I'm very pleased with this new Icon in my "Our Lady of the Shards" series.
It is called "The Priestess" because the model was Patricia Ballentine, who has been a wise, accomplished, devoted, and much loved Priestess of the Goddess and Earth Based Religion for many years. She is the Founder of the Temple of the Creative Flame, which was founded in 1999, and is based in Mesa, Arizona. Patricia is also a wonderful artist, who among many other gifts, has created her own Oracle Deck. Here is Patricia's own Sigil, which is the emblem for the Temple, the Elemental Cross.
It was important that I put "flames" in her hands. The "offered flame" "ignites" creativity, imagination, inspiration, and hope. I think that is what a true Priestess can do. I remember that years ago I painted an image of a woman emerging from the darkness, bearing a flame in her hand - The Flame of Creativity can illuminate a Path in the dark as well.
The Temple of the Creative Flame is a temple of the Goddess serving the greater Pagan community. We are a temple for thinkers and lovers of life, building bridges through ceremony, ritual and dialogue within safe and sacred space. All are are welcome who come with open minds and open hearts. WE SERVE through a unified alignment with courageous hearts and compassionate minds.
That's why I put "flames" in her hands. The "offered flame" is very important to me - the flame that "ignites" creativity, imagination, inspiration, and hope. Years ago I produced an image of a woman emerging from the darkness, bearing a flame in her hand - it was the same idea. The Flame of Creativity can illuminate a Path in the dark as well.
As an Archetypal Icon, it is my hope that this sculpture is both personal, and collective, honoring Patricia and the work she and her colleagues have done in the world, and also the emergence now, the very important emergence, of the PRIESTESSES OF THE GODDESS, bringing Her back into the world to heal the wounds of patriarchy, and the 11th hour of ecological disaster. There are many I have been privileged to know - Annie, Macha, Mana, Celestine, Selena, Angie, Starhawk, Kathy, Constance, Lena, Prema, Vajra, Ava,, Elizabeth, Gloria, Judy, Valerianna, Xia, Lydia, Max........and many others who serve Her. Some of you may not call yourselves Priestesses - but you are. You have all brought the Goddess, the Divine Feminine, back into a world that needs Her. This is for all of you. THANK YOU.
"She Changes Everything She Touches, and Everything She Touches Changes"
"Being a Priestess in the world today is messy. It seems that the longer we are on the path, the less obvious the path may be. Yet, we see it more clearly because we intuitively know where to step and how to work. This is especially true in the places where we are least welcomed. We continue to uncover and revitalize the Goddess through our individual and collective Priestess Presence."
Patricia Ballentine
I am a Priestess of the Goddess
My sacred work draws me
Down raw dark corridors
Thru jagged doorways
Into seething vessels
Overflowing with the potential
For transformation only found
In the deepest depths of dysfunction and pain.
I am a Priestess of the Goddess
My regalia is frayed at the seams
With unrepaired snags and tattered cuffs
From the constant clawing
Of resistant illusions
So deeply engrained
In destructive beliefs and habits
Ripe for the harvest to good.
I am a Priestess of the Goddess
I walk in rugged boots
With soles worn thin
From the shards of broken hopes and dreams
That litter the pathway
Sometimes bringing me to my knees
In order to see more clearly
The remnant of the passion still present.
I am a Priestess of the Goddess
I am an unlikely servant
In an inhospitable environment
That incubates the most courageous beings
On the threshold of quantum healing
Through courageous acts of self reclamation
Compassion for others
And the elimination of the shackles of fear.
Patricia Ballentine
www.PatriciaBallentine.com
