Goddesses
Gathering

Spring was just around the corner, and this year I just didn't have the energy to get into my usual gardening frenzy. My best friend decided that we'd throw a garden party and get four of our friends to help.

For invitations we sent each of them a plain white card inviting them to "Go To Seed With A Bunch of Goddesses" in my garden on an upcoming Saturday, to wear something suitable for "getting down and dirty".

The two of us decided which goddess each one  "decidedly was NOT!"   and told everyone that they had been assigned to "be" that goddess and to bring a small plant or cutting suitable for planting outdoors that would honor their assigned goddess.

The goddesses must have been smiling on us because the weather turned out to be perfect. We created a Goddess Circle by lining up folding chairs and various garden tools and waited for our guests to arrive. We'd prepared a hat for each "goddess guest" to wear-- they were old baseball caps decorated with fake flowers, seed packets, and cheap jewely we found at the thrift shoft.

Each friend was instructed upon arrival that they had to behave just like their assigned goddess would have while we all got a Goddess Garden planted.  Each "goddess" wrote her goddess name on a ribbon of "her colors" and attached it to a bamboo stake that whe stuck in the soil next to her plant.

We got the work done...at least some of us did! Our goddess Venus refused to ruin her manicure and watched the rest of us slaving away while she gave herself a pedicure! And  Persephone,  in contrast to her usual  take-charge Athena self, kept "disappearing" for periods of time. 

It was actually harder than you'd think to "be" the goddess that you aren't, but a lot of laughs as we tried.

Plus, when the blooms finally arrived and the Goddess Garden was in all its glory, we got together to have a Sunday brunch around the garden, take some marvelous photos for our albums, and gather each of us a bouquet.  It was a garden that we'll always remember. 

Karen (decidedly "Not Aphrodite")

A group of us got together to give a house-warming party for one of our dear friends. She was recently divorced and  moving into a condo. It was not a naturally "happy" time for her, because she was leaving the house that had been her home for over 20 years and where she'd raised both her children, who were now in college. 

We wanted to let her know that we would be there for her and to do something that would make her new house feel like something "special", like a place where she could begin a rich, satisying "new" life.

It was a complete surprize when we showed up on her doorstep the day after her move, each of us wearing a construction paper crown with our "goddess name" inscribed on it with glitter.  Hers read "Great Goddess" and was festooned with rhinestones and curly ribbon.

Each of us brought a gift from our goddess, something small for the house that would remind her of a goddess. Hera brought an African violet, Artemis a little crystal star to dangle in the kitchen window, and Hestia a large candle. As she unwrapped each one, we told her a little bit about the goddess and something about her that reminded us of that goddess.

We spent the evening helping her unpack and hang her pictures. We hung the little wooden sign we gave her that said "Never Forget That A Goddess Lives Here!" on the bathroom wall next to the mirror so that she would be reminded of it everyday.

Sue

For the last five years a group of women have been meeting together one evening near Halloween. Three of us are close friends, and each of us invites another friend or acquaintance to join us. This means everyone isn't well-known to everyone else who's there and that the group keeps growing a bit each year.

Everyone brings a dish to share and the three of us who are the "core group" provide the mulled apple cider, beer, and marshmallows for roasting. Sitting outside around an old iron tub filled with burning sticks and small logs that we've gathered, we snack and relax, laughing and chatting away as the sun begins to set.

As it starts to get dark, the candles are lit (we save our half-burned candles throughout the year just for this occasion). We all take pencils and slips of paper and write a note (or a few) telling something we would like to have "taken away from us" during the next year--things like "my jealousy", "worrying about my daughter", or "any cells remaining from my breast cancer".

We wrap the notes and a sprig of sage with raffia and toss them into the fire. As the smoke rises we ask those in the "otherworld" to help us release these things that hold us back. If anyone feels like it, they can tell others about their request but there is no pressure to do so.

Each year's gathering has been different, special in its own way. But all of them have been beautiful events in which we have all felt closer to others, cared for, and understood as women.

Anne

Simplest idea for a goddess party yet! Eight of us do this a couple of times a year and it's great fun. We usually get together about 3:30 on a Saturday afternoon at one of our houses (usually the home one of us who's single or whose husband is out of town, making it easy for it to be "girls-only").

We each bring one of our favorite movies on video or DVD, with the only rule being that we have to be able to introduce the video we brought as  "about,or by, a goddess".  We're not real "picky" about how that's defined, and have even gone so far as to "make up a goddess" if need be.

Pizzas & popcorn are the usual "food", and we just watch videos (showing in two different rooms simultaneously) and visit, usually until about midnight.

Brigid

Several of us who took a women's studies course together at the university a few years ago vowed to get together every month for a "Girls Night Out". We range in age from 20 to 59. We meet the first Friday night of every month, usually at an area restaurant but sometimes at one of our homes. The evenings are filled with girl-talk, light and laughter.

A couple of years ago, after we all enjoyed the well-thumbed copy of the first "Sweet Potato Queens" book, we started wearing tiaras for our evenings out.   It was great fun and led to meeting some interesting people who would stop by the table to say "If you don't mind me asking, why are you wearing those?"

Our rule about answering was this: any one of us could answer, truthfully or not, and the others were honor-bound to back up the story. "It makes us feel special."   "So that  we get to meet interesting people like you who come up to ask us that."  "So we get our drinks for free (not true, altho' once we did!) or "We're raising funds for the Gnome Liberation Society", or "Because she just had a baby"--pointing to me, the 59 yr. old, of course!

I forget the reason why we first started "doing" goddesses as well (probably because we wanted to go back to the same restaurant but not be spotted in the same outfits two months in a row!), but spring had just arrived and someone had the idea that we should all wear wreaths of flowers in our hair to celebrate Persephone's return. It was a huge success...we garnered even more attention than usual and spent much of the evening in lively conversation and banter with our "admirers".

Now we go with goddess headgear at least twice a year. The astonishing thing is this: we are normally somewhat quiet, unassuming women who don't go out of our way to call attention to ourselves. Two of us you would even call "very shy".  But put us in a tiara, call us a goddess, and 'Whoa! Better watch out!"  We're having a ball.

Dixie

I took your Goddess Quiz and my friends were so impressed with my report that they all wanted to get their own! So we decided to have a goddess party in my dorm room and went online and ordered everyone a report and printed them all off.

Then we put all the reports in a stack (without the persons name attached) and read them while we ate. We ttried to guess whose report each was. We had a contest to see who could get the most correct, and the rest of us would chip in and pay for the winner's report.

Guess what? Nobody won. The reports were so "right on" that we all agreed and guessed all of them correctly. So we decided to spend the $15 on the pizza instead!

We've had a lot of fun teasing each other (kindly, of course) about some of the stuff in the reports. Like it saying "tends to forget the simple details" about one of us -- she locked herself out of her car twice last week and we're still ribbing her about it. 

Thanks again for the great website!

Lexie

Goddess Come In All Ages.

Just wanted to give you a report on the Goddess Party that my daughter (who had taken the Goddess Quiz at the website) gave me for my 60th birthday which was held at a family reunion.

We had a marvelous time - complete with goddess costumes (made by one sister), head pieces (made by each guest at the party), musical instruments, an original goddess processional song sung from the beach cottage in NC to the beach where the group divided into 2 units and collaborated to find items on the beach to present to the birthday goddess.

The most fun was telling the stories about why we chose a particular goddess that represented where we were at this point in our lives. There were about 15 of us, from my 96 yr. old mom to a college student and a bride-to-be. We made a video and laugh harder every time we look at it.

Such a marvelous celebration. Thanks for the web inspiration!

P.S. Everyone that I have shared the party with was so excited about having their own Goddess Party! Maybe you could add another segment to your website of Goddess Party ideas.

Dorothy

My family owns a vacation home in the Pocono Mountains, and for several years a group of my dearest friends and I take over the house during the Pennsylvania Wine Festival. 

We came from four states,  bringing presents of medallions, t-shirts, bumperstickers, cards and more.  We gather together, enjoy the wine, share our laughter and sorrows and our advice, and draw strength from the different traits that each one brings. 

This year, our theme was Celebration of the Goddesses.  Before the event we had email discussions to select our special names. We chose individual names that we felt represented the wonderful wisdom or special "gift" of feminine strength that each one of us brings to the group.

Since I am the central point through which everyone has met over the 20+ years, I was named Goddess of Friendship.  Our youngest friend is in her early 20's, balancing full-time school, full-time work and a full-time social schedule, so she was christened Goddess of Energy. Another friend has taught us to always spoil ourselves, that we are allowed to do so, and she was voted Goddess of Fine Things.

Likewise for our Goddess of Laughter (even though she tells terrible jokes!), Goddess of Nature (teaching us that we are one with nature both environment and our animal friends), Goddess of Secrets (learning to protect our inner self) and Goddess of Perseverance (for never giving up no matter how tough it gets.)

I think that our gathering will now be known as the Goddess weekend, and the gifts of Friendship, Laughter, Energy, Perseverance, Secrets, Nature and Fine Things are what get us through each year.  What a wonderful celebration of true and lasting friendship!

Our Goddess ritual still spills over into our every day lives.  When any of us need energy, laughter, friendship or any other strength, we bond together via email, visits, and phone calls to get each other through whatever challenges we face or joys we share.  We never thought we'd be trendy too!

Darlene, Goddess of Friendship