| A Journey With Ker and Her Sistersby Geraldine McCarthy'Kore'. Greek Holy Virgin, inner soul of Mother Earth. Variations include: Ker, Q're, Kher, Ceres, Core. Neolithic Asia knew a mysterious Goddess Ker, or Car, ancestress of the Carians. Kardia became the Greek word for Heart, as cor became the Latin, both descended from the Goddess who was the world heart. Kernos. Heart or kernel, the Eleusinian sacred pot, a uterine symbol in which seeds of new life could sprout. Excerpts from The Woman's Encyclopaedia of Myths and Secrets by Barbara G Walker. Our festival of 2006 was held at the time of the Autumn Equinox, a time of harvest and rich abundance; we were celebrating Kore, our own Eleusinian Mysteries, by the sea in the land of Ker. We hoped seeds of new life would sprout from the inception created by Cheryl Straffon, Jackie Dash and Heather Campbell. On the morning of the Festival the sun shone gloriously upon my garden, and looking out to the west I could see St. Ives and beyond the mauve hills of West Penwith. I have lived here for thirty-six years, celebrating and living in the arms of the Goddess. Now, after all this time a truly magical harvest was about to be shared. Forty women were gathering in the far west to give thanks and honour to the Great Mother, who manifests as the ancient volcanic rocks that border the rugged coastline, washed by the warm gulf stream, creating an equable climate for many of her creatures. You may gather that Kernow for me is the most precious and beautiful place in the world! On with the Festival. On our arrival, Marjorie Rowland and myself spent the afternoon creating the altars, and as we worked women began to arrive. On introducing ourselves we found that they had travelled from as far as Southern Ireland and also from Yorkshire and the Home Counties. We saw smiles of eager anticipation from each woman as she revelled in the birdsong silence and fresh salt sea air found in the lush grounds of this old house standing proud, facing the Atlantic swell. We were truly blessed with a wonderful welcoming venue, even offering a heated swimming pool and camping facilities nestling in the heart of the secluded gardens. I must mention the food which was created by Thelma our hostess who offered a feast of vegetarian delights. All the women ate together which proved particularly intimate and bonding during our four days. On the first evening, tired but happy we retired to sleep after participating in a moving opening ceremony, crowned by a dark velvet sky overflowing with clusters of stars and the huge swath of the Milky Way arching over the blazing torches and huge crackling red fire leaping upwards to welcome the spirits of this place. In the early hours of the morning the Moon had gone into the sign of Cancer and so the weekend promised a nurturing and supportive community feel. Appropriately, my workshop was about Bee energy and once again the sun shone down and two dozen women were able to sit outside and create their bees. I passed around herbs which had been grown in my garden and held the energy of the summer work of the bees. As they breathed the aromatic fragrance they thought of the abundance in their lives. We circled into hive groups with a Queen bee and talked of what we would take with us into the winter. The women hummed as they made their bees from withies and tissue paper. We blessed them with herbs and drank the golden elixir of honey. We then danced the waggle dance around the garden, humming and singing, holding the amazing creations, fluttering, swooping, buzzing, swirling, a cacophony of sound spiralling upwards; gorgeous women twirling and laughing bringing potent energy to begin our weekend.
We returned to Boswedden House ready for the evening celebrations, which were particularly special as this was Cheryl's birthday, very auspicious, her second Saturn return. I had baked a honey cake and we crowned her Queen Bee with much laughter, and thanked her for organising the Festival. Mead and champagne flowed freely! Next morning was the making of a clay goddess with Diana Dixon and Jackie Dash. Firstly we were led on a profound inner journey by Jackie with the help of her deeply resonating drumbeat, a truly memorable experience, lying on the grass and feeling the rhythmic vibration coursing through our bodies, pulsing with every heartbeat. The individual clay images were amazing in their imaginative expression and we shared our stories with laughter and tears. In the afternoon we journeyed to Carn Euny courtyard house settlement, where we were led in a peaceful meditation by Sue Barnet, and then as the theme of our day was Meeting the Ancestors we were told to gather in groups of five and create a ten minute ritual. Our group made their way to the creep passage, at the beginning of the fogou, (an Iron Age underground chamber used for ritual purposes). Each woman individually crawled into the narrow passage, this being the original entrance to the subterranean dark chamber. She was helped by her sisters to 'rebirth', releasing the past and being reborn with fresh intentions for the coming year. Then we processed silently through meandering paths to commune with the spirit of Carn Euny Well, which we asked for healing. Each of us collected water from the Holy Well. My wish was for the cleansing and purification of drinking water for the whole world. Saturday evening was set aside for the Sweat Lodge, created, organised and facilitated by Jackie, this had been a formidable task for her. Hana Evans and Marjorie were firekeepers, holding the external energy and making sure the stones were hot. I was one of the doorkeepers and helped people in and out of the lodge. Eleven women experienced an evening of inner journeying accompanied by chanting and drumming. Sunday morning was our last workshop facilitated by Katinka Soetens entitled Maiden, Mother and Crone. Entering the room we were greeted by a magical circle of three colours, white, red and black. In the centre were many beautiful goddess icons, some of which were created by Katinka. In the outer circle were images of goddesses from around the world, we circled and chose one of our own. Katinka led us in a gentle meditation to meet our chosen goddess and we then sketched our image and discussed this with two other women. We ended this deeply moving workshop by sharing gifts. The afternoon was greeted with much excitement as once again the sun shone brightly as we made our way to Sennen beach for a ritual to honour the Ocean Mother, led by Sheila Bright. A high tide bringing spume laden waves crashed thunderously upon the golden strand, gurgling and sucking, dragging the sand back into the turquoise depths of strong currents and Atlantic swell. Firstly we built a sculpture with pebbles, seaweed and driftwood. We made a lunar crescent facing the sea with our bodies. Intoxicated by the ozone rich air we swayed as mermaids, singing and chanting in Her honour. The magnificent great Mother Ocean was here, we were Her! We leapt into the shallows and let the warm waves wash over us, cleansing and healing, he salt spray tingling on our lips and cascading through our hair. Much laughter and exhilaration as some women rolled like dolphins in the white pounding surf. My gratitude to all the women for a truly magical ritual, and special thanks to Sally Pullinger for her evocative ocean songs. A magnificent ending to our Festival! We all agreed that this first Goddess Festival in Kernow had been a great success. The sun had shone for the whole of the four days and the variety and richness of the experience created by Cheryl and her team was awe inspiring. Their dedication and hard work had created a memorable time of friendship and deep ritual. Next year's festival has already been booked, don't miss this enchanting time, being cradled in the ancient wild landscape of West Penwith, girdled by the crashing seas and waters of the Ocean Goddess. I look forward to seeing you there next year. ©2006 Geraldine McCarthy 
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Content: © Goddess in Cornwall, 2006-9 |
In the afternoon we travelled to Boscawen-un stone circle, blessed with clement weather and a gentle breeze, the birds and bees leading us along the moorland path to the ancient circle. Granite stones glinted and glowed in the warm sun. We were planning to bring art materials to continue our creativity, but these were forgotten. This proved to be a blessing as without 'props' we remained together and focussed in the natural landscape. I asked the women to sit by one of the nineteen stones and think about the past nineteen years of their lives. This is the year of the Major Lunar standstill, we have reached the nadir and thus begins another cycle of nine years to reach our harvest, before we sink down into the next nine years and thus return to another standstill point. After our meditation we gathered and listened to an enchanting story about the Grandmothers, written and told by Marjorie. She told us of the various ancient dances created and reflecting the movement of bees, and then she led us in a figure of eight dance around the stones. Chanting, encircling, we wove our web, in and out of the circle finishing with a group healing around the quartz stone.