The inspirations and reasons behind the vision can be found in many of the other pages and articles on this website. Suffice it to say, the vision has been steadily maturing in thoughts and dreams for many years, with the last year bringing the catalyst to see it come to life.

If you’ve read the About Us page or the page on our Core Values, then you understand what we are trying to achieve in this world. This vision statement is the how of the dream along with the releasing of the intention into the universe in order for it to manifest.

As I was preparing this page, I struggled with the best way to approach the subject. At one point I made a bulleted list of all the elements that I see being a part of the final vision. It was sterile, with very little passion in it. I then wrote one draft in which I tried to incorporate the entire history of my spiritual journey in an attempt to show the reader the significance of the vision and hopefully infuse it with passion. It was better, but I felt like it was a redundant telling of other parts of this site. Finally, I settled on the form that you will read below. Although I’m sure that some will not find the style to their liking, I hope everyone will at least be able to visualize the dream. I look forward to building the community in which this dream has been sculpted, shaded, and revealed by the real-world members who brought the dream to life.

A Day in My Life (A Fictional Account…For Now)

I only half-heartedly acknowledge the tone of the alarm as I pull the cover tightly over my head. Just five more minutes. When the annoyance of the sound finally wins, I stumble from the warmth of my cocoon to fetch the robe hanging on the door handle before being escorted downstairs by two furry butts ready to be fed.

One hand is popping cans of puppy and kitty food, while the other one is turning on the coffee maker to aid in my continuous gaining of lucidity. Once the two little spirits are happily devouring their snacks and the steaming brew is firmly in my hand, I take a moment to breathe deeply and recount, in my own mind, the previous evening’s events.

Even the recollection of the previous evening is magickal. Some twenty people showed up for the celebration of the harvest and to honor the God Dionysus. Girls and guys, young and old, families and single people; all of them got together under a crisp autumn moon to drink a glass of wine, share a Mediterranean potluck that everyone had been a part of, sing, dance, and work magick by the glowing embers of Prometheus’ gift. The night was thoroughly intoxicating amongst friends, family, and loved ones sharing the spiritual experience; even with only a couple of glasses of wine. If the past is a window into the present, I know that some of those people went home, tucked their kids in before taking a moment to enjoy the quiet blessings of home. Some went home and made love; honoring the blessings of the flesh. Finally, a few probably transferred the energy of the night to a magickal ritual or two in their home sanctuaries, honoring the blessings of the universe.

As the caffeine starts to kick in, my mind comes back to the realities of the morning. The day is young, and there is much to do.

I go into my spiritual sanctuary at home and sit before my personal statue of Aphrodite. I bring with me one of the last buds from my rose bushes as an offering to Her. I light frankincense and then recite an Orphic Hymn in honor of the deities who bless me. There are some big decisions to be made this day and so I take a moment to ask for divine guidance. I pick a card from my divination deck and thank Her for her insight. Along with the spiritual insights into my own world, a momentary warmth comes to me as I feel the power of others in our community honoring their own rituals in their homes this morning. We are separate, but together in energy and practice. The communities power lies in that combining of energies. 

The shower seems particularly calming this morning and I take a moment to allow my mind to just be present to the water washing over me. I feel the presence of Hygieia as she caresses me and makes clean the minor miasma that I carry.

When I arrive at the sanctuary, the sun is just starting to crest the treetops. I step out into the morning air and take a moment to feel the slight chill of the breeze while the first rays kiss my forehead. I hear the traffic on the neighboring street speed by. I close my eyes and send out calming energy to those who mindlessly speed to their destinations, most likely oblivious to the power of the rising God before them.

Standing on the concrete sidewalk fumbling with my satchel and coffee, I’m sure I’m the perfect image of a million other people showing up to work as I try to unlock the front door. Two steps inside, as I hear the door close behind me, I realize just how blessed I am, however. They are here. Call it deity, call it the One, call it the Many, there is an energy here that is no mere figment of my imagination. They are here because many, many people have come together to invite them here; to infuse these walls with the passion to call them forward. And they came.

I’ve come in the back door. I flip on the lights and walk past a reception desk on the left before passing the library on the right. The library was intentionally designed and decorated to invoke a certain feeling of antiquity and long forgotten tomes of truth. There are literally a thousand books that support our members’ lust for knowledge and insight.

I peek my head in the next two rooms and make sure they are as I left them yesterday before I headed to the winery. I have two classes that I’m teaching before noon. One of which is more a discussion group for Society elders on the finer points of modern scholarship on research into the high magickal practices of the Victorian period. The other is an initiate class for those new to spiritual workings. We will discuss how to tap into subtle energies and use their innate powers to effect change in a truly magickal way. As I briefly evaluate the rooms and make sure everything is in place, my heart beats faster. I truly love teaching this material and sharing the gifts of the universe with people who feel them too. I also love the idea that maybe myself and others within the temple might be able to help someone lost, find a way.

After reassuring myself that the meeting rooms are prepared, I finally find my way to my office. Slipping into my chair and with a moment to savor a couple more sips of coffee and the homemade muffin I brought, I open my computer to start the day.

The emails are never ending, but I try to ground myself in the fact that all of them are from people who touch my life daily and are blessings to the Society. It’s easy to find myself forgetting that the words are more than just electronic static in the universe. At times, it’s almost impossible to not get overwhelmed by the shear amount of information that rushes at us from all directions on a second-by-second basis. It feels easier to think about all of that information as 1’s and 0’s, but they are really the words, thoughts, hopes and dreams of a real person. I open my inbox.

There is an email from a young couple for whom I’m officiating their handfasting ceremony in a couple of weeks. Both husbands are having the usual pre-ceremony jitters and are asking if they can come in and chat for a few minutes in the next few days. I invite them each to join me the next day. I tell them to each take some time to write out a small list of things that are bothering them and weighing on their minds. I ask them to bring those thoughts with them as well as bring a pomegranate. Tomorrow, in the inner sanctum of the sanctuary, they will “sacrifice” the pomegranate to Hera. I will ask them to meditate on Her as they ask her continued blessing of their union. They will then commit the pieces of paper to the flames of the altar fire, releasing them from the heaviness of the negative thought forms.

There are a handful of emails from people signing up for a canoeing trip that we are organizing to in-tune with the elemental water and honor the Goddess Sulis. There are also half a dozen responses to a call for volunteers to help install the new alter in the sanctuary.

There are a few emails from people who have found out about us through whichever channels the universe brought them to us. Sometimes they have no spiritual past, but feel that they are obviously missing something important in their lives. It’s not an intuition; it goes much deeper, and touches on the very nature of spirituality in our lives. There are also those people who contact us, who have had spiritual experiences in the past, but for whatever reason have yet to find their “home”. I feel a special sense of urgency for these emails. One can only wander aimlessly for so long. Just like a person wandering in the forest without the proper equipment and training, these people are potentially in danger of dying spiritually if they can’t find a way to come into their own. Who knows how long they’ve been lost to the needs of the soul? Who knows how many scars they already have? 

There is an email from a woman who would like to plan a rite of passage ritual for her daughter who is celebrating a very special first in her life and her entrance to maidenhood, while at the same time another woman is asking us to perform another rite of passage ceremony for her mother who is embracing her inner crone.

There are, of course, the emails that deal with daily business of the temple and its efforts to be a good steward in the community. Finally, there are at least a dozen emails from people who have responded to links on our website or somehow gotten our contact information another way, who want to inform us that we are devil worshippers and are all going to hell. At times I wish I could write my temple teachings with the same shear zeal and passion that these people have; swapping the hate for love. I will usually respond with an invitation to sit and calmly talk about their concerns. I usually offer the idea of having a coffee in a public place to learn more about each other. I only ask for a couple of ground rules: 1) They may speak for half an hour about their beliefs and devotion to their God, and I whole heartedly promise to respect their time and words. 2) They return the respect and allow me half an hour to do the same. 3) We both agree to honor the option of agreeing to disagree on theological perspectives while still respecting the other person as a human being on whatever spiritual path the other is on. I’ve never heard back from any of them.

As many times as I’ve read emails like the previously mentioned ones, it still bothers me a little. Not for the attack on my beliefs or those of other members of the temple, but because there is a soul in the world so consumed by fear, hate, and blind judgement that they are completely missing the incredible wonders of the God they profess so much devotion to. If that kind of hate is a message from their god, then it’s not a god that I choose to recognize.

Shutting the computer down, I make a couple of calls to elders who are leading an initiation into the next level of mysteries for current members. These rituals take place over a long weekend at our secret temple in the country. It is secret and removed from the hustle of the city not so much because of some evil doings, but because there is a certain rawness and vulnerability in removing oneself from familiar territory and the taken-for-granted trappings of our modern world. Stripping oneself bare both literally and figuratively allows the initiates to truly feel free to explore a connection with magick, their deepest inner hopes and fears, and the universal energies that are often interrupted in the modern chaos of everyday life.   

I realize my classes are starting in soon. To ground, I take a walk into the Society sanctuary. Looking around an immediate sense of pride rushes over me. It bears no resemblance to traditional churches or religious institutions of my past, but rather is the pure realization of a group of people coming together to not be told how it should be done by tradition or doctrine, but rather feeling what needed to be built by allowing their hearts and minds to open to the voice of the universe. Although I did the majority of the planning for this sanctuary before our membership grew, I stand for a moment in the comfortable silence and smile at the alter cloth one member sewed, the chairs another member made, a few candles that a group of our members crafted during a workshop and a vase brought back from Greece by a couple on their 30th anniversary. Everything has meaning, everything is a part of those individual people, but also a part of the collective whole that we’ve come together to create.

 

I wonder if, in a thousand years, there will stand on this site this massive stone alter that was conceived into being by a group of people connecting with the energy of the Goddesses and Gods. I’m sure the building that was built using “modern” physical materials will have disintegrated, but as I’m continuing the cycle of birth and death on some path to immortality, will I one day come across the alter built with ancient energies still standing as a testament to the deities that have never left, only gone quiet waiting for us to call once again.

We Can Do It Together

The vision is of a home for all those who seek to once again connect with the very basic and primal energies of the world. Such a connection requires being present for those who share the ideals, in spirit, mind, and body. The vision is of a place that honors the individual who, at times, practices in the peaceful solitude of their soul while at other times seeks to elevate the collective energy of the community is joyful coming together. Those of us who have had a more traditional religious upbringing often long for the more mundane but spiritually powerful moments of community and sharing. Those who have been solitary for the majority of their journey might not even realize what they are missing. The vision is a safe place for the Goddesses and Gods to be reborn for other generations; in perfect love and perfect trust.

We hope you will be a part of it.