THE PRIESTESS: Patricia Ballentine

 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