| Avalon Exploring the Mythic Reality
The Star of the Ninefold Sisterhood by:Chris Maher Welcome again to our third installment of Mythic Reality. In our last edition we explored the Nine Maidens. Now we will look at a symbol that represents the influences of the Nine. This is in line with the Avalonian Tradition I teach - The Star of the Ninefold Sisterhood. The symbol is also recognized in the Keys of Solomon. It does look a little different and represents a different purpose. However in the Avalonian Tradition it is a wheel of very powerful feminine forces. Each point of the star represents an influence of Maiden, Mother and Crone, or they can be non specific to fit any mythology or tradition. You can just use the names of the energy. I choose this in my way of the Avalonian Tradition. In keeping with Celtic tradition, the star of the Nine is broken down again to represent each of the Goddesses into another triad, meaning: three Maidens, three Mothers, and three Crones. This is relevant because there are three additional stages of each of our human living ages. From the Maiden you have: Birth Maiden, Adolescent Maiden, and Teen Maiden. From the Mother we have: Young Mother, Middle Mother, and Pre-menopausal Mother. From the Crone we have: Early Crone, Middle Crone, and the Death Crone. This opens up even greater personal feminine empowerment. These influences of the Nine can impact your life at any given time and in any order. In working in this way you will begin to be able to recognize the influence as well as to identify the goddess of that alignment and the energy associated with her. Which means when you think about the nine, you will see the goddess on the wheel that wants you to pay attention to what needs to be learned, experienced and the powerful wisdom to be gained. I also refer to this star as the Nine faces of power. Again this star can be adapted to any Goddess tradition. Greater detail of the Star of the Ninefold is available in the book �Ladies of the Lake� and most importantly in the book �Elements of the Goddess,� by Caitlin and John Matthews . The first point clockwise from the center is: 1. The Energizer/Birth Maiden activates and energizes us. We are uplifted by a great joyful power that is beyond our intellectual understanding nor do we have the ability to control it. 2. The Measurer/Teen Maiden shows us the extent of our limitations, patterns, shapes, destinies. Traveling to the limits of our destiny and returning with understanding. 3. The Protector/Middle Mother is a guardian who upholds the boundaries that we discovered under the measurer. She is transformative protection and merciful love. She makes sure we find a warriors balance in ourselves. Keeper of our traditions 4. The Initiator/ Death Crone is the opener of doors. She is concerned with our rebirth. She gives us new ways and determinations to help reform our lives. 5. The Challenger/Early Crone may appear at any time. She is concerned with uprooting want that has not been used and making it useful again. She comes in terrifying forms. We know it is her when we start to answer the questions we have been avoiding, when we face the center of our problems, and face up to our inadequacies and illusions. 6. The Deliverer/Middle Mother transforms and liberates us. She will not rest until every burden is lifted up, every grief effaced. She shows us how to go beyond our selfishness into a wider compassion by not passing our own pains onto others. She comes as a Goddess who chooses a human form. 7 The Weaver/Adolescent Maiden is seen as a witch enchantress. She is concerned with shapes that provoke response. She shows us our inner child. She shows us to be sensitive, companions of creation, nature herself. 8. The Preserver/Pre-menopausal Mother maintains life itself. She is concerned with intelligent and beneficial methods of living. She shows us how to inhabit our spiritual tradition and breath within it. She shows how to keep the hearth fire of our tradition burning, and warm others to it by living our own example. 9. The Empowerer/Middle Crone bestows mature wisdom. She makes a bridge between opposites - balance within all things and situations. The Empowerer give us the confidence to go out and teach, or help, or instruct those who come to seek our ways. We know she is there when the deeply rooted wisdom within us flows freely. Sometimes the Goddesses switch positions on the star and therefore, of course, change the influence and energy completely. It�s simple and complicated at the same time, just as we are, that is why it is such a powerful star. There are no limits of how you can use this star in your magic. It is as diverse as the Goddess herself. This helps us to understand how the Goddess is so multifaceted and does not fit in one category all of the time. The star of the Ninefold can change things in the blink of an eye. This also makes us think deeper and connect into the energies of the Goddesses on a more personal level. It makes us examine the questions within us. It makes us see her, feel her and hear her in so many new ways. She is the one and the many. It is so important that we follow our own hearts to our paths. No one can do that for you. True wisdom only comes from living and experiencing our lives. The Ninefold gives you a focusing tool to live each day, tuning ever closer to She who is infinite. Never forget the wonder, pain and realizations of this life. We are the incarnations of the Goddess and the shadow of her influence. The Goddess lives through us, because we are in the image of her. She is the one. She is the many. Many Blessings to you on your journeys, Chris Maher Priestess of Avalon |