The White Moon Gallery Presents

GAIA
 By Auralia

Image compliments of:
The Millennial Gaia by Oberon Zell





Gaia
Homeric Hymn, 7th Century B.C.

I will sing of
well-founded Gaia,
Mother of All,
eldest of all beings,
she feeds all creatures,
that are in the world,
all that go upon the goodly land,
and all that are in the paths of,
the sea,
and all that fly:
all these are fed of her store.



Gaia's Significance to Contemporary Women
http://www.nqi.net/~scatha/gaia.html(no longer active)

  1. By honoring Gaia, women return themselves and their female ancestors to the original primordial source of power, the Great Mother.
  2. Gaia connects us to the universal source of "mothering" and "nurturing," so often lacking in our modern world.
  3. Gaia's influence is seen today in eco-feminism, a political philosophy which joins ecology and the feminine, and declares that when the earth is abused, humans suffer the consequences.


" Gaia is a goddess from Greek Legends. It is said that she existed in the vast darkness before time and space, and reality existed as we know it. She became lonely in her solitary world and longed for love and companionship. To satisfy her hunger she created a son/lover/mate, Uranus. As she lay as the lush and fertile earth, he stretched over her as the sky. Together they created many more Gods and Goddesses. Meanwhile,... Uranus became envious of Gaia's other children... Gaia created the first saw toothed sickle. She instructed her son Chronus (father time) to sever Uranus' manhood. The blood that flowed from Uranus onto Gaia was said to have spawned the ancestors of humanity."
http://home.att.net/~moonflowercircle/Gaia.html (no longer active)


A simple prayer that I created for my daughter when she was a wee-one,
who liked to talk to mother earth, follows:

Thank you, Father Sky,
for feeding Mother Earth,
Thank you Mother Earth,
for feeding us.

Blessed Be
Image from Sacred Rose Tarot Deck



Gaia as Prophetess

 "Gaia was the original prophetess whose priestess presided over the Delphic oracle. Delphi was considered to be the omphalos, the navel of the earth, the connecting point where human life and earth met, and the place where the wisdom of both worlds could be interpreted. Originally the omphalos could have been a grave mound.  It is possible that Gaia was a death goddess who received the dead back to her body, the earth. Her oracle was situated over a deep cleft in the earth and on it resided the Python, the symbol of women's wisdom. Vapor from the earth arose through the cleft, and the presiding priestess interpreted Mother Earth's information for the seeker. Gaia's oracle was revered because it represented the wisdom inherent in the earth itself. The information revealed to the seekers aided in the sustenance of human life. Under later Greek patriarchal rule, the temple and the oracle at Delphi were assumed by the Greek god Apollo." http://www.nqi.net/~scatha/gaia.html(no longer active)




Honoring Gaia with Ritual

Your Altar:

When choosing your candles and symbols for your altar, here are some manifestations to evoke Gaia's attributes into your life: the color green, the gem stones: green calcite, amber, jet, black tourmaline, geodes, fragrances: honeysuckle and cypress, all flowers and vegetation.
http://www.nqi.net/~scatha/gaia.html(no longer active)

"Gaia, being the Earth Mother and body of the earth, it is easy to associate her with the soil as her body and the harvest, the abundance of her fertility. The serpent is also sacred to Gaia, for just like the earth it is perpetually shedding, changing and renewing itself. Just as a woman's womb does throughout most of her life. Honey and barley can be offered to Gaia as an offering. The honey represents the sweetness and abundance of life and the barley seeds represent the vulva." http://home.att.net/~moonflowercircle/Gaia.html (no longer active)

Image from Thoth Tarot Deck


Karri Allrich writes in her book "FOOD AND THE GODDESS" that "By aligning ourselves closer to nature's cycles, we bring the Goddess back into our everyday awareness. When  we eat what the season offers, we connect with the changing rhythms of the Goddess Gaia, the earth herself. This connection between food and the Goddess is an ancient one. Earliest peoples worshipped Mother Earth as the Great Provider, finding sustenance in her seeds, roots and fruit, and healing in her herbs and sparkling waters. Within her caves and caverns they found shelter."

To this end, I suggest the following recipe for grounding at the end of your ritual, it is taken from THE VEGETARIAN MOTHER AND BABY BOOK by Rose Elliot and is for Rice Pudding:


Rice Pudding

* 2 Tbl butter
*1/2 cup round "pudding" rice
*4 TBL brown sugar
*5 cups milk or soy milk
*freshly grated nutmeg

Set the oven to 325F. Use the butter or margarine to grease a shallow ovenproof dish. Rinse the rice thoroughly under cold water, then put it into the dish with the sugar and milk; stir gently. Grate some nutmeg on top, then place in the center of the oven and bake for about 2 hours, or until thick and creamy.

In the autumn and winter eat this hot and steamy, in the summer cool and top with fresh berries. Couple this with fresh sparkling water following the ritual.



Invocation:

Cast your circle  and call in those you wish to join you.

Ask Mother Gaia to join your circle with this invocation (from: http://home.att.net/~moonflowercircle/Gaia.html(no longer active)

Of her I sing, the All-Mother,
old and rock-hard and beautiful.

Of her I sing, the Nourisher,
she upon whom everything feeds.

Of Gaia I sing. Whoever you are,
wherever you are, she feeds you.

from her sacred treasury of life,
Bountiful harvests, beautiful

children, the fullness of life:
these are her gifts. Praise her.

The wide blue sky wants to penetrate the earth.
The earth longs for utter union. Look: it comes.

Rain falls. Rain falls as sky meets earth.
Rain falls. Earth bubbles with life.

Life springs forth from the damp soil:
flocks of sheep like clouds, oceans of wheat.



Body of the ritual:

Depending on the time of year the focus could be flexible.

For example, Earth Day or Arbor Day are natural (excuse the pun) days to honor Gaia. Either would be a wonderful time to thank the Earth Mother for her beauty and nurturing, or to pray for her healing. The Autumn would be ideal to offer prayers of thanksgiving. Meditate on the earth mother and your connectedness to her.
Ask Gaia to guide you as you use your preferred devination techniques to answer a pressing question.



Raise the energy:

You might choose this chant from THE VOICES OF GAIA-

We are the rhythme of the earth
We are the flow of the sea
we are the spirit on fire
we are the air we breathe
Image from an Ancient Tarot Deck

close your circle and ground yourself with your rice pudding and sparkling water refreshments.




Bright Blessings my Sisters, may your lives be filled with positive abundance, may you find a plentiful harvest of nourishment and nurturing, may you be blessed with wisdom and prophecy that they might lead you down a gentle path of good choices. May you always feel at home held to the bossom of our mother, Gaia.



Gaia image © The Millennial Gaia by Oberon Zell
www.TheMillennialGaia.com









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