April Full Moon Altar: Dike-Justitia-Lady Justice

This month's full moon altar honours the Greek-Roman Goddess of Earthly Justice. The Greeks drew a distinction between Themis, Goddess of Divine Justice dispensed by the gods, and her daughter Dike (rhymes with Nike), Goddess of Earthly Justice dispensed by humans. The Emperor Augustus later introduced into the Roman pantheon Dike's equivalent named Justitia. This ancient goddess remains a common symbol in our modern Western society, although these days her name has been secularized to Lady Justice.

On an altar cloth of written legislation, Lady Justice stands between two green candles. A judge's gavel, the symbol of judicial authority, rests nearby.

Lady Justice represents the rule of law and the pursuit of fairness in disputes between parties, no matter who they are in a society. Her ideal is that justice must be equally available to the powerful and the powerless, the rich and the poor, without bias or favour. She wears a blindfold to symbolize that equality. Her scales of balance are raised higher than her sword, symbolizing that disputes are to be settled peacefully by rule of law, not by physical force or violence. Sometimes her double-edged sword is said to symbolize that there are always "two sides to every dispute" or that justice "cuts both ways," again expressing the concept of fairness.

The green candles symbolize the "living tree doctrine" of constitutional law. This holds that a country's Constitution is not static, unchanging, stuck in the past as of the date it was created, but is instead a dynamic and evolving document capable of adapting to changing social and human realities. Therefore, the Constitution should be interpreted broadly and progressively, allowing for its meaning to evolve over time to meet the needs of society and its people. 

Lady Justice is being sorely tested these days in the United States. When procedural fairness and the rule of law are not respected by a government, the rich, or the powerful, it is always for the purpose of advancing authoritarianism and tyranny.

[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, 2025; memes courtesy of the internet]

March Full Moon Altar: Kwan Yin

This month's altar honours Kwan Yin, the Buddhist embodiment of the Divine Feminine, she who hears the cries of the suffering world and responds with mercy and compassion. On a golden altar cloth, the Female Buddha is flanked by two candles of purity, embellished with matching gold ribbons. Placed in front of Kwan Yin is a traditional offering of two oranges and an apple, representing luck, prosperity, peace and safety.

This statue of Kwan Yin shows her in a symbolic ritual pose or mudra common to the dharmic art of Hinduism (where Kwan Yin originated before migrating to Buddhism). Seated on the rocky precipice of hard and unyielding Life, the benevolent bodhisattva has one leg bent with her foot on the ledge's surface. Her other downward foot is firmly placed on a lotus footstool. Kwan Yin's left arm is braced on the surface and her right arm is draped gracefully over her bent knee. This mudra is known as "the position of royal ease" and it signifies the Eternal Moment of Compassion which occurs a split second before Kwan Yin arises, stands and, in her mercy, gives active assistance to those who suffer.

This statue is a reproduction of a famous 11th/12th century one from China called The Water and the Moon Kwan-Yin Bodhisattva. I found it about 25 years ago in an Edmonton spirituality store.

[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, 2025]

February Full Moon Altar: Sedna

This month's altar honours the Inuit form of the Divine Feminine, Sedna, Goddess of the Sea and of Marine Mammals. There are many versions of Sedna's creation myth, but they all involve her vengeful father chopping off Sedna's fingers as she clings to his kayak in the Arctic sea where he has thrown her. Sedna sinks down deep into the frigid water, where she grows a whale's tail as she morphs into a mighty sea goddess. Her severed fingers become the marine mammals (seals, walruses, whales) on which the Inuit people rely for food. If Sedna becomes angry and withholds her food source animals from hunters, Inuit shamans perform a hair-combing ritual to please and placate her since, lacking fingers, she cannot comb her own hair.

This lovely soapstone carving is by Lisa Douziech, an Edmonton carver, which I bought about a year ago. I don't know if the artist intended the carving to represent Sedna, but that's who it is to me. The fibre-optic tea lights with their ever-changing colours are meant to represent the Northern Lights of the Arctic.

The altar cloth is a quilted panel created by the quilters' group at an Edmonton seniors' recreation centre where I take art and poetry classes. I placed Sedna and the candles off to the side so as not to obscure its beautiful Arctic scene.

[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, 2025]

January Full Moon Altar: Danu

My January full moon altar honours the Celtic goddess Danu, who is known to us only because of a mythic phrase collectively describing the ancient deities and fairy folk of Ireland--Tuatha Dé Danann which means "tribe of the goddess Danu." In modern times, the mysterious Celtic Danu has been somewhat conflated with the Hindu goddess Danu, she of the sacred primordial waters, and has become characterized primarily by an ability to prophesy and foretell the future.

And what do we all want to know at the beginning of every January? "What does the upcoming year hold for us?"

Danu is one of my most recently acquired goddess statues. I only found her a couple of years ago in an Edmonton spirituality store. She is engaged in the act of "scrying," a clairvoyant divination technique using a reflective surface in which to see the future. Danu holds a large, flat, round basin of water for that purpose.

On the water's surface appears a Triskelion symbol, the Triple Spiral of the Goddess. Wearing her richly adorned robe and hooded cloak, Danu is also standing in water with lotuses and the Serpent of Knowledge at her feet.

From the side, we can see the scrying water flowing freely downwards, connecting to its sacred source. The Celtic Salmon of Wisdom leaps by Danu's side.

The back of Danu's cloak depicts the Tree of Life and the Triple Goddess Moon symbol.

In keeping with the theme, other divinatory items have been placed on the altar. Scrying is also commonly done with mirrors or crystal balls, for example. A hand-held glass mirror is present, but I don't have a crystal ball so I used a large faceted cut-glass gemstone instead. Three oracle cards are also featured. The altar cloth is my ceremonial tarot reading cloth, navy blue velvet with silver stars, crescent moons and borders.

The divinatory cards are from Denise Linn's Sacred Traveler Oracle Cards and are, from left to right:

• Mystic Healer -- "Healing Energy Flows Through You"
• Navigating by the Stars -- "Follow Your Bliss"
• Joy and Delight -- "Open Your Heart to Joy"

And that is what I wish for all of us in 2025!

[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, 2025]

December Full Moon Altar: Our Lady of Guadalupe

December 12th is the feast day of Mexico's embodiment of the Divine Feminine, Our Lady of Guadalupe. She displays all Virgin Mary's traditional symbols from Catholic Spain, but is also clearly a brown-skinned, pregnant indigenous woman, thereby amalgamating imagery of pre-Conquest Mexico's Mother Earth goddess figures such as Tonantzin. Ten years after the brutal Spanish Conquest of Mexico, Our Lady of Guadalupe arose from visions experienced in 1531 by Juan Diego, a recently converted, former devotee of Tonantzin.

Like other creations of syncretism, Our Lady of Guadalupe facilitated coexistence and seeming unity between two completely different cultures at odds with each other's world views, positions of power, and self-interests. Her dual origins could both buttress oppression and, conversely, symbolize resistance to it. She served both purposes over the centuries, often simultaneously.

My statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe came from Sacred Source many years ago. Just last year, I learned from blogging buddy Frank of Reluctant Rebel that celebrations of her feast day involve the making and display of luminaria. These simple lanterns, like Guadalupe herself, can embody very different meanings. Traditionally, they shed welcome light in the darkness of winter, while in modern-day celebrations, luminaria are often used to symbolize hope during a nation's darkest hours.

I placed two kinds of luminaria on the altar: glass votives through whose designs the candlelight glows . . . 

. . . and traditional luminaria which I made from small paper bags, using not-so-traditional paper-punch cut-outs and multicoloured fibre-optic tea lights.

The altar cloth is also surrounded by red and gold poinsettia decorations because this beautiful plant is native to Mexico and Central America.

[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, 2024]

November Full Moon Altar: Inanna

This month's altar honours Inanna, the Great Goddess of Sumer (now Iraq) who dates from 5-6,000 years ago. As depicted in ancient times (centre altar image from Sacred Soure), Inanna was a goddess of abundance (offering her breasts to nourish all life), fertility (those wide child-bearing hips) and personal power (her rich and plentiful adornments of jewelry) --

The complex myth of Inanna's descent/death/rebirth, so full of psychological and emotional insights and truths relevant to my own life, had a profound impact on me. It marked the start of my devotion to the Divine Feminine over 35 years ago. Here is a very simplified version of the myth, illustrated by goddess art which I commissioned about 15-20 years ago from Thalia Took of A-Muse-ing Grace Gallery.

The goddess Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth, decided to visit her sister Ereshkigal, Queen of the Underworld. The harrowing descent required Inanna to pass through seven gates, each one smaller and lower than the one before. At each gate, she was stripped of a symbol of her power, until she entered the Underworld through the seventh gate, naked and crawling on the ground. Her dark goddess sister Ereshkigal promptly killed her and hung her body on a meat hook.

Inanna and Ereshkigal are actually the same being, of course. Inanna is our conscious ego and Ereshkigal is our unconscious shadow side. In times of emotional crisis, the ego is laid low, powerless and defeated, in the abyss of despair. The shadow must be understood and integrated or healing cannot occur.

Ereshkigal was not an evil goddess but was in great chronic pain, lashing out at all around her. Inanna had suspected she might be in danger if she visited her sister so before setting out, she'd made contingency plans for rescue. In three days time, a couple of small and unlikely rescuers appeared in the Underworld. They did not attempt to defeat or overcome Ereshkigal by force because that was impossible. So instead, they commiserated with Ereshkigal's terrible pain, mirroring and soothing her anguish with great empathy.

In gratitude for such unexpected kindness, Ereshkigal granted them one wish. They asked for Inanna's body, which they then revived with the Water of Life brought for that purpose. The ascent back to the surface began. At each gate, a symbol of Inanna's power was returned, so that by the time she reached the surface, Inanna was restored to her full power. However, she now saw the world "with new eyes," having integrated her shadow self and grown wiser from the experience.

[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, 2024]

October Full Moon Altar: Sheela Na Gig

To mark October, Halloween and Samhain, this month's altar honours the ancient Celtic crone goddess Sheela Na Gig. Old and withered, hairless and probably toothless, she nevertheless grins broadly as she spreads her yoni/vulva open in a welcoming gesture. Her carved stonework depictions are typically found in medieval churches, convents, castles and stone walls in Ireland, Wales and England. Many of these images were destroyed by shocked, prudish Puritans/Victorians, so the ones which still exist are often found in high, inaccessible spots in those structures.

Sheela Na Gig's meaning has puzzled Christian scholars for centuries. Is she simply a form of gargoyle or grotesque? Is she a warning about the Deadly Sin of Lust? Or is she a pagan symbol placed in Christian holy spaces by medieval heretics, dissenters or pranksters?

Modern scholarship has determined that Sheela Na Gig is indeed a pagan symbol pre-dating Christianity in Britain. Her message, it is now believed, has nothing to do with sexuality but instead concerns death and rebirth/reincarnation. The Crone Goddess' gesture is showing that, on death, everything and everyone returns to the womb of the Divine where the mystery of creation continues in a never-ending cycle. Her smile indicates that this is not a sad or scary time because life and creation are always ongoing.

My Sheela Na Gig statue comes from a lovely gift shop in Avebury, England. My Rare One bought it for me when we visited the magnificent Avebury Stone Circle site in 2009. Later, I bought the pottery bowl here in Edmonton as a gift for My Rare One. The candles are also hers (found at a craft sale years and years ago). These items are on loan for this altar, plus she graciously allowed me to light the candles as well.

The altar cloth is a sheer purple scarf adorned with goddess symbols of golden pentacles and waning crescent crone moons. To represent new life from the womb of the creator goddess, I filled the symbolic womb-bowl with a bouquet of fresh flowers in autumnal harvest colours.

[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, 2024]

September Full Moon Altar: Sarasvati

This month's altar honours Sarasvati, Hindu goddess of Creativity and Learning. Her name means "the flowing one," evoking both the creative flow of inspiration and also purification by sacred water. Her gifts to humankind are especially associated with communication in all its forms -- poetry, literature, oratory, music, languages, mathematics, etc.

On her altar, Sarasvati is surrounded by books of poetry and goddess lore, a paint brush with tubes of paint, and a rosewood recorder. She is flanked on each side by ever-changing lotus devotional lamps displaying a sequence of bright fibre-optic colours.

I found my statue of Sarasvati many years ago at West Edmonton Mall. All the other items are personal items of mine. This month I am starting more art classes and some poetry workshops as well, so I invoke Sarasvati's assistance!

[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, 2024]

August Full Moon Altar: Idunn

 

This month's altar honours Idunn, Norse Goddess of Youth and Rejuvenation. Idunn (pronounced ee-doon and meaning "Ever Young" or "She Who Renews") grows and tends the Apples of Eternal Youth which all the Norse gods and goddesses must eat to maintain their youth and vitality in perpetuity.

I bought my little statuette of Idunn about 12 years ago at a Scandinavian Christmas Market here in Edmonton. The beeswax apple candles came from a local Ukrainian crafts store.

There is a theory which speculates that extensive Viking settlement and influence in Scotland resulted in the River Doon being named after this popular goddess. The River Doon featured in some of Robbie Burns' poetry (Tam O' Shanter and Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon). Its bridge ("Brig o' Doon") became the name of the fictional magical Scottish town in the Broadway musical Brigadoon.

[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, 2024]

July Full Moon Altar: Magna Mater

This month's altar honours Magna Mater ("Great Mother"), the Roman version of the goddess originally known as Cybele. Among her many attributes, Magna Mater was revered as a Bee Goddess. Bees have been sacred to the Divine Feminine for thousands of years in many civilizations. Bees were seen as magical by our forebears because they produce the Divine gift of honey, which can both nourish and heal. In the ancient world, honey was the only anti-bacterial healing agent available for use in wound care to prevent infection and death.

Fittingly, this bee candle is made of beeswax. The flower candle is standard paraffin wax. My goddess statue came from Sacred Source about 15 years ago and has previously appeared in my Cybele full moon altar post. The centre bee-themed altar cloth is a 2009 souvenir from Glastonbury's Goddess Temple.

The main altar cloth is a tea towel given to me a couple of years ago by Mistress Maddie of A Day With The Mistress Boghese, along with "Bee Happy." The buzzing bee beside it was a charming gift from an Edmonton friend.

This lovely art glass hive with honeybee is by an Alberta artist whose name I can't remember now. It's one of the first things I bought when I moved to Edmonton 27 years ago. The bee jewelry was all bought in Alberta too.

This brass representation of a traditional straw bee skep is half of a very heavy pair of bookends found at an antique sale in Winnipeg about 40 years ago. Love it!

And finally, the piece of laser-engraved driftwood was created by a crafter in Maui. Since bees spend their lives seeking pollen to turn into honey, I think the driftwood's spiritual message is perfect for this altar! 

[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, 2024]

June Full Moon Altar: Nike

This month's altar honours Nike, the Greek Goddess of Victory. I am shamelessly invoking her aid on behalf of the Edmonton Oilers to win the 2024 Stanley Cup! In the 7 game final series, the Oilers are down 3-2. They must win both the remaining 2 games to accomplish a rare "Reverse Sweep" in order to win the series and the Stanley Cup. 

Nike presides over the Stanley Cup banner on the altar lit by orange and blue candles, the Oilers' team colours. My Nike statue is a reproduction of an ancient Etruscan statue which I bought about 20 years ago at West Edmonton Mall. She holds the laurel wreath of victory in one hand and the owl of wisdom in the other.

May we hear the Oilers' victory song play twice more -- once tonight and once again on Monday night!

GO OILERS!!!

[Photos #1, 2 and 4 © Debra She Who Seeks, 2024.

Photo #3 is from the internet.]

May Full Moon Altar: Kwan Yin

Are you being storm-tossed on the turbulent seas of life? Then Kwan Yin, the Buddhist embodiment of the Divine Feminine, has compassion and assistance for you. 

See how the other sailboats on the altar cloth are pitching to and fro in the darkness, desperately trying to stay upright among the wildly crashing waves? We all know how that feels, don't we, when life is struck by tragedy or crisis.

But Kwan Yin floats serenely along amidst the chaos, sitting in her little vesica piscis goddess-symbol of a boat, unperturbed by the huge waves roiling beneath the bow. With meditative calm, she holds the Pearl of Enlightenment in her left hand. In her right hand she holds a small bottle containing her tears called the Balm of Compassion, collected as she weeps for the suffering of the world. She pours this healing balm over the world, which is her companion in the boat, to comfort and calm all who need it.

Kwan Yin stays in the Eternal Now, not in the Past, not in the Future. She does not try to control what she cannot control. She understands that all storms pass in the fullness of time and we will come once more to safe harbour.

If anyone who reads this is currently going through such a turbulent time, I hope that Kwan Yin will bring some sense of comfort and serenity to you in the midst of pain and anxiety.

The last time I was in Maui in 2018, I bought this little statue of Kwan Yin at a favourite labyrinth-walking location, The Sacred Garden, which is a not-for-profit retreat centre, spiritual shop and plant nursery in the upcountry region of the island. The altar cloth is made of paper napkins which caught my eye last year in a local Edmonton shop. The lotus candleholders came from Amazon and have been used before for some other altars.

[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks 2024; Affirmations meme from the internet.]

April Full Moon Altar: Gaia

Since Earth Day is tomorrow, this month's full moon altar honours Great Goddess Gaia, the deified personification of our planet Earth. Although Gaia's ancient mythology originated in Greece, her imagery and significance have seen a huge resurgence in the 20th and 21st centuries as a central symbol of modern environmentalism, the green movement and green politics.

The statue at the centre of the altar is a reproduction of "The Millennial Gaia" created in 1998 by Oberon Zell, a major figure in modern Neopaganism. It's a very well known statue and is widely available on the internet. I purchased mine about a year ago in a local Edmonton spirituality store.

Heavily pregnant Mother Earth Gaia births, nourishes and sustains all life on this planet. Without her, we are nothing. Her green foliage-hair showcases the evolutionary history of all life on land, while her green tattooed legs depict the evolution of life in the oceans. Mighty redwood and rainforest tattoes cover her arms. Her right breast is a cornucopia of plenty and her left breast is the moon. She has the Buddha's contemplative smile and meditative pose. 

I surrounded Gaia on the altar with symbols of her four seasons -- vegetable seed packets for Spring, a sunflower candle for Summer . . .

. . . oak leaves and acorns for Autumn, and a sparkling snowflake swirl for Winter.

[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, 2024]