Rhiannon, like many of the Lover Goddesses from all over the
world, is a Mirror Goddess. For the Goddesses of Love are the Illuminators of
the World. Lover Goddess is Beauty, and Beauty is Love manifested in physical
form.
It is Her touch which gives us the ‘eyes of love’, when we
see the good in the world or each other, or when we are first in love and see
our beloved as the most beautiful, the flawless soul in a body that is beauty
and desirable to us. Beauty opens and softens our heart.
Beauty makes us become more alive, draws more of our soul
into our body and heart so that we can feel more connected to our physical
presence, to our life’s purpose and to that which is outside of us. With the
opening of our heart, our soul feels its wings of possibility and wants to
soar. This gives us greater ability to feel empathy, to be compassionate, to
love. Beauty is one of the great gateways through which more soul enters our
physical body.
Not only does Rhiannon hold the mirror to reflect Her
beauty, Her reflected light also illuminates shadow. She shows the ways of the
Heart and the reflection of what our outer situations and choices are really
showing us about our inner life.
Our shadow involves the places we try so very hard to hide
from our self, to avoid looking into, and which we have become so good at
projecting onto others so that we do not have to feel or own them ourselves.
The Mirror of the Goddess asks us to see our empowerment, our shining gift, our
loving nature and greatness as well as all the places of smallness, of
avoidance, of shadow, which are also part of our gift if we become conscious of
them. She shows us how to become more visible. This then is the Soul Quest of
women and men called to the Path of Rhiannon.
For women, this ‘becoming visible’ is a conscious choice
requiring courage, and the support of healthy sisterhood circles. Deeply rooted
fear places have a strong hold after centuries in which being visible has been
very dangerous. However, it is an important part of the soul journey into
healthy femininity, free from the patterns and undermining ways of patriarchy
which we so often unconsciously perpetuate. To become visible as who we really
are means to become more conscious, and this is empowering. In choosing to live
our empowerment, we have a need to initiate into the embodied forms of the
Mature Healthy Feminine archetypes.
Archetypes which reveal them self through the Teachings of
Rhiannon and Her wheel of the year. As well as the Maiden, Lover, Mother and Crone
aspects of Goddess, The Wheel of Rhiannon reveals the Path Finder, Deep Diver,
Queen and Soul Song Singer on the elemental quarters of the Wheel.
In the East of the Wheel, we find Rhiannon of Fire. She
manifests as Path Finder and is the courageous Explorer as well as Kundalini or
Snake Dancer. As the young healthy
feminine archetype She holds the place of true originality and anarchy, the
opposite of both conformity and rebellion. She guides into healthy exploration of the self
and creativity both in relation to others and as trailblazer daring to be
different. She seeks outside of what is given and constructs her own responses
to life. At this time, none of us experienced this exploration in fullness, as
we all come from and through patriarchy. This has far reaching consequences for
the initiation into healthy womanhood and the mature feminine archetype of the
Queen on the opposite side of the Wheel. Rhiannon as Path Finder helps us to
find our way back to the Real, to the Radiance of Goddess within us and lights
our Kundalini fire.
In the South of the Wheel, Rhiannon of Water, Goddess of
Flow is the Deep Diver into truth, sexuality and owning of emotions. She is the
Mermaid self, Vessel for the Devine energies, watery mirror of the deep tides,
completely free in Her joyous expression of self, celebration and sexuality.
She holds the comb to untangle all that belongs to us, from the expectations
and projections of others. She brings the gifts of insight and compassion and
sings the irresistible soul song of the heart that calls our destiny towards us
and into being. Rhiannon as Deep Diver brings our deep receptivity and the
surrender to go with the flow of life in the wisdom of our body.
In the West, we find the other point of balance between the
light and dark in the year, and here we meet Rigatona: Great Queen Rhiannon,
She who manifests and owns Her Realm. Owning meaning both claiming that which
she has created as well as knowing her
shadow self. Realm being all that for which she chooses to take responsibility.
She invites shared responsibility and is the Freedom Rider of Her own Path
which She determines with clarity, dignity and ease. She has gained from Her
life’s experience and the full extent of the path finding Her Explorer Self has
undertaken. With directed action She chooses Her path and knows how to stay
present to receiving. She brings her gifts of self-responsibility, gratitude,
joyful maturity, empowerment, and abundance. Queen Rhiannon leads to the
realization that now is the only time you have got and so to stand in your
power of each moment.
In the North segment of the Wheel, Rhiannon of Air manifests
as the Ancestral Enchantress of Destiny, She of the Magical Birds, deep dreams,
sweet scent and clear vision. She is the soul song Singer, as well as the great
Nothing, the Void into which we drop when we surrender in ecstasy, trust, faith
and death. She is the space that holds the Soul Song longing to be sung into
being from within the Void itself. As Singer of this Soul Song, Rhiannon of Air
holds the karmic pathways of the Path of Love and guides us to our destiny and
brings attunement with the wisdom of our body.
The Priestess of Rhiannon training for the Glastonbury
Goddess Temple works with the wisdom of these Archetypes and the mirror they
offer us. Rhiannon’s mirror guides us to re-integrating the Sacred Sexual
Priestess Self over the course of the year’s journey. Facing our fears and
shame is an un-avoidable choice we make in taking this training and an
essential part of being called to this path. But this is also the great gift of
initiation as Her priestess.
In becoming Sacred Sexual Priestess in particular,
we work with Her Wheel to find the exquisite treasures as well as the shameful shadow wounds and see what was hidden
within in order to be free from habits that would keep us small, ashamed,
fearful or guilty, less than we are, and in competition with each other. The
Goddess of Love teaches a different way of being, a way of wholeness,
authenticity and love.
It is a pleasure to serve Her ways.
With Blessings
Katinka Soetens
Priestess of
Rhiannon training is held every year between October and September in
Glastonbury by Katinka Soetens. More information can be found on the Goddess
Temple website and on www.Herpathoflove.com
This is an extract
from the soon to be available e-book Teachings of Rhiannon, Sacred Sexual
Priestess Empowerment: part 1. £4.99 on www.Herpathoflove.com
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