once again, after a long absence, a long forgetting, how to become Her priestesses and priests, how to serve Her. Often they remember what it was like to be Her devoted Priest/esses from long ago, how they served Her in Her ancient Temples, and to bring those memories and skills through to the present. Now we can sing Her praises again and devote our lives to Her in any of Her many forms.
"Several hundred women and a smaller number of men have now completed the Priest/ess of Avalon Training. Students have come to learn with us from all over Britain and many from abroad. Each person has experienced the Training in their own way, learning about Goddess as She expresses Herself through the cycles of Her seasons here and deepening their personal connection to Goddess, to the Lady of Avalon who is embodied in this Sacred Land. Students are also encouraged to find out about Goddess where they live. Priestesses have taken the principles of the Avalon Training and applied it in their own home locations, finding and naming local Goddesses, creating Goddes Temples, Conferences, Wheels of the Year and Priestess Trainings where they live. Goddess Temple trained Priestesses are openly practicing again in many places in Britain, in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Iceland, in the Americas, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Canada, Australia, Japan and many more countries. Wowee!
"Here in our Mother Temple in Glastonbury Her teaching Flame continues to burn brightly and Goddess Temple Teachings has expanded over the years to include other kinds of Priestess Trainings and Goddess-centred courses. Many Priestesses have have put their learning into practice, becoming empowered to teach while being nurtured and supported both energetically and practically by the Temple.
"Over the years many Priestess and Goddess-centred courses have been midwifed and birthed through Goddess Temple Teachings, with the help of myself and others. These teachings have included Priestess of Rhiannon with Katinka Soetens, Priestess of Brighde with Marion Brigantia, Priestess Healer with Angie Twydall, Priestess of Freya with Zindra Andersson, Priestess of Cerridwen and Death Priestess with Bee Helygen, Star Priestess with Maria Jones, Morgen Priestess with Mary Bruce, Oracle Priestess, and Priestessing the Underworld with Sally Pullinger, Goddess Luminary with Lynne Sedgemore, Sacred Birthkeeper with Kate Temple, Wild Medicine Woman with Iris Lican, as well as my own Goddess, Brighde and Morgen Retreats and Crone Empowerment course. I have also created many shorter transformative 10 Hours, 9 Hours and In the Mysterium of the Lady of Avalon events.
"Goddess Temple Teachings have always been a mutually supportive enterprise, empowering new teachers, helping them begin to teach what they know, to grow and develop their skills and practices. Income from courses allows us to pay teachers well, and also generates income for the Goddess Temple as a whole. This income has helped the Temple to expand organically, to employ many priestesses as necessary staff, to rent, own and run buildings, to offer Goddess spaces for all kinds of spiritual teachings and workshops, to hold the Temple open to the public freely every day of the year, to offer healing practices to those in need, to bring MotherWorld values into being, to create a Sacred Birth Centre, and to nithe(give one ninth) of profits to important related causes – women’s refuges, children’s teaching, animal welfare, etc. The Goddess Temple as an organisation is a not-for-profit social enterprise in which all profits go back into the Temple and not to indiviuals/shareholders/directors.
"As tutors become increasingly self-confident they sometimes decide to take their trainings out from the supportive embrace of Temple Teachings and to continue independently. Like birds they fledge and fly free from the Mother Nest. We always wish them good fortune and only ask tutors to remember and acknowledge gracefully how their learning and empowerment began within Glastonbury’s Goddess Temple. The Priestess of Cerridwen Training is the latest to fledge, and of course, we wish them well.
"It is not just our skilled tutors who are important in manifesting Goddess Temple Teachings, but also the many people in the Temple who support the tutors and their teaching, from cleaners and gardeners, to adminstrators, Melissas, Lovelies and Temple shop assistants, from creative artists to finance people. This continuous background work is often unnoticed by students and even tutors, but without this work our longer courses and our tutors would not have been so successful and experimental courses would not have begun.
"One of our most important supports is Geraldine Charles, who has been our skillful webmistress for many years now, creating and recreating hundreds of necessary pages of information and beauty at https://goddesstempleteachings.co.uk/ as well as the main Goddess Temple website https://goddesstemple.co.uk/
I/we can never thank Geraldine enough for all her longterm and continuing love, support and work for the Goddess Temple. Another important contributor overseeing all the finances and legal work for the Temple and Teachings is my soul partner Mike Jones, without whom everything would have been much more complicated. Thank you to my lovely husband.
"The Goddess Temple in the Courtyard of the Glastonbury Experience is often the first place where people can find out about our Trainings, It is cared for by our Melissa Mothers, who in recent times have been Priestesses Dawn Kinsella, Anna-Saqqara Price and Michelle Braniff Williams, and of course, our devoted Melissa Poppa Trevor Nuthall, plus all the many volunteer Melissas, who hold the Temple open to the public 365 days of the year. Then, there is the amazing Sue Quatermass, Priestess manager of Goddess Temple Gifts shop, which is a creative haven where Goddess artists, writers and craftspeople can sell their Goddess work. Our shop is an important Gateway where people can speak to a person about Goddess, and all we offer to the world.
"And we thank all the people who work in Goddess House, our healing and educational centre, including receptionists Kyah May and Francesca Giusti, with House Weaver Anna Saqqara Price and all the healing therapists. Here visitors can receive many different kinds of healing therapies and take part in Goddess workshops. There are many others to thank, including over recent years all our admin, design and support staff – Iona Jones, Katrin Kneupfer, Elsa Field and Giorgia Farano (especially during Covid when we had to move everything online), Dasa Dulinova, Morgana Reddy, Lisa Fletcher looking after Temple Madrons, as well as brochure and poster designers including myself, Marion Brigantia and Jya Raine.
"At Beltane 2023 I stepped back as Director of Temple Teachings and have happily handed the Teachings Torch on to two wonderful experienced Priestesses of Avalon, Luna Silver and Lisa Fletcher. Luna is tutor within the lineage of the Priestess of Avalon Training, which remains our core Temple Priestess Training. Lisa has many years experience as a Priestess and in education administration. I
"Gratitude is such an important part of our Goddess spirituality. Gratitude to Goddess, to the Lady of Avalon, to the Earth on which we all live, to all the people in our lives. I thank every person who has been a part of Goddess Temple Teachings while I have been in charge, whether you were/are a student, teacher, administrator, publicist and/or a supporter of the Temple and MotherWorld Visions. Together we have and are changing the world for the better. Goddess is now visible in the world again because of Her inspiration and our individual and collective responses and actions. I thank you for being here with me.
"I give thanks to the Lady of Avalon, who birthed me into this life before I knew of Her existence. It is the Lady who continually inspires me to love more, to remember, to explore, to be excited by life, to be courageous, to follow the quest for knowledge of Her Mysteries, to always be open to Her love and truth. Passing on Her Vibrant Flaming Torch of Goddess Temple Teachings by Kathy Jones, Crone Priestess of Avalon
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