Herstory
Gaia's Garden is dedicated to growing Goddess community, through a deeper connection with the Divine Feminine. The garden of ideas, and the flourishing of the spirit are the domains of Goddess, just as much as the natural world.
Gaia’s Garden is both a sacred space, for ceremonial and ritual work, and an evolving community of women who are journeying with the Goddess.
We offer devotional and self-exploratory events, including sabbat rituals, workshops and study circles, readings, and more.
Our current locations are in Victoria at
'the Gaia Temple' in Moonee Ponds, Melbourne first Goddess Temple, and at Gaia's Garden AirBnb in Northcote. Both are available for hire by groups and individuals seeking a workshop space for aligned purposes.
We believe that Goddess is alive, She is the Earth and all of life comes from Her and is therefore sacred and interconnected. We see Goddess as immanent in the earth’s cycles of birth, growth, death, decay and regeneration. We see humans as just one of the sacred creatures of the Mother and honour the Her as a living being, healing and preserving Her spaces and Her creatures.
We believe that Goddess is alive.
She is birth, growth, death, decay and regeneration.
She is Earth, She is all things and all of life comes from Her.
As women we replicate the energy of Goddess in our ability to bring forth new life, with the ability to create, nurture and enhance life. We value the capacity to add to the life giving forces of the universe and the healing power of the Earth. We accept as a personal responsibility the calling to assist with the healing of the Earth and the saving of other creatures which are currently under threat.
ur practice and rituals arise from a deep, spiritual commitment to the Earth Mother to healing and to the linking of spirituality with political action. Each of us embodies the divine. Our ultimate spiritual authority is within each of us.
We see Goddess within us,
Goddess between us and
Goddess around us.
Over centuries there has been a consistent and even violent suppression and oppression of previous thousands of years of Goddess worship which honoured and respected the creative and life-giving force of women’s sacredness.
For thousands of years before the emergence of patriarchy 4-5,000 years ago, women were seen as sacred because they were able to bleed and not die and give life for the future of the community. This creative force was seen as coming from the Goddess. This peaceful and cooperative approach to life was violently destroyed for political and even religious agendas and the Great Mother was all but lost.
As the Roman empire spread across Asia Minor and Europe it used Christianity to unify the conquered lands and gradually either integrated the local Goddess beliefs and practices There are many examples of how this happened such as Easter which was the festival of Oestre the Goddess or Christmas happening at Yule a Goddess celebration. And when the beliefs couldn’t be adapted they were gradually destroyed.
As the female principle was destroyed, understanding of the importance of our interconnectedness with the Mother and Her creation was not only lost – it was rendered invisible. Male dominated religions that encouraged pillage of the Earth, war with each other and dominance over other creatures and even other humans as inferior increased. This has led us to the current situation where we are on the edge of human extinction.
Being on this sacred land, that has been held in trust by the Australian Indigenous people for over 60,000, we acknowledge that western colonial forces stole the land and decimated both its people and the land itself.
We believe that we have much to learn from this land and from the Indigenous peoples.
Our rituals integrate the unique seasons of the part of the land on which we live and work and we use the names and characteristics of those seasons alongside those of our ancestors from Europe.
Our vision is to develop a Goddess temple in a physical form.
The Gaia Temple is this space and is due to open in 2020
We conduct a range of seasonal rituals, workshops and seminars which bring women together in the sacredness of various spaces, currently in homes and various community centres around Australia .
We want to create a welcoming and loving Sacred Space, which holds the presence of the Sacred Feminine and make it available to anyone who wants to meditate, pray, dance, find peace of heart, recharge and be in the presence of the Goddess. Gaia’s Garden is also a place for research, development of papers and workshops on the Great Mother and all that impacts on Her wellbeing.
Our decision making is collaborative and open to any woman who wants to join in the planning and conduct of rituals, seminars and gatherings. Our community rituals are participatory, celebrating the cycles of the seasons and our lives, and raising energy for personal, collective and earth healing.
Membership is open to all women who are committed to Goddess spirituality. We want to create a sisterhood which supports each of us to develop and grow as we walk our unique path. We believe that as Goddess women we can achieve collectively to bring about positive social change. We want to see all women regardless of race, creed, colour, belief or status to take their rightful place and lead the world into a sustainable future.
“I am the light. I am the light of the sun and moon; I am the air which animates all beings I am the power that is in all beings.”
- Vedic hymn to the Goddess