Update From the Ashland Goddess Temple

The Goddess Temple of Ashland expresses itself as an elemental temple in communion with nature, honoring the medicine of the seasonal wheel, resting after the Celtic holy day of Samhain [November 1], and reblossoming after spring equinox. It carries a direct link with the holy isle of Avalon.

With a strong focus on inclusivity, easeful public access, gender fluidity, and circle consciousness, the Goddess Temple honors the nine life thresholds of Childbirth, Menstruation, Sex, Marriage, Parenting, Divorce, Sovereignty, Death, and Rebirth.

Beginning with its grand opening in 2010, a Mythic Realm has been cultivated that guides people in ancient traditions, and over many years, it has naturally created its own culture.

With a variety of people visiting regularly between the months of April and November, I have met seekers of every kind you could imagine. I have learned to embody an essence of divine Presence that meets the spiritual needs of the community. This was the original work of the priestess: to bring the sacred to the profane, to raise the frequency in the density, and to bring beauty to life where it has been forgotten.

After our first eight years, it became evident we needed to offer a formal priestess training. My first co-director, Jumana Sophia, created Priestess Convergence, which sparked a series of weekend priestess portal trainings led by me, followed by Midwifing the Veils, which was co-created by my second co-director, Laura Carmody. Midwifing the Veils carried us into a 22-day training that seeded what our temple now holds annually: a year-long priestess college.

Our priestess college is an authentic Womb Mystery School that is lovingly known as the “real deal.”

Raw, brave, and legendary.

With their soul flame lit and with equally courageous hearts, women travel from all over the world to join four all-day immersions at the sacred back meadow of the Jackson Wellsprings.

The Goddess Temple of Ashland was raised in love and dedication on March 19, 2010, at 1:30 pm by a group of 19 practicing priestesses and many loving volunteers.

With open and generous invitation, Wellsprings owner Gerry Lehrburger welcomed my family to express their artistic devotion and birth their vision after closing the The Flying Lotus Community Activation Center and AvaSha Goddess Temple of nine years in Mt. Shasta, California.

The Celtic goddess Bridget and the Hindu god Ganesha were the primary deities that were involved in the process of choosing the Jackson Wellsprings for the Goddess Temple to reside. Bridget came to me in a vision, and Ganesha came to me in the dreamtime. Both urging me to follow my soul’s purpose and open another Goddess Temple.

Thirteen years later, I have gathered into my priestess basket a harvest full of “Unyielding Trust in the Goddess.”

The 2020 Almeda Fire swept through the Rogue Valley, destroying over 2,600 homes, missing the land of our temple by one road. That day proved my loyalty as I faced the flames with the fierce knowing that my trust in Her and the dance of the Fire and Water Dragons was an event I would not abandon.

A combination of New Age Vandalisms—including explanations such as, “I stole this crystal because it was mine from a past life”—neurodivergent people begging for counsel, and severely abused women searching for shelter have caused a chain reaction of no reaction.

This is a real-life priestess college, not a princess college. A place for people who truly thrive as frontliners, nurturers, and mystics to have a place to practice and be given practical hands-on opportunities to grow their skills within a safe, unconditionally loving container.

Many people think a goddess temple is a place where you can get fixed or serviced in some way. What our temple presents is a practical solution to nature deficit disorder (NDD). It expresses channeled ways to bridge your sacred heart with the heart of the Divine Feminine while connecting you to recognizing how you live many myths within your own life.

The legend of the priestess is timeless. For those who have heard the call, there will be a beckoning, a yearning, a stirring until your temple is found. The Goddess Temple is a cauldron that holds the ingredients of trust, integrity, self-awareness, stamina, empowerment, and truth.

Our highest truth is that the womb is sacred. It is our first Goddess Temple, and from this place of devotion, I continue to provide a physical space where pilgrims can remember to honor their hearts and bodies, create healthy seasonal community celebrations, and engage in a simple chop wood/carry water lifestyle to heal ourselves while inspiring others.

The Goddess generates, organizes, destroys, and rebirths. Our water temple welcomes you to immerse into the amniotic fluids of Mother Earth, reclaim your innocence, and claim your veritable ability to walk the Path of Sacred Living.

Love Letter From a Student From Scotland

Synchronistically crossing paths with Lady Graell and finding myself at the Goddess Temple of Ashland all those years ago, I can say for sure, was one of the most pivotal turning points in my life.

I had been traveling for some time when I came across this mystical pixie on the woodchip path ... a long, long way from my home in Scotland, and yet, almost instantly, I felt a sense of Home in her presence and on the land there, tucked away behind the Jackson Wellsprings, as if behind the mists of Avalon. Something was alive here, among the elemental altars and the faerie houses ... on Apple Island and my beloved nettle patch ... an essence of Home that my soul recognized, my ancestors ... they knew these altars, these plants, these women. And so how could I decline an invitation to spend Samhain in the presence of Lady Graell [and] 13 priestesses-to-be for 13 days. It was irresistible.

That training changed my life. I have never looked back from the deep remembering that found me on those 13 days ... and the further 19 days [during] the following Spring Immersion. I have never been so met by an elder, so seen by sisters, so encouraged to be my full self, whole self, and nothing but myself. The caliber of magick that exists within the containers that Priestess Graell holds are incomparable to anything else you will ever experience.

If you yearn to enter a space where real magick—and I mean true, humble, practical, ancestral, Divine Feminine—exists; if you yearn to remember the ways of your Celtic ancestors, the way of the Goddess, the way of the Red Thread, and the Feminine Blood Mysteries; the way of Earth worship and elemental embodiment ... it is all at the Goddess Temple.

So honored and blessed to now be walking this path with Lady Graell and holding the torch of her wisdom—our wisdom—back on my home soil of the British Isles. She has reminded me what it truly means to belong—to myself, to my ancestors, and to the land.

In love and trust,
Mairead Bonnie Medicine

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